SOCIAL
innovation
HANDBOOK FOR
PRACTITIONERs
Ideating Solutions for the Labour
Market in Egypt
Implemented by:
Implemented by:
Published by:
Published by:
s o c i a l i n n o vat i o n h a n d b o o k
SOCIAL INNOVATION HANDBOOK FOR PRACTITIONERS
Ideating Solutions for the Labour Market in Egypt
V1.0
May, 2016
Published by:
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Labour Market Access Programme (LMAP)
Cairo, Egypt.
Developed by:
iceHubs Global CIC
www.iceHubs.com
[email protected]
With support from:
icealexandria
icecairo
Written and Edited by:
Adam Molyneux-Berry
Ahmed M. Bastawy
Contributions by:
Marton Kocsev
Mina Ghaly
Hans Axel von Maltzahn
Book Design by:
Salma Adel
For any comments on the content of the book please contact:
Mina Ghaly ([email protected]) or Hans Axel von Maltzahn ([email protected])
Licensed under:
A Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, meaning that you are allowed to
use, develop, remix and build upon it , as long as you provide appropriate credit to the authors and any
new creations/contributions are licenced under identical terms as the ones outlined in this section.
To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ or send a letter to
Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0
Overview
7
2.0
The Challenge: The Labour Market in Egypt
3.0
Call to Action: The labour market access programme (LMAP)
4.0
iceHubs Global
5.0
How to Use This Handbook?
8
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10
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A. INTRODUCTION
A. 1.0
An Introduction to Social Innovation
15
A. 2.0 Why We use Social Innovation?
21
A. 3.0
What Are the Different Methodologies of Social Innovation?
A. 4.0
Characteristics of the Social Innovation Process
A. 5.0
Why Do We Need Human-Centred Approaches?
30
32
B. HEAR
B. 1.0
Introduction to HEAR
B. 2.0
How to Create Your Design Challenge!
B. 3.0
Identify Existing Knowledge
B. 4.0
Map Your Community
B. 5.0 Get Inspired Before You Start your Research!
B. 6.0
Design Your Interview Guide
B. 7.0
Research! (And How to Get the Best Out of It)
B. 8.0
From Deep Research to Empathy Maps & Personas
B. 9.0
Ending HEAR. Beginning CREATE.
36
37
42
50
58
62
73
65
70
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s o c i a l i n n o vat i o n h a n d b o o k
C. CREATE
C. 1.0
Introduction to CREATE
C. 2.0
Share Stories…
C. 3.0
Identifying Patterns to Make Sense of Our Stories, Personas and Maps
C. 4.0
Discovering Insights From Your Clusters!
C. 5.0
“How Might We…?”: From Insights to Opportunities
C. 6.0
Ideate! Brainstorming Solutions As A Team!
C. 7.0
Ranking (Voting) Ideas
C. 8.0
Putting Our Ideas Into Action!
C. 9.0
Designing Our Physical Prototypes
C. 10.0
Designing A Low-Resolution Prototype
C. 11.0
From the End of CREATE to the Beginning of DELIVER
76
77
84
87
93
94
98
103
107
108
109
D. DELIVER
D. 1.0
Introduction to DELIVER
D. 2.0
Looking through the Three Lenses
D. 3.0
Testing Your Prototype!
D. 4.0
Reviewing Your Prototypes and Your Prototype Testing Experiment!
D. 5.0
Seek Feedback!
D. 6.0
Assess the Viability of Your Solution!
D. 7.0
Assess the Feasibility of Your Solution!
D. 8.0
Build Your Business Model!
D. 9.0
Measure Your Impact!
D. 10.0
Getting into Action: From Prototype to Solution!
D. 11.0
Continue Learning to Continue Succeeding!
D. 12.0
The End is Just The Beginning!
Appendices
113
117
124
128
135
140
144
161
162
List of Abbreviations
References
112
201
200
147
158
121
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hear
|
c r e at e
|
deliver
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1.0 overview
Welcome, friends, colleagues, labourers, employers, innovators and experts to our Social Innovation
Handbook. We are about to embark on an incredibly exciting journey. Together, we will be learning and
applying social innovation processes to address key challenges in the blue-collar labour market in Egypt.
This handbook will demystify both innovation and social innovation, and equip you, yes YOU, with the
tools needed to solve complex challenges.
In the first part of this handbook we will be working together to understand how social innovation can be
applied to solve even the toughest challenges. We will guide you through some of the different types of
social innovation methods and show you how they have been used to create some incredible solutions.
We will then start applying some of these social innovation techniques ourselves, guiding you through the
rest of the handbook.
In the section entitled HEAR we will look at the different challenges we are experiencing in the blue-collar
labour market, and see which one would be the most useful to solve. We’ll define this challenge clearly;
then see what we already know about it, and what we still need to find out. We’ll start mapping the people
and organisations connected to this challenge to see who we need to include and what we can learn; and
then we’ll jump into some deep research to understand not only our challenge in detail, but also more
about the people experiencing it.
With the HEAR section safely completed, we’ll move on to the CREATE section, compiling stories from our
deep research, and using these stories to identify patterns in the challenges we are investigating. We’ll also
be uncovering some deeper insights related to these challenges, and using social innovation methods to
create potential solutions. Armed with these potential solutions, we will use even more practical tools to
evaluate these solutions and to see which ones will achieve the most impact towards our challenge. Once
we’ve chosen a clear winner – the potential solution that holds the most promise – we will start testing
this solution in the real world, to check that it really does work! Which will bring us to the final part of this
handbook: DELIVER.
The DELIVER section of this handbook is designed to test our chosen solution even further, allowing us
to continually improve it until it is ready to be implemented in the labour market! We will be guiding you
through the use of various methods of social innovation, business modeling and impact measurement, all
designed to refine your chosen solution into a system-changing tool. And with the entire social innovation
process completed, we will start back at the beginning, researching, identifying, testing and refining –
continually enhancing our solution, to continually enhance the impact we are creating in the blue-collar
labour market.
Once again, we welcome you on this journey! Together we can create the changes we wish to see, and
experience, in the blue-collar labour market in Egypt.
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2.0 THE CHALLENGE:
THE LABOUR MARKET
IN EGYPT *
In Egypt, the extremely high level of joblessness and the lack of
vocational prospects for young Egyptian men and women count
among the nation’s most urgent political and socio-economic problems.
The deep discontent among Egyptian youth with their vocational
and social prospects was one of the principal factors that led to the
country’s revolution in 2011.
Women are particularly hit hard. According to the 2012 “School-toWork Transition Survey” in Egypt, the unemployment rate of young
females is 38.1% which is more than five times that of young males.
Without a healthy working environment, including safe transportation,
proper communication and childcare facilities, this number is likely
to increase. According to Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and
Statistics (CAPMAS), the official unemployment rate was 12.7 percent
in the second quarter of 2015. Young people are especially affected
by the joblessness: according to data from CAPMAS, 26.3 percent of
youth aged 18-29 were out of work in 201. However, experts assume
that, in actual fact, the real unemployment rate is significantly higher
than what is officially acknowledged.
In terms of placement mechanisms, the most common way of finding
jobs, is through friends and relatives. With formal job agencies being
irrelevant in the blue collar sector, having personal relations often
plays the decisive role in receiving a job or not. One other factor
influencing the matching process is the location of job vacancies and
job seekers. Having no job seekers in areas easily reachable from the
company’s location seriously harms matching mechanisms, since
residential mobility in Egypt is low.
The key challenge on the Egyptian labour market is the mismatch
between labour supply and labour demand, particularly in the nonacademic sector. It is very difficult for young people to find work for a
number of reasons, including the enormous amount of time it takes
to look for a job, the lack of functioning job placement structures,
asymmetric information on the labour market, and their own lack of
appropriate training and skills. Thus, private sector businesses often
cannot find appropriately skilled workers to fill their vacant positions,
especially in the non-academic sector.
At the same time, many vacant positions offer employment under poor
quality conditions, and are unacceptable to job-seekers despite the
high unemployment rate. In many cases, for example, no employment
contracts are concluded, social benefits are not offered, the wages
are low, and the working conditions and treatment of employees
are in need of improvement.
According to an article by economist Prof. Ghada Barsoum (“Youth
and unemployment in Egypt”. 11 June 2015) in Ahram newspaper,
only 42 % of wage workers with secondary education and above
have access to work contracts and only 6% among those with less
than a secondary education. Due to the high turnover of employees,
companies do not see the profit in investing in their workforce and - as
one of the reasons - due to the lack of investment, employees do not
remain at their jobs. Furthermore, the concept of career development
is hardly considered by workers, and rarely explained by employers.
* Developed by Labour Market Access Programme (LMAP), GIZ Egypt.
One general challenge the blue collar sector is facing in Egypt is
its low attractiveness to youth. This image problem already highly
affects the vocational training education sector and continues to be
prevalent on the labour market, particularly with better paid jobs in
the informal sector being more attractive to youth. Thus, bringing
the vocational job market to its full potential and assuring decent job
quality standards will substantially help improve Egyptian youths’
employment situation Labour Market.
s o c i a l i n n o vat i o n h a n d b o o k
3.0 CALL TO ACTION:
THE LABOUR
MARKET ACCESS
PROGRAMME (LMAP)
The Labour Market Access Programme (LMAP) is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Economic
Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It aims at improving the employment situation for Egyptian
youth with a focus on placement structures and job quality.
More specifically, the programme aims at establishing sustainable structures in the field of employment
services, improving the availability of fair and decent job opportunities for Egyptian youth. Moreover,
the programme aims at providing them with measures to increase their employability beyond technical
skills and enhancing the quality of employment in small and medium-sized enterprises.
In order to achieve that objective, LMAP will:
•
Provide advice and support with regard to strengthening the capacities of the National Employment
Pact (NEP) for job matching and job preparation of young people, and disseminating the NEP
approach. The NEP, an initiative of the Egyptian German Business Community in collaboration
with the German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce established employment centers in
Cairo to bridge the gap between open vacancies on the one hand and job seekers on the other
hand for fair blue collar jobs.
•
Provide advice and support with regard to strengthening the capacities of the Federation of Economic
Development Associations (FEDA) for improving employment quality in small and medium sized
enterprises (SME) in the Suez Canal region.
•
Develop innovative approaches to both job placement and improving employment quality. LMAP
is looking to gather diverse expertise and experience on labour market related topics in order to
co-create specific, demand-driven solutions and subsequently test them. LMAP chose to endeavor
into social innovation techniques and human-centred design in order to have a creative look at
the challenges in the field of employment promotion, coming up with new solutions and most
importantly trying them out. The aim is to create a long-term and sustainable platform which is
guided by the ownership of its participants.
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4.0 iceHubs Global
As you read through this social innovation handbook you will most probably be learning all sorts of new
and useful information. We thought you might like to know a little about the organisation that wrote this
manual, so that you can have the confidence to know that what you’re learning here are tools that work,
and have been tried and tested! So, without further ado, we’d like to introduce you to iceHubs Global!
iceHubs Global (CIC) is a UK based, international Social Enterprise that fuses social & technology innovation,
entrepreneurship, and the“maker”movement to transform sustainability challenges into green businesses.
iceHubs Global (CIC) emerged from the international network of ice hubs established in 2010. The acronym
“ice”stands for innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurship. The network includes: iceaddis in Ethiopia,
icealex and icecairo in Egypt, and icebauhaus in Germany. By leveraging our network of communitydriven innovation hubs, iceHubs Global is able to solve complex challenges and implement high-impact
solutions in a distributed manner - globally.
iceHubs Global has 4 main functions
•
To support new & existing innovation hubs, “makerspaces”, networks & communities of practice.
•
To support the spread of the ice methodology by creating new hubs, by sharing content, by building
capacity and by advocating at the policy level.
•
To consult governments and international aid agencies to design programmes, products and services
that address local challenges with high impact.
•
To work with the Base-of-the-Pyramid (those below the poverty line) and to encourage the formation
of Responsible & Inclusive businesses that serve them.
Globally, the ice network has directly supported over 30,000 youth in 5 countries, has supported over 1,000
startups, has assisted governments and international aid to design high-impact programmes, products
and services and has been advocating for grassroots initiatives - helping to shape government policies
towards the formation of sustainable businesses - to grow Green Economies in developing countries.
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You can find out more about iceHubs Global, and the individual
ice hubs by following the links
icehubs.com
icebauhaus.com
icealex.com
icecairo.com
iceaddis.com
5.0 how to use this
handbook?
By this stage of our journey you should be familiar with the challenge we are tackling and starting to get a
little excited about using social innovation for the first time! Don’t worry - any mystery surrounding social
innovation will be cleared up by using this handbook. In fact, the purpose of this handbook is to guide
you through the use of social innovation as a tool, to create innovative solutions in the labour market.
To make the most of this handbook, we suggest that you give it a quick read through. You don’t need to
focus too much on the details - just seeing the logical flow of the social innovation processes will help
you to understand it much better. Once you’ve done that, you can go through each section of the book,
either alone, with your organisation, or with the other groups that will be using this handbook, to generate
innovative solutions to the challenges present in the labour market in Egypt.
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5.1 A visual guide to this
HANDBOOK!
This handbook uses some standardisations that are there to make using it easier! Here’s a guide to the
different icons, boxes, and illustrations you’ll be seeing.
Examples use the following format.
I think it’s difficult, if not impossible, to find committed labourers for our factory.
example
Tips or notes that might be interesting or useful follow the following format:
Remember: make notes in a separate notebook, and write your final answers below.
tip
Stories follow this convention:
Here’s a great example of how people living at the edge helped solve a complex
challenge happened in Vietnam. Social innovation researchers studied a group
of people living at the edge....
story
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Stories follow this convention:
For this activity you will need:
materials
•
•
•
Sticky notes
Markers
Pins or tape
Important definitions are designed to stand out like this:
Social Innovation is a new way of solving social
problems that is more efficient, benefits society and
enhances its capacity to act.
And finally, quotations have the following standard format:
“A social innovation is a novel solution to a social problem that is more
effective, efficient, sustainable, or just, than present solutions and for which
the value created accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private
individuals.”
Case Study: FIGHTING POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT WHILE REACHING CITY
CLIMATE TARGETS AT ANTWERP - BELGIUM
case study
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5.2 into action!
It should be obvious from the title of this book that it is a practical guide for practitioners. From the
section entitled HEAR onwards this handbook is filled with practical, hands-on activities for you to use
- especially to solve challenges in the labour market. Once you’ve had a read through the introduction
and have understood the overall flow of this social innovation handbook, we heavily encourage you to
grab a pen, grab your team (or form one) and start using this manual around your work. When you are
more familiar with this handbook, feel free to jump into any of the practical exercises to develop theories,
come up with new ideas, and to test these ideas in the wild!
5.3 about this social
innovation handbook
This book has been developed, written and compiled by the team at iceHubs Global and GIZ’s Labour
Market Access Programme. Much of the material in this book is based on tried and tested use by iceHubs
Global and the ice network of innovation hubs. We have also brought in exercises and concepts developed
by the “parents” of Design Thinking and Human Centred Design – IDEO.org and +Acumen, as well as
tools like the Business Model Canvas and Empathy Maps developed by a whole host of amazing social
innovators. We hope that our experience coupled with some of the amazing tools we have incorporated
into this manual will be fun to use, powerful in their implementation and rewarding to your work. This
handbook is open source, and uses the creative commons licence. For more information on how you can
use this manual in your work, please see the creative commons licence on this inside page of this book. We
hope you enjoy using it as much as we enjoyed writing it!
s o c i a l i n n o vat i o n h a n d b o o k
A.1.0 AN
INTRODUCTION
TO social
INNOVATIOn
Just exactly what is innovation? Mystery often surrounds the “field” of innovation, with innovators thought
of as geniuses - masters of a power inaccessible to the average person. This, of course, is not the case!
Innovation is simply the action of innovating, or in layman’s terms, doing something in a new way. Taken in
this way it is easy to see that we are all innovators! Every time we solve a challenge, in a new way, we are
in fact innovating. And to make matters more exciting, there are tools that allow anyone to apply tried
and tested innovation techniques to any challenge they are facing. So, now that we are familiar with what
innovation means, and now that we are aware of the fact that we, ourselves, are innovators, let’s move on
to the immersive world of social innovation.
introduction
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introduction
A.1.1 What is social
innovation?
As social innovation has various definitions, it is our mission to demystify the mysterious. Here is a definition that
does the job nicely!
“A social innovation is a novel solution to a social problem that is more
effective, efficient, sustainable, or just, than present solutions and for
which the value created accrues primarily to society as a whole rather
than private individuals.” *
While the above definition focuses on the solution, others focus more on the way social innovations are generated
and how they enhance society’s capacity to act. In other words, social innovation as a whole can be defined as:
Social Innovation is a new way of solving social
problems that is more efficient, benefits society and
enhances its capacity to act.
There! Nice and simple. So, now that we have an understanding of what social innovation is, it’s time to go
through some different methodologies and see how they can be applied!
* Stanford Graduate School of Business, Center for Social Innovation. Definition of Social Innovation.
http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/social-innovation
s o c i a l i n n o vat i o n h a n d b o o k
introduction
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A.1.2 What Can Social
Innovation As A Whole Be Applied
To?
Social innovation can be used, pretty much, for anything that has to do with people. Often, it is
framed in terms of solving a challenge: a challenge experienced by society as a whole, or large
sections of society. Historically, social innovation has been used to address some of the most
pressing issues of our times, issues such as: youth unemployment, poverty alleviation, and lack
of access to potable water or energy. Fantastically creative methods have been used to solve
some of these deeply complex challenges. Here’s an example that will thrill and inspire you!
story
The inCompass Human-Centred Innovation Lab in Phnom Penh, Cambodia was approached
to try to come up with some innovative solutions to open defecation (people going to the toilet
on farmland). Open defecation was leading to severe health issues in farming communities
– human waste was getting into the drinking water supply, so the inCompass team were
challenged with finding a solution. After studying the farming communities very carefully, and
applying many social innovation methodologies, the inCompass team came up with a master
plan! They realised that they couldn’t sell standard toilets to farmers based on the fact that
they would keep people healthy. They also realised that for the farmers, prestige and being
respected in their community was very important. So they created a campaign where they
attached the idea of having a toilet, to wealth, prestige and being respected. As a result, they
were able to actually sell toilets to farmers, improving the health of farming communities,
whilst letting them feel that they were increasing their prestige as well!
A.1.3
Creating solutions
that actually work!
Social innovation is globally recognised for creating products and services that actually work!
These products and services are especially effective because they put people (and people’s
needs) at their core. To make sure the solutions that emerge from social innovation processes
really do work, we check them to make sure that they are feasible, viable and desirable.
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introduction
feasible
desirable
goal
viable
Figure A.1.3 -Three Lenses of Social Innovation based on IDEO.com
s o c i a l i n n o vat i o n h a n d b o o k
introduction
A.1.3.1 Feasible
feasible
This basically means products and services that are “possible”. The more
feasible something is, the easier it is to do and, therefore, the more likely
it is to succeed. A good example of a feasible service is transferring
money via mobile phone messages. Most people already have a mobile
phone. All mobiles phones (even the simplest) can send messages. It’s
an easy service to add to a device that is already widely prevalent and
used by almost everyone! In fact, this service already exists! It’s called
the M-PESA and is a great example of how innovation has been used to
solve a challenge, creatively!
A.1.3.2 VIABLE
viable
So, by making sure we have a product or service that is feasible, we are
making sure that we have something that is easy to make or implement.
But the product also has to make financial sense. We can’t, for example,
solve world hunger by flying food in planes to hungry people. The
costs would be so high, that it wouldn’t make any sense. Products and
services need to be viable both for the companies selling them, and for
the customers purchasing them. A great example of a viable service is
that provided by the Grameen Bank.
The Grameen Bank decided to lend tiny amounts of money (microloans) to only the poorest people. Most banks focus only on the wealthy,
but the Grameen Bank has shown that with the right model, the poorest
are also a viable market. And what’s more, the money they lend has
dramatically improved the quality of life of the people they serve. Now
that’s a win-win!
story
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introduction
A.1.3.3 desirable
desirable
As the name suggests, products and services that are desirable are
wanted by consumers. Companies often make the mistake of designing
products that they think people want, without actually asking the
people they are selling to what they want! The result: products that
people won’t buy! The very essence of social innovation is not only
designing for people, but with people. Creating desirable products is
something that some companies have mastered!
Apple, for example, makes products so desirable that when they launch
something new, there are queues several days ahead of launch outside
of their stores!
Figure A.4.3 - In London, hundreds of people outside Covent Garden and Regent Street packed away their tents as they
jostled to get their hands on the new phones.
It should be obvious at this point, why we would want solutions that are feasible, viable AND desirable.
