Design Labs are "charged" with a specific statement of the problem, a definition of what constitutes success, and specified parameters within which the design process must take place. While the Labs are not analytical, analysis can be useful in preparing for a lab. Therefore, Labs usually involve providing background material to the “designers” and may begin with a presentation and discussion of important data regarding the problem.
Results of a typical Lab include a written report laying out a proposed solution(s) to the problem presented and/or a set of breakthrough ideas. Designs are typically akin to high-level architectural drawings, not detailed schematics, and they are often unusual and challenging, yet we demand that they be practical and realistic. The next step after a Design Lab is to plan for a transition using the designs or ideas the client has chosen to implement.
What is Unique About a Design Lab?
The typical approach to problems of public management is to do careful analysis and planning in order to find "the right answer." That analysis rests on certain assumptions about how public services should be delivered and is important when working within a given paradigm. However, by its nature it is not innovative. When innovative new approaches are desired, design is a more useful approach than analysis. Creative thinking processes are used to develop creative new solutions to challenges by opening up participants’ thinking and by thoroughly challenging assumptions. It is effective because it makes “natural” human problem solving and creativity processes explicit. When these creative new solutions are successful we call them innovations.
The other big challenge to innovation in the public sector is the involvement of stakeholders. When stakeholders are asked to design systems that they are vested in the overwhelming tendency is to try to satisfy everyone’s interests. By separating stakeholder interests from the design process far more innovative and creative designs can be created.
When to Use a Design Lab?
1. When there is interest in a fresh "blank sheet of paper" approach.
2. When the stakeholders are intractable, in conflict, and/or not creative.
3. When the problem can be described in terms of a specific outcome (e.g. if you had $10 million to spend on getting people to take personal responsibility for their own wellness, how would you spend it? Or if you have 20% less to spend on a service how would you invest it to get the best outcomes?).
PSG has successfully used this methodology for over fifteen years in more than 25 Labs for foundations, universities, cities, counties, state and federal agencies, and non-profit organizations. Among the many topics addressed in Design Labs are:
• Community policing
• Behavioral health
• Health care and wellness
• Leadership
• Housing
• Child support
• Foster care
• Property tax reform
|
