Calmworks
Parliament of Finland
Parliament of FinlandSprint

Digital Democracy in 24 Hours

When COVID shut down Parliament, a 24-hour sprint kept democracy running.

Government24 hours2020
24 hrs
Time to working solution
200
MPs served
COVID crisis
Context
Mission-critical
Status
The challenge

When COVID-19 forced Finland's Parliament to close, there was no system for remote democratic processes. Legislation couldn't stop. The institution needed a digital solution for remote voting and participation, and they needed it immediately. Standard procurement timelines were out of the question.

Our approach
  • Compressed a typical design sprint into a 24-hour intensive session

  • Worked directly with parliamentary officials to understand procedural requirements

  • Designed and prototyped a remote participation system under extreme time pressure

  • Prioritized trust, accessibility, and procedural correctness over feature completeness

The outcome

A working digital democracy solution was delivered within 24 hours, enabling 200 Members of Parliament to continue legislative work remotely during the COVID-19 crisis. The sprint demonstrated that mission-critical systems can be designed and prototyped at speed when the right team is in the room. This was design in service of democracy, under real pressure.

governmentcrisis responsedesign sprintdigital democracy
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