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 »
Principled or values-driven approaches to strategy only have value when we can put them into practice. In this latest post in our series on Principles-Focused Evaluation, we look at the nuts and bolts of putting principles into practice. It is a lot easier to speak of principles and values than to live by them. I
Principles in Action Read More »
Systems and evaluative thinking are at the core of Principles-Focused Evaluation, and using both can help us think and act better.
Systems and Evaluative Thinking Read More »
This second in a series on Principles-Focused Evaluation (PFE) draws our attention to the concepts of systems and complexity and how can PFE help us navigate both. Systems (thinking), complexity, and principles all go together. Principles-focused Evaluation (PFE) brings them together in meaningful ways, but to understand that, we first need to understand what we
Systems and Complexity: Implications for Evaluation Read More »
What is a Principles-Focused Evaluation approach, and what does it offer those seeking to support change, adaptation, and innovation? This first in a series of posts will introduce you to an approach to strategic innovation and evaluation for complex situations. Principles-Focused Evaluation (PFE) is an approach to generating value in complex situations. It is an
Principles-Focused Evaluation: A Series Introduction Read More »
This week, the world is noticing what happens when we ignore climate change. The alarms are (literally) ringing, and designers must answer the call. I am not arrogant enough to presume I know what to do to solve our issues of the day. But I know enough to suggest hundreds of things that can make
Climate Design For A World on Fire: Part 1 Read More »
Canada was recently taught a valuable lesson about networks and systems fundamentals when it lost nearly 1/3 of its telecom capacity in a single day. What this outage teaches us about networks and systems is worth paying attention to. What would happen if you couldn’t access your phone? What if you couldn’t withdraw money from
System and Network Design Read More »
Systems Thinking is a field that brings many different perspectives on science, philosophy, sociology and design, and while this diversity adds richness, it also sews confusion. You might have heard about something called Systems Thinking (and read about it among the many posts on Censemaking) but don’t really know what it is in practice. Let’s
Practical Systems Thinking: Working Definitions Read More »
Systems thinking is something we can all learn to do. We discuss the fundamentals for starting your practice as a systems thinker.
Systems Thinking Practice: Starting Out Read More »
Resilience is about ‘bouncing back’ and getting through challenges, but is it the right model to be considered when “back” isn’t what it was and many challenges are becoming endemic? Resilience has been a prominent term and theory invoked in the discussions of how we collectively respond to social, health, and environmental challenges we are
Maybe We Shouldn’t Design for Resilience Read More »
