^ LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW ABOVE ^
In today’s Sixer Spotlight, we talk with Melissa Schaff, a Digital Services Strategist at Agile Six, to explore how human-centered design drives real change in civic tech. Drawing from her experience at the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) and her work across both corporate and civic tech environments, Melissa shares how empathy, problem-solving, and collaboration—not just technology—are at the heart of transforming how government services are designed and delivered. Find out how even the smallest of changes can make the biggest impact.
Meet Melissa Schaff
Melissa, welcome to the Sixer Spotlight. To help people get to know you a little better, tell us, who is Melissa Schaff?
A. Thanks, Lisa. I’m super excited to be here. Who is Melissa? Great question! I’m a native Philadelphian. I actually just moved back to Philadelphia this summer. I enjoy ceramics; I also love cooking and other creative outlets. I read a lot. I love going to the movies, and I love to travel and see the world to experience new cultures and experience new things. I actually studied art history in college, and I’m fascinated by the way that art represents humanity and different eras of culture and people.
In our recent conversations, you mentioned how your father's diabetes and your upbringing have influenced your journey. Tell us, how have these experiences shaped you and brought you to the space you're in today doing the work you do?
A. I think my upbringing plays a really big role in why I’m able to be an empathetic designer. Growing up with my dad being a Type 1 diabetic and seeing him just power through having this difference—that he didn’t make his entire personality—showed me that you can be really strong despite the things that may be hard for you. I learned a lot from his perspective of his own journey in life, as well as the impact that it had on me to be very aware of other peoples’ needs. I think I bring that awareness to my career by being able to be very empathetic.
I mentioned that I’m from Philadelphia originally, and I think that my upbringing and going to Quaker school, which is common growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, has played a huge impact on who I am and bringing empathy to everything that I do. We were taught a lot about listening to others, caring for others, and treating people how you want to be treated—the golden rule. I think that plays a huge part in not only how I approach life, but also in how I approach doing work and seeing things from all sides.
Journey to Civic Tech
Let's talk about your background because it's impressive. With over five years at the U.S. Digital Service (USDS), time at Goldman Sachs, and even projects within the NFL, share your journey to Agile Six and tell us what drew you to human-centered design.
A. I’m a digital services strategist here at Agile Six. I took a very indirect road into the design space and the tech space, as well as civic tech specifically. What really drew me to human-centered design are three things: I’m super organized, I’m creative—or so people tell me—and I love to solve problems.
The human-centered design space allows me to flex all three of those muscles at the same time. In particular, in civic tech I find that the work is really meaningful, and I get to impact people’s lives. I’ve seen a direct correlation between minor tweaks and changes that come from research and from the work that I have done talking to different people about their needs, wants, desires, and pain points, and it makes a huge difference in their lives to be able to access things more easily—like healthcare or applying for benefits they’re eligible for at the VA.
As a digital services strategist, tell us what you do at Agile Six. What’s your day-to-day like?
A. One thing I love about my job is that it’s different every day. This week, I got to participate in an AI code challenge, and that’s not my area of expertise, but I was thrilled to be brought in to provide a human-centered design lens and do research in a new space, learn more about the technology behind it, and work with really great people.
Another part of my job, in addition to doing actual design work, is thinking about the strategy and approach we take to different contracts here at Agile Six—how we do the work, what work we’re going after, thinking through how the different contracts that we’re considering fit with our business model, whether it’s work we want to take on, and then providing an explanation of how we would approach that work if we were to win the bid.
I also work with teams on a pretty regular basis, coming in and providing expertise in the civic tech space, in particular at the VA, but also in the federal government at a bunch of different agencies. I’m able to provide a lens of, “Hey, this is how the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) works, and here’s how it has an impact on user research,” and guiding teams to better solution for the problems they’re trying to solve and giving them resources to enhance their work that they’re doing as well as providing subject matter expertise. For example, I was working on the redesign of VA.gov, which Agile Six was one of the contractors for, and how I found out about the company back in 2017–2018. Now, I can give some context on the decisions made for the product at that time and help teams understand the platform they’re working on.
The Role of Empathy in Design
You once said UX fails when you treat your client as a problem to solve. It thrives when you treat them as a friend to help. Tell us more about your philosophy.
A. I think that if you can take a step back and think of the people you’re working with, or the people you’re delivering the work for, as a friend, you’re able to bring a lot more empathy into the problem-solving, and approach it from a different manner, and be more comfortable in problem-solving, both for them, but also with them.
