5 reasons delivery teams should include policy experts in the age of AI

When building a new digital service or modernizing a legacy one, innovation in government requires navigating a complex web of regulations that span programs and jurisdictions. While policies are specific about program outcomes, they're often vague about implementation, leaving administrators to determine the best path forward.

To bridge the gap between policy and implementation, agile teams should embed policy experts who are fluent in the regulatory landscape and agile practices. This will enable government systems to meet peopleʼs needs while staying compliant. 

Additionally, the rise of artificial intelligence, particularly large language models, presents new opportunities for tools that interpret policy. When introducing AI-enabled tools onto delivery teams, policy expert oversight is crucial to vet the toolʼs output and leverage it to its full potential.

Clarify Policy Mandates

An embedded policy expert can help teams distinguish true policy mandates from operational norms, which may result from outdated staffing structures or technical debt and can delay benefit delivery. For teams working on program improvements, policy experts can ensure that a programʼs function is compliant while leaving the opportunity to streamline and reform processes.

In doing so, policy experts can leverage AI-powered tools to quickly search for relevant provisions across vast bodies of law and regulations. Policy experts are uniquely equipped to craft meaningful prompts that will guide the LLM to retrieve appropriate and comprehensive information. 

For example, they understand when there are cross-jurisdictional policies to consider and can prompt the LLM to pull provisions from each source. This will reduce the likelihood of the LLM providing an incomplete or inaccurate answer because it missed one or more policy sources. Moreover, policy experts are aware of temporary exemptions or waivers, such as those implemented across safety net programs during the COVID19 pandemic.

Enable Innovation

Without a deep understanding of policy, it can be difficult for delivery teams to move past the status quo. This is because policy errors like overpayments or legal violations can lead to denying eligible populations critical benefits.

Once a team understands which operations are policy-mandated, they can make meaningful, compliant improvements. For example, a delivery team might suggest changes that reduce staff frustrations, such as editing application questions or streamlining reporting requests. A policy expert can advise on whether those changes are compliant.

Policy experts can leverage AI-enabled tools to identify data patterns that reveal whether an issue stems from policy or something else. For instance, AI-powered tools can analyze claims decisions or call logs to surface patterns. 

Those patterns can help policy experts identify bottlenecks, such as unusually high denial rates clustered around a specific eligibility question or spikes in call volume when letters are mailed to beneficiaries. Then, a policy expert can help the team confirm whether the issue stems from policy language, system design, or something else.

Increase the Speed of Agile Teams

Embedded policy experts can accelerate delivery by translating dense legal language into actionable guidance tailored for engineers, designers, or product managers. Providing such guidance in real time informs key decisions and kickstarts development.

For example, this year the Internal Revenue Service released new guidance on taxing paid family and medical leave contributions and benefits. Policy experts can help teams meet that guidance and comply with the necessary changes by breaking it down for multiple audiences. This might include a detailed memo with calculation scenarios for engineers or user stories for designers.

Policy experts can use AI-enabled tools to help communicate with delivery teams, as itʼs increasingly good at translating dense legal language into plain, accessible prose and providing citations. 

An AI-enabled tool might create initial draft memos and scenarios, freeing up the policy expert to break down more complex edge cases. However, itʼs important that the policy expert confirms the AI summary doesnʼt oversimplify, conflate policies, or drop critical nuance that could lead to non-compliance or ineligible decisions.

Bridge Silos Across Teams

Policy experts can bridge silos across IT, legal and operations teams by establishing shared knowledge. Policy experts define whatʼs a regulatory must-have versus a nice-to-have and create key policy term glossaries, which maintain consistent definitions of terms like eligibility, overpayment, and work status. This shared language reduces confusion and fosters trust across government and delivery teams.

Policy experts can leverage AI-enabled tools to rapidly generate summaries of different team documents or craft tailored communications for various stakeholders. AI cannot, however, build trust or navigate the interpersonal dynamics required to facilitate difficult conversations between teams. These soft skills are what make a human expert an invaluable liaison.

Provide Recommendations to Change Policy When Needed

Policy experts can identify long-term policy opportunities by keeping a backlog of suggested policy changes. They can then help teams weigh the level of effort required to implement those changes against the potential impact. Policy experts also ensure any proposed change doesn't impact compliance with existing regulations. 

Finally, the policy expert can formulate a strategic recommendation for next steps, build a compelling case, and navigate the legislative or internal processes to help government leaders enact the policy change.

AI-enabled tools can help policy experts identify trends that provide a basis for reform, such as spikes or dips in enrollment or denial rates. Itʼs up to the policy expert to interpret the results, weigh political realities, and develop strategic recommendations to navigate legislative and operational environments.

Conclusion

In an era of thick policy rulebooks and fast-changing mandates, policy expertise is a strategic investment that pays dividends in de-risked projects, faster delivery, and a better experience for government staff and the public. By embedding policy experts on agile delivery teams, agencies can ensure their digital services are compliant, effective, and truly meet the needs of the people they serve. 

Policy experts can leverage AI-powered tools to quicken their efforts supporting delivery teams. However, policy experts cannot rely solely on AI; their oversight and expertise is necessary to unpack policy and operational nuances and navigate complex political environments in order to achieve successful delivery outcomes.

Alicia Benish is a senior policy strategist at Nava. Previously, Alicia gained over a decade of experience working in community and public health.

Martelle Esposito is the director of partnerships and advocacy at Nava and co-lead of Nava Labs. Prior to Nava she held roles in nonprofits and academia, managing programs, grants and government affairs.