Methodbank and toolkit for design in Government

Policy Lab

method bank

and toolkit

Summer

2015

Diagnose Discover Develop & Deliver

Lab light Full project

Establish scope & Generate insights

Identify knowledge

Develop, test and refine shared

ideas and proposals

Policy Lab Team with Policy LeadPolicy Lead

Policy Lab full project process 2015

ExternalInternal

Diagnose Discover Develop & Deliver

Lab light Full project

Establish scope & Generate insights

Identify knowledge and ideas

Develop, test and refine

ideas and proposals

Optional additional units Policy Lab Methodbank

Lab Intro

Hopes & fears cards

Personas / pen portraits

Rapid Ideas generation

Asset mapping

Lab templates

Rapid Prototyping

/ minimal viable

product

Challenge setting

Opportunity mapping

Customer Journey mapping

Research Review / Evidence

Safari

Road-mapping

Review / pitches / critique

Ideation & co-design

Policy Canvas

Discovery cards

Change cards

Setting scope

Design sketch sheets

Ethno-graphy

Options review pages

Service or systems

blueprint

Speculative design

Road-mapping template

Service blueprint

Persona template

User-journey

maps

72 3

5

8 10 11 121

9

Feedback Pages

6

Ideation template

13

Challenge setting cards

4

Paper prototype templates

14

Policy Lab tools

and techniques

Visioning

workshops

help teams

build a

shared view

of the policy

area

Tools & Techniques

Diagnose: Setting scope

‘Hopes and

Fears’ cards help

teams develop a

shared vision

Tools & Techniques

Diagnose: Sharing vision

‘Challenge setting’

pages are used to build a

shared understanding of

a problem

Tools & Techniques

Diagnose: Challenge

‘Change cards’ These

cards change the scope

of the problem, by

prompting new

perspectives – download

a set here

Tools & Techniques

Diagnose: Challenge

‘Design ethnography’

builds insight by shadowing

users or spending time with

them discussing their lived

experience in real contexts

Tools & Techniques

Discover: User’s experience

‘Personas’ are

used to represent

different end users

Tools & Techniques

Discover: User’s experience

‘Journey mapping’

looks at a service

from a user’s point

of view

Tools & Techniques

Discover: User’s experience

‘Asset Mapping’

Assumes nothing

starts from a blank

page so looks at a

what knowledge,

skills, resources,

intellectual property

already exist and how

they are configured.

Tools & Techniques

Discover: Asset Mapping

‘Policy on a page’

This template

captures a snapshot

of a policy area. It

follows a similar style

to a business model

canvas.

Tools & Techniques

Discover: Policy scope

Rapid ideas generation is

a quick fire technique for

teams to co-create new

ideas

Tools & Techniques

Develop: rapid ideas

Co-design workshops

enable different people to

come together and share

ideas

Tools & Techniques

Develop: Ideation

‘Touch points’ mark

the physical

interactions with a

service

Tools & Techniques

Develop: Areas for improvement

Collaborative

workshops help

teams generate

shared

ownership and

actions

Tools & Techniques

Develop: Priorities

Paper

prototyping

Rapidly sketch

out an example

of how a service

might work using

software apps

like POP

Tools & Techniques

Develop: Concepts

‘Table top prototyping’

helps visualise a service to

quickly test assumptions

Tools & Techniques

Develop: Prototypes

‘Speculative design’ helps

visualise a future product and

use this to build a future

scenario. For example a

future newspaper headline,

or an object from the future

can stimulate new thinking.

Tools & Techniques

Develop: Designs

Co-design sessions enable

end-users and policy-makers

to come together use their

collective wisdom to develop

options.

Tools & Techniques

Develop: Co-design IMAGE FROM EXPORT JAM

Opportunity Mapping, lays

out key concepts and ideas

so that teams can discuss

and prioritise together.

Tools & Techniques

Develop: Opportunities IMAGE FROM DOTT

Road mapping helps build a

shared plan of action using

visual assets and milestones

Tools & Techniques

Develop: Roadmapping

Service blueprints reveal the

intended service delivery

across different channels e.g.

digital, face to face, print.

Tools & Techniques

Deliver: Blueprints

A ‘jam’ is where different

people come together in

small groups, simultaneously

networked around the world

to share insights, generate

new ideas, build concepts

and present them, all in a

limited amount of time. For

example check out this video

from Northern Futures

Other tools & techniques

Policy Lab

approach

Optional additional units

Policy Lab Team with Policy Lead

Lab Intro Hopes & fears

Personas / pen

portraits1-3 hours

Rapid Ideas

generation

Asset mapping

As Required

Lab sprint process 2015

PrototypingChallenge Setting

Opportunity mapping

Journey mapping

Research Review

Lab introduction

Lab sprint

Road-mapping

Session write up

Pitches / critique

As Required As Required

Evaluate

3 hours – 3 days

Engage with sponsor

Commission experts

Citizen insight

Establish governance

Exte

rnal

Inte

rnal

Options appraisal

Test and evaluate

Policy Lab Team with Policy LeadPolicy Lead

Lab Intro

Outline proposal

Prototyping Implement

3-6 weeks

Ethnography and expert input

Evaluate

Advisory group

Expert group

Project group 4-8 weeks

Identify scope Generate insights Develop shared ideas and proposals

Policy Lab full project process 2015

Lab Sprint

As Required

As Required

Lab Report

Co-lab Session

Working with Lab

Commissioning Lab

Our projects come from all parts of

government.

We are always open to enquiries

for new projects. We offer a quick

overview of Policy Lab and an

opportunity to work up a project

idea in an introductory workshop

for policy teams who may be

interested in running a lab project.

For more information contact

Beatrice.Andrews@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Policy Lab UKRead more openpolicy.blog.gov.uk

Or follow us on twitter

@PolicyLabUK

Or contactbeatrice.andrews@cabinetoffice.gov.uk