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Boosting everyday experimentation

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Boosting everyday experimen-tation

The city of Helsinki’s department for Urban Environment wanted to find out how they could support people in leaner ways of working and lower the threshold for experimentation and innovation. The department’s established experimentation & innovation team acted as my point of contact and sparring partners, while I took the responsibility for conducting qualitative research, co-creation sessions and synthesising the findings into a useful format.

The main goals for the project were to map out the current landscape, needs and direction of experimentation and innovation activities in the department, and to crystallise the core insights and concrete recommendations for developing the support for experimentation and making use of existing learnings and best practices wherever possible.

The city of Helsinki’s department for Urban Environment wanted to find out how they could support people in leaner ways of working and lower the threshold for experimentation and innovation. The department’s established experimentation & innovation team acted as my point of contact and sparring partners, while I took the responsibility for conducting qualitative research, co-creation sessions and synthesising the findings into a useful format.

The main goals for the project were to map out the current landscape, needs and direction of experimentation and innovation activities in the department, and to crystallise the core insights and concrete recommendations for developing the support for experimentation and making use of existing learnings and best practices wherever possible.

Understanding the now

Understanding the now

I needed to create a connection to gain the honest thoughts and needs of the people in order to find realistic, concrete actions that would target the most pressing needs on the ground. At the same time, it was important to understand and aim for bigger strategic impact within the city and department.

Together with the team we selected a variety of stakeholders from the department and close partners, and included the head of the Urban Development Department. In total, I conducted 9 individual interviews and 5 group interviews with 2-6 participants each.

In my desktop study, I reviewed existing materials from the experimentation & innovation team and other departments.

I felt I also needed a wider view of the urban planning and innovation landscape, so I also researhed global megatrends in the wider context of a urban life and development in a rapidly changing world. I drew up an overview of the most pertinent insights and added notes on specific or concrete ways these were relevant to the work we were doing. This made for some interesting arguments to support the findings of the interviews, reflecting the how aligned the micro and the macro views were.

I needed to create a connection to gain the honest thoughts and needs of the people in order to find realistic, concrete actions that would target the most pressing needs on the ground. At the same time, it was important to understand and aim for bigger strategic impact within the city and department.

Together with the team we selected a variety of stakeholders from the department and close partners, and included the head of the Urban Development Department. In total, I conducted 9 individual interviews and 5 group interviews with 2-6 participants each.

In my desktop study, I reviewed existing materials from the experimentation & innovation team and other departments.

I felt I also needed a wider view of the urban planning and innovation landscape, so I also researhed global megatrends in the wider context of a urban life and development in a rapidly changing world. I drew up an overview of the most pertinent insights and added notes on specific or concrete ways these were relevant to the work we were doing. This made for some interesting arguments to support the findings of the interviews, reflecting the how aligned the micro and the macro views were.

Envisioning the potential

Envisioning the potential

We held weekly sessions with the core team to review progress and sense check insights and ideas. In addition to this, I planned and facilitated co-creation sessions with a wider pool of stakeholders to validate and expand on my initial findings and ideas. The major themes and key pain points were further amplified in these sessions.

We also reached out to connect with other departments to combine learnings and viewpoints, and were able to form a more widely shared vision for what ongoing collaboration around innovation and experimentation within and across departments might look like. The insights were crystallised into clear statements and visualisations.

We held weekly sessions with the core team to review progress and sense check insights and ideas. In addition to this, I planned and facilitated co-creation sessions with a wider pool of stakeholders to validate and expand on my initial findings and ideas. The major themes and key pain points were further amplified in these sessions.

We also reached out to connect with other departments to combine learnings and viewpoints, and were able to form a more widely shared vision for what ongoing collaboration around innovation and experimentation within and across departments might look like. The insights were crystallised into clear statements and visualisations.

Roadmap from insights to action

Roadmap from insights to action

The final deliverable was a full insights deck including key insights from the interviews, co-creation sessions and study of background materials and megatrends, and collected and refined suggestions from participants.

