A Design State of Mind

"A mindset is how we respond to the world around us. It acts as a center of gravity. It goes with you. It shapes who you are and what you do, wherever you are."

In this talk from Create Leicester 2019, Ben Holliday (Chief Design Officer at FutureGov) introduced how to think differently about how we use design as a way of responding and shaping the change happening all around us, exploring how creativity needs to be a capability and the foundation for how 21st Century organisations work.

Transcript

1. wearefuturegov.com
   A Design State of Mind
   Create Leicester 2019
   @benholliday
   

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2. hello
   hello
   

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3. Ben Holliday
   Twitter:
   @benholliday
   Website/blog:
   benholliday.com
   medium.com/@BenHolliday
   Zoe Stanton
   Twitter:
   @stantonzoe
   Blog:
   medium.com/
   @zoe_43818
   Zoe is an experienced
   design leader and
   FutureGov’s Experience
   Director, leading our work
   around client and staff
   experience.
   Alessandra Canella
   Twitter:
   @hello_lale
   Website:
   medium.com/
   @alessandracanella
   Ale is a Lead Service
   Designer at FutureGov
   and is leading work around
   service patterns for local
   government.
   (patterns.wearefuturegov.com)
   

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5. Why
   should
   anyone
   care?
   

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6. “Don't forget how fast things change,
   how quickly people change what they do
   as they conform and shape themselves
   from all that's around them.”
   Tony Benn
   

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7. “…an analogue business
   model in a digital world.”
   

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8. What
   is design
   good
   for?
   

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10. Reframing
    Creating
    Connecting
    Doing (as a way of learning)
    Continuing (to improve things)
    

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11. A design
    state of mind
    

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12. A design mindset is how we
    respond to our immediate
    surroundings and work. This
    means asking different types
    of questions, and requires a
    different set of responses to
    the challenges we face.
    

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13. [Billy Joel]
    

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14. A design
    state of mind
    

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15. FROM
    Business/technical perspective
    “It works like this to maintain BAU”
    Complexity
    “We’re dealing with great complexity”
    We can’t change that
    “Absolutely not…”
    Needing certainty
    “We need certainty”
    Fixed assumptions
    “How can we prove we’re right”
    Closed
    “There’s no need to share/make work visible”
    TO
    User-focussed
    “It could work like this for people in the future”
    Simplicity
    “Let’s go back to first principles”
    We can change that
    “Why not…”
    Not knowing
    “Ambiguity is okay, we can learn more by doing”
    Changing our minds
    “How might we be wrong about this”
    Open
    “Collaboration connects and creates new ideas”
    

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16. User-focussed
    

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18. It could look work like this
    for people in the future.
    User-focused
    

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19. “…mapping backwards, instead of
    relying solely on mapping forwards,
    concentrates the mind …it focuses
    [you] to think through operations
    from the beginning to the very end.”
    The Blunders of Our Governments – Anthony King
    A useful and usable vision
    

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20. Simplicity
    

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21. More focus on outcomes
    than process (as a way of
    navigating complexity).
    Simplicity
    

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22. Complex (complexity)
    means something that
    consists of many different
    and connected/
    component parts.
    

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23. Service map (navigating something complex)
    

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24. An outcomes based approach to complexity:
    - Creating simple models to communicate component
    parts of a bigger picture/system.
    - Framing challenges and priorities without being drawn
    into detail too early or in the wrong places.
    - Having a clear goal (vision/proposition) to work
    towards that helps us stay focussed on user-based
    and/or policy outcomes.
    

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25. Not over-complicating (and
    being able to visualise and
    communicate clearly).
    Simplicity
    

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26. Storyboarding
    

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27. User Experience
    (impact)
    Safeguarding
    outcomes (impact)
    Organisation
    capabilities
    Data security
    Service/systems view
    

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28. When dealing with
    complexity, let’s go
    back to first principles.
    Simplicity
    

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29. First principles is breaking
    something down to its most
    fundamental component parts,
    or what you believe is true.
    Then you work from there.
    

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30. “…[a framework or model] is purposefully reductive.
    It takes things away, emphasising only a small part
    of a large whole, so that we can focus only on what
    remains. A world map is a model of earth that
    removes nearly everything about the planet, leaving
    only relative masses, names of countries and cities,
    and overall proximity.”
    Jon Kolko
    

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31. We can change that
    

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33. Design is about imagining what
    the future could look like.
    Putting sticks in the ground.
    

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34. A big idea is better than
    having a big plan. People get
    behind ideas, and are inspired,
    engaged and take action
    because of ideas.
    

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35. Not knowing
    

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37. Ambiguity is holding
    opposing/different ideas in
    tension at the same time.
    

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38. Learning by doing
    is working with what
    you don’t know.
    

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39. Prototyping
    

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40. Starting
    Taking intuitive leaps
    Strong opinions (loosely held)
    Ideas in tension
    Confidence to let go of detail
    Doing the hard work (creatively)
    

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41. Changing our minds
    

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42. How can we prove
    we’re right?
    Changing our minds
    

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43. How can we prove
    we’re right?
    How might we be wrong
    about this?
    Changing our minds
    

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44. Open (creativity,
    ideas, and making
    new connections)
    

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46. …giving ourselves a way to
    see the world outside, as well
    as letting the world see us.
    

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47. Collaboration connects
    and creates new ideas.
    Open
    

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48. Open
    Are the result of new perspectives.
    They open new doors. Bad ideas
    restrict or close doors.
    Combine
    They’re combinations and
    connections between
    smaller ideas.
    Question
    They challenge accepted truths,
    principles, and the ways things
    currently work.
    Good ideas (the process of exploring & connecting)
    Adapt
    They’re able to adapt to
    future changes and new
    circumstances.
    Active
    They invite further exploration,
    and can be a call to action e.g. for
    testing and learning.
    Grow
    They generate more ideas which
    can improve on one another.
    

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49. Creativity should not be
    thought of as a specialist or
    localised resource, but as a
    competence that needs to be
    part of the fabric of 21st
    century organisations.
    

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50. What
    do
    you
    see?
    

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52. You get to design
    what happens next...
    

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53. Thanks
    @benholliday
    benholliday.com
    wearefuturegov.com
    

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