A moat in public services isn't about profit. It's about why your service can do something no one else can replicate at the same cost, quality, or reach.
Network effects. Switching costs. Data accumulated over time. Regulatory position. Most services have one of these. Few capitalise on it deliberately.
What's your service's sustainable advantage?
Strategy means deciding what you won't do.
Most services try to serve everyone and end up serving no one well. A position only exists if it involves trade-offs. 'Everything's a priority' is not a strategy. It's a sign nobody's made a choice yet.
What has your service consciously decided NOT to do?
A metric improved after a change. Did the change cause it?
Three questions worth asking before taking credit:
1. Would it have improved anyway? Trends and seasonality move metrics independently.
2. Who are you measuring? Opt-in groups aren't representative.
3. What else changed? Feature releases, comms, policy shifts can all be the driver.
The honest answer: we think we contributed, but we're not certain. That's more credible than false certainty.
Opportunity cost is invisible. You can never see the road not taken.
But decision-makers think in opportunity cost constantly. When your project gets cut, they're not saying the work is bad. They're saying something else generates more value per pound spent.
If you want your work to survive prioritisation, make the comparison legible. What does this cost? What does it generate? What's the best alternative?
What's the best alternative to your current project?
People keep using tools they openly complain about. Why?
Switching costs. Not just money. They include:
- Data locked in proprietary formats
- Muscle memory and habits
- Integrations with other systems
- The cognitive cost of learning something new
A better service doesn't automatically win. It has to be better enough to overcome all of that friction.
What switching costs are your users carrying?
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Try to describe what users achieve without mentioning the product.
Not "they submit a form" but "they get confirmation their case is progressing."
Not "they book an appointment slot" but "they get reassurance about something that's been worrying them."
That gap between what the service does and what the user gets is where value proposition lives. Features can be copied. The job, in context, is harder to replicate.
What job does your service actually do?
Simon Whatley
Rably
Richard98248
Datentreiber