Corporate and Civic Tech Experiences
You’ve worked in both civic tech and corporate environments. Tell us what the key similarities and differences are.
A. I think there are a lot of differences between corporate environments and the government, but there are a lot of similarities too. One of the reasons why I was drawn to a position at a company like Goldman Sachs was because I saw a lot of similarities and parallels to things in the federal government. For example, there’s a lot of regulation and compliance that’s involved.
I worked on a product [at Goldman Sachs] that was atypical, and I thought, "When am I ever going to get a chance to work on something like this again?" I had the same approach in the government. It’s what drew me to work at the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) and later to move over to work at the Department of Defense while I was at USDS. I found that I could get exposure to things I had never experienced before. Part of being a human-centered designer is broadening your horizons and learning a lot of different things.
I feel like a big part of my career has been learning about different areas that I would never have necessarily been exposed to through my own exploration, so I try to take advantage of those opportunities. When I was approached to join Agile Six, I felt that way about it. I felt that it was another one of those opportunities where I just couldn’t say no because it was so unique. The company’s values really align with my own, and it felt like a great opportunity to continue doing really good work with good people at a good organization.
Small Changes, Big Impact: The Power of Human-Centered Design
What are you most proud of in your career thus far?
A. I love that you’re asking this question because I think the thing I’m most proud of is really small, and people would never think about it. But in reality, the reason I had to come up with a design for it was because people were thinking about it a lot. There was a lot of trial and error to get the right design, but it was such a small tweak to the existing UI that I think it’s almost imperceptible.
When I was working on VA.gov there was a need to have the Veterans Crisis Line very prominent throughout the site. That was something that we learned through user research, and it was really important for stakeholders that it was not only visible, but also very accessible and easy for Veterans or other users of the site to be able to utilize.
The original design for the button, which is at the top of the page everywhere you go, was missed every single time during user testing. So I put together a myriad of different designs—probably a dozen or so options—and one of the simplest tweaks, just bolding the words “Veterans Crisis Line” in the button, made a huge difference and drew people’s eye to it, and it’s stayed that way ever since.
Whenever I look at the site, I’m always so proud to see that small tweak we made, that we validated with users, and stakeholders loved it, and it’s there, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be changing.
HCD: The Heart of Problem Solving
Do you see human-centered design as the heart of problem-solving? And if so, why?
A. The core of human-centered design, in my opinion, goes back to problem-solving, but I don’t think you can do it alone. I think that engineers are always going to be my best friends or the people I go to before I start coming up with a solution because if they can’t implement it, if the tech stack doesn’t support it, if the design system doesn’t work with that interaction, then my solution isn’t going anywhere, it’s not valuable. I think that you really need to work as a team— a cross-functional team in particular—to reach a viable solution.
It’s never one person doing the work, or one competency doing the work. It’s never just the human-centered designer solving a problem. Maybe I’m providing evidence or points to support a solution, but it never stops there.
Do you think of yourself as a designer?
A. Throughout my entire career, whenever the term "designer" has been brought up—not only by myself, but also by my peers who are designers—there’s a notion of imposter syndrome that is felt very strongly across the industry. I think the term “designer” often makes people feel like you’re supposed to be making something beautiful or very visual by nature.
But in the human-centered design space, it’s actually more about problem-solving, and you’re designing solutions. Those solutions may be visual designs,they may be tangible products or artifacts that you can see, you can touch, you can look at. In reality, a lot of my job is thinking about how to solve problems and putting people first in those solutions.
I’ve really come to terms with the label "designer" when I put it in context. I am designing something—I’m designing a process, I’m designing a better experience, I’m designing words, I’m designing a better way to navigate through a website or an application, or even in this role in particular, I’m designing the way that we approach work with a human-centered perspective.
Challenges and Rewards
Let’s talk about challenges. What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced at Agile Six?
A. I think the biggest challenge I’ve experienced at Agile Six is one of the biggest challenges I’ve had anywhere I’ve worked—I don’t think it’s unique to working here, and it goes back to that feeling of imposter syndrome. Even though I’ve told myself over and over again, “You’re designing solutions, you’re designing wireframes, you’re designing experiences,” I still sometimes feel like I’m not doing it right. But, I’m constantly validated that I am, and I really enjoy that about working in an environment like Agile Six, where we’re so supportive of one another.
I was on a call with a stakeholder this week from the VA who kind of called me out for being really quiet on calls, and I had to explain, "No, I just observe things. I like to process things. That doesn’t mean I’m not actively participating just because I’m not talking." Then she got it—it wasn’t a big deal.
