exploring creative and impactful ways to make executives comfortable with experimentation
Context (TL:DR)
We were asked by the Government of Canada Experimentation Team within the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat(TBS) to explore creative and impactful ways to engage and enable executives to champion experimentation and innovation in projects. We proposed a digital channel that allowed executives to experiment outside of their comfort zone by eliminating the fear of consequence.
My Role:
Culture Design, UX Design, Product Strategy,
Methods I used:
Interviews, Information Analysis,
Sense-making, Desk Research, Iceberg Analysis, Gamification, User Journey Mapping, Ideation, Rapid Prototyping
Tools:
Mural, Figma, Canva
Scope:
2 week Design Sprint
Team:
Anwesha Sengupta, Sushmita Narayana
Overview
The Project
This team project was a 2 week design sprint, executed in collaboration with the GC Experimentation Team during my 2nd semester at Parsons School Of Design.
The End Goal
To propose creative, engaging and impactful ways to tackle the challenge.
The Impact
Designed a gamified digital experience for the executives of the Government of Canada to make them comfortable with experimentation and risk taking.
The Process:
Problem
Definition of Problem
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Individual Desk Research
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Detailed study of Client Materials
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Conversations
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Social Listening
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Synthesis
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​Reframing of Problem
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Brainstorming
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Information Analysis
Discover
Define
Develop
Deliver
Solution
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Low fidelity rapid prototyping
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Rapid Testing
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Design Feedback
Discover
The Ask:
The Industry:
How can we engage and support executives on experimentation in a way that resonates and is useful for them?
Culture Design
The Background:
This project is part of the 'external engagements and collaborations' initiative at Parsons School of Design. This case study is a summary of the design process that was aimed at creating rapid responses to approach the challenge.
Uncovering The Challenge:
Executives can perceive experimentation as something that is unnecessary,
too complicated, too costly, not applicable to their area, unethical or too risky.
​
Executives are also busy people, and don’t always have time to engage with something that isn’t directly related to their priorities. Experimentation can be easily pushed off as someone else’s job.
Our Findings:
Awareness
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Experimentation is not new. It has always been around
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Executives are unaware of the benefits of evolving their approach
Convenience
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Executives are not comfortable with risk taking/failing
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Executives are strapped for time
Success Metrics
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Executives are uncomfortable with the ambiguity of experimentation
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Executives feel the need to be "right" or "successful" or "top achievers" at all times
Define
Revision of Problem Statement:
From:
How can we engage and support executives on experimentation in a way that resonates and is useful for them?
To:
How might we reinforce that experimentation is not new and make executives feel comfortable with risk taking?
Our Approach:
Reinforce the value of experimentation through gamification
Develop & Deliver
Our Solution:
A non-intrusive yet engaging platform that facilitates richer relationships and sharing of ideas + progress across teams. Enables transparency and a higher level of accountability within the organization. Incorporates gamification to make the process easy and fun.
Prototypes :
Gamified
training stats
Networking
tools
Community
Bite sized
education
Rapport
Encouraging Experimentation through familiar activities:
Data Trumps Intuition:
Stay Curious:
Exercising the creative muscle:
Reimagined User Journey:
Measuring Impact:
Since this was a design sprint, there was limited focus on KPI's. However, as & when this project is to be rolled out, it would require an internal analysis tool/dashboard that enables TBS to track how executives are interacting with the platform, which type of games have higher engagement from the executives etc. It would also require creation of a feedback loop that enables key stakeholders of TBS to see how the interaction between the executives and the platform translates to behavior change in real life situations and decisions.
Feedback:
"Bravo Parsons students! We are truly amazed by the diversity of these pitches.
We loved the creativity of this pitch! We really appreciate the non-traditional method suggested (gamification) to get people more comfortable with iteration/failure/risk taking.
Executive engagement is a tough nut to crack. So, to see this challenge tackled from so many different angles and perspectives was really useful for our team. The high level of effort that went into the presentations was evident, from the beautiful visuals to the careful framing (and re-framing) of the challenge. We thank you for your time and dedication to this sprint challenge! Lastly, we could see breakthroughs across all teams where a civic mindset was clearly applied to their strategy and design. To us, this is a huge success and the main reason for doing a Parsons X Government of Canada sprint!"
Pascale Elvas
Executive Director, Strategy and Planning,
Office of the Chief Information Officer
Treasury Board Secretariat, Government of Canada
Why this matters? + What did I learn?
My biggest learning from this project was understanding the value of design sprints. Prior to this project, I found it difficult to see how a solution developed in 2 weeks could compete with a solution that was backed by design and research processes. This design sprint taught me that the solutions emerging in design sprints are not necessarily meant to compete with the actual end solution. They are to aid the process by creating the space to perform low fidelity testing before committing to a rigorous design and research process.