PROTOTYPING
Once you know where in the system to intervene, you can use the levers of design to take action and create tangible solutions. Finding a leverage point is just the first step. The second step is activating the levers of design. A leverage point is the place within the system where we focus our efforts. The levers of design are how we take action to redesign the system. They are the tangible structures that can be designed to influence mindsets and behaviours. And when it comes to complex situations, there are often many interrelated factors at play. So you may need to experiment with a mix of different levers to find the most effective solutions.
Don't solve, dissolve...
Russell Ackoff said “the best way to create lasting change is not to solve a problem, it’s to dissolve the problem”. And we can only dissolve a problem through design, that is by redesigning the system so the problem no longer exists. Design levers are key to this.
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Here are six common levers that influence behaviour within organisations inspired by Jay Galbraith’s Star Model.
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Strategy is a way to align the systems around a common direction. You might set a strategic goal to reduce the rate of hospital–wide infections.
Structure is a way to define where authority resides for key decisions. You might make one person in each department accountable for ensuring staff wash their hands before every patient visit.
Process is a way to direct the flow of activities and information. You might redesign the patient chart to include a prompt for hand–washing after making notes.
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Infrastructure is a way to nudge behaviours through shared tools. You might install hand–washing stations or hand sanitiser dispensers in the hallways outside patient rooms.
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Talent is a way to grow the right mix of mindsets and skills. You might design a training program or a workshop to educate staff on the importance and proper practice of hand–washing.
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Incentives are a way to motivate people through hard and soft rewards. You might celebrate milestone reductions in the number of infections, or create a competition to see which department can bring down infections the fastest.
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You can adapt the design levers to your specific context. For example to redesign culture you might have levers for scheduling, events, spaces, finances, communications, process, roles, rituals, and incentives. The levers are a useful way to brainstorm ideas around your leverage point and design experiments.
We recommend you bring your co-creators together to define the appropriate levers for your system. Tapping into the power of multiple perspectives will help you brainstorm more ideas, push pas the obvious and surface the unexpected.
Prioritising for Impact...
Prioritising for impact is essential when faced with limited time and resources. Just as an architect carefully considers how each component of a house contributes to the overall design, so too must you evaluate potential solutions for their effectiveness within your system. But how do you determine which ideas to pursue? This is where a thoughtful framework for prioritisation becomes invaluable.
– Source: Human-centered Systems Thinking IDEO-U
Consider the potential impact of each idea, represented on the vertical axis, ranging from high to low. Simultaneously, evaluate the ease of implementation along the horizontal axis, from easy to hard. The ideal solutions are those that offer high impact and are relatively easy to implement—the proverbial low-hanging fruit.​
However, before diving headfirst into implementation, it's crucial to pause and assess the broader implications. Consider both the positive outcomes and potential side effects of your chosen solution.Furthermore, evaluate the feasibility of implementation. Are the necessary resources and capabilities readily available? Is there robust support from stakeholders?
If an idea appears high impact but challenging to implement, consider scaling it down to a more manageable size. Break the concept into smaller experiments or iterations to mitigate barriers and facilitate learning. By systematically evaluating the impact and feasibility of each idea, you can ensure that your efforts are focused on solutions with the greatest potential for success.
Explore, Experience, Experiment...
Complex human systems, such as organizations, are intricate webs of interconnectedness and constant change. Introducing a change in one area can have unforeseen repercussions across the entire system. Therefore, before implementing any idea, it's crucial to probe the system through prototyping to gain a deeper understanding of its workings, nuances, and responses to change.
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Having previously selected an idea with the potential for significant system-level impact, it's now time to create and test a prototype. Like any prototype, the purpose depends on what you aim to learn. In the realm of complex systems, prototyping serves three key purposes:
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Explore the system: Prototyping enables you to uncover hidden or intricate connections within the system. While mapping provides a visual representation of complexity, prototyping allows you to tangibly probe the system, identifying gaps and connections that may not be apparent through other methods.
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Experience the system: Beyond understanding how a system functions, prototyping helps you grasp how it feels to interact within it. Each stakeholder experiences the system differently based on their position within it. By creating prototypes that simulate real-world scenarios, you can foster a shared understanding of both the functional and emotional aspects of the system.
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Experiment with the system: Complex systems often yield unpredictable responses to change. By experimenting with prototypes, you can observe how the system reacts and adapt your approach accordingly. This iterative process allows you to refine your solutions based on real-world feedback, minimizing the risk of unintended consequences.
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Throughout the design process, prototyping serves as a valuable tool for exploration, experience, and experimentation within the system. By dynamically probing the system's response, you can develop a deeper understanding of the potential impact of your solutions, enabling you to refine and adapt your approach as needed.
Prototyping Primer...
In a systems context, prototypes serve as invaluable tools to transition from theoretical maps to actionable insights. They enable you to delve deeper into understanding how a system operates, empathize with stakeholders' experiences, and gauge the system's response to potential changes. The ultimate aim is to address critical questions about your intervention, gather feedback from stakeholders, and mitigate the risk of unintended consequences. If you're new to prototyping, here's a brief overview to get you started.
– Source: Human-centered Systems Thinking IDEO-U
What is a Prototype?
