Recipes for Systemic Change - Helsinki Design Lab

Subsection97Writing theChallenge BriefingThe challenge briefing is a document that specifies the Studiochallenge in greater detail. As the first step in the Studio’simmersion into the problem and the culture it is situatedwithin, the challenge briefing should be indicative ratherthan exhaustive, and it takes a position in order to bringfocus rather than to persuade. With team members coming tothe Studio from different perspectives, and probably differentgeographical or cultural contexts, the briefing also plays arole as a common touchstone or integrator.ContentsA good briefing document frames an opportunity,describes the current reality and identifies a number ofdimensions relevant to the challenge. These parts of the documentrepresent a gradation of objectivity from a framing thatis mostly provocative to the dimensions which are mostlyobjective. You might want to think of the challenge briefingas honing the Studio topic into a sharp but brittle form:it must be focused and clear, but not so strong as to be toohard for the Studio to crack into. This ‘brittle’ starting pointenables the Studio team to move more quickly because theyimmediately have something to react to. If the briefing is tooobjective, it will not function in this way and there is a riskof spending too much of the Studio week simply trying todevelop a consensus on the semantics of the topic.The brief should cover three areas: an opportunity spacethat issues the challenge, background to put it into context,and key dimensions that dive into a handful of relevant facetsof the challenge.Writing the Opportunity Space is likely to prove themost demanding, as it must take the challenge of the Studioand translate it into positive opportunities at the global andlocal scales. In the case of our HDL Studios in 2010 thismeant framing the challenge as a globally relevant issue withspecific opportunities in Finland. This section unpacks thefactors that contributed to the selection of the Studio themeand clarifies the relevance of the specific entry point. Theopportunity space asks: what do we have to lose as the resultof inaction and what do we have to gain 1 through strategicredesign?PeopleProcessProblemPlace1—This formulation is borrowed from AlejandroAravena, Design Lead of our 2010 studio onsustainability.