Our values

Our mission is to change government to serve people better. We work with federal partners to build better services for the public and to help public servants doing this important work.

We strive to live these values in everything we do at CDS. They guide our work, shape our decisions, our behaviour, and our hiring.

Put people at the heart of our services

Our work is fundamentally about people, not technology. We’re driven by empathy and put people’s needs first. We build inclusivity, diversity, and accessibility into everything we do — from the start, not as an afterthought. We work hand in hand with the people who use and operate services.

Deliver measurable outcomes

We work to achieve the greatest impact for the greatest number of people in the greatest need. That means we focus on measuring how we help people and create lasting change in government, not project milestones. We believe hands-on delivery — actually designing and building services with partners — develops skills and gets results.

Do the hard work to make things easier

Making change in government is hard, but we love a good challenge. We do not shy away from hard conversations but approach them with courage, humility, compassion, and integrity. We untangle complexity so the people using government services do not have to.

Build for learning and iteration

We believe that good services are built in small steps and with modular parts that make it easier to pivot and course correct. The best way to find out if a service works well is to put it in front of the people who use it, so we continuously test, learn, document, and adjust.

Work in the open to help clear a path

We share our work, progress, and failures to help others learn from what we do. We want to show what is possible and empower public servants to make it a reality. We welcome the contributions and critiques that make our work better.

Take care of each other

We’ve got each other’s backs — and those of our partners. We treat resilience and wellness as organizational responsibilities, not just character traits. We work to create a space where people feel they belong, take risks, learn from mistakes, and speak openly.