In social innovation, we want to create solutions that sit right at the heart of the 3 circles in the diagram
above (Figure A.4.0).
These are the products and services that will solve the most complex challenges in the most efficient
ways possible. And as we have mentioned before, solving social challenges in a better way is the purpose
of social innovation!
s o c i a l i n n o vat i o n h a n d b o o k
a.2 Why WE use social
innovation?
So now that we’ve defined innovation and social innovation and we’ve explored some of the social
innovation tools, it should be obvious why social innovation is the right tool for the job. Not only does
social innovation have an intricate, rich process of moving from challenges to solutions, but it creates
solutions that work - solutions that are feasible, viable and desirable. You might be wondering what else
social innovation can offer. Well, social innovation is a holistic process; this means that it addresses the
entire system that needs to be changed. It doesn’t just target the areas of trouble, or the symptoms of that
trouble, but targets everything in and connected to the system that is leading to the challenges in the first
place. This means that often when using social innovation, far more challenges are solved than the ones
originally targeted. In fact, a good social innovation process often involves multiple solutions implemented
by multiple partners, creating incremental systemic change.
Instead of trying to convince you - a future practitioner of the merits of social innovation - we think it will be
better if social innovation does the speaking for itself. Following is a great example of a case study where
social innovation created uniquely innovative solutions that solved complex social challenges.
introduction
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introduction
a.2.1 Case Study: FIGHTING
case study
POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT WHILE
REACHING CITY CLIMATE TARGETS AT
ANTWERP - BELGIUM*
Antwerp is running an advice and demonstration centre for residents to improve energy efficiency of
homes. It is working with a social economy association to combat energy poverty and provide opportunities
for disadvantaged groups to gain skills and work experience in the green economy.
In Antwerp 17.5% of the city’s population is unemployed or economically inactive with low skills and
poor prospects of finding a job. Energy costs are increasingly becoming a burden for many households in
Antwerp. Outdated appliances or delayed renovation mean that poorer households are often in a worse
condition. Reducing energy consumption and improving the energy performance of buildings can benefit
household finances and the environment. The city needs to work with all residents on its goal of becoming
climate neutral by 2050, and vulnerable groups may require special assistance if they lack sufficient
financial resources to invest in energy efficiency measures in their homes.
Action:
EcoHouse is an advice and demonstration centre for sustainable building and living run by the city of
Antwerp. It is open to the general public, with a substantive part of its work focused on more vulnerable
groups. EcoHouse in partnership with Levanto, a social economy association, conducts energy audits
using trained staff on work experience placement, and offers both short and long term solutions for saving
energy and money. The short term solutions include:
advice on how to change behaviour to save energy
free installation of simple energy saving products such as energy saving light bulbs. For more advanced
solutions EcoHouse prepares a personalised plan for investing in energy saving infrastructure, which is
based on the energy audit. For example, installing roof insulation or new energy efficient heating devices.
It then provides support to residents in implementing these solutions. Low income households that would
not qualify for a loan at a commercial bank can also receive a special zero interest loan. EcoHouse can help
them find and negotiate with contractors and coordinate the works. These services are offered to people
on low income, and social assistance recipients; be they home owners or tenants.
The work experience placements organised by Levanto, in partnership with Antwerp’s grid operators, are
reserved for people who have been unemployed for at least one year and either did not attend or did not
finish high school. They receive an individual training programme for the first six months to strengthen their
chances on the open labour market. The programme comprises of two equal parts; on-the-job training
with a personal trainer, and a customised education component based on the individual’s aspirations,
interests, qualifications and preferences, which also includes obligatory classes. On passing the required
technical tests they are able to carry out energy audits without the trainer. After working for Levanto for
one year, the employees are assisted in finding another job that fits their qualifications and interests.
* Reference: Green Jobs for Social Inclusion. EUROCITIES June 2015. http://nws.eurocities.eu/MediaShell/media/353-green-web_final.pdf
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CHALLENGES :
In the beginning it was difficult to reach the target group of low income households with the programme
of energy saving measures. People living in poverty often struggle so much with daily challenges in life
that they are not easily convinced to look into investment with long term returns. It was also found that
traditional means of communication such as newsletters, especially ones using terms like ‘energy audit’
and ‘infrastructural energy savings investments’, had little impact and a discouraging effect. Offering
easy to implement solutions that bring immediate gains helped attract interest. The city created a simple
and attractive voucher with information on free energy saving products, together with tips on how to
change behaviour and save money straight away. Creating a more user-friendly application system for the
audit also encouraged more people to apply. Reaching out to people through organisations significantly
boosted the response rate to the programme. Today EcoHouse works in partnership with a range of
welfare, housing, education, migrant, and community organisations, and across city departments. This
intense collaboration is considered one of the project’s key success factors.
result:
In 2014 20,737 audits were carried out. The estimated average saving potential per audit is 78 kWh of
electricity, 130 kWh of gas, 2034 litres of water and 85 kg of CO2 emissions per year. Changes in behaviour
alone can save between 10-20% on energy consumption. Levanto helps 1,970 people annually to
strengthen their employability. After the programme people are able to enter a range of technical jobs
in the building and energy industry. Others find jobs as energy auditors or advisors. These measures
contribute to reducing energy poverty; improving quality of life and helping the city meet its climate
change targets.
Reference:Green Jobs for Social Inclusion. EUROCITIES June 2015.
http://nws.eurocities.eu/MediaShell/media/353-green-web_final.pdf
introduction
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introduction
a.3.0 What are
the different
methodologies of
social innovation?
We mentioned above some of the techniques of social innovation. Now’s probably a good time to tell you
a little more about those techniques. Don’t forget - social innovation is not a complicated, mysterious force!
Remember our definition?
Social Innovation is a new way of solving social
problems that is more efficient, benefits society and
enhances its capacity to act.
Social innovation is a science, and with some experience it can be transformed into an art. Just like playing
a musical instrument or driving your car!
When you learn to drive a car, it’s a relatively scientific process:
example
•
•
•
•
Insert key into engine
Turn the key
Press clutch
Move gearstick to change gear, etc.
When you’ve practiced driving for a few years, the science becomes an art (well, for some people anyway)!
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Over the years social innovation tools or methods have been created in response to needs. These tools have
been gathered together by people working with social innovation, to create toolkits. And these toolkits are
used much in the same way a doctor uses their surgical tools: each challenge can be addressed with a
specific tool or combination of tools. It really is that simple. It takes practice and some experimentation, but
anyone willing to become a social innovator can become one!
These toolkits have been used by social innovation practitioners – they have been improved, combined,
adapted and shared. When a lot of people use a specific set of tools, and continue to refine them, the tools
eventually merge into a system. And often these systems become widely adopted by practitioners. We will
mention 3 such systems below.
A.3.1 The Art of Hosting for
Social Transformation
The Art of Hosting is a set of social innovation methods, that, when used together, often lead to social
transformation (the transformation bit is a fancy way of saying change). Art of Hosting techniques are
very good at collecting and enhancing the wisdom in a group of people. So by using the Art of Hosting
techniques with a group of people, we can move from a challenge to several potential solutions. It’s useful
to make sure that this group of people includes people who are experiencing the challenges (our peoplecentred bit) as well as experts from different fields who can help us to solve these challenges.
The Art of Hosting is a highly effective way of
harnessing the collective wisdom and self-organizing
capacity of groups of any size. Based on the
assumption that people give their energy and lend
their resources to what matters most to them – in
work as in life – the Art of Hosting blends a suite of
powerful conversational processes to invite people
to step in and take charge of the challenges facing
them.*
* Art of Hosting. “What is the Art of Hosting Conversations that Matter?”, http://www.artofhosting.org/what-is-aoh/
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Art of Hosting techniques are so often used in workshops, trainings and events. By bringing diverse people
together, and using the right social innovation methods, even the most complex challenges can be cracked
- especially if this is done on a recurring basis.
Figure 9.1 - Using Technology to Solve Local Challenges Workshop in Kenya
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introduction
A.3.2 Design Thinking for social
Innovation
Design thinking is one of the more famous systems of social innovation. There are many definitions for design thinking, as
design thinking is used in many contexts, with each context slightly changing its definition. For our purposes, it’s important
to note that design thinking is a great way to solve problems by creating products and services.
Design Thinking was championed by a company called IDEO, famous for inventing some of the most high-profile products
in recent history, including the computer mouse! IDEO developed design thinking into both a science and an art, allowing
them to solve challenges by creating products and services that are feasible, viable and desirable. In fact, IDEO became so
good at solving challenges that they were approached by aid agencies and governments to adapt their problem solving
system (a combination of social innovation techniques) towards social challenges. And so ideo.org was born, a non-profit
design organisation that works to empower the poor. By applying design thinking to increasingly complex challenges, and
by working with other similarly minded organisations, the system of Human Centred Design was born.
a.3.3 Human Centred Design For
Social Innovation
We touched upon the foundations of Human Centred Design in the section: “An Introduction To Soical
Innovation” Human Centred Design, like Design Thinking, is also one of the more popular social innovation
systems. We will be using some of the tools of Human Centred Design throughout this manual, to make
sure we are focused on the people connected to our challenge.
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Human Centred Design consists of several different phases that have a logical flow towards solving
challenges. As mentioned previously, it is based on Design Thinking, and as with Design Thinking, there
are many different approaches. Stanford, MIT and Emerson, are all universities that have Design Thinking
and Human Centred Design programmes, all of which are slightly different but achieve the same results.
Here we will be using a combination of several social innovation formats, so that we can pick and choose
the best methods for our specific challenge: Innovation for the Labour Market in Egypt.
The phases of social innovation that we will be exploring are: Hear, Create, and Deliver.
hear
social innovation
cre
iver
del
ate
iterative process
Figure A.3.3 – Social Innovation is an Iterative Process
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a.3.3.1 hear
hear
The HEAR phase of social innovation is all about listening. In this phase we are exploring with an open
mind the needs of the people we are designing for and with. We are immersing ourselves in their lives,
studying them, studying the challenge we are trying to solve. We are approaching everything related to
the challenge from different angles, asking question upon question and then asking some more! We are
diving far beyond the surface level answers, right to the heart of the challenge itself. Often, the people we
are designing for don’t even know what the real challenge is. If they did, chances are the problem would
already have been solved. Complex challenges require innovative solutions, and it is in the HEAR phase
that we learn to see these challenges with new eyes, with the “beginner’s mind” - as if we are seeing them
for the very first time - without judgment, without pre-conceived solutions, and in so doing, it is in this
phase that the true nature of the challenge - the underlying cause - becomes apparent.
a.3.3.2 create
create
Now that we have thoroughly investigated our challenge, observed all of the people and circumstances
connected to it, and driven down deep into the root causes, we are ready to start looking for solutions. It is
in the CREATE phase that we start to generate ideas, strategically. We create in-depth personas (more on
this later) from all of the information we received in the HEAR phase, and start to create a clear picture of
the whole situation. We then start to brainstorm different solutions, generating potential courses of action.
In the CREATE phase, we’re not concerned with editing ideas, merely in creating them. When it looks like
there are no more useful ideas to be had, we start to filter through the ideas we generated, applying them
against many different criteria, eliminating the ones that are not feasible, viable or desirable. What remains
are the best ideas, the ones most likely to succeed. And in the CREATE phase, we actually try out miniversions of these ideas in a process called prototyping (more on this later). When we try out these ideas, we
can see if they will actually work in the real world. Often times, an idea that looks good on paper, may not
actually be usable in reality. So by trying out our ideas in a controlled, measurable manner, we are far better
able to judge the potential effectiveness of these ideas.
a.3.3.3 deliver
deliver
As the name suggests, the DELIVER phase is all about implementation. In the HEAR phase we investigated
our challenge and everything connected to the challenge with such detail, that we see it with new eyes,
diving straight into the heart of the underlying causes of the challenge. In the CREATE phase we used
ideation (idea generating) techniques to come up with many possible solutions, all the time narrowing
them down to leave just the best ideas - those that are feasible, viable and desirable. We also tested out
our ideas, making sure that the solutions we want to try are the ones most likely to work in the real world.
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In the DELIVER phase, we implement the solutions we have discovered; testing them continually,
gathering constant feedback, tweaking and adjusting them until they are addressing the challenges we
are tackling in a new, more efficient, more sustainable manner. This process repeats itself, constantly being
refined and enhanced, constantly being checked and tested until the solution we are implementing is able
to solve the challenge it was designed to solve.
a.4.0
Characteristics
of the social
innovation process
a.4.1 The process includes
expansion (information generation)
and contraction (strategy)
The process of social innovation is often thought of as a set of waves, with phases of expansion, and phases
of contraction. The phases of expansion are those where a lot of information is being gathered, received
or generated. When we’re conducting interviews, for example, we’re receiving a lot of information - this is
an expansive phase. The same applies for idea generation - we’re trying to come up with as many ideas as
possible, and again, this creates a lot of information. The expansive phases are usually followed by phases
of contraction; where we’re sorting through all the information, and making sure we just keep the really
important bits and pieces. It’s important to know these characteristics of the social innovation process, as
there will be times when we’ll be looking to record as much information as possible, even the things that
don’t seem important - and other times where we’ll be getting rid of everything but the most important
pieces of information. Knowing this will influence how we approach these important phases.
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introduction
hear
create
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deliver
Figure 10.1 - The phases of Expansion and Contraction in Social Innovation
a.4.2 The process is often
Chaotic
The process of social innovation is often not a linear one. This is true of most social innovation in general.
We can’t always apply Western logic.
Western Logic: IF a = b AND b = c THEN a = c
A = Socrates
example
B=Man
C=Mortal
IF Socrates is a man. AND Man is mortal. THEN Socrates is mortal.
In social innovation we can, and do, return to any part of the process to correct our assumptions about that
specific part of the process. That means that we’re often skipping back and forth, constantly checking the
information and assumptions we make against the results we’re getting. With so many variables, it is often
confusing for people experiencing social innovation for the first time. This can give the impression that the
social innovation process is chaotic - and also create the desire to organise this chaos! It’s important to note
at this point that the chaos is important. Between order and chaos lies the Chaordic Field.
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introduction
a.5.0 Why do we need
human-centred
approaches?
The History in a Nutshell! It all started with :
Participatory Design
In early days back to 1960s, different collaborative design process methods, that were developed to
enhance and extend design to other areas of practice, have contributed to shaping the future of Design
Thinking.
As Participatory Design progressed into the 1980s, it was mainly concerned with the emerging field of
interaction design. Participatory Design borrowed many of it’s techniques from science, e.g. “usability
testing”, “mock-ups”, “prototyping” and even “role playing”. However, there were a lot of argument that in
the participatory design approach, the user experience was sidelined. This was highly represented in Tim
Brown’s famous Ted Talk (2009), ‘Think Big’ when he said: “The design of participatory systems, in which
many more forms of value beyond cash are both created and measured is going to be the major theme for
design in the future,”.
User-Centered Design
In response to this “end-user” dilemma, the so called “co-design” or collaborative design began to emerge.
Thanks to the design theorist Donald Norman (aka The Godfather of User-Centered Design), he re-defined
Participatory Design when he introduced “user-centered design”. This transformative definition had
contributed to having the users’ needs in the center of the design process instead of the old “passive user”
concept. Furthermore, user-centered design encouraged the engagement of the user throughout the
product/service development.
Richard Mander (2004) criticized and explained, in his article ‘User Centred Design: What Exactly is it?’ that
many products/systems/environments still get invented this way “but the end user has moved from the
guy next door type of consumer to a global connoisseur who is certainly not always a guy, she is unlikely to
live next door and she is becoming far more interested in participating in the design process,”.
Human-Centered Design
Human-Centered Design, especially after the turn of the millennium, evolved from being a method and
a set of tools (techno-driven) to a mindset (human-driven) with a main emphasis on the human aspect of
the design process.
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By now you’ve understood what innovation is, what social innovation is and what it can be used for. As
we can see, social innovation is about people. And when we’re designing solutions to the challenges
experienced by people, we really need to do this from the perspective of the people we’re designing for.
Don’t worry about the term designing here. We use the word designing because it bridges the gap between
science and art. Social innovation lives in the space where science (the techniques) and art (the way you piece
the techniques together) meet!
tip
That means we have to put ourselves into the shoes of the people experiencing the challenges we’re
trying to solve. It means seeing the world from their eyes, experiencing a typical day in their lives. It means
observing them carefully, asking them deeper questions, including them in the “quest” for solutions. By
immersing ourselves in the lives of the people we are designing for, we can begin to understand the true
nature of the challenges they are experiencing. And as the old saying goes, “Identifying the problem is 90%
of the solution!”
EMERGENCE
INNOVATION
CREATIVITY
DESTRUCTION
collapse
OPPRESSION
chaos
order
control
chaord
Figure 10.2 - Between Chaos and Order lies Innovation
© Simon Robinson From Holonomics: Business Where people and Planet Matter, Floris Books, 2014
The Chaordic Field is the area where many of the great system changing ideas come from. If this seems
strange to you, for now, just put it on the side, and we’ll come back to this concept during the process. At
this point, it’s just important to know that the chaos is more important than you may think!
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b. hear
In this section you will find:
B.1.0 Introduction to hear
b.2.0 how to create your design
challenge
B.3.0 Identify Existing Knowledge
B.4.0 map your community
b.5.0 GET INSPIRED BEFORE YOUR RESEARCH
b.6.0 DESIGN YOUR INTERVIEW GUIDE
b.7.0 RESEARCH! (AND HOW TO GET THE BEST
OUT OF IT)
b.8.0 FROM DEEP RESEARCH TO EMPATHY maps
and personas
b.9.0 ending hear. beginning create.
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b.1.0 Introduction
To HEAR
Welcome to the HEAR phase of social innovation! The introduction to this handbook will have given you
an idea of what to expect in this part of the process. Prepare to be inspired! The HEAR phase, sometimes
referred to as the discover phase, is all about listening and receiving information with an open mind. In
this phase we will define our design challenge, identify what we already know and what we need to find
out, map the community around our challenge, design and conduct research and then turn that research
into relevant and useful information. It’s quite a journey! The HEAR phase is one of the expansive phases,
so we will be generating a lot of information that is critical to our social innovation process and to finding
solutions in the labour market! Right at the end of this phase, we will then take all of the information we
have gathered and condense it into a couple of useful tools that will be the foundation for the rest of our
social innovation process. Let the adventure begin!
hear
social innovation
del
iver
cre
ate
iterative process
Figure 9.3 – Social Innovation is an Iterative Process
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From this point forwards you will no longer just be reading this
handbook! The following sections are designed to be used! We will
be guiding you and your colleagues to apply social innovation to
transform complex challenges in the Egyptian labour market into
effective solutions! From this point on your are a social innovator!
TIP: FOR THE REST OF THIS HANDBOOK YOU WILL FIND PRACTICAL EXERCISES TO COMPLETE. WE RECOMMEND
THAT YOU USE ANOTHER NOTE BOOK TO SKETCH OUT ANSWERS AND IDEAS, AND THEN WRITE THE FINAL
ANSWERS INTO THIS BOOK.
tip
b.2.0 HOW TO CREATE YOUR
DESIGN CHALLENGE!
Creating your design challenge is the first part of the social innovation journey. This process is as much art
as science, so we are going to take you through it step by step. The rest of the social innovation process will
be focused around the design challenge, so we need to make sure that it is:
•
•
•
Understandable - by anyone!
Actionable - we can actually do something about it!
Approachable - it will invite people to be involved, not scare
Our design challenge needs to be specific and concise. It also needs to be just the right size: something
too big will not be manageable and something too small, or simple, will not attract the right people to the
process. The design challenge will be the guide that takes us through the research phase and into further
parts of our solution finding mission, so it needs to be human-centred and clearly address the challenge
we are trying to solve. Follow the steps below to start crafting your design challenge!
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b.2.1 List irritating problems
Finding opportunities for solutions often comes from noticing problems. An experienced social innovator
maintains a mind-set that instinctively reframes problems into opportunities. Make a list of all the problems
you’ve noticed or things you’ve wished for in the labour market.
In your team, brainstorm as many challenges as you can while focusing on job placement and employment
quality.
Remember: make notes in a separate notebook, and write your final answers below.
tip
Challenges:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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b.2.2 FRAME THE PROBLEM
It’s important here to pick one of these problems and to address a very clear challenge. Discuss with your
team: What is the main problem you are trying to address and solve in your team or organisation? Consider
which challenge, if addressed, would create the greatest positive change across the labour market,
specifically in terms of job quality or job placement.
b.2.3 reframe the challenge
Describe your challenge simply and optimistically. Make it broad enough to allow you to discover areas of
unexpected value, and narrow enough to make the topic manageable.
Start the design challenge with an action verb, such as “Create”, “Define”, “Adapt” etc. or phrase the challenge
as a question with: “How might we…?”
tip
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b.2.3.1 How might we………………...…..?
