Turning compliance into value:
redesigning WaterIQ
How we transformed a frustrating, highly-rejected government system into a valuable, user-centric tool for Queensland's agricultural water users. Through deep user research and a strategic redesign, we rebuilt user trust, simplified the compliance process and created a clear roadmap to lift digital adoption from under 10% to a target of 80%.
Research • Product Strategy • UI Design • Accessibility •Prototyping
A mandatory government portal was being actively rejected by the farmers it was built for. I led the UX research and strategy that uncovered why - a deep frustration with a tool that offered no value. I led the design work that delivered a new vision and roadmap to transform the portal from a compliance burden into a trusted partner, charting a path to 80% digital adoption.
As the UX Lead and Designer, I drove the user research, synthesis, design strategy and prototyping. I made key decisions on the strategic direction and design solutions. I collaborated with another designer and worked with a dynamic group of client-side stakeholders and collaborated closely with the Queensland Government’s Design Systems team.
Reframing the challenge
Water is one of Queensland's most precious resources. Commercial usage is tracked and regulated to ensure a healthy and sustainable system for the state's farmers, irrigators and businesses - vital to their livelihood of those in the agricultural sector.
The WaterIQ portal was built to streamline the mandatory process of submitting water meter readings to the government, but it was failing. Adoption sat below 10%, with most users bypassing the portal to email PDF forms with their usage instead - a costly and error-prone process for the department.
The initial assumption was that this was the user’s digital literacy issue. However with a goal set of reaching 80% digital adoption, my initial task was to ‘uplift’ the portal - effectively to give it a fresh coat of paint in the hope of fixing it’s problems.
My research revealed the issues were far more complex. The engagement shifted from simplifying the UI, to diagnosing why the portal was pushing users away and creating a strategy to transform it from a compliance burden into a valued tool.
The original portal: a cluttered, information-dense interface that users found overwhelming and confusing. Our audit revealed it also failed critical accessibility standards, creating significant barriers for many.
Listening, iterating and learning
To understand the real-world context, I conducted 19 in-depth interviews, including three visits to farms. We split these sessions into research sprints, which allowed us to adapt and evolve our approach as we progressed rather than repeating the same research session multiple times. Alongside this, I used AI tools to rapidly prototype and test concept ideas and developed and refined user archetypes while mapping their journeys with the WaterIQ system. The cadence was challenging at times, but ultimately it enabled richer insights. The process revealed deep frustrations and a breakdown of trust.
A pivotal realisation was that our research sessions were often the first time these users felt heard by the department. Many were so frustrated they launched into complaints before I could even properly start my planned research session. There were both usability issues and a significant erosion of trust between users and the department.
Interactive AI-built prototypes, rapidly created between research sprints to test ideas and information architecture. Splitting the 19 sessions into sprints let us adapt and evolve as we progressed.
Why farmers walked away
My research synthesised the portal’s failures into three core issues:
Critical login friction: the mandatory myID authentication process was disproportionate to the task and created an operational bottleneck by tying access to a single individual.
Zero perceived value: the portal was a one-way data entry form. It took users' time and data but gave nothing back - no usage trends, historical data or actionable insights to help them manage their businesses.
A cluttered, complex and inaccessible layout: the information-dense design was mentally overwhelming and created a significant accessibility barrier, especially for users with impaired vision using scaled-up browsers.
These issues ultimately led to rejection of the portal. An alternative way of submitting readings - emailing a PDF form to the department - respected their time. Why work through the effort of accessing a portal when a simple form is available?
“It’s easier to transfer $100,000 with my bank than it is to log into this system and share my water usage”
- Water user
A journey map used to help stakeholders see usability challenges with the current state experience and failures to meet the government’s digital service standards.
The roadmap: fix, compete, lead
Armed with this evidence, I proposed a strategic, three-horizon roadmap to deliver immediate value while building towards a more ambitious future.
The goal was to first fix the foundations, then compete with the simplicity of the PDF form, and finally, become the preferred experience.
Horizon 1: build a usable & accessible foundation. Migrate to the Queensland Government’s design system, fix critical accessibility failures, and launch a simple dashboard showing users the information that they need most: their total allocation, amount of water used and amount remaining.
Horizon 2: compete with the PDF. Introduce a delegatable and simplified login to address the #1 workflow issue and operational bottleneck for farm businesses.
Horizon 3: become the preferred system. With trust re-established, deliver deeper value through usage trends, insights and alerts and the addition of high-value workflows like water trading.
3 horizons of change to reach wide digital adoption.
Driving change in a resistant system
The project's biggest challenges were often internal. I had to navigate shifting stakeholders and a prevailing mindset that since the tool was for compliance, its experience didn’t matter.
I used evidence from research to tell the human story behind the data, showing that a poor experience was actively damaging the department's relationship with its community. When our primary client contact changed mid-project, we quickly built trust by facilitating workshops to educate the new lead on accessibility and the value of a user-centric process, shifting the focus from a simple ‘uplift’ to delivering a valuable and compliant experience.
Delivering immediate value. We designed the new dashboard to answer users' key questions the moment they log in, empowering them with the insights needed for strategic planning while making core tasks like submitting a reading obvious. The companion mobile app extends this clarity into the field with core information and timely alerts.
Shifting the narrative and unlocking progress
My research and strategy have had a significant immediate impact:
Shifted the organisational narrative: my work moved the internal conversation from ‘the users are the problem’ to ‘our product is the problem’, creating the buy-in needed for a more ambitious, user-centric strategy.
Unblocked a paralysed team: I delivered a clear, evidence-based roadmap that gave a team stuck with a failing product the confidence and direction to move forward.
Strong user validation: The redesigned concepts were met with enthusiasm in testing. The qualitative feedback was strong, with positive sentiment from participants that they would gladly adopt a portal that actually offered them tangible value.
My strategic recommendations and designs have been adopted and horizon 1 designs are in the process of being built. The next phase of work is now planned to bring these solutions to life.
Streamlining a core task. We consolidated all device information into a single, clean layout and allowed users to submit a reading directly from the detail page. The mobile app offers a tailored 'in-the-field' experience, getting users into their task in seconds
Personal reflections
As a researcher, this project was a challenge. This project was a powerful lesson in researching with a community where trust had been broken. Many participants were deeply frustrated. I was often forced to adapt my initial research plan to give them the space to be heard. Adjusting my approach to acknowledge their anger and build rapport, I was able to transform that frustration into constructive, honest feedback. It was a powerful reminder that with users who feel ignored, building trust is the most critical part of the research method itself.
In a complex government environment, presenting the irrefutable evidence of a user's struggle is the most powerful tool for cutting through internal politics and aligning stakeholders.
Building on a foundation of consistency. We worked in close collaboration with the Queensland Government Design System (QGDS) team, implementing their standards and contributing new, bespoke components that were aligned with their work and could be reused in the future.