censemaking

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What Does Impact Look Like?

What does it mean to create impact? It's time to look at what it means and how we can tell when we achieve it.

Impact is the ultimate outcome for any social change initiative yet it’s also the most elusive and poorly defined of our evaluation metrics in practice. How do we change this? In this first post in a series, I bring us into the world of understanding impact. Non-profits are in the business of making a positive difference in spaces that are ignored or neglected by other institutions society.…

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#education #evaluation #impact #learning #non-profit #systems change #systems evaluation

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Seasonal Variations

A modern, global culture supported by technology has disconnected us from the rhythms of the natural world. The winter solstice reminds us of them. I’m writing this in that liminal space of the calendar between Christmas and New Years. It’s just after the winter solstice when things are the darkest in my part of the world and often the greyest. This year is no different, except for it being an…

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Using Principles To Frame Strategy and Evaluation

How to use principles to frame strategy through evaluation #eval #strategy

Welcome to the Censemaking Methods Series where today we look at how to apply principles to guiding evaluation and strategy. This builds on our previous lessons on Principles-Focused Evaluation and the building blocks that underpin the approach. What are principles and why do they matter? Principles are anchors between values and strategy that allow for decision-making in turbulent times. They…

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#complexity #developmental evaluation #evaluation #principles-focused evaluation #strategy

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A Metric for Innovation Productivity: The Prototype Death Rate

Increase your innovation ROI by using this metric to evaluate attempts and successes with prototyping #design #innovation #evaluation

In this latest in the Censemaking Methods Series we look at the Prototype Death Rate, a metric for assessing innovation productivity. When an idea has matured enough in our design process, it’s time to create a prototype. This is a tangible or digital ‘mock-up’ of the concept that serves as its first real-world representation. Before launching the final version, a prototype allows us to…

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#design #design thinking #evaluation #innovation #metrics

[censemaking]

Fresh Start Effects and Pathmaking

A new month, a new season, and another opportunity to use the Fresh Start Effect to make a big change in your workplace, organization, or your life #psychology #change

The shift in seasons or a new page on the calendar can be an ideal moment to instigate change. The Fresh Start Effect demonstrates that you can engineer opportunities for transformation at any time — simply harness the power of your calendar. “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now”  The Internet (many wise people) The quote above underscores two fundamental…

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#behaviour change #change #design #fresh start effect #innovation #katy milkman #psychology

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A Simple Systems Mapping Technique

our Censemaking Methods Series continues with a focus on helping your visual thinking practice by introducing the simple Sketchnote and how it can help transform your team’s understanding of systems. Diagrams have a unique way of breaking down the complexity of systems, don’t they? Imagine a tool that lets everyone see and understand a concept from the same viewpoint. Sounds exciting, but is it…

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#design #design thinking #learning #sketch map #systems thinking #toolkit

[censemaking]

Evidence and Learning in the New AI-driven Arms Race

The game of whack-a-mole for trying to figure out algorithms is degrading our trust in evidence and our capacity to learn. #learnng #evidence

What happens when the AI-powered algorithms take what was once a peer-to-peer network and turn it into an AI arms race? Cory Doctorow has coined the term enshitification to describe the ways in which many large electronic media platforms from Google to Facebook to (now-called) X and others. He’s speaking to that feeling that I have and hear from others: the Internet isn’t what it used to…

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#AI #algorithm #artificial intelligence #evidence #innovation #learning

[censemaking]

Designing More Powerful Events For Greater Impact

Great events are designed and approaching them with that lens can help us not only entertain and educate, but transform. #design #learning

In this latest in our Censemaking Methods Series we turn our focus toward applying design to generating impact through better events and gatherings. Crafting an unforgettable gathering is an alchemy of art and science. Through intentional design, we can learn from service design From board retreats, annual general meetings, to brainstorming sessions, a stellar event emerges from thoughtful…

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#change #complexity #design #design thinking #education #evaluation #innovation #learning #service design #transformation

[censemaking]

What Complexity In Everyday Life Looks Like

Using working from home as an example for what complexity looks like in practice (and why life feels so overwhelming sometimes) #complexity #work

