Reflections on design in the Scottish Government

Lesley Thomson, Creativator

Data inputterer at Scottish Office Agriculture and

Fisheries Department

Various posts in Department for Work and Pensions: front line service, IT support and

management, information security, risk management

PGDip Information and Library

Studies

MA(Hons) History and

Economic History

Various IT qualifications

Website manager at UK Trade and

Investment

Knowledge Management

Officer with the Scottish Centre for

Regeneration

Librarian in the Scottish

Government Library Service

The Scottish Government

The Scottish Government

Business Strategy imperative…

What does a creative organisation look like?

Curious for ideas Motivated people

Open channels of communicationStrategic leadership

Fresh insights emerge in new places, informed by a deep understanding of the issues, at a human level. Leaders and managers at all levels welcome new ideas and support their development.

Shared understanding of goals, with clear direction and discretion across hierarchies to innovate in working towards them. Leaders regularly remove barriers.

Broad networks, with simple forms of communication and a culture of consulting colleagues, sharing work and ideas.

Work is challenging and fulfilling. Corporate policies support flexible operation. We celebrate and reward creative work – and support the development of creative skills.

Worthwhile public sector work

3 4

1 2

What is it that we do?> Fostering a belief that we are creative and that this has a real part to play in our work.

> Exploring, testing out and implementing widely new ways of working that help us achieve our desired outcomes.

Discover – defining the question

How can we radically increase the number of people in Scotland who

are physically active?

Getting active project – the story so farWhy get involved?

•Need for radical rethink•Reduced public purse•Public expect better in terms of answers

What did it entail?

•Going back to the drawing board•Seeing through lots of pairs of eyes•From the users point of view – making it meaningful

The Scottish Government

‘Teenagers – need to be on-trend, current. Kids don’t like getting

sweaty.’

‘Habits are powerful - it's not easy for everyone. How to get into habits of making healthy

choices within constraints people live in.’

‘Mountain biking is big here – tracks everywhere. Community want to raise money to create tracks here….it’s best when the kids

do it themselves, they build their own tracks in the woods, good to leave it as a guerrilla

activity!’

#normal#motivation

#affirming experience

#fun

The potential of a design approach?

• Genuine engagement, an assets/people based co-production approach.

• Empathic approach to gathering information; understanding how people behave, not just what they say; not just user but relationship focussed.

• Emphasis on the lived experience, rather than how things ought to be.

The potential of a design approach?

• Probing the question; reframing. Ensures the team considers and dissects the problem before thinking about solutions.

• Lots of ideas which are tested, then refined. Then prototyped and further refined. By doing this small scale we manage the risks.

• Solutions that have integrity and ownership from the people who are affected.

Research project summer 2014

• What were the experiences of SG staff in applying design thinking?

• In what ways did external partners engage with SG in delivering design-led projects?

• What were the benefits and challenges of using the design thinking approach within SG?

• In what ways could SG staff apply design thinking to future projects?

Methodology

•Qualitative: semi-structured interviews.

•Process of ‘snowball sampling’: 21 interviews (17 SG staff, 4 design professionals) across different sites.

•Observed and participated in two ‘in-house’ design thinking workshops.

•Attended a design policy workshop organised by Design Wales and PDR, the National Centre for Product Design and Development Research.

Limitations

•Short timeframe.

•Availability of potential research participants.

•‘Self-exclusion’ by some potential participants through definitional misunderstanding.

Design dichotomies “The fact you’re calling it something like ‘design’ is off-putting for some people. It’s

also appealing too.”

“Language is massively important and irrelevant.”

“Design is complex but simple, things that appear to be simple on the surface are in fact deeply complex when you begin to look at them closely.”

We had senior management support We didn’t have management support

It’s a new and disruptive way of doing things

It’s just putting new spin on what we already do

It’s a mindset It’s a set of tools/a methodology

“I think there’s a tension in trying to apply a scientific methodology and approach to what we do, the so called ‘evidence-based’ policymaking and having a design based approach…[] If we have a Chief Scientific Officer, why not have a Chief Design Officer? If design is so fundamental to the way that we do things. Our structures and capacity just don’t fit the rhetoric.”

Other findings “We could do better at creating spaces for

incubation… I think we are all really busy and we need

space to consistently innovate and create new and productive spaces for people

to think strategically.”

“The main challenge has

been the ability to dedicate time.”“People aren’t accustomed to [design] being around

then…this doesn’t look like proper work. I think we have a particular definition of what work looks like, ie

sitting at your desk.”

“We need to have examples from across the government so people can see it and say I can do that.”

Other findings

“You can’t thrust this upon anyone, you’ve just got to do it, again and again, not talk

about it, just do it.”

“You can’t run design thinking from the centre because you don’t own the issues. You need an

environment for authorising change.”

“You meet people with problems on the ground and this is your job trying to make things better. It’s

their stories that stay with you and there’s value in that for everyone.”

“It’s accessible, visual work, which is easier to interpret than the likes of a graph.”

“[The quality of the material] did make a

difference in the way that participants responded.”

Using a design approach

Useful when:•No obvious answers•Stuck!•There is space to try a new approach•Want to challenge the status quo

Challenges are:•Giving permission, committing resources to a whole process without knowing what the end result will be•Reactive vs planned work – where do our resources go?•What do we see as risk and when do we take it?

Learner Journey

So.

What now?

Upcoming projects

> Children and young people’s participation in policy making

> Staff moves process improvement

> European statistical boundaries engagement and consultation

> Use of Scottish Government open data – engagement

> EU planning directive

> Culture mapping

The Scottish Approach to Government

Scottish Approach to Government

Design in the Scottish Approach