Use Budget Cycles to Plan Smarter

As the current budget cycle ends, many public agencies are simply waiting for the next one to begin. But this isn’t downtime—it’s the best time to plan.

Now’s your chance to think strategically, make the most of your budget, and get ready for future success. Whether you’re using leftover funds or preparing for new spending, smart investments now make it easier to deliver on time, on budget, and more effectively later.

Maximize Your Budget Planning Time

Budgets may be limited, but your agency’s mission hasn’t changed. Customers still expect accessible, fair, and easy-to-use digital services. 

Small, strategic investments now can make your upcoming work more successful. Consider:

• Strategy sessions to agree on digital priorities
• Stakeholder workshops to get buy-in across teams
• Discovery research to identify unmet user needs
• Content audits to decide what to keep, update, or remove
• Top task analyses to see why users really use your services
• Baseline usability studies to find issues and frustrations
• Accessibility reviews to start complying with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 before the April 2026 DOJ deadline
• Human-centered design training to build your teams’ skills for more data-driven problem solving 

Early planning helps you align, gain insights, and prioritize effectively—allowing you to move quickly and confidently when funding becomes available.

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Get More Value with Human-Centered Design 

Whether your budget cycle is beginning or ending, human-centered design helps you spend wisely. It puts customers first, so you can prioritize updates that will make a difference. It helps you:

• Focus on projects that matter most to customers
• Avoid wasteful spending that won’t solve real problems
• Align teams around shared goals
• Make progress toward future initiatives

When you have tight budgets and limited resources, these tools can reduce risk and increase effectiveness.

Case Studies: Success Between Budget Cycles

Our clients often use the time between budget cycles to develop detailed plans. We’ve helped agencies:

• Discover why users weren’t completing digital forms
• Map user experiences to prioritize future redesigns
• Unite departments around shared goals with stakeholder workshops
• Train staff in human-centered design to prepare for major service improvements

Each of these efforts fit the agency’s timeline and budget—and helped them move forward with clarity, confidence, and efficiency.

Prepare Your Roadmap 

Now is the time to look ahead. Planning now helps you stay on track and makes it easier to get funding in the future. It gives your agency time to engage users, align teams, and prioritize improvements based on real needs and data—not guesswork.

Additional Reading

“How Human-Centered Design Solves Government Challenges”

“Building the Case for Human-Centered Design with Executive Leadership”