But at the same time, I felt like I was failing because I wasn’t meeting someone’s expectations. Then, I had to go back and remind myself, "No, that’s not how I work. That’s not how I operate, and that’s totally okay."
What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
A: It’s funny, I feel like in previous jobs, one of the most rewarding things has been talking to people, interviewing users, doing research, really getting into the projects, and fortunately, I’ve had that experience here at Agile Six in my role, but here one of the most rewarding, impacting, good feelings that I’ve gotten is when people across the company ask, “Have we heard back about this proposal? Did we win this work?” because I see how excited they are to do the work, and it makes me really happy because I’m just as enthusiastic when we’re submitting a proposal. I always feel good about the work we’re bidding on because I know the impact it’s going to have in the long run, and I know that we’re not just bidding on something to bid on it.
We’re really selective about the work we go after, and I love seeing how engaged other Sixers are with the timeline and outcome of what we’re bidding on. They really want to know, “Did we get that work?” because they want to work on it too, and it makes me really happy to see that.
Core Values and Company Culture
Which of Agile Six's core values—purpose, trust, wholeness, self-management, and inclusion—resonates with you the most, and why?
A. All the values are really important to me, but I think wholeness is probably the most important, or the one I would stack on top of all the rest. Because if you can't be your whole self, then you're not going to do your best work, and it’s kind of a domino effect on the rest of the values.
Wholeness is something that I’ve personally upheld in my life and in my career, but I’ve never worked anywhere that made it a fundamental aspect of the company culture the way we do at Agile Six.
What has surprised you the most about working at Agile Six?
A. Obviously, saying wholeness is important is one thing, but living it is another. I do want to clarify one thing about wholeness, because I think it could be misinterpreted. There are times when you have to work more than 40 hours a week, and there are times when the work doesn’t require you to be at your desk working 40 hours a week—it ebbs and flows over time. And I think it’s that balance that really equates to wholeness.
One of the things that I was really shocked by when I joined Agile Six was the first time I took a day off or went on vacation, people actively yelled at me if I tried to get on Slack or check an email–I love that! I think if you’re out, you should be out. And the fact that everyone here really upholds that policy—communally, we uphold each other's wholeness—is shocking to me and is something that I really love, but was also surprised by.
What differentiates Agile Six from other companies in the government contracting space?
A. I think the main difference that I see about Agile Six being different from other organizations within the civic tech space is that we’re very purposeful about the work we go after. For every proposal we bid on, there are probably three to five that we pass on—either because the timing isn’t right, we don’t feel the work is something we would excel at, or we just don’t have an interest in it or can find value in comparison to other work that is out there. I think being highly selective in the work is really important to our entire company culture.
Another differentiator is that we really do value the opinion of all Sixers. Like I said, we don’t just go after any work presented to us; there’s an internal vetting process where the strategy team thinks about the type of work the entire company would be interested in and puts it out there, asking, “Is this of interest?” I’m not saying we always bid on things because people express interest or don’t bid if they don’t, but we really do value the opinions of Sixers when it comes to the work we take on. I don’t think every company is like that. It’s one of the benefits of being the size that we are and having the openness that we do.
What advice would you give to someone who's looking to get into civic tech?
A. The thing that I always go back to, and what drew me back into civic tech, is that your work really has a profound impact. Even like that small button on VA.gov—it was a teeny, tiny change that made a huge impact on the visibility and utilization of that button for people who need it.
That's the type of work you have to want to do if you want to get into civic tech. Regardless of if you’re a designer, an engineer, or a product manager—it doesn’t matter. You have to want to make an impact and feel compelled to make change happen.
Final Thoughts
A. To me, Agile Six isn’t just work—it’s a community of people that have similar values, but all different backgrounds and experiences working together to solve really impactful problems. Having been here for just about a year and seeing the company grow, it hasn’t changed. I haven’t felt like we’ve ever compromised on our values.
I feel like at the end of the day, anytime we’re faced with a difficult decision, whether from a leadership or strategy perspective, we always come back to our core values—and we don’t compromise on those. To me, that’s really important to uphold that sense of community.
Upon reflection of my time here, I know that not only am I making a difference for the company, the team, and clients, but I know that everyone else is. I am excited to see how that continues over the course of my journey at Agile Six.
Melissa, thanks for spending time with us today.
Any time, I’m happy to.
Sixer Spotlight is an ongoing series to share the stories of our team. If Melissa’s story piqued your interest in a career with Agile Six, explore our open roles.