Example 1: How might we help youth in Bolak El Dakrour have long-term jobs?
Example 2: How might we design a better way to apply for technical jobs in Greater Cairo?
Example 3: How might we encourage good safety habits among blue-collar workers in the Private Sector?
b.2.3.2 What is the desired ultimate impact
you are trying to have in your organisation
/ team, or in this specific project?
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b.2.3.3 Define measures of success
What else are you working toward? What will make this work successful? What are the measures of success? Examples include numbers of
people who join your social innovation process, stories retold by stakeholders, partner organisations, unemployed youth, etc. Think broadly!
b.2.3.4 IDENTIFY BARRIERS
It is crucial to define constraints and get specific on the problem or question you are trying to address.
Does it need to fit into a certain time frame? Can it be integrated with an existing structure or initiative?
Make a list of the barriers you need to manage.
(Examples: Geographical, technological, time-based, etc.)
What are the potential barriers and constraints that you are facing?
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b.2.3.4 WRITE A BRIEF
A clearly defined challenge will guide your questions and help you stay on track throughout the process.
Write a short brief that clarifies the challenge you plan to address. Write it as if you were handing it to
someone else to design with. Capture thoughts on why this is a problem, and what the opportunity for
design will be. (For brief examples, see Appendix 01) Does your original question need fine-tuning? Try it
again.
b.3.0 Identify Existing
Knowledge
It would be unrealistic to assume that you are trying to solve a challenge in a field where you
have absolutely no knowledge! Just because social innovation solves complex challenges in new
ways, it doesn’t necessarily mean we need to let go of existing knowledge. As our focus is the
labour market in Egypt, to some extent we all have useful knowledge. After all, we are working
in Egypt, and we have either been hired or have hired people. This experience may offer some
key insights at some point in our process. We can also assume that if you’re reading this manual,
you’re either an expert in the labour market, someone working in or closely related to the field,
or even possibly a labourer yourself! So, we all have valuable knowledge, ideas and insights
that we need to document and share. This means we are all experts in one way or another!
When we’ve written down and shared everything that we know, it frees us up to focus on what
we don’t know about our design challenge - and to work towards filling in any gaps we think
we may have.
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b.3.1 Share what you know (or
believe you know!)
Post your design challenge where everyone can see it. With your team, write down what you know about
the design challenge. Use one piece of information per Post-it Note. Read your notes out loud, and post
them under the design challenge. Ask others for feedback and discuss any of the assumptions that come
up.
Figure B.3.1– A map of challenges in the Labour Market
Examples:
example
•
•
I think it’s difficult, if not impossible, to find committed labourers for our factory.
I believe that technical jobs have very bad working conditions.
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For this activity you will need:
materials
•
•
•
•
Pin board, flip chart or white board
Sticky notes or pieces of card
Markers
Pins or tape
After you have completed the activity above, summarise your answers in the next exercise
b.3.1.1 What do you already know (assume)
about the challenge?
Examples:
Now let’s get a little more specific… In your teams discuss and answer the following questions.
b.3.1.2 What do Employees/employers need
or want?
EMPLOYEES:
s o c i a l i n n o vat i o n h a n d b o o k
EMPLOYERS:
b.3.1.3 What technologies could help solve
this challenge?
b.3.1.4 What solutions or ideas are ALREADY
being tested and/or implemented?
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b.3.1.5 What are your initial ideas about how
to solve your Design Challenge?
b.3.1.6 What are the tensions that might
emerge while implementing the solution?
b.3.1.7 What are the strength points of your
team / Organisation?
(Example: An understanding of people’s needs, technological capabilities, previously implemented ideas,
potential for implementation in the future.)
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b.3.2 define what you don’t
know
List and share what you think you don’t know or don’t yet understand about your challenge. As with the
previous activity, do this in your teams, on pin boards. Post these questions and answers on a different
board so that you can refer to them later.
Examples:
example
•
•
Do people who need jobs want higher wages?
Are job announcements generally accessible to people? Where can they be found?
For this activity you will need:
materials
•
•
•
•
Pin board, flip chart or white board
Sticky notes or pieces of card
Markers
Pins or tape
Again, let’s get a little more specific… In your teams discuss and answer the following questions.
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b.3.2.1 What don’t you know about the
challenge and need to learn more about?
b.3.2.2 What does YOUR TARGET GROUP DO,
think and feel?
(You’ll be working on empathy maps later so don’t worry if you do this perfectly for now)
b.3.2.3 How would your TARGET groups value
your ideas as potential solutions?
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b.3.2.4 What are the potential challenges for
implementing your ideas?
b.3.2.5 What are the areas you still need to
explore more for your research?
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b.4.0 Map Your
community
Figure B.4.0 – A Classical Map of Stakeholders in the Labour Market
One of the key features of social innovation, especially in the context we will be using it in - using innovation
to address challenges in the labour market - is seeing things from the human perspective. We need to
include every single type of person connected to the labour market. We need to understand what moves
them; what activates them, what pains them, what their aspirations are and beyond all of this, how they
can contribute to finding solutions. Part of making sure that we are going to create real solutions is making
sure that the right people are on-board in our social innovation sessions. We need to make sure we have
a good balance of women, men, employers, employees, experts, civil-society and anyone else that should
be there.
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b.4.1 Champions, and people
“living at the edge”
So, we know who from the “usual stakeholders” needs to be working with us on finding solutions. And
we know we need a balanced and diverse team to make sure we’re moving in the right direction. In social
innovation, however, we also need to include some other, sometimes overlooked, people. These people
are the champions, “extreme” participants and those “living at the edge”!
b.4.1.1 Champions
Champions are change-makers. They are the people that other people look to for new ideas and
approaches. In farming communities, champions are the farmers that go for sustainable agriculture, whilst
everyone else is still using chemical fertilisers and pesticides. More than being ahead of the pack, however,
champions also inspire those around them to change as well. So, to return to our farming metaphor, a
true champion would be someone that not only switches to sustainable farming before everyone else,
but that also inspires and paves the way for others to follow. It may seem like champions would be easy
to find - wouldn’t they be community leaders after all? This, however, might not always be the case - so it’s
important for us to skip assumptions and look for the change-makers that can help us find, and pioneer
our solutions.
Champions - real change-makers - are often found by asking people who they think should be part of solving
a complex challenge. By asking people, “Who is not here that should be here, to help us with this challenge?”
people will often recommend the kind of champions we need to get our challenges cracked
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b.4.1.2 people living at the edge
As we’ve seen above, we need a balanced yet diverse community to tackle our challenges, and we need
to add champions to the mix. But we also need to observe and involve people that are living in extreme
conditions that seem to have solved the challenges we are facing. Innovative, and oftentimes, amazing
solutions are found by people out of necessity.
story
Here’s a great example of how people living at the edge helped solve a complex challenge happened
in Vietnam. Social innovation researchers studied a group of people living at the edge - they were living
in extreme poverty, even more than the people around them, yet their children were not malnourished.
The researchers carefully observed these “extreme” people, watched their daily habits, conducted in-depth
field research, and were amazed at their findings. Whilst the women were in the fields collecting rice for
their children to eat, they also collected small shrimp and other insects to add to the soup they fed their
children. The difference that these small creatures made to the diet of these children was what allowed
them to live in extreme poverty, and yet be more nutritionally nourished than their richer counterparts!
Truly amazing, no?!
b.4.2 List immediate contacts
With your team, collect and write down the people or groups that are directly involved in or touched by
your challenge. Are you designing for employers/employees? Will you need to connect with job seekers?
Write down at least 5 people / organisations you want to learn from, for your design challenge
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b.4.4 think more broadly
Add people or groups who are peripherally relevant, or are associated with your direct audience. Write
down at least 3 experts from other fields you want to speak to, about your design challenge: e.g. Labour
syndicates, HR managers, recruitment agencies etc.
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b.4.5 build your classical map
One of the most useful activities, especially for visual thinkers (people that work better with images rather
than text), is to map as many stakeholders as possible on a pin board or whiteboard. By being able to see,
at a glance, all of the different people and organisations connected to our challenges, we are often able to
make connections and see patterns clearly. Follow these steps to create a Classical Map:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Write your design challenge on a card, and place it on the middle of your board.
With your team, list all of the organisations and individuals connected to this challenge – you really
need to dig deep here! Consider private sector organisations, civil society organisations, academia,
government, youth, employers, employees, legal bodies, infrastructure – everything!
On separate cards, write the name of each person or organisation and place them on the board.
Try to group (or cluster) similar individuals or organisations – for example, you can put government
organisations near to each other, and private sector organisations near to each other. You can use
Figure 15.0 (above) for inspiration!
Once you’ve completed your classical map, have a chat with your team to see where possible patterns
emerge or potential synergies can be seen. See if there’s anyone missing and how you can rearrange
the various stakeholders to create new connections and ideas. The classical map will serve as a source of
inspiration and help start the problem solving process.
Figure B.4.5 - A Map of the Innovation Sector - Kigali, 2014
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b.4.6 Build your Radical Map
Armed with your classical map, you are most probably seeing your challenge with extra clarity. It’s time to
take it a step further and to see where completely different connections can be made and solutions found!
The Radical Map template is on the next page. It can also be found in Appendix 02. Next is a step-by-step
guide on how to build your radical map:
1.
2.
In your teams discuss and choose the 5 main challenges you face
List these 5 challenges in the “Challenges” box on the bottom left of the Radical Mapping sheet (don’t
forget to use the answers from previous questions!)
3. As a team discuss what is at the heart of each challenge. At this stage the challenge should be
removed from its context and thought of as a general, abstract challenge. This part takes a bit of work
and requires seeing the challenge with a “beginner’s” mind-set! For more information on this process
see the attached “Abstraction Guidelines” sheet in Appendix 14.
4. List these 5 abstractions in the “Abstractions” box - next to the challenges they are abstracted from
5. If your team feels comfortable with its “Abstractions” then next to each number on the Radical Map,
write the Abstraction that relates to it (from the “Abstractions” box on the bottom right of the Radical
Mapping sheet.
6. As a team think of classical ways each abstracted challenge has been solved. For each abstraction,
write on a sticky note how/who/where this challenge has been solved. Write one answer per sticky
note, and stick it in the “Classical” section.
7. As a team discuss which other industries/individuals that have had the same abstracted challenges
and were able to solve them? Write one answer per sticky note, and stick it in the “Semi-Radical”
section
8. As a team discuss in which totally unrelated industries/experiences the abstracted challenges have
been solved. For inspiration ask yourselves: How has the medical profession solved this challenge?
How has the transport sector solved this challenge? How have creative industries solved this
challenge? This part of the process requires seeing the challenges with a totally “new” mind-set.
9. On sticky notes write the most radical solutions to each of the abstracted challenges, and stick on the
“Radical” Section.
10. Contact someone from that field and get them to help you solve your challenge!
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Figure B.4.6 - Radical & Classical Map
B.4.7 Create a visible reminder
Keep the classical and radical maps of your challenges in a visible place for you to revisit over the course of
your social innovation process. They will continue to serve as a source of inspiration, and can be adjusted
as you develop your solutions.
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B.4.8 Build Your Persona
After building your radical map, you can choose the people that you want to learn more from, and start
creating personas of these people, as instructed below.
Figure B.4.8 - The Persona Poster
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B.5.0 Get Inspired Before
You start your Research!
So far in the HEAR stage of our social innovation process we have created a design challenge, we have
listed what we already know and what we still want to know, we have mapped our community through
classical and radical mapping and we’ve even started thinking about where to observe “extreme” people those living at the edge. We’re getting near the research phase, where we will go into the field and conduct
our human-centred field research. But before we dive into this rich and rewarding process, we need to arm
ourselves with some inspiration! As the old saying goes, “You can’t solve the same problems with the same
methods that haven’t worked before!” - with social innovation we are approaching things in a new way,
and seeing them from a different perspective, we are putting people at the centre of our design process
and we are learning from what hasn’t worked, to create solutions that will work. The start of this “new”
thinking is inspiration, and it is with an inspired mind-set that we want to start the search for information.
It is with this inspired mind-set that we want to see the people, places and systems that make up the
challenge we are trying to solve!
Figure B.5.0 - Kids trying to transport water from a water well to their homes at the outskirts of Rwanda.
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B.5.1 IMMERSE YOURSELF IN
THE CONTEXT
With a curious mind-set, inspiration and new perspectives can be found in many places and without much
preparation. Sharpen your skills in observing the world around you.
Choose a place where you can have an experience that is relevant to your challenge. For example, if you
are looking for new ideas on checking-in procedures for technicians at a factory, visit the factory at check-in
time, just as the technicians do, and observe the process!
discuss and list three places you think
would be inspiring
1.
2.
3.
B.5.2 seeking inspiration in
new places
Looking for inspiration in a different context, outside of the world of the labour market, opens the mind
and can help you find a fresh perspective. Dare to go out of your comfort zone and explore!
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B.5.2.1 think of analogies that connect with
your challenge
With your team, list all the activities, emotions, and behaviours that make up the experience of your
challenge. Next to each of these areas, write down other situations where similar experiences occur.
Remember your radical maps and the process of abstraction. If you need to, re-read the Abstraction
Guidelines in Appendix 14.
Activities, Emotions, Behaviours
Analogous Situations
B.5.2.2 search for and write down three
analogous inspiring places
1.
2.
3.
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B.5.2.3 Make arrangements for your
activities
Plan the logistics of your activities. Connect with the people you want to visit and explain the purpose of
your search for inspiration. Fill in the table below with your team
Place/Experience/Scenario
Team Member
B.5.2.4 Absorb the experience
During your visit, first observe peoples’ activities and their environments. Then, when appropriate, ask
questions about what you have noticed. Use a separate notebook to record your observations, thoughts,
reactions and the responses from the people you speak to. If it’s appropriate to take photos, do so, as you
can refer to these later, and will often find things that you did not notice at the time! When you’re done
with these activities and are thoroughly inspired, go on to the next section to design your interview guides.
Date/Time
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Refer to “Choose Your Research Methods” in Appendix 05 to be guided through different ways of conducting
research.
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B.6.0 Design Your
Interview Guide
By now, we’re thoroughly inspired! We’ve taken the brave leap of leaving our offices (and comfort zones)
and going into the field, observing new contexts for our challenge, observing the “humans” connected
to our challenge, absorbing information - new and old - and assimilating it, seeing our challenge with a
“beginner’s mind”! We’re also gearing up for our research phase, but there’s just one more step we need
to take, to make sure we hit the ground running! We need to create interview guides to prepare us for the
conversations we will be having, and to make sure we are capturing the most relevant information. By
preparing well, we will not only be asking the right questions, but we will also know what to look out for;
we will be preparing ourselves to read between the lines, to understand not just what is being said, but
also what is not being said, and why. As with all stages of social innovation, this stage is vital to the overall
success of our endeavour. By failing to prepare, we will be preparing to fail!
Now it’s time to create an interview guide to prepare for your conversations. You’ll likely need more space
than this worksheet, so use your notebook to write down additional questions.
Ask questions that will allow you to learn details related to each of these key categories:*
Personal Details
Who are you meeting and what are their demographics (profession, age, location, etc.)?
Motivations
What do these people care about the most? What motivates them?
Frustrations
What frustrates them? What needs do they have that aren’t being met?
Interactions
What is interesting about the way they interact with their environment?
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Refer to “Conduct an Interview” guide in the Appendix 08
* Based on questions from HCD course workshop guide by +Acumen, http://plusacumen.org/wp-content/
uploads/2013/07/Week2_workshopguide.pdf
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B.6.1 Start building interview
questions
As per IDEO’s HCD Design Kit, the interview questions have been recommended to follow the sequence of:
Open Specific, Go Broad, and Probe Deep.
Open Specific
Warm up the participant with questions they are comfortable with.
•
•
•
Employees demographics
Who does what in the workplace?
Stories of recent past
Go Broad
•
•
•
Prompt bigger, even aspirational, thinking that they may not be accustomed to on a daily basis.
Aspirations for the future
System- based questions
Probe Deep
•
•
•
•
Dig deeper on the challenge at hand & prompt with “what if” scenarios.
Income sources
Questions specific to innovation challenge
Sacrificial concepts
Exercise: Use the following structure
below to create the interview questions
1. Generate a list of topics related to your design challenge to cover in field research.
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2. Sort the topics based on what are the main categories and sub-categories.
Categories
Sub-categories
3. Identify if any topics are specific to male or female activities.
Male related
Female related
4. As a team, break into groups of two. Take each main category and assign a group
to generate a list of questions (using Post-its), to ask in the field, based on the topics
listed in the main category.
5. Move the post-its around to sort the questions into a logical flow based on the
sequencing of: START SPECIFIC, GO BROAD then PROBE DEEP.
Start Specific
Go Broad
Probe Deep
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6. Have each group present their questions to the larger team and add any additional
questions that may be missing.
Don’t forget to see “Conduct an Interview” guide in the Appendix 08
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By now you should be ready to go out of your office and conduct the interviews based on your interview
guides.
B.7.0 Research! (And How
to Get the Best Out of It)
The moment we have been building up to is finally upon us! We are now fully committed to our social
innovation process, and are nearing the actionable part of our HEAR stage! We have come a long way in
our journey from knowing that: “something needs to be done in the labour market!”, to finally putting our
social innovation process into action. This is where things start to really get fun!
Standard research, the kind done by most big market consultancies is usually quantitative. It relies on
thousands of people (often even more) answering basic questions. This is a useful technique for seeing
overall patterns, but does not get us very far in terms of seeing things from the human perspective. The type
of research conducted by social innovators is often far more qualitative in nature. Instead of interviewing
1,000 people we can interview 50. That’s a BIG difference in the number of people interviewed! But these
50 interviews penetrate deep, deep down into the very core of the people being interviewed, uncovering
obvious and latent motivations, aspirations, fears, drivers and, of course, possible solutions.
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Refer to “Qualitative Research” in the Appendix 04
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It is important to realise that social innovation’s DEEP research covers far more “unspoken” ground than
traditional research. Often, the people we are designing for and with are not aware of what the true nature of
the challenge is.
Now it’s time to create an interview guide to prepare for your conversations. You’ll likely need more space
than this worksheet, so use your notebook to write down additional questions.
B.7.1 About timing…
Before you start, spend a few minutes as a team building agreements around how much time you will
spend researching and who will complete each task.
How much time will you spend researching?
B.7.2 In your teams
It’s always good to keep the interviewing team between 2-3 persons and if your team size is bigger than
that it will be wise to divide.
Write down the names of the members in each team.
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B.7.3 Select Roles
Remember that an ideal team is between 2-3 persons; one to lead the conversation, another to take notes
and the third member (if there) to observe the conversation and the surrounding environment. It’s not only
good to distribute roles based on your skills, but also good to rotate roles and practice.
Take a couple of minutes to write down names and roles amongst the team.
Name
Roles
Notes
Name
Roles
Notes
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B.7.4 The Location
Choose where to go and who you might talk to. You can also think about scheduling expert interviews – try
to do this in person – only use Skype or phone calls if you absolutely can’t meet the people you want to
interview.
1. Write down who you will talk to, where, and what’s required.
Where?
Who?
How?
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2. Things to Do
What are some things you can do to gain inspiration in this place?
3. Things to See
What are some things you want to make sure you observe while you are visiting this place?
Now it’s time to get out there and do your research! You’re armed with your interview questions, and you
know that to keep a look out for. You’ve also read the guidelines in the appendices and your team is ready
to work its magic. So, without further delay, go and research!
Photographs and videos are an important part of your research, but make sure you have asked for permission
before photographing or videoing people or places!
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B.8.0 From Deep Research
to Empathy Maps &
Personas
Congratulations on having completed your research! You most probably feel like an entirely different
person after this process. Leaving our comfort zones and exploring a totally new approach to problem
solving by assuming the perspective of totally different people, is often a moving process. By now you
have probably come to know entire groups of people in a way that you had not imagined possible before.
You understand these people: their motivations, ambitions, fears, views, beliefs and principles. But the
HEAR phase of social innovation doesn’t end here. As with everything else in social innovation we need
to document the experience, and the knowledge that came out of it, in a way that other people (and
ourselves) can use effectively. We want to be able to share the experience we had and the revelations that
came with it with the rest of the people we will be designing with.
There are two tools we will explore in this section that do a fantastic job of not just recording information
in a great way, but allowing it to be used effectively by others. These tools are Empathy Maps and Personas.
We mentioned in the introduction that the process of using social innovation is expansive and contractive.
The research phase is expansive, creating and generating lots and lots of useful information. In this phase
of our process we will start to distil through this information, to contract it, to condense it, to keep only the
things we think are most relevant and useful.
B.8.1 what are Empathy Maps?
