Complexity is a word we hear more and more. Understanding what it means in practice can help us navigate it with greater confidence. What do we mean we talk about complexity? It’s everywhere living systems reside, yet it’s also a deeply misunderstood or even mysterious subject. There is an entire field of study that looks […]
What We Talk About When We Talk About Complexity Read More »
Most of us have not seen a rhinoceros in the wild. We might have seen a rhino at the zoo and maybe on television. Only a few of us who live outside Africa have been fortunate enought to see one of these beautiful creatures in its natural habitat. Imagine we’d never seen a rhinoceros in
Rhinoceros In The Wild: System Models and Reality Read More »
When undertaking strategic planning for organizations operating in the complex space of health and human services, how do you account for creating meaningful ways to learn and adapt? Developmental Evaluation is how. Developmental Evaluation is a means to provide evaluative insight to guide the evolution of your program, but did you know it can be
Developmental Evaluation and Strategy Read More »
Welcome to the Censemaking Methods Series dedicated to profiling tools, techniques, methods, and issues tied to strategic design for impact. Today we look at evaluative thinking, the bedrock of understanding our influence on the world. Evaluative thinking is a disciplined approach to reflective practice, inquiry, and creative design that forms the backbone for any initiative
Three Questions to Enhance Evaluative Thinking Read More »
“Set it and forget it” might be a phrase that works with late-night infomercial products, but it’s not fitting for modern design. Next is now and that requires a new way to seeing, thinking, and making. Let me start by saying that this article ends with practical options for action and suggestions, but I need
Strategic Design For What’s Now, Next and Beyond Read More »
More data does not always bring deeper insights, and the confusion between having good information, making a good decision, and taking the best action creates more folly than foresight. A strategy is a narrative about what you do, how you (intend to) do it, and what you expect to accomplish. Analytics are a way to
The Folly of Analytics in Strategy Read More »
How do we remember something that has yet to happen? One way is to project backward from an imagined time when we know the outcome and see where it leads us – like death. Kevin Kelly recently sat down with Shane Parrish on the Knowledge Project podcast and spoke about life lessons. Kelly’s recently published
Remembering Our Future End: Strategic Considerations For Better Living Read More »
In my previous post, I wrote about using metrics that are as much about reflecting width (joy, quality) as length (longevity, quantitative performance). In this post, I look at how that applies to organizations. I’ve encountered relatively few organizations that are driven — if they are being honest — by quality, depth, and richness as
Becoming A Strategically Wide Organization Read More »
Far from being messy, the meta middle is the space we are in where we can see the disruption coming and aren’t sure where we need to steer things so we navigate through it. The Messy Middle is a phrase used to describe the part of a project where we’re prone to get lost, mess
Strategic Design is about applying design principles, methods, tools, and approaches to shaping an enterprise. How might we use this to connect our purpose with our actions? Strategic Design is a newer area of practice within the field of design. It’s basically taking what we know about Design and applying it to ourselves: our organizations,
Using Strategic Design for Change Read More »
