Most people would spontaneously say the phone queue. Yet both take exactly the same time. That’s exactly what makes the psychology of bureaucracy so interesting. Administration that doesn’t work annoys people disproportionately. And 15 real minutes feel like 15 hours.

Behavioural research shows: people perceive waiting times as far more negative when they don’t understand why they’re waiting or how much longer it will take. And that’s exactly where an often-overlooked challenge of digitising government lies. We invest a lot of energy in speeding up processes. But often too little in how they’re experienced. For citizens, it’s not just about how long something takes. It’s also about: do I understand what’s happening right now? Do I know what the next step looks like? Do I feel informed?

And this is where tools and AI can help enormously — for example, by automatically explaining, whenever needed, what’s happening right now, how much longer it’ll take, and offering ways to ask follow-up questions. Giving applicants back a sense of control — in a live chat, instead of weeks of back-and-forth emails.

It’s all possible. We just have to actually do it!

Image: This image was created with AI.

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