Empathy maps are aptly titled in that they map out the pains, gains, motivations, experiences, thoughts,
and feelings of the people we have been interviewing and researching. A thoroughly completed empathy
map builds a pretty comprehensive picture of the people we have chosen as interviewees and allows us
to really empathise with where they are in the world, and why. Empathy maps are then used to construct
personas, which are critical for our social innovation process.
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B.8.2 what is A “Persona”?
We first encountered personas in section 15.10. Our empathy maps have helped us create a rich, detailed
picture of the people we want to include on our journey to solve challenges in the labour market. Empathy
maps are filled with details and include nuances that just can’t be captured in other ways. But empathy
maps also carry information that may not be critical to our solutions, or to the rest of the process. To further
condense and distil all of the information we have gathered and generated, we can start to go through the
empathy maps and to use only the most important information to create personas.
Personas are summarised descriptions of a person or type of person that capture all of the critical
information we will need to continue our social innovation journey.
tip
There are many different types of persona, but for our purposes we will use the type listed below. By reading
through a persona, we, or our colleagues will get a condensed overview of one of the people (or groups
of people) we believe are important towards finding our solution. As our journey is towards solutions in
the labour market, we may very well need to create a few personas for the various types of stakeholders
that we will be designing with and for. We can then use these personas as references and guides towards
designing truly effective and people-centred solutions.
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B.8.3 Build your Empathy Map
After conducting your interview it’s important to start profiling your interviewees’“personas” and building
your empathy map around them. Follow the following steps to build your empathy map:
•
•
•
•
Hang your empathy map on a wall or board.
Use Post-it notes and assign a different colour to each person you have interviewed or the user
persona you are designing for.
Scribble memorable quotes across the four areas of “Say, Think, Hear, and See”.
Discuss with your team, and highlight the things that surprised you.
Figure B.8.3 - Empathy Map Poster
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B.8.4 Reframe your Personas
Go back to the persona activity in Section 15.10 and repeat the persona process. Afterwards compare
the personas you created before you interviewed your target groups with those you created after your
interviews. Discuss with your teams the obvious – and subtle – differences between the two. What
assumptions did you make that were corrected? What assumptions did you make that were slightly off?
The process of creating personas from thorough interviews, and empathy maps can be one of the most
rewarding parts of the HEAR phase, and can be a game-changing experience in itself. You will feel that you
have a far deeper understanding of the people related to your challenge and their motivations!
B.9.0 Ending hear,
beginning create!
Congratulations on completing the HEAR section of our social innovation handbook. It’s been an adventure
to say the least, but it is just the beginning. Throughout the following sections: CREATE and DELIVER we
will be taking the abundant information you recorded, generated and created and putting it all into action!
Good work!
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In this section you will find:
c.1.0 Introduction to CREATE
C.2.0 SHARE STORIES
C.3.0 Identify PATTERNS TO MAKE SENSE
C.4.0 DISCOVERING INSIGHTS FROM YOUR
CLUSTERS
C.5.0 “HOW MIGHT WE...?”
C.6.0 RANKING (VOTING IDEAS)
c.7.0 IDEATE! BRAINSTORMING SOLUTIONS
c.8.0 PUTTING OUR IDEAS INTO ACTION!
c.9.0 DESIGNING OUR PHYSICAL PROTOTYPES
c.10.0 designing a low-resolution
prototype
c.11.0 from the end of create to the
beginning of deliver
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C.1.0 Introduction
to CREATE
Congratulations on making it all the way through the HEAR phase and to the CREATE phase. It’s been
quite a journey and we’re not even halfway there! By now you must be brimming with excitement and
curiosity! Just how will the information you gathered in the HEAR part of the process be used to design
and create solutions? You probably already have some great ideas that you think might really work, or you
may just be overwhelmed by all of the information you have gathered and created! Well, don’t worry; all of
your questions and ideas will most probably be addressed in this part of our process.
In the CREATE phase we will look at all of the information we have gathered and use storytelling to
share this information in a meaningful and useful way. We will then identify patterns and relationships
in our materials to see which major insights emerge. Armed with these insights, we will start translating
the insights into opportunities and prepare ourselves for some amazing brainstorming sessions. We’ll be
brainstorming potential solutions and using a whole set of ranking tools to gradually eliminate all but the
most promising ideas. And with these ideas at the ready, we will even begin small implementations of
these ideas, testing them against our assumptions, making sure they work, and gradually scaling them up
to see if they really are the amazing solutions we hope they will be!
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ate
iterative process
Figure C.1.0 (a) – Social Innovation is an Iterative Process
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PERSONAS
empathy maps
STORIES
THEMES
INSIGHTS
HOW MIGHT
WE’S...?
prototypes
ideas
create
Figure C.1.0 (b) – From HEAR to CREATE, the journey continues
Prepare to dive even further into our social innovation process and the world of social innovation. Prepare
to be amazed yet again!
C.2.0 Share Stories…
Much of the reason social innovation is so effective at solving social problems is due to its people-centred
approach. As we discussed in the introduction, social challenges require innovative solutions that include
people at their core - in fact, we are designing with the very people experiencing the challenges we are
aiming to solve. This emphasis on social interaction and our people-centred, deep research approach
creates a lot of information that is qualitative, and that cannot be analysed in the usual way that quantitative
data can. One of the powerful tools that social innovation practitioners use is storytelling. Storytelling
enables us to relive the experience of being in the contexts and with the people we were interviewing. It
allows us to share complex, qualitative, experiential information in a way that inspires others to understand
so much more than quantitative data. Story sharing needs to take place just after the interviewing process
occurs. This will allow you to take the amazing amount of information received during field research, and
turn it into useful, shareable information for you and your colleagues!
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C.2.1 tell your story
Share what you learned from your research as stories, not just general statements. This will create common
knowledge that your team can use to imagine opportunities and ideas. Describe the individuals you met and
the places you visited. Be specific and talk about what actually happened. Revisit the notes you took right after
your observation. Print out your photos and use them to illustrate your stories.
Figure C.2.1 - Aspirations stories brainstorming workshop at Kigali
Capture quotes—they are a powerful way of representing the voice of a participant!
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To cover the most important topics, consider following these steps:
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C.2.1.1 Personal details
Who did you meet (profession, age, location, family, etc.)?
c.2.1.2 interesting stories
What was the most memorable and surprising story?
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c.2.1.3 Motivations
What did this participant care about the most? What motivates him/her?
c.2.1.4 Frustrations
What frustrated him/her?
c.2.1.5 interactions
What was interesting about the way he/she interacted with his/her environment?
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c.2.1.6 Quotes
What were the quotations that he/she used that surprised you? (Try to use the same language)
c.2.1.7 Remaining Questions
What questions would you like to explore in your next conversation?
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c.2.1.8 Now it’s time to build the story for your
persona!
(Use a separate sheet if you need more space)
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c.2.2 Listen to the stories of your
team
While you are listening to each other, compare and contrast the things you have learned. Explore areas
where you find different opinions and contradictions. Begin to look for recurring themes.
Use one sheet per story, so you have separate overviews of all your experiences, and the people you have met.
tip
Take turns sharing the stories of the people you talked to or the places you visited. While listening to your
team, capture their stories and observations on Post-its, using a separate Post-it per thought. Capture the
most interesting learnings and write down at least one learning from each story by doing the following:
c.2.2.1 Actively listen!
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Divide your team into groups of two and have each group decide who will start by being the active
listener, and who will role-play the scenario and tell their story.
The role-player of the scenario has to “get into” their role based on their real stories.
The active listener has to take notes without interrupting the role-player. They need to “listen loudly”!
After the story, change roles: have the person who was the active listener act as a stakeholder by
trying to interpret the story, whilst the one who was the role-player takes notes without interrupting.
After this is finished, together debrief this scenario by discussing why it was done and how it relates
or can be applied to real life or the job.
After everyone has completed this activity, reassemble the team and conclude with a discussion about
how they felt and the power of active listening. Answer these questions: What was most surprising?
What was the hardest part for you? What were your “aha moments”?
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c.3.0 Identifying Patterns
to Make Sense of Our
Stories, Personas and
Maps
We’ve come a long way in our social innovation process! So much has happened, and we’ve learned so
much - maybe even some things we really didn’t expect to learn at all! Much of the HEAR section was
dominated by receiving and generating information. At one point we may even have been overwhelmed
by the amazing amount of information we had deal with. By creating empathy maps and then personas
we trimmed down this information into slightly more manageable chunks. And by using storytelling, we
revisited our field visits as a team, listening in roles and learning from these shared experiences. Now it’s
time to make sense of all of this information. We need to extract the patterns that emerge as we go through
this process. We need to identify common themes and start to create relationships that help us understand
how all of this information fits together, and how we can go about using it effectively! This part of the
process can sometimes seem chaotic and unclear. Remember the Chaordic Field we mentioned in the
introduction? We don’t really want to tidy up this mess... Instead, we want to use this area between chaos
and order to identify the patterns and relationships that will help us find new solutions. In the next section
you will find some steps that will help you navigate this tricky but rewarding path!
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c.3.1 Cluster into Themes
c.3.1.1 FIND THE “WOW” POST-ITS
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Each person in your team should choose 3-5 Post-its that are the most interesting from the collected
data / notes.
Using a blank sheet, together with your team, start hanging these Post-its.
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c.3.1.2. CATEGORIZE INFORMATION INTO
MEANINGFUL THEMES
After reviewing these “Wow” Post-its, together with your team try to arrange them into groups / clusters
that cover different topics. Putting into consideration the following: repeated behaviours, noticed issues,
conflicting statements, personal interpretation, promising ideas etc.
c.3.1.3. TAKE A GENERAL LOOK!
At this stage, it’s important to check the leftover Post-its (the non-”wow” ones) and to see if there any
relevant pieces of information remaining to include in the clustered groups you’ve created. It’s always
useful to be as visual as you can (e.g photographs).
c.3.1.4. CULTIVATE YOUR CLUSTERED GROUPS
Try to recheck your clusters and combine the ones that are relevant to each other. Be flexible to see if you
need to create new main clusters.
A good number could be a maximum of five clusters.
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c.3.1.5. WRITE DOWN EXPRESSIVE HEADLINES
For each of the clustered groups that you’ve created together with your team, develop expressive
headlines, such as “wages” or “social insurance” or “match making”.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
c.4.0 Discovering
Insights From Your
Clusters!
The title of this section may have seemed like rocket science when you first started your journey in social
innovation! By now, you can probably guess what it means, and why it might be useful! The previous
step involved making sense of all of the information we have collected by clustering similar ideas and
identifying the most prominent patterns and relationships. It may already be apparent to you where some
of the solutions may lie and where some of the biggest challenges may be present. You may have noticed
that from the time we started building our empathy maps, we have slowly been trimming away excess
information, leaving each step with only the most useful and actionable information. It’s time to take it
another step further, by taking the headlines we created in the previous step (from the themes that have
begun to emerge), and identifying the challenges related to each theme. This will help us see why these
themes have emerged and how we can use them in designing a solution! As with the last step, don’t be put
off if this seems a bit messy or difficult - just follow the steps below and you’ll emerge triumphant!
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c.4.1 Do you recall your design
challenge?
Write down your design challenge.
c.4.2 Re-write your clustered-
themes’ headlines
Keep sorting and re-arranging the information you have until you feel that your design challenge is
accurately represented in the themes.
E.g. high turnover rate, access to job information, problems with workplace conditions.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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c.4.3 Describe the challenges
For each cluster headline, try to draft three concise sentences that explain why the theme you’ve identified
describes a challenge for the people in the community (employees/employers) that you spoke with. Each
theme may lead to multiple insight statements, make sure not to ignore major ones.
E.g. “There is no financial incentive for workers to stay in their jobs for a long time.”
You can work individually or in groups.
tip
THEME 1
Sentence 1
Sentence 2
Sentence 3
THEME 2
Sentence 1
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Sentence 1
Sentence 2
Sentence 3
THEME 4
Sentence 1
Sentence 2
Sentence 3
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THEME 4
Sentence 1
Sentence 2
Sentence 3
c.4.4 Rewrite your insight
statements
Once you have a few sentences for each theme, work with your full design team to revise and rewrite your
insight statements until the group has captured the most unique and compelling points related to each
theme.
You can use the template below directly!
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Design Challenge
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THEME 1
Insights:
1.
2.
3.
THEME 2
Insights:
1.
2.
3.
THEME 3
Insights:
1.
2.
3.
THEME 4
Insights:
1.
2.
3.
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THEME 5
Insights:
1.
2.
3.
c.5.0 “How Might We…?”:
From insights to
Opportunities
By following the steps in the “Discovering Insights From Your Clusters” section we have managed to identify
key insights related to the main themes that emerged from our clustering. At this stage we are deep into
the CREATE phase of social innovation. In the introduction we mentioned that “identifying the problem is
90% of solving it”, well, we’re getting close to that 90%!
In previous sections we have practiced turning our challenges into “optimistic” statements and even into
solution statements. In this part of the social innovation process we will turn the insights we created in the
previous step into open questions that will allow us to begin thinking in terms of solutions. A great open
question format is the “How might we…?” format. This question type will be the foundation from which
our upcoming brainstorming sessions will emerge! Very exciting indeed!
Use the “How Might We” (HMW) question
format as an invitation for input,
suggestions, and exploration.
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From the insight statements you created earlier, together with your team, pick the three most
interesting statements.
Take few minutes, individually, to turn these insight statements into “How might we…?” questions
After sharing the “How might we…?” questions with your team, work together to make them more
actionable, until you feel they are expressive and interesting to explore later.
Insight Statements
How Might We…?
Make an effort to select statements that convey a new perspective or sense of possibility
Insights only become valuable when you can act on them as inspiring opportunities. Turn them into
brainstorming questions so that they can act as a springboard for your ideas.
tip
See “How to Create Frameworks?” in the Appendix 10
c.6.0 Ideate!
Brainstorming Solutions
As A Team!
Ideation is a designer’s term for: coming up with ideas. Many people think that having ideas is a passive
experience; you’re sitting down somewhere, minding your own business, when suddenly an idea hits you!
It’s not something you can control or even encourage - it’s just something that happens. Well, this is not
the case at all!
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As we mentioned in the introduction to this handbook, social innovation is a science (and an art!). And as a
science, it excels at creating new ideas. In fact, you have probably had many new ideas related to the labour
market in Egypt, by this point in our process.
Figure 26.0 - A team in Rwanda Brainstorming Different Solutions
c.6.1 Creating potential
solutions
In this stage of the CREATE process we will be coming up with ideas that address the challenges we have
identified in the “How might we…?” statements. We have to make sure that the ideas we create address
the challenges fully, including all of the limitations around the challenges. In the following exercises you
will be guided through different brainstorming techniques designed to help you come up with as many
ideas as possible.
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•
DIVERSE TEAMS THROUGHOUT THE SOCIAL INNOVATION PROCESS ARE CRITICAL TO FINDING
EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS.
•
TEAMS SHOULD ALWAYS INCLUDE THE PEOPLE THEY ARE DESIGNING FOR (AND WITH).
•
AS OUR TASK IS TO USE INNOVATION TO SOLVE CHALLENGES IN THE LABOUR MARKET IN EGYPT - WE
ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT OUR TEAMS INCLUDE ALL OF THE RELEVANT STAKEHOLDERS
CONNECTED TO THE LABOUR MARKET.
•
WE CANNOT DESIGN EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS WITHOUT THE PEOPLE WHO WILL BE TOUCHED BY THESE
SOLUTIONS!
c.6.2 Form Your Dream
Brainstorming Team
Your team is your problem-solving tool! You’ll need to make sure that there are representatives
of all of the major stakeholder groups connected to the labour market in Egypt, in your team.
It’s also a good idea to have people totally unrelated to the labour market on your team. This is
where your radical maps shine. Revisit your radical maps and see who else should be on your
team that have solved similar types of challenges in totally unrelated industries. Invite them
to be part of your brainstorming process. Explain to them that although they are not labour
market experts, they have managed to solve complex challenges that are the same “shape” as
the challenges you are trying to solve.
tip
Whilst conducting our research on the theme of labour market challenges, we came to the realisation that
one of the challenges is matchmaking - helping the right companies find the right employees and viceversa. We then brainstormed a little and realised that an alternative industry that has managed to solve
the “matchmaking problem” is the online dating industry! They have worked out how to combine people in
an efficient, remote and effective manner by gathering certain data. We’re not suggesting you bring in an
online dating company representative to your brainstorming team, but why not review your radical maps
and see who else should be there?!
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c.6.3 Expansive, unedited, pure
idea generation!
The ideation stage is another expansive stage of the social innovation process. In the following steps
we will be trying to come up with as many ideas as humanly possible. These ideas should address the
“How might we…?” statements, but at this point, please, please do not edit yourselves! Just go for it! It
is important to say anything that comes to mind. Do not judge your own ideas or the ideas of others.
Even the most ridiculous, far-fetched, seemingly crazy ideas should be mentioned. Sometimes by saying
something totally unrelated and imaginary, a connection is made by another member of your team that
leads to yet another connection, that leads to a system changing idea.
Did you know that IDEO created the original computer mouse by basing its movement on a stick of roll on
deodorant? Never underestimate the power of creativity or (seemingly) far-fetched ideas!
tip
c.6.4 Ideas at the ready…
And… GO!
Follow these steps for a successful and abundant brainstorming session:
Follow these steps for a successful and abundant brainstorming session:
•
•
•
•
•
Review with your teams the clusters you created in section 2.
Review the themes and headlines that emerged in section 3.
Write down your three selected “How might we…?” statements in large lettering on three separate
sheets of paper.
Give each person in your team a stack of Post-it notes and a marker.
Individually, write down one or two words (maximum one short sentence) on each sticky note that
represents an idea you have that could be a solution. Write only one idea per sticky note. Keep going
until you have absolutely no ideas left!
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Snacks, random items, crazy toys and tools are always useful for inspiration in brainstorming sessions!
Remember: no idea is too silly or too small
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•
When you have all written down as many ideas for solutions as possible, share them with your team.
Individually, stand in front of an empty board, read out the headline you have written, and (very)
briefly explain the idea to your team. Do this with all of your sticky notes.
You may need 2 or more hours for this step!
Resist the temptation to discuss these ideas or to ask questions or to explain too much. There is time for this
later!
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•
Repeat with all of your team members. You will often find that the process speeds up as more of the
same ideas emerge, and therefore, less explanations are required.
c.7.0 Ranking (Voting)
Ideas
It is obvious to anyone that has been in a brainstorming session that it is an expansive process.
Lots and lots of ideas are flying around and it can sometimes be overwhelming! But fear not,
there is a science to this apparent madness, so let’s get right into continuing our process. The
brainstorming session has given us a lot of information to deal with. And like the previous
expansive phases where a lot of information is created, it is followed by a contractive phase,
where we will be sifting through the ideas, keeping only the strongest and removing the
weakest. You may be wondering how we do this “sifting” process… Welcome to ranking. Here
you will be engaging in yet another fun and engaging part of the social innovation process!
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c.7.1 Clustering: Cluster ideas
into “Solution Themes”
Rewrite the main themes as well as you can, and remove the other themes that belong to that cluster. Write
Solution Headlines next to each main theme
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c.7.2 Ranking
c.7.2.1 Level 1 - Relating solutions to your
“How might we…?” statements
The ideas you generated need to address the “How might we…?” statements as accurately as possible. It
has taken a lot of work to get to the stage where we have narrowed down all of the information we have
gathered in the HEAR and CREATE phases into these “How might we…?” statements. We need to be very
careful not to neglect that work, and to accidentally create solutions that are detached from all of the
conditions that led to the creation of these statements!
•
•
•
Go through your main solution themes and relate each solution to your “How might we…?”
statements.
Each team member can vote 5 times - by using a coloured sticker (usually a dot) and sticking it to the
solutions they think relate the best (you can put more than one of your stickers on one solution if you
think it is particularly strong
The ideas with the most stickers are the ideas you should begin with
c.7.2.2 Level 2 - Expensive vs. Cheap. Difficult
vs. Easy
As a team, distribute your ideas onto the matrix below based on how expensive vs. cheap and
how difficult vs. easy they are. You can copy the matrix onto a whiteboard or pin board.
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expensive
easy
difficult
cheap
Figure C.7.2.2 - Difficult VS Easy - 2x2 Matrix
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c.7.2.3 Level 3 - Innovative or been done
before?
Each team member can vote 3 times - by using a coloured sticker (different colour or shape to the ones
used before) and sticking it to the solutions they think are most innovative.
c.7.2.4 Level 4 - Relating solutions to
“Feasible, Viable, Desirable”
Each team member can vote 3 times - by using a coloured sticker (different colour or shape to the ones
used before) and sticking it to the solutions they think are most innovative.
feasible
desirable
goal
viable
Figure C.7.2.4 - Products and Services created through Social Innovation
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c.7.2.5 Level 5 - Determining what to
prototype!
