I hate going to the DMV for the same reason I hate going anywhere where lots of different transactions can be performed, and there are lots of prerequisites for any of them. Here are the core problems:

1. It seems as though the point of the DMV is to make sure you leave having failed to accomplish what you came there for.
2. Since they do this all day long and you don't, they treat you like an idiot if you can't remember the 37 things you needed to fill out and bring to register your car.
3. The employees seem to take a perverse sort of pleasure in 1 and 2.

I have to give them some credit: they seem to have added a new initial person who acts as a early rejector by telling you all the things you failed to bring or fill out so at least you don't sit there for 20+ minutes before getting a DMV teller to cackle wildly when you present your out-of-state license transfer form without a notarized signature from your godmother's cat.

There are other problems though: hours are haphazard, at each location some transactions can be performed and others can't, and the forms are dense with DMV jargon. I think there are some simple things that could be done to fix the DMV and make it so that it's no worse than going to the bank or some other semi-favorable transaction.

1. Post huge signs in the entrance with the 3 or 4 most likely transactions (registration, licensing, titles, road test, let's say), with a checklist of items, and a step-by-step procedure. This goes for any place that has a set of implicit scripts to follow that they seem to keep hidden for whatever reason (I'm looking at you, Post Office).
2. Offer these same things on the web. If you got to the WI DOT site, you get a zillion pages with somewhat conflicting information. Really it has to do with the fact that there are really different categories that you might belong to that are actually well-defined, but it's hard to know which one you fall in to. In addition to the giant checklists/process steps, offer a simple way to know which category you fall into. Having moved here from MA with valid plates, am I doing a plate transfer or not? I had to ask the guy at the counter to find out (No). Turns out I am essentially in the same category with people who had just purchased a new car.
3. Streamline the delivery by offering either every service at every location, or only one service at each location. Right now, you have to look at each place and then try to guess if the thing you want to do is offered at a particular location or not. Also, please don't just be closed on one random day each week. That means I have to check the website every time I need to go just to make sure it isn't that day.
4. I know you want me to do everything by mail, but people have questions, lots of questions. You need to offer some kind of web-based or phone support if you want everything to be done by mail. It will save time and money overall.
5. This one is the big one: an attitude change. People come in there with little or no understanding of what they need to do, and generally a relatively simple request. Why must we be made to feel like criminals and idiots? There has to be a way that someone could come in and start collecting user feedback about their experience because I know I'm not the only who feels this way. Their job is to help us get things done, not to prevent us from getting things done.

I think the key lesson is that municipalities could do a better job delivering services if they changed their default policy from DENY. I know that they are trying to cut down on fraud and all, but the vast majority of citizens are trying to do something perfectly legitimate. There has to be a better way of preventing illegal transactions than making the process increasingly daunting.