The focus on human qualities in understanding design can come at the cost of disconnecting people from the world they inhabit. Don Norman, one of the most widely known designers, recently attracted a flurry of attention with his call for something called Humanity-Centred Design. The idea is central to his latest book. The argument that …
Humanity-Centred Design or Designing for Living Systems? Read More »
A good principle can be a source of inspiration and guidance for action and accountability if we know how to develop it.
Our designs drive systems change as much as anything and feedback drives good design. Feedback comes from evaluation so it makes sense that the two should work together. This is a version of a post I recently contributed to the American Evaluation Association’s AEA365 blog. Developmental Evaluation is a specific approach to strategic learning suited …
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 …
In changing times its important to recognize both the words change and time if we want to understand systems. On a social and economic level we’ve never seen more transformation of everyday life come or affect systems as we have with the global COVID-19 pandemic. What it provides us is an opportunity to learn, contemplate, …
Vision is about where you want to go, evaluation tells you if you are getting there. Without one, we leave the other lost. The shift in the calendar from one year or decade to another provides a cultural transition place for renewal and looking forward. Vision — as we’ve covered before — is one the …
Evaluation tells your innovation’s impact story to the wider world. Learn more about what you do by learning about evaluation. Changing something requires evidence, otherwise change doesn’t exist. We only know something has changed — grown, shrunk, transformed, moved — through study (seeing before, after, and what happens in between). Evaluation is what tells that …
Innovation is a misunderstood and often misrepresented concept that can provoke fear, indifference, resentment, confusion, or irrational exuberance. To understand the reasons why we can’t ignore innovation we need to look no further than the sage advice in The Leopard, a story of change. It’s been said that the only true constant is change. Funny …
What distinguishes design-driven evaluation from other types of utilization-focused evaluation or innovation development is that it views the evaluative act as part of a service offering. It’s not a shift in method, but in mindset. Evaluation is the innovator’s secret advantage. Any sustained attempt to innovate is driven by good data and systems to make …
Design-driven evaluation focuses attention on what organization’s use in their decision-making and learning to support the creation of their products, delivery of services, and the overall quality of their work. While ultimately practical, this focus on utility also introduces some difficult conversations about what organizations truly value, not just what they say. To say something …