As a group, compare the rankings that you have given to each idea, evaluate the most promising ideas and
decide which ones to develop further. Be realistic about the number you can pursue—aim for two or three
ideas to start with. Answer the following questions:
1. Which ideas received the highest score?
1.
2.
3.
2. Do you have a consensus around this idea to be prototyped? Why?
c.8.0 Putting Our Ideas
Into Action!
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Congratulations on having completed your first social innovation brainstorming session, and on having
used the various ranking tools to narrow down all of the incredible solutions you have created to the ones
that look like they’ll work the best. By now you will most likely have 3-5 ideas that you think will be systemchanging - ideas that will not only revolutionise the labour market in Egypt, but maybe even the world...
Amazing! There are a few things we have to do before we can invest all of our time, energy and resources
into implementing our solutions. Remember our definition of social innovation?
Social Innovation is a new way of solving social
problems that is more efficient, benefits society and
enhances its capacity to act.
Our definition mentions a NEW way of solving social problems that is BETTER than previous ways. By
engaging in the ranking process, we have made sure that our idea is new, in other words innovative. But
we also need to make sure it’s better. If we were to throw all of our resources at these solutions without
knowing if they actually work, we might end up losing everything! After all, they haven’t been tested, so we
don’t even know if they will work. How can we call an idea better if we haven’t even tried it yet? Prototyping
helps us do exactly that - try our ideas to make sure they work, and then continue to refine them until they
really are amazing!
c.8.1 starting To Prototype
*
A prototype can be thought of as an experimental version of a product, service or experience. When it
comes to products and services, prototypes are often lower quality, lower cost versions of the final product
or service, that can be used to see if the product or service will actually do what it has been designed to do.
Now part of design legend, there is a story of how an IDEO team were able to help dentists
create a new tool by prototyping it out of an old tissue paper roll and some pens. The IDEO
team asked the dentists, “Is this what you mean?” When the dentists were trying to explain how
the tool should look and feel
story
* Basic Design 08: Design Thinking. Gavin Ambrose & Paul Harris. AVA Publishing SA 2010. ISBN:
9782940411177.
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Prototypes start as low-resolution versions of the final product they are based on, and as they are tried,
tested and improved, they gradually increase in quality and accuracy. This process ensures that the
minimum resources are spent building a product or executing a service, whilst the maximum possible
testing is being done at the same time. This low cost, high efficiency approach allows for products and
services to be market-tested even before they hit the shelves!
This stage of the design process looks to develop and add flesh to the bones of the concepts generated at
the ideation stage in order to facilitate the selection process.
tip
c.8.2 storyboarding
A prototype can be thought of as an experimental version of a
product, service or experience. When it comes to products and
services, prototypes are often lower quality, lower cost versions of
the final product or service, that can be used to see if the product or
service will actually do what it has been designed to do.
Before we design our prototype service (or product), we need to
make sure that we are aware of all of the conditions connected to
it. If we’re designing a new “job centre experience”, for example, we’ll
need to make sure we list; all of the people that will be working in
that job centre; all of the people that will be using that job centre;
where the job centre will be physically located; how many people
it will be serving at any one time; what kind of environment it will
contain, etc. There’s a lot of information that we need to connect to
the service we’re trying to design. A great way to do this is through
storyboarding!
Storyboarding is the process of creating a story in a format
that looks something like a comic book. Often used in the
movie industry to plan out scenes in detail, storyboarding is
an essential tool for the creation of accurate prototypes. A
storyboard should walk you through the entire experience
of using a product or service. By the time you’ve read the
storyboard, you should be totally aware of how the service
(or product) works, why it is a good service, what makes it
different to other services that are currently being used, and
how someone would come across this service in real life.
The following activities will guide you through the process of
creating a detailed storyboard. Once that’s done, it’s on to
the process of actually prototyping our product or service!
Figure C.8.2 - Story boards explaining how to use different prototypes
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Title:
Title:
Title:
Place your photo/drawing here
Place your photo/drawing here
Place your photo/drawing here
Describe your persona:
Describe what’s happening:
Describe what’s happening:
See Appendix 12 for “Steps to create a storyboard”
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c.9.0 Designing Our
Physical Prototypes
As we near the end of the CREATE section, we’ve reached a level of anticipation we probably haven’t
experienced in a while! We’ve come so far with our social innovation process, and we’re just about to try
out our solutions for the first time. The storyboarding process has given us a good idea as to what our
product or service should look like, how it should function, who should be using it, and a whole host of
other details. So, now is the time to turn these ideas into a reality! The process of prototyping requires good
teamwork, a lot of focus, and some real ingenuity. We will be designing and putting together a product
or service that has to conform to real-world standards. We have to make sure the prototype itself is an
accurate representation of the final product or service we are offering. It must also be feasible, viable and
desirable as a prototype, and cost-effective to test. Here is yet another part of the social innovation process
where science meets art. Our prototype must conform to many conditions whilst still representing its final
version. It must be constructed scientifically to allow us to test it. But it must be inspiring enough to attract
people into using it. There’s a lot of information we need to plan for with our prototyping phase.
c.9.1 Prototyping is an iterative
process
Low Resolution Prototype
Medium Resolution Prototype
High Resolution Prototype
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c.10.0 Designing a lowresolution prototype
It’s time to start making! You’ve selected an idea to prototype and identified the most important elements
to test first. Fingers crossed, your team also has a good sense of how to go about building your first
prototype. Just in case, we’ve listed some of our favourite prototyping methods below.
Figure C.10.0 - Prototyping activity using different simple materials.
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c.10.1 let’s prototype!
1.
2.
3.
4.
In your teams partner into groups of 2-4. [Smaller groups allow everyone to have a role]
Ask groups to pick one solution from your top three ideas. You may choose to offer a range of criteria:
two groups working on solutions they’re “most passionate about,” one group on “most feasible ” and
one on “furthest out” or “long term”.
Prompt groups to spend no more than 45 minutes to 1 hour making their chosen solution tangible,
using any prototyping forms. Remember to refer to “Empathy Maps” and your personas while
prototyping to understand their needs, pains and gains.
Give each team 5 minutes to share their idea back with the larger group to get initial feedback.
Encourage teams to include an enactment of the experience of use, even if they have a paper-based
prototype.
See “What are the different types of prototyping?” in the Appendices
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c.11.0 From the end of
CREATE to the beginning
of DELIVER
Congratulations, social innovator. You’ve made it two thirds of the way through our social innovation
process. You’ve also completed your first brainstorming session, your first ranking session and you’re
first prototyping session. Look how far you’ve come! Now that you’re so far into the process, it’s time to
get serious. The final section of this handbook, DELIVER, will take you from low-resolution prototypes to
implemented solutions. You’re almost there… Great work!
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In this section you will find:
D.1.0 Introduction to Deliver
d.2.0 Looking through the Three Lenses
d.3.0 Testing Your Prototype!
d.4.0 reviewing Your prototypes and
Your prototype Testing Experiment!
d.5.0 Seek Feedback!
d.6.0 Assess the Viability of Your
Solution!
d.7.0 Assess the Feasibility of Your
Solution!
d.8.0 build your business model!
d.9.0 Measure Your Impact!
d.10.0 Getting into Action!
d.11.0 Continue Learning!
d.12.0 the end is just the beginning!
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D.1.0 Introduction
to deliver
Welcome fellow Social Innovators to the final part of our social innovation process! It has been an epic
journey! From our very first experience of defining innovation and social innovation, through the stages of
HEAR and CREATE, we finally arrive to our destination: DELIVER.
In the DELIVER phase, we will finally be testing and enhancing our solutions - to get them ready for real
implementation! We will be putting into practice all of the ideas and models we have created. We’ll start
by designing a prototyping “experiment”. And then we’ll use some of our tried and tested tools to make
sure our solutions are as good as they can possibly be. Once we’re sure we’re onto something fantastic,
and we’re sure that the people we’re designing with and for agree, then we can go out there and actually
implement our solutions! Amazing!
Don’t worry, the entire process is iterative, so you can (and should!) continue to use the tools we have
shared, to design, improve and implement amazing and truly innovative solutions!
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social innovation
cre
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ate
iterative process
Figure D.1.0 – Social Innovation is an Iterative Process
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D.2.0 Looking through the
Three Lenses
You will no doubt remember the three criteria we so often use in social innovation to measure the value of
a product or service - these are, of course, the three lenses of: Feasible, Viable and Desirable. There are some
incredibly useful social innovation tools to address each of these!
To test and enhance the desirability of our solutions we will finally be prototyping them!
To make sure our solutions are feasible, we will take a look at our organisational
resources and capabilities, as well as exploring potential partnerships. And to address the viability of our
solutions we will build financial models to make sure we can offer our solutions over the long term!
viability
( business )
innovation
desirability
( human )
feasibility
( technical )
D.2.0 - Three Lenses of Social Innovation based on IDEO.com
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D.2.1 Case Study: SmartLife:
case study
Designing a Scalable Water and
Hygiene Business*
Case Study narrated by IDEO.org design team: In recent years, Nairobi, Kenya has become an exciting hub
for technology and entrepreneurship, with high-speed Internet connectivity linking the city to a global
innovation network. However, Nairobi is not immune to the challenges that so many developing countries
share. In Kenya, only 61 percent of people have access to clean drinking water; 84 percent of preschoolaged children are vitamin A-deficient; and diarrheal diseases are among the top 10 causes of morbidity
and mortality. Though numerous organizations are working to combat these crises, solutions are often
siloed, inefficient, and unsustainable. IDEO.org, along with partners WSUP, GAIN, Aqua for All, and Unilever,
saw an opportunity to create a social enterprise that would improve access to clean water, personal care
products, and health education.
THE OUTCOME
After an intensive prototyping period on the ground in Nairobi, the
team launched SmartLife, a scalable retail business and brand that
offer clean water and health and hygiene products. SmartLife is now
running successfully in several sites around the city.
THE process
* Reference: Design Kit, Idea.org. Case Studies, SmartLife: Designing a Scalable Water and Hygiene.
Business. http://www.designkit.org/case-studies/4
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inspiration
In an eight-week sprint of rapid iteration and real-time customer feedback, the design team hit the ground
running on its trip to Nairobi. The accelerated timeline necessitated a fascinating flip of how we typically
run our design projects. Instead of synthesizing its ideas and developing solutions after a trip to the field,
the team leaned on its existing knowledge of the problems facing Nairobi’s poor and then dreamed up a
handful of entrepreneurial ideas that they could get into the hands of low-income Kenyans to test.
In the weeks leading up to the trip, they came up with three business concepts that they could prototype
on the ground. One idea was Live Well, a dummy brand with a logo and brand collateral that could be used
to set up a business prototype on arrival in Kenya.
The team had hired a local kiosk vendor and cart operator to wear branded apparel and sell water in jerry
cans that had been adorned with Live Well stickers. They sent their translator around as a door-to-door
salesperson, selling hygiene products and talking to people about health and sanitation. The translator
came back with key learnings that would help inspire a subsequent version of the business. “It was
completely chaotic but fertile with learning experience,” recalls project lead Robin Bigio. After half a day,
the team already learned enough to prepare the next rev of Live Well.
Among the challenges, they realized water needed to be ordered ahead to reduce the physical demand of
transporting unsold cans and to enable optimization of the delivery route. On the positive side, the team
found that the strong branding instantly inspired trust. Nobody questioned that it was good water and
multiple customer touch points and physical, stable sites gave Live Well credibility.
Three days later, the team launched the next version of the business in a new location across town,
changing the name from Live Well to SmartLife. This time customers actually placed orders at a kiosk and
made a down payment for water delivery.
“People were willing to give money up front for service that would come the next day, which is unheard
of in Kenya,” says Bigio, “We discovered that there was an aspirational side to this business. People were
excited about having a great source of drinking water.”
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“People were willing to give money up front for service that would come the next day, which is unheard
of in Kenya,” says Bigio, “We discovered that there was an aspirational side to this business. People were
excited about having a great source of drinking water.”
When the market testing was complete, the IDEO.org team visited each of the customers who’d paid ahead
to let them know that the business did not yet exist, but that it was coming soon. They refunded the down
payments and gave out cans of clean water for their participation.
IMPLEMENTATION
Upon returning to San Francisco, the team worked on revising the brand and business model to account
for logistical factors such as how much water could be processed and transported, how much space it
would require, pricing strategies, retail design, and educational materials. Working at a breakneck pace,
the IDEO.org team delivered a comprehensive design concept to its partners, along with strategies, brands,
and business models. Six months later, the first SmartLife store opened in Nairobi.
story
It wasn’t all perfectly smooth. On the first day of prototyping, the team got up early, went to the
central market, and it became mayhem. The guy selling the water cans got shy and ran off; the
police said we required a seller’s license; and people didn’t trust the door-to-door salesperson.
But each of these hurdles produced a learning that informed the next iteration of the concept.
By the time the team wrapped up their visit, the versioning process had led them to a well-defined business
plan and, most importantly, had helped them establish trust from the market they would be serving. When
SmartLife went live later in the year, much of the turbulence of the startup had passed
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For Further details, see Appendix 16
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D.3.0 Testing Your
Prototype!
Figure D.3.0 – During visiting different printing houses in Downtown Cairo, November 2015
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D.3.1 Designing The Prototype
Testing Process
Our prototypes are complete (see CREATE section), and we’ve probably tried testing them a few times
on some of the people we’re familiar with. Now it’s crunch time! Armed with our prototypes, we need
to make sure we are ready to test them in the most efficient way possible. We need to work out what
kind of information we are looking for from our tests, and then work out how to record that information.
Don’t forget that we already have some useful measurement tools: feasible (easy?, materials available?,
manageable?), viable (affordable?, efficient?), desirable (attractive?, useful?). In the next section you will be
designing your prototype testing experiment. By having a good experiment design, we will be getting the
most amount of useful information from the least amount of work!
D.3.1.1 Experiment Design
•
•
•
Ask team members to think about how to test their solutions with their target group.
Have teams practice presenting solutions to the rest of the group— enactment is
especially effective. Invite others to help simplify and clarify the presentation and identify
focus questions to be answered in research.
Ask teams to standardise a script about the solution so it is delivered consistently at each
feedback session. Write down key questions to ask in follow-up.
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Create an overview of people who can help realise your idea. Make sure that you and your team answer
the following questions:
What capabilities are you looking for?
Who is invested in supporting the concept?
Do you need to find someone to champion the idea?
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D.3.1.2 Breaking Down the Tasks
In the previous step you used some measuring tools and another brainstorming session to see what
information you need to capture to make sure you’re testing your prototype properly. In this step you
will break down this list of tasks into roles, and divide the roles across your team. By allowing each team
member to specialise in a specific function, you are creating an opportunity for some very high-quality
feedback!
•
•
•
Write one task on one sticky note, and put it on a board or large sheet of paper
Cluster tasks that are similar, or tasks that are related and would be easy for one person to observe at
the same time
Divide these clusters amongst the members of your team. Make sure that the tasks you have assigned
to each person can be done by that person, at the same time.
If certain tasks seem to not fit with other tasks, or seem to need to be done on their own, or by only one
person, you may need to find someone to help you with this part of the process. Alternatively, you can try
filming the service or product experience to capture even more information that can be reviewed at any
time.
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D.3.1.3 Creating Field Recording Notes
Now that you’ve divided the tasks across your team, you need to make sure that your team can record and
share the information you will be gathering in the most efficient way. Individually, choose the best tools
for your tasks, and then as a group, explain why you chose these tools and how you will be using them. It’s
a good idea to try this process out in a mock-test, just to make sure that when you hit the field, you’re not
wasting time trying to work out how to use your tools!
D.3.1.4 Testing YouR Low Resolution
Prototype
Your storyboard is done, your prototype is ready and your testing process is clear. It’s time to hit the field!
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Armed with your Field Note Recording tools, follow the prototype testing process to see how your prototype
holds up. Remember you’re a team, so be ready to step in to support your teammates. Remember also
that you have monitoring roles and specific tools to carry out those roles, so try to focus on what you’re
supposed to be recording, and don’t get too distracted by the overall process. Don’t worry if you’re first
attempt at prototyping is not perfectly smooth. We imagine your first bicycle ride wasn’t the smoothest
process either! Prototyping becomes far easier with a little practice. And we will be having plenty of
practice!
So, get all of your prototypes and field note recording tools ready, and go… PROTOTYPE!
D.4.0 Reviewing your
prototypes and your
prototype testing
experiment!
Your prototype may have been a hit, or may not have been exactly what you were expecting. Either way
you have probably learned a lot through the experience. Your reports are likely packed with ways that the
process, product or service can be improved. It’s important to “strike whilst the iron is hot” and review all of
this information whilst it’s still fresh in your minds. It’s also important to structure the feedback in a way that
is manageable and more importantly, actionable!
After your first prototyping experience, gather your team together and follow the next steps to discuss the
experience and the results!
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Step 1
Gather all of your reports and assemble a team meeting. Choose someone from your team to lead this
meeting. The meeting leader should verbally recount the prototype testing experience. Try to avoid
starting a conversation at this point - just let the team leader describe the process and only comment if
something very important is missing.
Remember to listen loudly – don’t be distracted by what you want to say – just give your full attention to the
process
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Step 2
Take it in turns to read through your reports. Try to use your reports as material for a story - i.e. turn the
reports into useful information as part of a story. You may need to go through the entire process again, or
just mention key insights, observations and ideas that will help you improve your prototypes. The meeting
leader should be writing all of the comments on a flip-chart page, on sticky notes or on a whiteboard.
Step 3
As team members take it in turns to describe the prototyping experience and to mention the information
you recorded, make notes to see where you agree or disagree - or where information you may have been
recording would answer any questions that emerge.
As the storytelling activity switches from person to person, it is likely that less will need to be said, as your
team members may have covered the most valuable points.
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Remember: The idea here is to see how you can improve the prototype. Anything that can help achieve this
should be taken into consideration. For example, improving the prototype testing process might be the
fastest way to improve the prototype itself.
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Step 4
As a team, review the flipchart or board. Again, group similar ideas together and try to map the ideas in
relation to each other. For example if there are 2 clusters of ideas that have something to do with improving
the viability of your prototype, place the clusters near to each other. If other clusters are totally unrelated,
then move them further apart. Eventually, you will have a “map” that has similar clusters nearer to each
other, and different clusters further apart.
Step 5
Using coloured stickers (dots work well), give each team member 5 dots - each dot represents a vote. Take
some time to reflect on the most promising feedback to your prototype - the ideas that, if implemented,
would take your prototype to the next level. As with previous voting activities, you can vote more than
once on the same idea. You do, however, have a maximum of 5 votes each!
Step 6
Tally the votes, and put a big circle (or some identifying feature) around the 5 most voted improvements
to your prototype. Once this has been done, take one flipchart per improvement (so a total of 5 flipcharts)
and with your team, brainstorm as many ideas related to these improvements as possible. In this stage of
the process we need to be very focused. The ideas written on each of these 5 flipchart papers should only
be ideas that you can actually implement.
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Step 7
Take the most actionable, practical and effective ideas from each flipchart and copy them into your
notebooks. Keep these sheets handy, as you will need them later!
D.5.0 Seek Feedback!
Well, you’ve come along way! You’ve even completed an entire prototyping phase, including reviewing your prototypes and suggesting
improvements. Great work team! As you are almost definitely aware of by now, social innovation is so powerful because it puts people right
in the middle - these are the people we are designing with and for. Creating an amazing product or service requires a rigorous prototyping
process. And as people are at the core of our work, we need these people to tell us what they think about the product or service we just tested.
We definitely had some of our core stakeholders involved in the prototyping process. But we also need to make sure that we’re including as
many of our different stakeholders in the process as possible. This next section is all about sharing your prototypes and your experiments with
the people that will be most touched by these exciting creations!
Figure D.5.0 - Jury, including the head of the Chamber of Printing & Packaging (left), sharing their feedback on the presented prototypes.
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Get Feedback!
•
•
When introducing the feedback session to the target community, explain you want honest feedback—
even if negative—and that the team has spent minimal time prototyping.
Discuss the conversation with your team. Compare each other’s learnings. Take notes on your
conversation. Consider answering the following questions:
D.5.1.1 Who, What, Where?
Where did you go?
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Who did you test your idea with?
What were you testing for?
D.5.1.2 the good parts
What did people value the most?
What got them excited?
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What convinced them about the idea?
D.5.1.3 the bad parts
What didn’t work?
Which parts would participants like to improve?
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What needs further investigation?
D.5.1.4 The Unexpected parts
Did anything happen that you didn’t expect?
D.6.0 Assess the Viability
of Your Solution!