When we talk about complexity, what does it mean? I’ll peek at an everyday phenomenon to illustrate why things are far more complex and complicated than they used to be. The term complexity is used a lot to describe social life, institutions, and the state of the world, but what does it really look like? I’ve used the term many times and often with examples that risk alienating readers because…

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#complexity #systems thinking #work

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Leading As Design And By Design

Leadership by design with design -- moving beyond our traditional models and filling the gaps. My latest from Censemaking #leadership #design

Learning takes our exposure to new things and transforms our thoughts and actions. How we do this is – and whether its done well — is where design comes in. Our learning is framed by where we are and where we want to go. The volume of content available to people puts attention at a premium, so we are more likely to pay attention to things that are relevant and fit our identity and our planned…

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#design #Design Helix #leadership #organizational change #organizational design #organizational development

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Three Questions to Enhance Evaluative Thinking

Evaluative Thinking is at the bedrock of understanding the impact of what we make. These three questions can get you started. #design #evaluation

Welcome to the Censemaking Methods Series dedicated to profiling tools, techniques, methods, and issues tied to strategic design for impact. Today we look at evaluative thinking, the bedrock of understanding our influence on the world. Evaluative thinking is a disciplined approach to reflective practice, inquiry, and creative design that forms the backbone for any initiative that seeks to create…

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#critical thinking #curiosity #Design Loft #education #evaluation #evaluative thinking #strategic design

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Allostatic Change And Why It Matters

The way we think about change might need to change and what biology can teach us. #change

Allostasis is a term that can make a big difference in shaping our understanding of change and what it means for us. Biological processes can provide explanations and metaphors that guide how we view and approach change. Among the most popular is homeostasis. Homeostatic processes view things from a set point or baseline and view things in relation to that point with the aim to return things to…

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#complexity #covid-19 #design #health promotion #innovation #organizational change #psychology #public health #systems thinking

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Evaluation's Great Value (Often Missed)

Evaluation helps us ask and answer questions like: how will we move the world? Its value is often understated and maybe it's time to change that. #evaluation

Evaluation is a practice of applying a critical lens to what we’ve done and created and assessed what value it brings into the world. Its value can’t be overstated if we look and listen. Evaluation is not a concept that many people embrace with affection. Too often I see it used and discussed in a way that is used to control, criticize, or judge a product without context. While evaluation…

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#evaluation #impact

[censemaking]

Social Innovation’s Update: Part 2 – An Opportunity and Future

Social innovation has stalled while its need has never been greater: How might we might bring it back to life? This second of a two-part series that builds on a piece originally published on Medium. A new dawn for social innovation could be upon us if we look closely. As I outlined in an earlier article, social innovation appears to have lost much of its momentum and vitality. Where once the…

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#complexity #design #evaluation #innovation #learning #policy #social entrepreneurship #social innovation #systems thinking

[censemaking]

Social Innovation's Update: Part 1 - A Complicated History

Updating Social Innovation: The first in a two-part look at why social innovation could use an update. My take on where we've come. #socinn #innovation

Social innovation was once at the leading edge for social impact thinking and now seems stalled: what happened? This first of a two-part series builds on a piece I published on Medium and can be read here. Social Innovation was a term I used regularly to describe my field of interest. I loved how it brought together aspects of business, design, and social action under one umbrella. I don’t use…

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#complexity #design #design thinking #evaluation #innovation #social impact #social innovation

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Perspective Taking and Making

Perspective taking is a simple way to get outside yourself by enlisting people close to you who might be able to see things you can't. #innovation

One of the myths of innovation is that something has to be new. It doesn’t. Something only needs to be new in context. This means that an old idea brought forth into a different or refreshed context can be innovative. For example, home visits and care by health practitioners have become innovative ways to address healthcare resource constraints. This approach to medicine and care is a very old…

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#perspective #strategy

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Cooperative Complexity and Planning

Linear planning for organizations and human systems isn't dead, but its life depends on how we connect it with what we know about complexity. #changemanagement #complexity #design

Complexity is straining the ability of traditional plans to function as designed. When mass systems change is afoot, the key is not to jettison traditional planning, but collaborate with complexity rather than ignore it. In an earlier post I made the case that the days of linear planning were over. I stand by that, but need to add a little more context. By linear planning, I mean a…

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#complexity #design #design for living systems #developmental design #developmental evaluation #evaluation #innovation #psychology #systems thinking