Are you ready?
Take time to create the conditions for change
Creating the conditions for change can take more time than you expect. Not devoting enough attention at the start may slow your progress later. These prompts will guide you to identify the areas you need to focus on when starting your project.
People and support
Do we have support?
- Can we protect the time, budget and resource required with senior backing?
- Do we have a named senior sponsor for this project?
- Does the senior sponsor have the necessary information to progress the project and deal with any blocks?
Have we set up the right project team across the organisation?
- Do we have a named project lead?
- Do we have a team with the right skills, knowledge, experience?
- Do we have a design/process mentor (someone who has done this or something like this before)?
Do we have the right partners from outside of the organisation?
- Are all partners aligned behind the agreed vision for the project?
- Do we have a plan of when and how to involve partners at the various stages of the project?
- Have we confirmed the resources required for partners to be involved in the project?
Culture and mindset
Do we have the right mindset?
Is the team prepared for and open to working in a different way? This means that:
- the answers are not known in advance and will be co-created through the process
- user research will provide insights for solutions
- different options may be tried and tested before we arrive at a final solution
- the process can take longer than traditional project approaches
Are we open to doing things differently, knowing that we may feel uncomfortable at times as we don't know the answers?
Are we committed to the principles of person-centred design approach?
- Does the team recognise and demonstrate the principles for person-centred service design: curious, open, exploratory, collaborative, visualising?
- Are we open to reviewing existing research data as a starting point to build from?
- Are we prepared and equipped with the right skills for user research: to objectively engage with people supported by our service?
Communication and knowledge sharing
Do we have a communications plan?
- Do we have a plan to keep different stakeholders (internal and external) up to date across the duration of the project?
- Have we built in regular review and communications points with senior sponsors and key partners?
- How will we capture and share learning as we implement this project?
Planning and resources
Do we have budget?
- Has the budget been approved for all aspects of the project: team, resources, externals as required, materials, promotion?
- Have we identified the resources (physical, technology, etc) we will need to take this approach and implement it?
Do we have time?
- Does the project have a realistic amount of time allocated to accommodate research and to test ideas?
- Do we know how much dedicated time each person has to making this project happen?
Do we have a space (digital and/or physical)?
- Do we have a dedicated team space for all members of the project to access?
- Do we have space to make project materials and information visible and sharable?
Examples from practice
Developing a new Customer Experience Strategy for the Clyde Valley Group
In 2020 we introduced a new Customer Experience Strategy for the Clyde Valley Group. This strategy aimed to improve our services to provide an outstanding customer experience and to reduce customer effort. We needed to understand our customers, their needs and aspirations and, most importantly, their expectations of outstanding customer experience.
Multiagency partnerships
One clear requirement set out by the TEC TLS Pathfinder was that the project should be run by a partnership of equals, with full involvement of statutory and third sector partners from the outset. We felt this was important for developing and designing innovative and transformative solutions, and to set the conditions for working differently.