Evaluation is a term that requires some rehabilitation. The term isn’t incorrect or outdated, just poorly understood and not much appreciated. That is unfortunate because it is a field, practice, and habit that every innovator and change-maker could benefit from knowing intimately. In this article, I’m going to outline why and what we might do […]
What is Evaluation? (And Why You Should Care) Read More »
Design thinking for evaluation is about expanding possibilities for both design and evaluation together. Design thinking and evaluation are intimately connected, yet rarely discussed together. When most professional evaluators think of the word ‘design’ they typically think of program design. Design thinking focuses our thoughts on how things are made and that includes evaluations themselves.
Design Thinking for Evaluation Read More »
Design and evaluation are a two-way street and both fields of practice are wise to learn each others’ language Design is what shapes our products and services and brings them to life. Great design is transformative. Evaluation is the means to understand what is transformed, how it takes place, and what impact that transformation has
Evaluation and Design: Language for Innovation Read More »
Evaluation is not a word that fits easily into design practice, but when it does, it lays bare what it achieves. Every designer needs to understand evaluation. Not every designer needs to know how to do it, but they need to know evaluative thinking. Without it, designers are set to fulfill what Charles Eames once
Design Choices and Their Outcomes Read More »
Our models of design and Design Thinking can enhance our ability to shape human systems without trivializing it’s importance. Design shapes all human systems – families, organizations, communities and even our individual lives. We do things with purpose, materials, intent, and interaction with the world and design is what takes ideas about such things and
Design’s Accessibility Problem Read More »
One bright idea is pretty but a collection of ideas put into practice over time, sustainably, is beautiful (and real innovation). Sustainable innovation — a process, practice, and culture of design-driven creativity — might be the most valuable outcome for any organization. Real, sustained innovation is not about creating a single item — product, service, policy
Taking Ideas Into Sustainable Innovation Read More »
Learning is at the heart of innovation and works best when evaluation is part of the process to spot what’s actually learned. Learning is a critical part of innovation and evaluation is about understanding its role. There are many definitions of innovation out there. After years of experience, observation, and study I’ve found them lacking
Learning for Innovation Read More »
Checking our assumptions about basic things could be the difference between design delight and doom. If you were to tell me that one of the greatest lessons I would take from the pandemic – one of the few globally reaching, shared issues of the last 100 years — was a much deeper appreciation of diversity
Doing Our Homework on our Research Read More »
Without connecting monitoring of our programs with our principles and strategy, we are simply creating impotency in our organizations. The events of January 6th, 2021 at the United States Capitol were appalling to anyone who cares about that republic, democracy, and decency. While a mob incited by the sitting president stormed the building and forced
Monitoring, Principles and Impotent Strategy Read More »
Many issues faced in times of change is negotiating fit with function and how shifting one can transform the other. The challenges of 2020 and beyond are as much a configuration problem as they are anything else. Things don’t fit as they once did and they no longer function as they did because of how
