Recipes for Systemic Change - Helsinki Design Lab

20 ChapterBoth hard and soft evidence isused, thereby avoiding the commontrap of giving preference tothe quantitative above all else,which is especially dangerouswhen working in areas of knowledgewhere reliable measurementsdo not yet exist or data is overwhelming.design tomorrow’s models? Where do those abilities resideand what tools are needed? Our ability to provide for oursocieties is being challenged by the fact that many of today’sproblems are structural in nature, with little or no precedent.What do you do when there is no model to copy, no precedentto improve upon? The radical financial changes sweepingEurope, for example, will not be answered by processimprovements alone, rather they will require rethinking andredesign. These questions are the motivation for Sitra’s work,which seeks to create new design tools to shape better decisionsand ultimately deliver improved outcomes. This is whatwe call ‘strategic design’.By developing strategic design, we hope to advancesociety’s ability to cope with complex issues, such as climatechange and demographic shifts, by developing tools to assistinstitutions to better conceptualize and respond to ‘wicked’challenges. The first fruit of this effort is the HDL StudioModel, a structured engagement designed to rapidly generatethe sketch of systemic redesign by bringing together theright people to focus on a carefully defined problem, using aflexible process in a physical place that is conducive to collaboration.In the course of one week the team immerse themselvesin the problem, unpacking assumptions andtaboos to understand root causes. This acceleratedtimeline is enabled by employing the ‘thirdculture’ of design and by bringing together amix of domain experts and designers to worktogether intensively. Fundamental to the HDLStudio is an open approach that combines theexpertise and experience of its participants,relevant research and observations in the field toproduce a synthetic re-framing of the challengeat hand. Both hard and soft evidence is used,thereby avoiding the common trap of givingpreference to the quantitative above all else,which is especially dangerous when working inareas of knowledge where reliable measurements do not yetexist or data is overwhelming.Having broken down the issues to expose the ecosystemof the challenge, the Studio defines a strategic intent forimprovement and sketches an architecture of solutions to getus there. These outcomes help frame a path forward by identifyingnew opportunities and specifying the first steps of worknecessary to take advantage of those insights. By emphasizing