Leading Libraries Series: Leading for Innovation

Prototyping and experimentation

 

Gathering your learning: Completing your innovation cycle

We prototype so that we can learn about our ideas. Iteration means repeating a prototype but changing it so that you learn something new. For example, if something was well received in the last prototype, you don’t need to learn again that it works, so you can try something new. Cycles of planning, experimenting, learning and then re-planning are vital to making the most of prototyping.

To reinforce this learning structure, it is useful to pause your prototypes between iterations. You might run a test for two weeks and then stop and review what you learned before planning the prototyping activities for the next two weeks. Stopping helps everyone to remember that we are not in delivery mode and we are not piloting – every moment should be valued as an opportunity to learn something new.

 

Iterations - when is it enough?

With any idea, there is always more that you can test, so you will need to decide when you have learned enough to either throw the idea away and try another, or to start putting the idea into reality. At the end of the Experiment stage, you need to feel confident about how the basic model will function, that the idea does have potential to make a significant impact, and that any major issues are either resolved or resolvable. If you don’t feel confident about those things, then more prototyping may be in order.

As a minimum, it's usually best to do at least two iterations. If you don’t revise and refine your ideas at any point, you are unlikely to generate much learning from the Experiment process. The maximum number of iterations will depend on time and resources, as well as the complexity of your idea. You might want to do more prototyping if the idea is very high risk or perhaps the number of partners makes it potentially complicated to implement. Of course, once you have decided you are ready to implement your idea, you can continue to run tests as you start up, so you don’t need to get everything perfect – just good enough.

 

Pulling it all together

At this final stage of the innovation cycle, you will probably want to create some documents or models which help you explain the final version of your ideas or simply tell the story of the process you've been through with your innovation challenge. The 3 techniques below are drawn again from Design Thinking - simply choose the one that communicates your messages most effectively.

If you decide you want to create an 'Idea journey' to give the concrete details of your idea, you can use this Idea journey map template to do so.

 

Prototyping synthesis

In between iterations it's helpful to run group synthesis sessions, similar to the session you used at the end of the Reflect stage. Again, you would invite the team together to share stories and insights from the prototyping. The aim of a prototyping synthesis session is to:

• share learning from the prototypes
• attempt to answer the key questions about your idea
• identify the next set of questions you need to answer about your idea
• design the next set of prototypes to explore those questions
• surface evidence for why your idea might be a good one.

You might like to run the synthesis session in two parts, the first should focus on surfacing insights. You can use tools like the user journey map to give a structure to this. The prototyping wheel could also be useful here.

The second half should focus on developing the idea using those insights and then developing the next set of prototypes. You might want to use sketching or a storyboard template to develop the idea and you could use the prototype iteration template to help you plan the next prototypes.

 

Documenting your prototypes

With prototyping we can build evidence for something that has never been done before. To convince your organisation to invest further in the idea, let alone commissioners, it is important that you generate evidence that it can make an impact and be feasible to run.

Remember to take photos, videos (if they don’t disrupt the tests) and collect quotes from participants. You will want to use these later to show how amazing your process of involving users was, as well as demonstrating demand and potential for impact in your idea.

 

Idea journey

An idea journey is a document that describes how a service or an aspect of that service will work with enough detail for it to be delivered by someone who is not familiar with the idea. The aim is for a manager to be able to resource and set up the idea, and to give confidence to partners that you know how it will work in detail.

In practice, idea journeys look a lot like the user journey maps you have already created. Like user journey maps they begin with the experience of the user and work backwards into organisational functions.

Tip - Focus on what makes your idea different

There will be a lot of detail on your journey. In order to communicate your idea as effectively as possible we suggest that you prioritise features that make it different. Some functions or interactions will be familiar to people and won’t need as much explaining. So instead go into more detail on those aspects that make your idea special and therefore have the potential to have a new kind of impact.

 

The end of the cycle. Or is it just the beginning?

If you are feeling encouraged by your prototyping and want to take one or more of your ideas forward, the next phase for you is about implementing your idea: planting the seed, watering it and helping it grow. You will need to map the way you want the idea to develop over the next few years and the actions you need to take to help it get there. The kernel of your idea, developed and tested during the Experiment phase, now needs support from your organisation, partners, commissioners and users. Your job now is to build that support – and you can use many of the techniques you have learned here to engage partners and users in your growth phase.

If your ideas did not really 'survive the first contact with reality', then hopefully you are not feeling too discouraged. It might mean you need to 'go back to the drawing board' but it's a good sign that you did hold true to the wildness of your ideas. Perhaps the world wasn't quite ready for your idea yet, and it just needs to be 'rolled down the hill' a little. So, around the cycle you go again.

We wish you luck in your next innovation cycle – whatever that is for you!

 

Pause for reflection

List out your most important learnings about the process of innovation. What has most surprised you? What has sparked your curiosity for further learning?

What have you learned about your context from going through the process? What new insights did you gain about your users and citizens, your colleagues, your organisation or its partners?

What have you learned about yourself in the process? How did you surprise yourself? What existing skills, knowledge and experiences were useful to you in this process? What was most inspiring for you personally?

How do you want to apply all this learning in your work more generally?

 

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