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At this stage of our social innovation process we are deep into the DELIVER phase. The prototype testing
process, the brainstorming around improving your prototypes and the feedback from our future “users”
has given us even more useful knowledge. As we continue to iterate (that’s a design term for repeat) the
prototyping process, we need to slowly bring our product or service out of the prototyping world into
the real world! We can only do this by slowly increasing the “realness” of our product or service. So, as we
continue to improve the quality, efficacy and usability of our product or service, we also need to start
applying our business models (or sustainability models) as well as developing the processes that will help
us get it to market.
Even if our service (or product) is not designed to be for profit, we still need to ensure its long-term survival.
If our solution is a service, we have to see how much this service will cost, who will be paying these costs,
how will they be paid, how many employees running this service will we need? Every product or service
needs a business model - even those that do not have profit as one of their requirements.
In this section we will dive into one of the primary “lenses” of social innovation - viability. Follow the steps in
this section to begin to piece together the parts you will need to make your solution truly viable.
D.6.1 Viability Assessment
The long-term success of solutions depends upon the intentional design of a revenue stream that can
sustain the offering over time. Let the value provided to the end customer be your entry point as you
design the support systems around the solution. For this Viability Assessment, follow these steps for each
solution:
step 1
On a wall place your “Value Proposition Canvas” and come together with your team. Focus on one solution
at a time and take the team through the following exercise.
You can also split the larger team into smaller teams of two or three, with each smaller team
focusing on one solution.
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step 2
Revisit your personas and empathy maps (discussed in the HEAR section). Using sticky notes, ask each
team member to answer the following questions and stick them to the right hand side of the canvas:
What are the main needs of your personas?
What are the fears to switch to your product/service?
What are the emotional drivers for your persona to use your product/service?
What are the emotional drivers for your persona to use your product/service?
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Figure D.6.1 - Value Proposition Canvas
step 3
On the left side, place one of the proposed solutions in the middle. Using sticky notes, ask the team to
answer the following questions and stick them to the poster:
Is your solution a product, a service, or both?
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What does your product/service do?
How does your product/service work?
What does it feel like to use your product/service (refer to “Seek Feedback” section)?
What currently people do instead (before having your solution)?
step 4
On a separate board or flip chart, write “Revenue Sources.” Ask the team to identify:
Who will pay for the product or service?
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How much will each user pay?
How will the payments be received?
step 5
On another board or flip chart, write “Stakeholders Incentives.” Ask the team to identify all stakeholders or
players in the value chain who will be affected by the solution. Go through each actor and ask: “What is this
group’s incentives to participate in or help this solution?”
Stakeholders
Incentives
Disincentive
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step 6
If there is a group of stakeholders that has a disincentive to participate in the solution, ask:
What are the main needs of your personas?
step 7
If the team has split into smaller teams, have the group come back together to share, discuss and reflect.
Write down your main insights from this discussion.
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D.7.0 Assess the Feasibility
of Your Solution!
As we continue to prototype our solutions, and as we work to ensure their long-term viability, we need to
also ensure that what we’re planning is feasible. We need to see what resources will be required to actually
offer the product or service that we are developing. We need to assess our ability to bring this product or
service to its users in a reliable and on-going way. We need to see what partnerships we would need to
make to ensure as many people are using our solutions as possible. This is similar to checking a solution for
its viability, but in a non-monetary sense. After all, It would be meaningless for us to design and produce
a solution that we can’t actually deliver in a reliable way, or that people can’t access! Ensuring a solution is
feasible is one of the major social innovation lenses, and the following steps will help you get there!
The capabilities of your organisation and partners will help inform the feasibility of solutions. Begin by
thinking about the experience of the end customer—where and how the community members or enduser will purchase or experience this solution. Then identify the range of capabilities required for making
this real. A challenge for the design team is to identify many possible models for delivery that leverage
different partners and channels.
feasible
desirable
goal
viable
Figure D.7.0 - Products and Services created through Social Innovation
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step 1
Focus on one solution at a time and take the team through the following exercise. Alternatively, the larger
team can be split into smaller teams of two or three, with each smaller team focusing on one solution.
step 2
Write “Distribution” on a board or flip chart. Have the team identify all the possible actors who could deliver
this solution. Then answer the following questions:
Where, when, how, and why might the customer experience this solution?
Which actors and channels will touch the solution?
What other channels could be used to reach customers?
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What is the range of possible ways this solution could be delivered?
Ask the team to list the pros and cons of each of the different delivery possibilities.
step 3
Write “Capabilities/Resources” on a separate board or flip chart. List the human, manufacturing, financial,
and technical capabilities that will be required for each solution. Indicate if the capability/resource exists in
your organisation/team, if it exists somewhere else in your network, or whether you will have to partners.
What human, manufacturing, financial, and technological capabilities are required
for creating and delivering this solution?
Staff
Materials
Production
Funding
Technology
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Which of these capabilities do you have in your organisation/team? And which
capabilities will need to be found through partners?
Would we need to grow any capabilities on this list?
step 4
For the solutions that you will need to build partnerships for, create a list of potential partner organisations
and/or individuals that have the resources you don’t have or need to implement the solution.
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For each partner, mention what your current relationship is with them?
Partners
Relationship
step 6
Together with your team, list the first step you would take to pursue the top partners identified. Try to think
“How might we reach out to them and show the value of engaging with our social innovation process on
this solution?”
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A.
B.
C.
D.
step 7
If you have split into smaller groups, ask the teams to come together to share their thoughts, discuss and
reflect. Write down your main insights from the discussion.
d.8.0 build your business
model!
For a structured clear overview of your solution, the business model canvas is a useful tool for you and your
team to visualise and organise your thoughts and resources.
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Alexander Osterwalder created the business model canvas. In his book “Business Model Generation” *; he
defines a business model as:
The rationale of how an organization creates, delivers,
and captures value.
* Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers and Challengers. Alex Osterwalder, 2010.
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Osterwalder also mentioned that a business model can best be described through nine basic building
blocks that show the logic of how a company intends to make money. The nine blocks cover the four
main areas of a business: customers, offer, infrastructure, and financial viability. The business model is like
a blueprint for a strategy to be implemented through organisational structures, processes, and systems.
Figure D.8.0 (b) - Business model sketch
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D.8.1 Exercise
Figure D.8.1 - The Business Model Canvas
Together with your team, use post-it notes to fill in each of the nine blocks. Don’t worry if you don’t do it
perfectly the first time, the Business Model Canvas is designed to be used iteratively – i.e. you are supposed
to try out different approaches and see how the overall model will be affected by each change!
There are plenty of resources in the online that can help guide you through the process of using the Business
Model Canvas.
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d.9.0 measure your impact
We mentioned right at the beginning of his handbook that Design Thinking is one of the processes of
social innovation. Whereas Design Thinking is usually only orientated towards co-creating incredible
products and services, we need to add the element of social impact to the mix. With social innovation
solutions, the positive impact (benefit to society) we create is as much a part of the viability of a product or
service, as the financial models we designed! Although we’re sure your solutions are also impact focused,
it’s very important that we find a way to measure this impact. We often use indicators to measure impact,
and it’s important that we get our indicators right, because solutions to social challenges often take years
to come to light!
Impact is also not just positive! Sometimes it is even unintended. By creating solid indicators, we are able
to measure change over time. The change we are measuring should give a good indication of the impact
we are trying to create. In the social innovation context, this is not always as straightforward as it sounds!
Here are some tools and ideas that will guide you towards creating useful indicators to measure (and
enhance) the impact your solution is creating!
When your goal involves people engaging in or adopting something new, the first step is to find out
whether they are aware of your solution or design. Measuring awareness is a good early indicator to help
understand how big the impact of the solution may be. Like awareness, measuring the number of people
who are engaged in a new program is often very meaningful. When a new solution is introduced, it is
important to track the changes over-time that occur within the community, within households, and to
the environment. These shifts can be completely unexpected, and are sometimes positive and sometimes
negative.
It is crucial to lookout out for these changes and unintended consequences early on in implementation…
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step 1
Together with your team, revisit your stakeholders list and build a mind map of all of those engaged in
your project.
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step 2
From each primary stakeholder, draw a line and list the secondary stakeholders that will be affected by the
solution. Keep going by mapping more and more stakeholders.
step 3
Focus on each stakeholder and for each one, map how your solution is affecting them based on your
targeted outputs listed before. To get a good overview of the impact, it’s critical to highlight the negative
effects as well as positive ones.
Stakeholder
Positive Effects
step 4
For each negative effect on stakeholders, ask: How can we find ways to eliminate them and convert them
into opportunities? Develop methods and techniques to measure the impact on the stakeholders who
might be both positively and negatively affected.
Negative Effects
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Negative Effects
Methods and Techniques to Measure Impact
step 5
If possible, include constituents and other stakeholders directly in this process.
step 6
As a team it’s really important to discuss and identify what indicators for success mean for you. Here are
some aspect widening examples:
•
•
•
•
•
Are you hoping to count on a large number of participants attending an event?
Which stories would you like to hear employers tell?
What outcomes would you like to see called out in your final report?
What would you tell funders in order to receive more funding?
What would you like to hear a technician say about your idea?
And then write down how you will track and measure indicators for success:
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step 7
Hang the map in a place where your team can refer to it often. Capture thoughts and learnings in a section
of the map so that it becomes a living document for helping the team learn and keeping them engaged
in the discussion.
d.10.0 Getting into Action:
From Prototype to
Solution!
By now we have designed, tested and developed a unique solution (or more than one!) to the challenges
present in the Egyptian labour market. We’ve made sure it’s desirable through our prototyping process,
we’ve designed a solid financial model around it through our viability process, and we’ve even made sure
we have the organisational capacity and partnerships to make it all happen through our feasibility process.
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Figure D.10.0 - Community-Built Solar Water Heater in Marsa Allam in Egypt
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Sticking with one solution, or sharing the load with others! As we move from low-resolution prototypes to
high-resolution prototypes it will quickly become apparent that if you have more than one solution, you
will not be able to implement them all at the same time! Well, not without a lot of help, anyway! This social
innovation process was designed and established to help create the solutions you are now testing, and also
to bring you into contact with like-minded practitioners in the labour sector. If you have more than one
solution, and you feel you simply have to try them all, then ask around in the other groups also using this
process to see if there are any other teams or organisations with a similar idea that would be interested in
merging. You may be able to combine ideas with other teams to create super-solutions! You may also find
that this is the only way to be involved in more than one solution at a time!
Now it’s time to take our prototypes and experiments and make them a reality. This part of the process
is very much like designing an entire business or NGO. In effect, you need to write a concept note that
combines all of the work you have done so far with all of the steps needed to bring this work to fruition.
If you have more than one solution, and you want to rank your solutions in order of likelihood for
implementation, then use the following steps as a guide:
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step 1
Breakdown each solution into a series of tasks and activities. Remember that it’s very important not to get
stuck in “planning” mode but to start trying out what you’ve planned for on the ground as soon as possible.
How about trying to do something toward the implementation of each solution in the next couple of
weeks?!
For some ideas, two weeks might be enough to pilot the solution. Whilst for others, two weeks
might be needed just to dig deeper into a better understanding of the context and/or networking
with stakeholders and partners.
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step 2
For each solution, you’ll need to do some networking and initiating contact with partners and stakeholders.
Therefore, check whether piloting one solution will work towards implementing other proposed solutions
too.
Assigning an owner for each solution from the team is useful at this stage to pilot the implementation.
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step 3
Consider which solutions make more sense to initiate within the scope of currently-supported programs
or potentially get some funds to pilot them. Analyse whether the solutions fit into your organisation’s
investment strategy, scope and objectives.
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See the document on “Scale” in the Appendix 13
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d.10.1 what does your
roadmap look like?
Figure D.10.1- Action Plan Example
Roadmapping is a chance to gather the key stakeholders in your project and collectively figure out a
timeline, determine who is responsible for which elements of the project, and establish key milestones.
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Print out a big calendar for the next 6 - 12 months and use it to map out what needs to happen when.
Pin key dates such as a Pilot launch in addition to tasks that need to happen in order to support these
milestones
step 2
Pin key dates such as a Pilot launch in addition to tasks that need to happen in order to support these
milestones.
d.10.2 Who is in your team:
The right people for the right job?
The methodology here is pretty similar to how you first built a team in the Inspiration phase, only this
time you’ll want to be far more targeted. Whereas a multidisciplinary team is great during design research
for arriving at unexpected ideas and novel solutions, in the implementation phase you’ll be looking for
specialised know-how, technical capacity, outside partners, and funding.
EXERCISE
Consider the needs of your project, and evaluate if now’s the time for some team members to roll off your
project and for others to roll on. Take some time to think about the resources in your team and answer the
following questions:
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What core skills do you need on your team to successfully implement?
Do you need a project manager to coordinate your growing team?
What support staff will kick off your idea? Assign champions to pursue the
next steps.
D.10.3 Who Should You
Partner with?
As you move forward, you may realise that having different partners during the implementation process is
necessary. Each partner should have an added value and clear contributions towards your solution. Some
may be useful for funding, others may support with human resources and expertise, and yet others may
provide different facilities.
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Start building relationships with your partners as soon as you develop a funding strategy or create a
sustainable revenue model.
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EXERCISE
Check the partnerships map you created during the previous section and see if it needs to be updated. To
better identify the right partners, list your suggested partners and identify their roles (e.g. training centres,
web development, telecommunications, a distribution network) based on the required capabilities for
implementing your solution (e.g. financial, manufacturing, human resources, technological).
What types of partners will you need to support your implementation?
Are they funding or capacity partners? If capacity, what do they contribute (i.e.
training centres, web development, telecommunications, a distribution network)?
Required Capabilities
Potential Partners
Notes
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D.10.4 What Does Your
Funding Strategy look like?
One of the key enablers (and potential obstacles) to successfully implementing your solution(s) is the matter
of funding. With adequate funding, your solutions stand a much higher chance of being implemented and
being effective as solutions. If you haven’t already found key funding partners by this stage, now is the
time to start reflecting on your fundraising strategy. Is your solution revenue generating? If so, funding
may come in the form of investment secured through a well-written business plan. Is your solution not
designed to generate profit? In which case, seeking grants is the way to go. At this stage you don’t need to
secure funds for the entire project. Getting started is the key!
Figure D.10.4 - Visualising next steps.
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EXERCISE
As a team, brainstorm how to kick-off the project and ensure its financial sustainability. Start by answering
these questions:
How much money do you need to kick off your idea?
At which stage of the project will you need this funding?
Will you apply for project grants, fundraise through partners, or shift to a revenuegenerating model?
Based on your answer to the previous question, which funding/investor organisations
will be likely to support the type of solution you are offering?
When do you expect to break-even (if ever)?
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D.10.5 Create a Pitch
As you have already started building your team and assembling partners, you have no doubt practised
pitching your solution. You may have noticed that every time you pitch your solution to a new potential
team member, partner or funder, your pitch gets slightly better. It’s a good idea at this stage to spend a bit
of time and thought on creating a solid pitch. The clearer, simpler and more succinct your pitch is, the more
it “moves” people towards action, the more likely you are to get the support you need. Your pitch should be
be flexible enough to activate the various audiences that you will be pitching to.
Individually, think of how you’d like to present your solution to others by answering the following questions:
Figure D.10.5 - Action Plan Example
EXERCISE
Together with your team, develop a pitch line for your solution. Below are some guiding questions to build
your pitch.
What is your project?
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To whom will you present this idea? (e.g. funding organisation, investor, partner…)
How will you present your pitch? (e.g. slides, video, mobile app, prezi, website,
pamphlet..)
What’s your pitch line / elevator pitch? Note that it has to be presented (usually) in less
than a minute!
Together with your team, present your pitch lines, seek feedback and refine them to
have a final pitch line:
Now try out your pitch on as many people as you can! After you have pitched, ask your listeners to feedback
how easy it was to understand your solution, how likely they think the solution is to succeed, and ask
especially how you can improve your pitch.
Be open minded about the feedback you receive - each stakeholder will hear your pitch in a slightly different
way, so make sure you’re speaking their language!]
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D.11.0 Continue Learning
to Continue Succeeding!
The social innovation journey we have embarked on together is nearing a close... The process itself,
however, is never quite over! The practice of iterating what we learned in the prototyping phase needs to
be applied to the entire social innovation process as a whole. We have come a long way from day 1 - by this
stage we have a solution that is feasible, viable and desirable, and that is already being implemented! But
that’s not the end of it. We need to continually refine and improve our solutions.
We need to continually HEAR, CREATE and DELIVER - improving our solutions continually, experimenting
and learning from these experiments. As we improve our solutions, we can begin to use the tools we have
learned in a more focused way. We can prototype very specific parts of our solution.
For example, if our solution is an improved job centre, we can prototype different job application processes,
or maybe the experience of entering the job centre. We can continually put the people we are designing
for, and with, at the centre of our experimentation. By applying the tools we have learned across all parts
of our product or service, we can continue to refine and develop them until they truly are the system
changing solutions we dreamed of!
A key component of refining our solutions is user-validated feedback. We have been using this approach
since the CREATE phase. It’s important to understand that designing our solutions and evaluating our
solutions go hand-in-hand. As you evaluate (and have others evaluate) your products and services the
feedback generated is the starting point for the design of a refined version of your product and service.
Continue to collect stories and compare them to the stories you collected in the HEAR phase. These
“original” stories will serve as a good baseline, helping you monitor how successful each implementation
of your solutions helping you monitor how successful each implementation of your solutions will be. The
more you gather feedback, evaluate it and use the outcomes to better your design, the less resources you
will need, and the higher the impact you will create will be.
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Follow these steps to ensure that you are monitoring and benefiting
from your learnings!
step 1
Revisit the stories you gathered in the HEAR phase as a baseline. Answer these questions:
What was the situation of the people in our initial research?
What should we expect to see happen in the lives of these people if our ideas are
successful?
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step 2
Develop an approach to collect more stories of before, during, and after
implementation.
step 3
Create a strategy for integrating qualitative and quantitative methods for learning.
step 4
Encourage the team to embrace measurement as a process to enable on-going
learning and inspire new solutions and pose new design challenges.
Write down what are the key pillars you would like to measure?
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step 5: keep iterating your
prototype!
Based upon the feedback you receive, incorporate any valuable feedback into your concept. Make changes
where people see barriers. Emphasise what was well received. Go through feedback cycles repeatedly and
continue to improve your concept.
D.12.0 The end is just the
beginning!
Dear fellow social innovator: it does not matter who you started out as, in this journey of ours. What matters
is that you are now a changemaker! Thank you for accompanying us on this mission for change…
As we have mentioned on several occasions, the process of social innovation is one that needs to be
constantly repeated. Please continue to dive into the pages of this handbook, using them as a source of
inspiration and practicing the tools and techniques that have been presented. Please also explore beyond
the pages of this book – the appendices are filled with additional resources and links to further reading
and content.
And finally, we are sure you have come to see that people, working together, can achieve anything. We
invite you to continue to create partnerships with other practitioners and organisations. By pooling
resources, accumulating talent and expertise and by practicing social innovation methodologies, even the
toughest challenges can be transformed into opportunities for positive change. We hope you continue to
practice the methods of social innovation and in so doing, continue to be changemakers!
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APPENDICES &
USEFUL
RESOURCES
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01/ Identify Your Design
Challenge
A design challenge is the starting point of every design process, and the purpose you will work toward.
Framing the right “How might we” question to address your challenge is essential. The question should be
broad enough to allow for unexpected possibilities but narrow enough to let you focus. Be careful not to
include the answer in the question.
Here are a few examples you can choose from, or use as inspiration to come up with a challenge that
matters for you.*
Curriculum
•
•
How might we engage employees more deeply in designing work flow?
How might we create a curriculum that allows workers to discover their competencies and skills?
Space
•
•
•
How might we design our work place to be employee-centered?
How might we create a space for employees collaboration?
How might we design the break space to enable sharing experiences between labors?
Processes and Tools
•
•
How might we strengthen workplace - employees ownership?
How might we create a way to systematically review, discuss, and support workers at all levels?
Systems
•
•
How might we develop tools that help employers to communicate with employees in a more friendly
basis?
How might we design the workplace to allow exploration visits for new job seekers?
*Design Thinking for Educators – Educators Toolkit. April 2011.
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02/ radical map
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03/ persona poster*
* The Persona Core Poster by Creative Companion. http://www.creative-companion.com/
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04/ WHAT QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH CAN & CAN NOT
DO?
Qualitative research methods enable the design team to develop deep empathy for people they are
designing for, to question assumptions, and to inspire new solutions.
At the early stages of the process, research is:
• Generative — used to inspire imagination and inform intuition about new opportunities and ideas.
In later phases, these methods can be:
• Evaluative —used to learn quickly about people’s response to ideas and proposed solutions.
