Presentation given at the Service Design in Government conference in London on 20 March 2015. Over the past couple of years, a number of teams across the Scottish Government have used a design approach in various areas of policy development and service delivery. We wanted to evaluate how design has contributed to this ‘Scottish Approach’ to government. Are there aspects of design that compliment and challenge our current approach? Where does design differ from the improvement methodology? We also wanted to reflect on the conditions needed for a successful design project.

1. Reflections on design in
the Scottish
Government

2. Data inputterer at Scottish Office
Agriculture and
Fisheries Department
Various posts in Department for Work and
Pensions: front line service, IT support and
management, information security, risk
management
PGDip
Information
and Library
Studies
MA(Hons) History
and
Economic History
Various IT
qualifications
Website manager
at UK Trade and
Investment
Knowledge
Management
Officer with the
Scottish Centre for
Regeneration
Librarian in the
Scottish
Government
Library Service

3. The Scottish Government

4. The Scottish Government

6. Business Strategy imperative…

7. What does a creative organisation look like?
Curious for ideas Motivated people
Open channels of communicationStrategic leadership
Fresh insights emerge in new places,
informed by a deep understanding of the
issues, at a human level. Leaders and
managers at all levels welcome new ideas
and support their development.
Shared understanding of goals, with clear
direction and discretion across hierarchies
to innovate in working towards them.
Leaders regularly remove barriers.
Broad networks, with simple forms of
communication and a culture of
consulting colleagues, sharing work and
ideas.
Work is challenging and fulfilling.
Corporate policies support flexible
operation. We celebrate and reward
creative work – and support the
development of creative skills.
Worthwhile public sector work
3 4
1 2

9. What is it that we do?
> Fostering a belief
that we are creative
and that this has a
real part to play in our
work.
> Exploring, testing
out and implementing
widely new ways of
working that help us
achieve our desired
outcomes.

11. Discover – defining the question
How can we radically
increase the number of
people in Scotland who
are physically active?

12. Getting active project – the story so far
Why get involved?
•Need for radical rethink
•Reduced public purse
•Public expect better in terms of answers
What did it entail?
•Going back to the drawing board
•Seeing through lots of pairs of eyes
•From the users point of view – making it meaningful

13. The Scottish Government
‘Teenagers – need to
be on-trend, current.
Kids don’t like getting
sweaty.’
‘Habits are powerful - it's not
easy for everyone. How to get
into habits of making healthy
choices within constraints
people live in.’
‘Mountain biking is big here – tracks
everywhere. Community want to raise money
to create tracks here….it’s best when the kids
do it themselves, they build their own tracks in
the woods, good to leave it as a guerrilla
activity!’
#normal
#motivation
#affirming
experience
#fun

14. The potential of a design approach?
• Genuine engagement, an assets/people based co-
production approach.
• Empathic approach to gathering information;
understanding how people behave, not just what
they say; not just user but relationship focussed.
• Emphasis on the lived experience, rather than how
things ought to be.

15. The potential of a design approach?
• Probing the question; reframing. Ensures the team
considers and dissects the problem before thinking
about solutions.
• Lots of ideas which are tested, then refined. Then
prototyped and further refined. By doing this small
scale we manage the risks.
• Solutions that have integrity and ownership from
the people who are affected.

16. Research project summer 2014
• What were the experiences of SG staff in applying
design thinking?
• In what ways did external partners engage with SG
in delivering design-led projects?
• What were the benefits and challenges of using the
design thinking approach within SG?
• In what ways could SG staff apply design thinking to
future projects?

17. Methodology
•Qualitative: semi-structured
interviews.
•Process of ‘snowball sampling’: 21
interviews (17 SG staff, 4 design
professionals) across different sites.
•Observed and participated in two ‘in-
house’ design thinking workshops.
•Attended a design policy workshop
organised by Design Wales and PDR,
the National Centre for Product
Design and Development Research.
Limitations
•Short timeframe.
•Availability of potential research
participants.
•‘Self-exclusion’ by some
potential participants through
definitional misunderstanding.

18. Design dichotomies “The fact you’re calling it
something like ‘design’ is off-
putting for some people. It’s
also appealing too.”
“Language is massively important
and irrelevant.”
“Design is complex but simple,
things that appear to be simple on
the surface are in fact deeply
complex when you begin to look at
them closely.”
We had senior management support We didn’t have management support
It’s a new and disruptive way of doing
things
It’s just putting new spin on what we
already do
It’s a mindset It’s a set of tools/a methodology

19. “I think there’s a tension in trying to apply
a scientific methodology and approach to
what we do, the so called ‘evidence-
based’ policymaking and having a design
based approach…[] If we have a Chief
Scientific Officer, why not have a Chief
Design Officer? If design is so
fundamental to the way that we do
things. Our structures and capacity just
don’t fit the rhetoric.”
Other findings “We could do better at
creating spaces for
incubation… I think we are all
really busy and we need
space to consistently
innovate and create new and
productive spaces for people
to think strategically.”
“The main
challenge has
been the ability to
dedicate time.”“People aren’t accustomed to [design] being around
then…this doesn’t look like proper work. I think we
have a particular definition of what work looks like, ie
sitting at your desk.”

20. “We need to have examples from across
the government so people can see it and
say I can do that.”
Other findings
“You can’t thrust
this upon anyone,
you’ve just got to
do it, again and
again, not talk
about it, just do it.”
“You can’t run design thinking from the centre
because you don’t own the issues. You need an
environment for authorising change.”
“You meet people with problems
on the ground and this is your job
trying to make things better. It’s
their stories that stay with you and
there’s value in that for everyone.”
“It’s accessible, visual work,
which is easier to interpret
than the likes of a graph.”
“[The quality of the
material] did make a
difference in the way that
participants responded.”

22. Using a design approach
Useful when:
•No obvious answers
•Stuck!
•There is space to try a new
approach
•Want to challenge the
status quo
Challenges are:
•Giving permission,
committing resources to a
whole process without
knowing what the end
result will be
•Reactive vs planned work
– where do our resources
go?
•What do we see as risk
and when do we take it?

24. Learner Journey

25. So.
What now?

26. Upcoming projects
> Children and young people’s participation in policy
making
> Staff moves process improvement
> European statistical boundaries engagement and
consultation
> Use of Scottish Government open data –
engagement
> EU planning directive
> Culture mapping

27. The Scottish Approach to Government

28. Scottish Approach to Government

29. Design in the Scottish Approach