At its core, a prototype is the tangible manifestation of an idea, ranging from simple sketches to fully functional models. Prototyping isn't exclusive to designers; it's a skill that anyone can develop. Prototypes can vary in resolution, from rough drafts to realistic representations, depending on the stage of the design process.
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Low-resolution prototypes offer a quick way to explore initial ideas and concepts. These prototypes are swift to produce and provide early direction.
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High-resolution prototypes are more polished and detailed, allowing for a closer examination of specific features or concepts. While they require more time and resources to develop, they offer deeper insights into potential solutions.
Here are three tips to help you decide what to prototype:
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Step 1: Decide what to prototype
Prototyping starts by focusing on what we want to learn and framing a question based on our assumptions. We identify areas where we either know the least or where we have open questions.
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Highest Risk: Look for the elements of your intervention that carry the most risk—in complexity, assumptions about system behaviors, or lack of data. Where do you feel the least confident?
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Most Uncertain: Look for the elements of your intervention where you don’t have a lot of experience or can’t find good examples to reference out in the world. What do you need to learn to understand how this might impact your system?
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Most Misaligned: Look for the elements in your intervention where your stakeholders have competing incentives, perspectives, or priorities.
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Step 2: Build and test your prototype
The goal is to create a rapid prototype to help you answer your questions or test your assumptions. Here are five principles:
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Choose a format best suited to your question: Which kind of prototype will help answer your question? For example, a role-play scenario is ideal for exploring questions around a process, while a physical mockup is good for understanding how people behave in response to a change in their environment.
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Get it done in less than a day: Challenge yourself to make a prototype in one day or less, investing just enough time to communicate your idea so that it elicits feedback you can use. Make your prototype with simple materials or altered, off-the-shelf products.
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It’s okay to fake it: Don’t get caught up in representing absolutely every element of your intervention in your prototype. The trick is to make the prototype feel just real enough that when folks engage with it, they think it’s a functioning product, service, or experience.
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Provide options: This is an obvious point, but one worth emphasizing. When possible, create variations of your prototype. People need points of comparison to give insightful feedback that will help you move forward.
Build to spark behaviors: Strive for what we call a “live prototype” that elicits people’s actual behaviors over their reactions or preferences. (Often what people say varies from what they actually do.) Hold back from guiding someone on how to engage with your prototype; try building in a call to action for people instead (e.g., join a mailing list, place a pre-order).
Step 3: Gather feedback about your prototype
Prototyping is an iterative process. We often do multiple, rapid iterations of prototypes to address the same question. The goal is to quickly learn about the system—test assumptions, surface gaps and connections, and fuel the next experiment.
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Prototyping can take practice to get right, but once you get going, these cycles are fast, easy, and powerful. They help you learn about your system as a whole by focusing on your stakeholders—both the obvious and the unexpected.
Reflecting on the System...
After conducting a prototype test, it's crucial to engage in reflective analysis to glean insights about the broader system. Prototyping isn't merely about validating whether an idea works; it's about comprehensively understanding the system dynamics to inform subsequent experiments. This cyclical process of iterative learning is essential for deepening your understanding of the system, identifying focal points, and crafting solutions that are both impactful and effective. A prototype serves as a tangible inquiry into the system, posing questions that guide your exploration. What distinguishes prototyping in systems from other contexts is the magnitude of the questions posed.
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Upon completing a prototype test, dedicate time to reflect on your learnings. Consider what you aimed to uncover, what insights you actually gained, and what unexpected revelations emerged. In the context of complex systems, reflection can occur at both localised and systemic levels.
For instance, in our high school example, participants were encouraged to shadow students to gain firsthand insights into their experiences and design experiments accordingly. One principal, after shadowing students, realised the importance of enhancing their accessibility. To test this hypothesis, they relocated their desk to a more visible location in the hallway, allowing for increased interaction with students. This simple yet impactful change exemplifies how leaders can leverage their influence over system levers, such as physical space, to conduct low-stakes experiments.
Similar to stakeholder interviews, structured reflection sessions can facilitate both zooming in and out. While there are no rigid guidelines, a three-step reflection process can be beneficial. Firstly, zoom in to scrutinize local-level observations gleaned during the prototype test. How many students were engaged? What interactions transpired? However, limiting the analysis to surface-level observations overlooks the broader implications.
Secondly, zoom out to ponder systemic implications. Utilise direct observations to discern overarching patterns and insights about the system as a whole. Challenge yourself to transcend the obvious and contemplate the structural dynamics at play. For the principal, removing physical barriers revealed a systemic truth: accessibility fosters engagement.
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Lastly, zoom back in to design the next experiment. Each prototype unveils valuable insights about stakeholders and the system itself. Embrace this iterative process of experimentation and reflection to refine your understanding of the problem and potential solutions. Stay curious, open-minded, and proactive in identifying novel experiments that address systemic questions.
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Ultimately, systems prototypes serve as vehicles for exploring fundamental inquiries that guide subsequent experiments. Embrace structured reflection as a means to extract profound insights crucial for navigating future steps and fostering systemic change. By adopting this approach, you'll unlock transformative insights vital for advancing your goals and enhancing the system as a whole.