04.1/ What will qualitative
research methods do?
Qualitative methods can uncover deeply held needs, desires, and aspirations. It is particularly useful in
early-stage research to test assumptions about the world, and when we cannot assume that the researchers
already know the entire universe of possible answers, beliefs, and ideas of the participants.
“Qualitative methods can help unveil people’s social, political,
economic, and cultural opportunities and barriers in their own words.”
•
Qualitative research can also be powerful for analyzing and mapping the relational dynamics between
people, places, objects, and institutions. This is possible because phenomena in the social world tend
to be internally related (that is, they are mutually dependent and co-constituted).
•
By examining the extreme ends of a set of phenomena in depth, the entire universe of relationships
can be illuminated since other instances will fall somewhere on the map of relations and links. Once
a set of relationships are identified, they can be interrogated using interpretive methods or further
refined for quantitative testing.
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04.2/ What will qualitative
research methods do?
Qualitative methods will not determine “average” behaviors/attitudes or answer questions such as: “Are
people in X region more likely to do this than in Y region?”This is because qualitative methods do not cover
a sample large enough to be statistically significant.
“Deep understanding, not broad coverage, is the strength of qualitative
research.”
In later phases of the design process, quantitative research becomes a good complement to understand,
for example, the potential adoption of a new solution or to understand how the effect of solutions will vary
from region to region.
05/ HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR
RESEARCH METHODS?*
Design research is useful to not only understand individuals but also frame individual behaviors in the
context and community that surrounds them. Therefore, it will be important to employ many methods of
research.
In addition to the methods described in this handbook, secondary sources and quantitative data can
be supplemented to understand income or asset variances across different regions. IDEO came up with
great resources in their Design Kit for Human Centered Design and they explained seven methods for
researching, as follows:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Individual Interview
Group Interview
In Context Immersion
Self-Documentation
Community-Driven Discovery
Expert Interviews
Seeking Inspiration in New Places
*Human-Centered Design Toolkit, Hear Section, Pg. 42 - 57, 2nd Ed. IDEO
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05.1/ METHOD 1 – INDIVIDUAL
INTERVIEW
Spending time with people on their own allows you to deeply engage with and learn from
them. Guide the conversation to gain a rich understanding of their thoughts and behaviors.
05.1.1 Create a trusted atmosphere
Spending time with people on their own allows you to deeply engage with and learn from them. Guide the
conversation to gain a rich understanding of their thoughts and behaviors.
05.1.2 Create a trusted atmosphere
Try to meet in the participant’s context—in their home, office or workplace. During the conversation, keep
your eyes open for what’s around. Ask about objects or spaces you find interesting, and try to get a tour of
the environment.
05.1.3 Pay attention to the
environment
Take a lot of quick notes in the voice of the participants. Write down interesting quotes. Do not worry about
interpreting them yet. Try to capture your observations in the moment.
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05.1.3 Capture your immediate
observations
Take a lot of quick notes in the voice of the participants. Write down interesting quotes. Do not worry about
interpreting them yet. Try to capture your observations in the moment.
05.1.4 Get continuous feedback
Consider making one or some of your research participants from members of your team to continuously
get their feedback and ideas.
05.2/ METHOD 2 – GROUP
INTERVIEW
Group-based interviews can be a valuable way to learn about a community quickly. Group interviews can
be good for learning about community life and dynamics, understanding general community issues, and
giving everyone in a community the chance to voice their views.
Group interviews are not good for gaining a deep understanding of individual income streams, uncovering
what people really think, or understanding how to change commonly-held beliefs or behaviors.
Bringing together groups of people allows you to observe the interactions between them, to recognize
community dynamics and issues, and to understand their different opinions.
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05.2.1 Choose the participants
Consider what you are looking for: to make participants comfortable enough to share details about their
passions, bring together groups of like-minded individuals. To find out about individuals’ opinions, invite
people with contradicting opinions.
05.2.2 Set up for a conversational
atmosphere
Prepare a space for an informal discussion over food and drinks. Start the conversation on a casual note.
Talk about a subject that is unrelated to your research first to make the participants feel comfortable.
05.2.3 Listen to the group’s
conversations
Encourage conversations between participants and consider dividing people into smaller groups to better
facilitate these discussions.
05.2.4 Capture your immediate
observations
Take a lot of quick notes in the participants’ voices. Write down interesting quotes. Do not worry about
interpreting them yet. Try to capture your observations in the moment.
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05.2.5 Get continuous feedback
Consider setting up a panel of participants that you engage with throughout your project to continuously
receive feedback on your ideas.
05.3/ METHOD 3 – INCONTEXT
IMMERSION
With a curious mindset, inspiration and new perspectives can be found in many places and without much
preparation. Sharpen your skills in observing the world around you.
05.3.1 Plan your observations
Choose a place where you can have an experience that is relevant to your challenge. For example, if you
are looking for new ideas on arrival and departure procedures at your school, drive up to the drop off area,
just as parents do, and try to stop, wait and go.
Think of certain aspects of your experience you want to capture, such as:
•
What emotions do you experience (surprises, frustrations, motivations, decision making factors),
and why?
•
What emotions do you experience (surprises, frustrations, motivations, decision making factors),
and why?
•
What are peoples’ moving patterns in space?
05.3.2 Explore and take notes
Try to blend in with everyone else during your observation. Find a spot that’s out of the way. Take notes and
photos. Capture interesting quotes. Draw sketches, plans and layouts.
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05.3.3 Capture what you have seen
Immediately after your observation, take some time to capture the things you found most interesting, and
write them on Post-it Notes so you will be able to reorganize them later.
05.4/ METHOD 4 – SELF
DOCUMENTATION
Asking participants to record their own experiences allows you to learn about them over an extended
period of time. Guide participants to capture and share their thoughts, decisions and emotions.
05.4.1 Plan the documentation
activities
Decide what you would like people to document: feelings, activities, behaviors? Choose the best mode for
collecting that information: photographs, diaries, voice recordings, videos?
05.4.2 Invite and instruct
participants
Give participants tools and instructions to document themselves for several days or weeks. Explicitly
explain why and how to record their activities.
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05.4.3 Review with participants
Look at the materials together with participants after their documentation phase. Ask them not just what
the things are that they documented, but also why they chose these details and how they felt about them.
05.5/ METHOD 5 – COMMUNITY
DRIVEN DISCOVERY
There is a level of understanding between peers that you can’t immediately get as an outside observer.
Make select participants part of your research team. Ask them to speak with and observe their peers.
05.5.1 Select your research partners
Choose people that are trusted and respected amongst their peers as well as articulate and excited to
participate. Invite them to become part of your research team.
05.5.2 Decide on compensation
Decide how you will thank your research partners, and prepare accordingly.
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05.5.3 Guide their research
Together with your new team members, define what you are trying to learn about, and think of activities
to source and record this information.
05.5.4 meet frequently
Create regular interactions with your research team and integrate them in a structured way.
05.6/ METHOD 6 – EXPERT
INTERVIEWS
Experts can provide in-depth information about a topic and can be especially helpful when you need to
learn a large amount of information in a short amount of time.
05.6.1 Choose the participants
•
•
Choose experts based on your objective: are you looking to learn about their field of study?
Would you like someone’s opinion on your topic who has rich knowledge of its context?
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05.6.2 Set up for a productive
conversation
Carefully plan how you want the conversation to flow. Consider asking the expert to actively help you work
on an early concept.
05.7/ METHOD 7 – SEEKING
INSPIRATION IN NEW PLACES
Looking for inspiration in a different context outside of the education world opens the mind and can help
you find a fresh perspective. Dare to go out of your comfort zone and explore.
05.7.1 Think of analogies that
connect with your challenge
•
•
With your team, list all the activities, emotions, and behaviors that make up the experience of your
challenge. Next to each of these areas, write down other situations where similar experiences occur.
As a team, select the scenarios that you would like to observe. For example, if you are looking to
reenvision arrival and departure procedures at your school, consider observing the lobby of a busy
yet elegant hotel.
05.7.2 Make arrangements for your
activities
Plan the logistics of your activities. Connect with the people you want to visit and explain the
purpose of your search for inspiration.
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05.7.3 Absorb the experience
During your visit, first observe peoples’ activities and their environments. Then, when appropriate, ask
questions about what you have noticed.
06/ empathy map*
D.school (Stanford’s Design school) in their Bootcamp Bootleg managed to gather great tools for Design
Thinking. They elaborated on using the Empathy map as a way for documenting the work you do to
understand people, within the context of your design challenge.
06.1/ WHY use an empathy map
Good design is grounded in a deep understanding of the person for whom you are designing. Designers
have many techniques for developing this sort of empathy. An Empathy Map is one tool to help you
synthesize your observations and draw out unexpected insights.
06.2/ HOW to use an empathy map
UNPACK: Create a four quadrant layout on paper or a whiteboard. Populate the map by taking note of the
following four traits of your user as you review your notes, audio, and video from your fieldwork:
*Bootcamp Bootleg. Pg. 15, D.School, Institute of Design at Stanford. http://dschool.stanford.edu/
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SAY: What are some quotes and defining words your user said?
DO: What actions and behaviors did you notice?
THINK: What might your user be thinking? What does this tell you about his or her beliefs?
FEEL: What emotions might your subject be feeling?
Note that thoughts/beliefs and feelings/emotions cannot be observed directly. They must be inferred by
paying careful attention to various clues. Pay attention to body language, tone, and choice of words.
IDENTIFY NEEDS: “Needs” are human emotional or physical necessities. Needs help define your design
challenge. Remember: Needs are verbs (activities and desires with which your user could use help), not
nouns (solutions). Identify needs directly out of the user traits you noted, or from contradictions between
two traits – such as a disconnect between what she says and what she does. Write down needs on the side
of your Empathy Map.
IDENTIFY INSIGHTS: An “Insight” is a remarkable realization that you could leverage to better respond to
a design challenge. Insights often grow from contradictions between two user attributes (either within
a quadrant or from two different quadrants) or from asking yourself “Why?” when you notice strange
behavior. Write down potential insights on the side of your Empathy Map. One way to identify the seeds of
insights is to capture “tensions” and “contradictions” as you work.
*
*Based on XPLANE, the Visual Business Design Thinking Company. www.XPLANE.com
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07/ CONDUCT A PROPER
DIALOGUE!*
Dialogue involves listening to the perspectives of others and telling your point of view to develop a shared
understanding of issues.
Dialogue is the first stage of developing a community that supports common interests and goals. Dialogue
does not require a pre-determined agenda or a desired outcome. Engaging in dialogue simply helps to
focus on a particular issue or concern that requires further input from a community. Dialogue can occur
in assemblies of people with shared interests, affinities, or goals. Dialogue can also occur in spaces where
people convene for reasons of dissatisfaction or confusion or tension. Both shared frustration and/or desire
are useful for engaging people in dialogue and further action.
The core of dialogue is that people speak for themselves about their own truths, realities, experiences,
and knowledge. Yet, this is not always easy. Speaking with others about our beliefs, values, and principles
requires trust. There is risk involved and these risks must be addressed intentionally. Participants must
thoughtfully create safe spaces that establish openness to sharing ideas and welcoming difference of
opinion.
Such security usually requires the recognition that power exists between individuals and in groups. Power
exists because of age, status, title, experience and other identity traits that are either valued or devalued in
a community. Power cannot be taken out of the dialogue situation, but it can be addressed. To do so we
can begin by simply acknowledging that who we are influences how we see the world, how others see us
and how others view our contributions and influence. Many of the assumptions that people make may
not be true, but they will affect our encounters with each other. In effective dialogue, all contributors must
be open to adjusting their assumptions about others and even altering the usual arrangements of power.
Both speaker and listener must take personal responsibility to manage their participation in order to make
space for the other’s contribution. This includes knowing when to speak and when to be silent, when and
what to sensor, and how to manage topics, with the goal of creating openings for sharing. This view of
dialogue changes typical assumptions about why dialogue is needed. The potential of dialogue is limited if
it is only viewed as an opportunity to give concrete statements about what one person or another believes.
Instead, dialogue can be seen as a subtle synthesis of mindsets. The goal of dialogue is to develop a new,
shared understanding because even without agreement, each participant will have been moved by the
process of engagement. Therefore, because of the collaborative nature of dialogue the goal is never to
agree, but to understand the other person’s point of view and why they have come to that belief. This
makes way for possibility – the creation of new ideas, new identification of issues, and new solutions.
*The Social Innovation Toolkit, Dialogue Section, Beta Version. Project Innovation, 2012. http://www.socialinnovationtoolkit.com/dialogue.html
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07.1/ HOW TO CONSIDER YOUR
VALUES
Dialogue is about engagement with another person so it is helpful to be mindful of what you bring to that
encounter. In other words, your perspective is always influenced by various identity traits – your role in the
community, your background and experience, your affinities and interests. These factors influence what
matters to you, what you choose to talk about and how you engage in those conversations. Your values are
underneath all of this and it’s your language that makes it explicit. After exploring the foundations of your
beliefs, chose intentional language that represents what you believe.
Ask questions such as:
•
•
•
•
•
•
What is my belief about this topic and why do I hold this belief?
(Ex. I want my child to attend schools that supports values of community and caring so she can
prioritize those values over materialism.)
What do I want to do about my beliefs?
(Ex. I want to establish an alternative to the government and private day care options available to my
child.)
How do I talk to people about these beliefs? Does the language I choose focus on these beliefs or am
I talking about other things? (Ex. Instead of simply talking about improving the day care options in our community, I will use words
such as “community” and “caring” to emphasize what I value about alternative child care.)
07.2/ HOW TO CONSIDER THE
OTHERS
Part of healthy dialogue is sharing your perspective as well as listening to the thoughts and ideas of others.
Speakers and listeners must manage their participation and make deliberate attempts to invite others to
speak. This includes creating pauses so that others can speak and asking questions such as, “What do you
think? What are your ideas? Do you agree or disagree with what I’ve just said?”
Trained listeners have learned to build rapport with others by using active listening techniques such as
mirroring the body language, tone of voice, and word choice of the other. This may seem forced at first but
it has the effect of encouraging a superficial connection that can eventually lead to real understanding.
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Remind yourself to:
•
•
•
•
Periodically summarize what the other person has said. (Ex. “So you think…Is that right?”)
Match your body language and tone of voice to the other. (Ex. If your dialogue partner is speaking
softly, then lower your voice to match the volume. If your dialogue partner is sitting, then do not stand
above them, sit so your eye line is even.)
Listen to the preferred terms and phrases used by others and integrate them into your own way of
talking about an issue.
Allow for silences so that all group members may contribute. Some people need time to organize
their thinking. It can be helpful to actually tell your listener, ‘Let me take a moment to think about that.”
07.3/ HOW TO CONSIDER
UNEXPECTED PROBLEMS OR ISSUES
It is often assumed that effective dialogue should address a specific topic of discussion or debate. This
can be useful but be open to going off topic to facilitate an easy flow of conversation. This allows for
unexpected knowledge sharing that will ultimately foster new kinds of relationships and the development
of a community of shared purpose. However, this still requires careful facilitation to make connections to
common issues and prevent enthusiastic contributors or those who are not self-aware from hijacking the
conversation.
Ask questions such as
•
•
•
Why does this person think this way? What more should I know about his/her experience? (Ex. My
neighbor feels strongly about not paying for childcare so I will ask her why.)
What more do I need to know about this issue? (Ex. Hearing about my neighbor’s experience as a
school teacher may help me understand the challenges involved in caring for other peoples’ children.)
Has the dialogue gone too far off topic? What has been said that will help steer us back to discussion
of a shared interest? (Ex. “You have a lot of knowledge about caring for other peoples’ children. Can we
discuss how it might help us to plan cooperative child care in our village?”)
Dialogue requires time and commitment to build relationships. Successful dialogue may not always
translate to larger communities in society.
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08/ CONDUCT AN INTERVIEW!*
08.1/ EMPATHIZE WITH THE PEOPLE
An interview is a structured conversation between two people used to gain in depth understanding
of situations and issues. Interviews are useful when there is a lot of information to learn, and when it’s
important to understand connections between people and problems from an individual’s standpoint,
position, or role in a community. A one-on-one conversation is also an efficient way to verify information,
especially when there are differences of opinion and/or controversy. Focus group interviews may be
effective for collecting and understanding a number of people’s experiences and perspectives at one time.
Ideal focus groups consist of 4 – 6 people.
A good interview is a conversation. The person asking the questions is interested in learning the
interviewee’s perspectives and interpretations on certain topics. However, the most productive interview
situations do not simply involve a series of questions and answers. Interviews can be more casual with no
pre-determined order for questions and no attempt to record the conversation. These interviews “go with
the flow” while still revealing information about a topic of interest. More formal interviews are structured
with a written list of questions and a device to record the conversation so that it can be reviewed in detail.
In either situation, there is no recipe for an effective conversation. The interviewer must listen closely,
be engaged with the ideas, and move from question to question with real interest and focus. Skilled
interviewers seek clarity and know how to adjust questions as needed, how to ask follow-up questions in
order to clarify ideas that are not understood, or sometimes remain silent to encourage further explanation.
The interviewer’s attitude, language, and behavior demonstrate a genuine interest in the other person and
this usually can influence the interviewee’s responses.
TIP! The Interviewees are the experts
Interviewees can provide a great deal of information about a topic but they can also quickly challenges
assumptions you’ve made about the issues.
tip
*The Social Innovation Toolkit, Interview Section, Beta Version. Project Innovation, 2012. http://www.socialinnovationtoolkit.com/interview.html
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08.2/ how to?
08.2.1 HOW TO BUILD YOUR INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS
Decide what information is needed and consider the different people who can provide that information.
Then develop a short list of questions to help guide the conversation. It is very important to avoid
leading questions that assume a certain kind of response and could therefore influence the tone of the
conversation. Instead focus on “grand tour” questions (Spradley, 1979), which are often not even worded
as questions. Instead these are broad, open-ended invitations to discuss a portion of one’s experience. This
encourages the speaker to go in any direction and define the more specific issues that are important to
the topic. This also might reveal the underlying assumptions and beliefs that might be more challenging
to share if asked about directly.
Begin such questions with:
•
Tell me about...
•
Take me through…
•
Describe…
When interviewing an unemployed teen, one might ask, “Take me through a typical day,” or “Tell me about
the last job you held,” or “Describe what a job search is like for you”. In describing these experiences you may
learn about problems related to youth unemployment, which may be your real area of interest.)
example
08.2.2 HOW TO SET UP YOUR INTERVIEW
When selecting an interview location, consider comfort and quiet. Hold the interview in a place with few
potential distractions or interruptions. If the interviewee prefers to remain anonymous, then meet in a
place where neither person is likely to be recognized. Remember that while a private residence can be
quiet, it may not be comfortable for all participants. Discreet public spaces such as a quiet café or library
are ideal.
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08.2.3 HOW TO analyze YOUR INTERVIEW
Write up your notes about the interview as soon as possible while the details are fresh. Include comments
about pauses, laughter, any emotions tied to responses, etc. Record any initial hunches about what you
think the interview means. Identify themes – any repeated words, phrases, or topics that get repeated
or topics that you think are ignored. Explore these themes as you review your notes. If the interview was
recorded, listen to the recording and transcribe segments that relate to these themes.
Write a summary or a vignette to describe the interviewee and his/her perspective along with prominent
details of his/her experiences that reflect the themes that resonate. Use this analysis to inform what you
know about the topic or issue of interest.
Ask questions such as:
•
What themes were central in this interview?
•
What is contradictory or inconclusive in the interview?
•
What do I want to know more about?
Interviews can be time-consuming and require preparation and analysis after the
face-to-face exchange.
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09/ ASK THE RIGHT
QUESTIONS!*
09.1/ the power of “why”?
Questions help us get “unstuck” when we need to understand a problem from multiple positions. Asking
questions leads to different starting points, different people, and different sectors.
Questions are a basic and necessary part of development, change and growth. But, asking questions is
not just about finding answers. Questioning is a way of being in the world that values a continual search
for different perspectives and new sources of information. A mind frame that is open to investigation,
contradictions, and multiple perspectives is essential.
In complex situations, there is never just one answer or approach. Healthy skepticism will always suggest
that there might be other ways of understanding and other ways of doing things. Discoveries occur in the
constant search for these alternatives. The point of asking questions is to understand issues from a point of
view that is more challenging to access than through one’s individual knowledge.
09.2/ WHAT KIND OF QUESTIONS TO
ASK?
THE FIVE WHYS TECHNIQUE
•
•
•
•
•
•
Name a problem you’re having
Ask WHY it’s happening
Get an answer
Then ask WHY about that
Get an answer
Then ask WHY about that -- and so on, five times
*The Social Innovation Toolkit, Question Section, Beta Version. Project Innovation, 2012. http://www.socialinnovationtoolkit.com/question.html
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It is often thought that asking “why” can get you to the core of an issue. For example, a technique called
“The Five Whys” suggests that asking why repeatedly can get you beyond the surface and to the core of
an issue.
