Introduction to

Policy Lab

Reflections on the first

six months of Policy Lab

About Policy Lab1

2

3

4

Lab projects to date

Tools and techniques

What is next?

Introduction &

our approach

About

Policy Lab

About

Policy Lab

What is Policy Lab?

We are a creative space where

policy teams can develop the

skills and knowledge to make

policy in a more open, digital

and user-centred way.

@PolicyLabUK

What do we do?

We are proving ground for new

tools and techniques for policy-

makers. Through practical

projects and one-off

experiments, we test, refine and

evaluate new and emergent

ways of working.

About

Policy Lab

Our approach

We help key decision makers in

government and public services

to view their efforts from outside

in, bringing clarity through new

perspectives. We bring together

the public, frontline professionals

and experts to collaborate on real

policy problems.

About

Policy Lab

Lab Demonstrators

These projects typically last 3 to

6 months.

We work with experts within and

outside government to identify

the problem, explore practical

solutions and try them out on the

ground using a range of tools.

Departments’ policy teams gain

new insights, skills and

confidence to know when and

how to apply different techniques.

About

Policy Lab

Lab Light

Lab Light captures a range of

short and intensive activities –

from one hour workshops to

sprint projects.

We work with civil servants who

want to experience new

techniques, from data science to

co-design.

We also open up our materials

and tools, so those who have

experienced Lab techniques can

share them with others.

About

Policy Lab

Lab projects

to date

Lab projects

to date

Projects

Police Digitisation

with the Home Office & Surrey &

Sussex Police

Family Mediation

with the Ministry of Justice

National Insurance Numbers

with HMRC & DWP

Northern Futures (Lab Light)

for the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office

Youth Social Attitudes (Lab Light)

for the Cabinet Office

Since April 2014 we’ve:

Tested design ethnography,

customer journeys and rapid

prototyping in 3 demonstrator

projects.

Supported over 400 civil servants

with co-design and rapid idea

generation techniques.

Shared our work with over 2,000

people through our events,

workshops, talks and Policy School

sessions.

Built and tested a set of Lab tools.

Policy Lab

activities

Tools &

Techniques

Tools & Techniques

Tools & Techniques

Stages of design processStages of Lab demonstrators

Brief

Discover scope Develop proposals

ScopeMandate OptionsInputs

Visioning

workshops

help teams

build a

shared view

of the policy

area

Tools & Techniques

Discover: Setting scope

‘Design ethnography’

builds insight by shadowing

users or spending time with

them discussing their lived

experience in real contexts

Tools & Techniques

Discover: User’s experience

‘Personas’ are

used to represent

different end users

Tools & Techniques

Discover: User’s experience

‘Journey mapping’

looks at a service

from a user’s point

of view

Tools & Techniques

Discover: User’s experience

‘Touch points’ mark

the physical

interactions with a

service

Tools & Techniques

Discover: Areas for improvement

‘Challenge cards’ are

used to build a shared

understanding of a

problem

Tools & Techniques

Define: Challenges

Rapid ideas generation is

a quick fire technique for

teams to co-create new

ideas

Tools & Techniques

Develop: Policy ideas

Co-design workshops

enable different people to

come together and share

ideas

Tools & Techniques

Discover: Opportunities

‘Table top prototyping’

helps visualise a service to

quickly test assumptions

Tools & Techniques

Develop: Prototypes

What is

next?

In the next 6 months we’re

Looking across government for more

demonstration projects.

Kicking off more Lab Light activities

such as the Open Ideas Day to be held

simultaneously in eight major cities for

the Deputy Prime Minister.

Sharing our insights, working with the

AHRC to evaluate the Lab’s first year.

Publishing our thinking in the Open

Policy Making Blog, Design for Policy

Book and year one review of the Lab.

The Policy Lab is funded by departments for departments, we are a small team

supported by departmental secondees and external experts. We are part of the

Government Innovation Group, working with the Cabinet Office’s Open Policy

Making Team and the Policy Profession Support Unit.

Demonstration projects: Home Office, Surrey and Sussex Police, Ministry of Justice

and HMRC & DWP. Lab Light projects: Deputy Prime Minister’s Office, Cabinet

Office Horizons Scanning team, GO Science, DWP and Departmental Policy Schools.

Design industry experts: Uscreates, Innovation Unit, Nonon, RedFront, Sea

Communications and Public i. Events: Civil Service Live, Institute for Government.

Advisors, friends and partners: Mindlab, GDS, Design Council, Nesta, and RSA and

All Party Parliamentary Group on Design and Innovation.

Policy Lab team: Paul Maltby, Dr Andrea Siodmok, Beatrice Andrews and Cat Drew.

AHRC Research Fellow, Dr Lucy Kimbell. Special thanks to our interns from the Royal

College of Art: Holly Mahoney, Iban Benzal and Valentina Lopez.

With thanks to

Lab partners, friends

and industry experts

[All images from Lab Projects][October 2014]