End to End redesign starts with really understanding the problem

Problem solving is great fun and is also a fantastic life skill to have, however it can be a frustrating exercise when you are trying to solve the wrong problem or decide to jump straight to solution mode without understanding the problem properly.

After some reflection this was probably the biggest insight that hit home during the whole of the Design in the Public Sector programme which we concluded late last Autumn.

Not content with the learning we gained, Kevin, Jo and I wanted to extend some of our learning by taking the opportunity to visit the Design Council in London as well as visiting Becky Rowe and her colleagues at Revealing Reality (formerly ESRO). We also extended the invite to 3 additional colleagues as we wanted to allow others to experience a small bit of what we gained.

 

I’m not going to share the details of the day as that might sound a bit boring, instead I’m going to focus on the key aspects of learning and reflections from the day.

Design as Strategy
This is something you don’t really see in public services, but it is starting to emerge as an enabler of transformation. But we must ensure that we are clear what this really means. This isn’t just about a sounding good or trendy, it is about adopting a robust methodology and approach to fundamentally and deeply understand the problems we face and the systematically address those using a variety of service design techniques which are currently rare in local government but are on the increase.

Design at the Top Table
As we all know culture eats strategy for breakfast so we can’t simply think that having a strategy will make everything OK and that we can sit back and it will fix itself. This stuff is really hard, when you deeply understand complex problems through powerful stories and data you have a duty to do something with it. The decision makers in organisations need influencing, support, advice and most of all emotional ownership of the change to drive through the bureaucracy and challenges to truly transform how we deliver or enable services. Having someone at the top table who understands the opportunity is essential.

Understand Place and Understand People
You need a breadth of understanding and that is built from exploring the places people live as systems and the interconnections that exist – this gives you a context. You also need to create depth by truly understanding people and their stories.
There is a skill and art to this that needs to be understood but we all do this to a lesser or greater degree already.

Challenge Assumptions
Everyone assumes something all the time and that is fine, but we also need to surface and challenge assumptions so that we can better understand problems, help people explore opportunity and solve problems creatively. In this context not knowing a system or place can be helpful as you can start to explore and ask the obvious questions which many people take for granted.

Really understand the problem
When people talk about End to End redesign – it really means doing all of the above and more. When you do that you create a true understanding of the reality that exists for people and not the perceptions people hold, the assumptions people make or the professional opinion of colleagues. To solve the problems of our day we need a deep understanding of them and that is when we open ourselves up to people – create vulnerabilities but also trust and respect.

I don’t have all the skills or knowledge I need ‘yet’ but I am determined to work with people here and further afield to solve problems. When you think about it like that, it is really exciting. As I’ve said before there is no austerity of the mind and imagination, so we have a choice whether we want to invest our own time and energy in helping others.  I know what I’m going to do.

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