Experiência.Gov is innovative because it connects, in a structured and replicable way, user experience research to the real governance of public systems—something rarely institutionalized in public administrations. First, it links UX research to public-sector governance: a small team of public servants generates prioritized recommendations that fit within institutional hierarchies and regulatory constraints—something no previous methodology in the Brazilian federal government had achieved at scale. Second, it formally integrates behavioral science through an anti-sludge perspective: the Frictions Matrix diagnoses cognitive, emotional, informational, and normative barriers, turning qualitative observations into strategic prioritization criteria. Third, it is replicable and transferable: the methodology was documented with rigor and flexibility to be applied in diverse contexts, and it is already being institutionalized through the Experiência.Gov Seal.

The Experiência.Gov Methodology was formally published in December 2025—the result of the Coquat team’s continuous refinement through real applications in federal procurement systems. Lessons from these practical experiences shaped the current framework. The team is now in a diffusion phase: supporting adoption in new federal systems, training peers, and developing the Experiência.Gov Seal as a scalable mechanism to recognize quality in governmental UX.

At the center is the Coquat team within MGI—a group of public servants combining UX design, behavioral science, and public administration, responsible for all stages of conceiving and applying the methodology. The management units of federal systems co-created the approach by providing access, regulatory context, and validating recommendations. User civil servants participated in interviews and shadowing sessions, contributing the behavioral evidence that underpins each diagnosis.

Public servants/users who use public procurement systems are the direct beneficiaries: the methodology reduces cognitive load, risk of error, and time wasted in daily work. System managers gain structured, evidence-based inputs for investment and redesign decisions. Federal agencies benefit from greater administrative efficiency. Indirectly, Brazilian citizens benefit from better-quality public services—an impact chain initiated and sustained by a dedicated team of public servants.

The methodology seeks to reduce administrative frictions in government digital systems, improve civil servants’ experience, and build institutional capacity for evidence-based UX decisions. Among the results already delivered by the Coquat team: documented friction maps for multiple federal procurement systems, validated interface prototypes that reduce navigation complexity, and the publication of a formal and replicable methodological framework (December 2025). The Experiência.Gov Seal will establish measurable official recognition of proven improvements. Impact is tracked through user satisfaction indicators, reduction in support tickets, and behavioral evidence collected before and after each intervention.

The main challenge was balancing methodological rigor with public-sector institutional constraints—variable team availability, divergent timelines, implementation costs, and regulatory environments that limit the scope of recommended changes. The team also had to manage expectations: partners sometimes expected technical solutions rather than diagnostic guidance. One failure mode to note was scope creep during the alignment stage, when unaddressed assumptions led to misaligned deliverables. The Coquat team responded by incorporating explicit scope-management scripts in each stage and consistently reinforcing the diagnostic, not prescriptive, nature of the work. This boundary became one of the methodology’s recognized strengths.

The most important condition for success was the dedication and competence of the Coquat team—a small group of public servants that combined behavioral science, UX design, and public management to build something genuinely new in a complex institutional environment. Equally critical was the support of MGI leadership, which provided legitimacy for the team to access and observe systems in use. The decision to document the methodology rigorously—creating structured scripts for each stage—ensured consistent quality, reduced reliance on individual expertise, and made the framework transferable. A culture of honest reflection on what worked and what did not was essential for continuous improvement.

The main lesson: public-sector innovation happens when committed public servants receive a clear mandate and space to learn by doing. The Coquat team proved that a small, multidisciplinary group can generate systemic change—provided it works deeply within institutional realities. Documentation is leverage: investing in a well-written, living methodological framework multiplied impact far beyond individual projects. Keeping the methodology diagnostic—not prescriptive—was essential to build trust and avoid institutional resistance. And integrating behavioral science as an interpretive lens—not as a separate methodology—made the approach much more actionable and accepted in the public-sector context.

The Experiência.Gov Methodology was conceived and built entirely by public servants in the Brazilian federal government, without external consultants. This shows that institutional innovation can emerge from within—when teams are empowered, multidisciplinary, and focused on the real experience of the people they serve. The Coquat team is available to engage with OPSI and with partner governments interested in adapting this approach to their own digital service improvement programs.