Sure, asking “why” five times will always lead to an unexpected focus. However, never assume that there
is a single meaningful core to every issue that is equally important to everyone involved. Instead, a variety
of questions allow people to examine assumptions about what is relevant, what is essential, and what is
not. Ask a range of who, what, where, when, why and how questions coupled with the words is, did, can,
will, would and might. Include complex questions that explore problems in a deeper, more thoughtful and
more critical way.
Thoughtful questioning is not about looking for answers, but trying to understand issues from
multiple points of view.
tip
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09.3/ HOW TO?
09.3.1 HOW TO KNOW THE RIGHT KIND OF
QUESTIONS
Different questions provide different types of information. It’s important to frame questions to get the
information you want. The wording of questions can produce different feelings depending on who is
doing the asking, his or her relationship to the person being questioned, and how comfortable that person
is with the information being shared. All of these factors can either facilitate new understandings of issues
and situations, or interfere and make for a potentially tense situation. It’s important to ask the right kind of
questions – ones that begin honest dialogue, build connections, and yield different perspectives.
Two types of questions can effectively generate new information: open-ended questions and closed
questions.
Use closed questions to understand the context.
Closed questions usually call for a specific answer and help to verify evidence and assess situations and
problems that already exist.
Ask questions such as:
•
What happened?
•
What are the problems?
•
When do problems usually occur?
•
What works? What resources exist?
Use open-ended questions to encourage self-reflection and understand assumptions.
Open-ended questions encourage people to think more about why things occur the way they do. These
questions begin a process of analysis that may lead to a discussion of how things might be different.
Ask questions such as:
•
Why did this happen?
•
How would you solve this problem?
•
What might be done instead?
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09.3.2 HOW TO ASK PROBING QUESTIONS
Sometimes it’s necessary to ask questions that clarify initial answers and further explore related issues.
Questions that ask people to describe or explain their initial responses can encourage them to share their
opinions and ideas.
Ask questions such as:
•
Can you say more about that?
•
What makes you say that?
•
How do you feel about that?
09.3.3 HOW TO ASK CRITICAL QUESTIONS
Questions can also encourage deeper thinking about situations. Deep thinking challenges the foundational
assumption about why things are the way they are and how things could or should be. These questions
can encourage people to critique assumptions or existing practices through further discussion or even
debate.
Ask questions such as:
•
What are the consequences of the current actions?
•
Who benefits from the way things are? Who loses?
09.3.4 HOW TO ASK DISCOVERY
QUESTIONS
Ultimately, good questions encourage alternative explanations and solutions. These questions invoke
the imagination to envision new possibilities that might otherwise remain unexplored if starting from
the taken for granted assumptions about our beliefs what we think we already know. There are no clear
questions to encourage this kind of discovery process. Instead, questioners must listen closely to people’s
responses and intentionally foster positive engagement so that people feel understood – like their ideas
matter.
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In groups, questioners must pay attention to the dynamics between people and help ease power
differentials and make connections between each contribution. This will help to build a sense of trust and
affinity that might lead to new discoveries.
Ask questions that:
Allow people to come up with their own explanations, in their own words and language
Build on what people say. Use their words rather than reframing what they say into your own preferred
terms.
Reword questions so they empower people rather than assign blame. (Ex. Instead of asking, “Why did this
go wrong?” rephrase the question to ask, “What do you think happened and why?”
Encourage relationship building so that there are fewer risks for sharing
Unlimited questioning may prevent projects from moving forward.
Questions rub against power and some people maintain power by refusing to ask and answer questions.
Therefore, there can be repercussions when questioning challenges power.
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10/ HOW TO CREATE
FRAMEWORKS THAT MAKE
SENSE?*
Frameworks allow you to begin putting the specific information from stories into a larger system context.
10.1/ What is a framework?
A framework is a visual representation of a system. It shows the different elements or actors at play and
highlights the relationships between them.
*Human-Centered Design Toolkit, Create Section, Pg. 100, 2nd Ed. IDEO”
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10.2/ Using your framework
A good framework will help you see the issues and relationships in a clearer and more holistic way. Discuss
what the framework implies for constituents, for other actors in the community, and for your organization.
Use the framework to develop or build upon key insights. Capture those insights and add them to your
growing list.
10.3/ Using diagrams
Diagrams are used to show the results of quantitative or qualitative information in a readily accessible,
visual way to aid comprehension and understanding.
A range of different diagrams with increasing levels of complexity have been developed to be able to
present detailed information in such a way that key trends or elements of interest can be identified. The
diagrammatic methods used need to be appropriate for the data set under investigation and several
methods that present other related data are often used in order to construct a model of the subject being
analyzed.
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11/ WHAT ARE DIFFERENT
TYPES OF PROTOTYPES?*
11.1/ Create a Model
Put together simple three-dimensional representations of your idea. Use paper, cardboard, pipe cleaners,
fabric, and whatever else you can find. Keep it rough and at a low fidelity to start, and then evolve the
resolution over time.
11.2/ Create a Mock-Up
Build mock-ups of digital tools or websites with simple sketches of screens on paper. Paste the paper mockup on an actual computer screen or mobile phone when demonstrating it.
11.3/ Create a role play
Act out the experience of your idea. Try on the roles of the people that are part of the situation and uncover
questions they might ask. Consider making simple uniforms and assembling simple props to help users
experience your product or service as real.
*The Course for Human-Centered Design, “Prototyping”, Class 4, Workshop Guide. Design Kit, IDEO.org & +Acumen. http://www.designkit.org/resources/
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11.4/ Create a storyboard
Visualize the complete experience of your idea over time through a series of images, sketches, cartoons or
even just text blocks. Stick figures are great—you don’t need to be an artist. Use Post-it Notes or individual
sheets of paper to create the storyboard so you can rearrange their order.
11.5/ Create a diagram
Imagine you are going door-to-door and showing potential customers what your idea or potential service
is. Map out the structure, journey, or process of your idea in a way that will be easy for a potential customer
to understand. This prototyping method will have a lot in common with the storyboard you already
created during this
11.6/ Create a story
Tell the story of your idea from the future. Describe what the experience would be like. Write a newspaper
article reporting about your idea. Write a job description. The purpose is to have people experience your
idea as if it were real and then respond to it.
11.7/ Create an Advertisement
Create a fake advertisement that promotes the best parts of your idea. Have fun with it, and feel free to
exaggerate shamelessly. Now change the tone of the advertisement to appeal to different types of person.
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12/ how to design a
storyboard?*
*8 Steps for Creating a Successful Storyboard. Lucas Miller, Fusion 360. July 2015. . July 2015 http://fusion360productions.com/8-secrets-for-storyboard-succe
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13/ scale*
Implementation thinking also needs to consider scale: challenging preconceived ideas about size can
produce a striking solution. Does a book design have to be a certain size, for example?
Design thinking should challenge size assumptions in order to escape the limitations and restraints that
their acceptance imposes.
13.1/ Thinking big
Designers can ‘think big’ to produce a piece at a scale at which its visual elements have great impact.
Thinking big can also mean overcoming mental or conceptual restrictions about how certain topics should
be handled or presented, perhaps crossing over into different disciplines.
Thinking big may involve moving boundaries or challenging accepted norms. This sends art into new
directions, although commercial success is often used by critics to debase creative achievements.
13.2/ Thinking small
‘Thinking small’ is a conscious effort to produce work at a reduced scale to challenge perceptions and offer
the unexpected. Thinking small can often appear to be counter-intuitive, as in many aspects of life, people
are asked to give more or consider the bigger picture. Thinking small implies the need to engage a more
critical eye about content due to the limited space available in small formats.
*Basics Design 08: Design Thinking. Pg. 168. Gavin Ambrose, Paul Harris. ISBN 978-2-940411-17-7. 2010.
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14/ abstraction
guidelines
These abstraction guidelines are here as a guide to support your use of the Radical Map developed by
iceHubs Global.
Abstraction, as it is used in the Radical Map, is a process of decontextualising a process or activity, so that it
can be seen in its purest form. By abstracting something, we are able to see it clearly without the associations
we usually tie to it, and in so doing, we are able to draw parallels with other seemingly unrelated industries.
These “other” activities may then help us learn something useful that we can then apply to our abstracted
activity. This may sound a little strange, but here’s an example that should illustrate the point.
In the context of the labour market, let’s take the specific process of matchmaking – connecting job seekers
with jobs. The aim of matchmaking is to make sure the right job seeker with the right characteristics is
placed in the correct job with the correct requirements for that position. By placing the right job seeker in
the right job, both he/she and the company benefit – it’s a win-win!
Now, let’s say that your team has discovered that an organisation’s matchmaking process is inefficient or
faulty. By abstracting the activity of matchmaking from the organisation (and even from the labour market),
and just seeing it as a process in itself, independent of anything else, we can see how other industries have
managed to make it work. For example, you may find that by brainstorming with your team around this
“abstracted” matchmaking process, that the online dating industry would be a good place to look! The
online dating industry is, after all, successful at matching people with specific requirements to each other!
If we can learn from this industry, there may be plenty of key-insights that we can apply to our labour-force
matchmaking! For example, we might copy the way that new people are registered, or adapt the question
asking process used by dating websites, to employees in job centres. There could be many other parallels
that could drastically improve our matchmaking process.
Let’s take another example from the labour market. If your social innovation process shows, for example,
that potential employees are being put off by bad experiences at job centres, then by abstracting the
experience of entering a job centre, they can look for other industries where this challenge has been
addressed. Your team may want to look at how hotels greet people in a welcoming way, or how some
department stores attract people to enter them. There are plenty of examples of industries that have
managed to attract people to engage with them. Which of these successful methods can we adapt and
apply to these job centres? It’s up to you and your teams!
For further inspiration you can read the “Analogous Inspiration” excerpt from IDEO’s materials in the
appendix
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15/ The Value Proposition
Canvas.*
*The Value Proposition Canvas. Strategyzer AG - The makers of Business Model Generation and Strategyzer. www.strategyzer.com
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16/ Case study I: SmartLife:
Designing a Scalable
Water and Hygiene
Business*
Client: Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP), Unilever, Aqua for All, and Global Alliance for
Improved Nutrition (GAIN)
Project Title: SmartLife: Designing a Scalable Water & Health Business
Duration: April 2012–June 2012
Team:
•
IDEO.org design team
•
Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP)
•
Unilever
•
Aqua for All
•
Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN)
Description:
Ed. note: This case study is a selection from the 2014 “Justified” competition, for which an esteemed jury
identified 19 submissions that demonstrate the value of design in a clear, compelling and accessible way.
To learn more about the jury’s perspective on this selection, see the juror comments below.
Our design oraganization designed a social enterprise combining the sale of pure drinking water with
wellness products in low-income communities in Nairobi, Kenya. The result of this project ultimately
comprised of creating a strong brand identity, called SmartLife, coupled with a high touch subscription
service for clean water, hygiene and nutrition products such as vitamins for children.
With nearly 3.5 million people dying each year from water-related disease and an estimated 1.7 million
children under the age of five dying, annually, from diarrheal disease, communities all across the world are
in the midst of a global water, hygiene and nutrition crisis. To tackle this crisis, we used a human-centered
design approach aimed at creating a unified and market-based solution. Through interviews and in-depth
contextual understanding, we were able to see firsthand the core issues and rapidly iterate on possible
solutions.
Following extensive prototyping, SmartLife was launched in two different Nairobi neighborhoods. We
can gauge the success of this social enterprise from quantitatively monitoring the number of households
reached and qualitatively hearing customer testimonials.
*Reference: AIGA – The professional association for design. Case Study: SmartLife: Designing a Scalable Water & Health Business. http://www.aiga.org/casestudy-smartlife/
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Project brief:
The world is in the midst of water, hygiene and nutrition crises: Every year, 3.5 million people die from
water-borne illnesses, 1.7 million children under the age of five die from diarrheal disease and one of three
people in developing countries has vitamin and nutrient deficiencies. For many urban dwellers who do not
have potable water piped into their homes, buying water from vendors is a daily, often laborious chore.
Globally, there have been mixed results in tackling these challenges. We took a human-centered approach
and developed an integrated, scalable and market-based solution.
While this crisis is global, it is particularly evident in Kenya, where only 61 percent of the population has
access to clean water sources. Diarrheal diseases are among the top 10 causes of morbidity and mortality
and 84 percent of preschool-aged children have vitamin A deficiency. For this reason, we teamed up with
WSUP, Unilever, GAIN, and Aqua for All to design a solution that fit within the urban context of Nairobi.
We began in two low-income neighborhoods of the city: Pipeline and Ongata Rongai. During the research
phase of the project, people told us time and again that they needed clean drinking water. We quickly
identified this as the main driver of the service. Our research conclusively led us to believe that people were
willing to pay for water in order to ensure the health and safety of their families.
Background:
The market is largely consumer-focused, but does leave space for business-to-business opportunities.
Public investment in water access—even after the 2002 Kenya Water Act—has been insufficient to scale
effective models and meet Kenyans’ needs. The Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation
estimates that 41 percent of Kenyans lack access to quality water sources.
Although water kiosks are one emerging means to meet the safe water needs of low-income communities,
many kiosk models are ineffective and provide inadequate service: Customers face unaffordable prices,
sporadic water shortages and frequent and long trips to fetch water. We saw an opportunity to design
a more effective solution (service design, logistics and marketing strategy) that is human-centered and
largely consumer-focused.
Budget
Development budget: More than $50,000
This project is: Either a retainer relationship nor an in-house on-going monitoring relationship
Production/execution budget: $30,000–$100,000
Source of funding: Client
Strategy:
We always start with understanding the people involved and the context of a problem before identifying
concepts and opportunities for design. We then quickly move to building prototypes and testing our
concepts in the community.
Community-based insights guided our design process on the SmartLife project. A strong brand identity
and multiple customer service touch points would be essential to gaining Kenyan consumers’ trust and
loyalty. Furthermore, people understand and strongly value clean water, which reinforced our assumption
that the core of the service should be modeled around providing safe drinking water. One crucial piece
of the SmartLife design was integrating a customer-friendly service model and a sustainable, scalable
business model.
With a constant eye toward business design, the team defined nine different components of a business
model throughout the research, ideation and prototyping phases. This continued attention to business
components—from delivery, payment and product design to revenue models, suppliers and sales
force—allowed us to ensure the viability of any solution. The final design for SmartLife merges service and
branding with a complete business strategy.
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Research
Key sources of insight for the SmartLife design team came during the prototyping phase, where the team
rapidly created and tested a business on the fly. After researching many possible components of the
service model, the team needed to determine whether these pieces could work together as part of the
larger business.
With this in mind, the team designed and tested a water, nutrition and health business with three
components: a door-to-door salesperson who would advertise, a local kiosk where people could subscribe
and purchase the health and nutrition products and a delivery service that would bring clean, safe water
to people’s doorsteps. Opening for business for only one day during the field-testing phase, the team
members acted as staff—recruiting, fulfilling orders, home delivering and receiving feedback. This proved
invaluable to fine-tuning the final service model.
Design solution
In tackling the widespread challenge of providing access to clean drinking water, hygiene and nutritional
products, SmartLife provides an excellent model of social enterprise design. It not only tackles a social
sector issue with great need—and therefore great potential for impact—but also provides a solution that
is scalable and designed with the community in mind.
SmartLife delivers a service model with flexible offerings that can reach a range of low- and mid-income
customers. Some customers prefer the convenience of a prepaid subscription with free weekly home
delivery; those with less steady incomes have the option of purchasing products when they are able.
Some prefer a more utility-focused plan, called Everyday Essentials, to meet household clean-water needs;
others want the option of including personal wellness products, via a plan called Aspirational Wellness.
All plans and sales provide community members with high-touch customer service, convenience and an
easy mobile payment system through MPESA. Finally, in addition to the heavy focus on the customer and
community, the design was analyzed for business viability and feasibility.
Challenges
The design challenge posed at the beginning of the project entailed creating an integrated offering of
clean water, hygiene and nutritional products. As part of our human-centered design approach, we worked
to understand the communities for which we were designing so that the designs would be contextual and
effective.
SmartLife aims to reach low-income communities. We created an affordable, convenient and scalable
solution that could be implemented and later expanded to increase its impact (and provide healthy
solutions to more people).
Effectiveness
Water, health and nutrition are by no means new challenges—social sector organizations have been
tackling them tirelessly for decades. What makes SmartLife stand out? It is an integrated, scalable marketbased solution designed around people and their needs. Its service model was built with flexible offerings
that can reach a range of low- to mid-income customers with a number of delivery, product and payment
options. Its business model was analyzed and tested for viability. Ultimately, SmartLife is a design that can
continue to work and grow within Kenya and around the world.
SmartLife now operates in two low-income neighborhoods of Nairobi: Ongata Rongai and Pipeline. In
its first year after launch, it provided water subscriptions and/or wellness products to more than 4,200
customers. Families comprise 90 percent of sales; the other 10 percent are businesses. To date, SmartLife
has provided more than 167,000 liters of clean water, with numbers rapidly climbing. SmartLife has received
positive feedback from numerous customers, with many members willing to promote and recommend
others for the service.
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Additional information
“I had typhoid once, and my doctor told me that it was from the water. Now I boil or put chlorine in my drinking
water, but my husband doesn’t like the taste. I would pay 200 KES for 20 liters of clean drinking water.”
“I used to worry about where to get water. Sometimes I skipped bathing and doing laundry. Now that I have a
free tap in my home, I bathe and do laundry more often.”
“I’m very happy to put this [SmartLife] sticker on my door, so that everyone can know I’m using SmartLife water
and I’m very happy.”
“While many startups spend months developing a comprehensive strategy, plan, and product to achieve postrevenue status, SmartLife was post-revenue in days when the pop-up shop sold 500L of water. It was adopting
this spirit of … building to learn that has been most crucial to quickly making SmartLife real in a more permanent
way.”
“Most importantly, these decisions of priority ultimately allowed us to quickly push forward on defining the
best ways to execute the newest and hardest aspects of the model—delivering a high-touch subscription and
delivery service in an area where people aren’t accustomed to subscriptions, quality service, or reliable delivery—
and that agility earned from building to learn is what ultimately put the Rongai store on the map by February.”
—Comments from the Jury
“Taking on the need and social complexity of providing clean and disease-free water to Third World countries is
a daunting task for anyone — let alone designers. But as seen in this program, designers are the perfect agent of
change for effectively addressing the problem and the market-based needs of users. I was particularly impressed
with how simple and smart the end solution worked and looked.” —Dana Arnett
“Finding a solution that gets clean drinking water to people in a simple and sustainable fashion is definitely a
good use of design time and talent. In my opinion, this design is “Justified” for its business model and product
design—less than for its graphic design and brand identity. Though it’s open in only two locations, I wish the
team well on scaling this solution to many more neighborhoods and communities.” —Kate Aronowitz
“People matter and giving them control over their own situation is powerful. SmartLife integrates a community
by solving their problems in a way that offers not only clean water, but also a system and business in which they
all participate.” —Cameron Campbell
“I loved every part of this, except maybe the logo mark. But getting hung up on that misses the point – design
that goes beyond the surface and into the system.” —Joe Gebbia
“We reviewed a lot of great business design, but the graphics were rarely high-achieving enough to honor the
complete package. The SmartLife design team came closest to delivering graphics appropriate to the business
case.” —Jennifer Kinon
“The SmartLife project deserves recognition not for the visual design but for the conceptualization of the larger
program. The pilot project had measurable impact, and if the system can be successfully scaled, it has the
potential to be a key component in alleviating the water crisis in Kenya.” —Jeremy Mende
Reference: AIGA – The professional association for design. Case Study: SmartLife: Designing a Scalable Water & Health
Business. http://www.aiga.org/case-study-smartlife/
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List of Abbreviations
BMZ: German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development
CIC: Community Interest Company
LMAP: Labour Market Access Program
CAPMAS: Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics
DT: Design Thinking
FEDA: Federation of Economic Development Associations
GAIN: Global Alliance for Improve Nutrition
GIZ: German Cooperation - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit
HCD: Human Centred Design
HMW: How Might We?
ice: Innovation. Collaboration. Entrepreneurship
iceHubs: An international innovation consultancy social enterprise based on UK.
IDEO: A design and innovation consulting firm
inCompass: iDE’s Human-Centered Design social innovation lab based in Cambodia
MIT: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
NEP: National Employment Pact
NGO: Non-Governmental Organisation
OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
SI: Social Innovation
SIH: Social Innovation Handbook
SME: Small and medium sized enterprises
WSUP: Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor
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