Adding a layer of complexity, each department have their own strategy and roadmap, and the city has its own, so I needed to ensure the actions I suggested were in line with these, while still being clear in its own direction.

The key to making these findings actionable was prioritised recommendations with concrete action points to take to tackle the discovered key blockers and needs, paying close attention to what was largely achievable by the innovation team themselves, and where they would need further support.

For each goal, I offered three potential avenues to take: a relatively easy to reach quick win, a bigger but self-contained project, and a more comprehensive change in ways of working. In addition to outlining each concept and listing the main resources needed for them, I also added a word of warning for the likeliest pitfalls they might face.

I presented my findings and recommendations in a hybrid session with the participants of the project as well as people from management and leadership positions within departments and external stakeholder groups involved in the existing innovation and experimentation activities. The session continued with a Q&A and a freeform discussion, which showed the content resonated with them deeply.

The final deliverable was a full insights deck including key insights from the interviews, co-creation sessions and study of background materials and megatrends, and collected and refined suggestions from participants.

Adding a layer of complexity, each department have their own strategy and roadmap, and the city has its own, so I needed to ensure the actions I suggested were in line with these, while still being clear in its own direction.

The key to making these findings actionable was prioritised recommendations with concrete action points to take to tackle the discovered key blockers and needs, paying close attention to what was largely achievable by the innovation team themselves, and where they would need further support.

The key to making these findings actionable was prioritised recommendations with concrete action points to take to tackle the discovered key blockers and needs, paying close attention to what was largely achievable by the innovation team themselves, and where they would need further support.

I crystallised my recommendations into three clear and tangible goals that support and amplify each other, and outlined the key needs, drivers and potential behind them.

For each goal, I offered three potential avenues to take: a relatively easy to reach quick win, a bigger but self-contained project, and a more comprehensive change in ways of working. In addition to outlining each concept and listing the main resources needed for them, I also added a word of warning for the likeliest pitfalls they might face.

I presented my findings and recommendations in a hybrid session with the participants of the project as well as people from management and leadership positions within departments and external stakeholder groups involved in the existing innovation and experimentation activities. The session continued with a Q&A and a freeform discussion, which showed the content resonated with them deeply.

IMPACT

Punching shortcuts into a bureaucratic maze

As an intangible deliverable, an important outcome of the project was opening up discussion and connections between teams and units whose work can support each others’ goals and activities. Other units also had or were building their own innovation and experimentation teams and approaches, and actively pooling their learnings will, over time, make a considerable difference in saving time, efforts and budget – which enables them to direct their energy and resources into the hands-on work and experimentation that’s needed for innovative ideas to find their way to reality.

The insights report also made visible many pain points that had been growing within the department, which had a long history with a focus on physical buildings and long, detailed and labour intensive processes. For a lot of that history, the kind of creative approaches conducive to experimentation weren’t as relevant or appropriate as they are now.

As a small part in boosting a cultural shift, the insights report and its recommendations would ideally act as seeds of inspiration and supporting material for pitching ideas and new experimentation approaches.

 

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IMPACT

Punching shortcuts into a bureaucratic maze​

As an intangible deliverable, an important outcome of the project was opening up discussion and connections between teams and units whose work can support each others’ goals and activities. Other units also had or were building their own innovation and experimentation teams and approaches, and actively pooling their learnings will, over time, make a considerable difference in saving time, efforts and budget – which enables them to direct their energy and resources into the hands-on work and experimentation that’s needed for innovative ideas to find their way to reality.

The insights report also made visible many pain points that had been growing within the department, which had a long history with a focus on physical buildings and long, detailed and labour intensive processes. For a lot of that history, the kind of creative approaches conducive to experimentation weren’t as relevant or appropriate as they are now.

As a small part in boosting a cultural shift, the insights report and its recommendations would ideally act as seeds of inspiration and supporting material for pitching ideas and new experimentation approaches.

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jimmysalermo@gmail.com

+358 44 929 4144

LinkedIn →

jimmysalermo@gmail.com

+358 44 929 4144