Using material properties to understand and shape relationships in public and social services.

Public and social services are becoming more relational and less transactional (Muir & Parker, 2014). As we evaluate different public services on a complexity spectrum, those who rely on human and interpersonal skills – like healthcare, education, ageing, and immigration – depend on the relational capacity of service providers and the relational support from family and peers. When attempting to deconstruct social systems in its basic elements, we have nodes and relations between the nodes. Specifically in social systems, nodes represent actors or institutions where these become more evident than the connections between them. This also characterizes how the complexity of systems has been historically mapped in two dimensions. The representation of hard systems, like in systems dynamics (Jay Wright Forrester, 1989) and in soft systems, like rich pictures (Checkland, 2000a), has given more attention to the nodes than the relationships between the nodes. Giga Mapping (Sevaldson, 2011) draws attention to this and created a color-coded topology to classify systemic relations (Sevaldson, 2013). Inspired on this topology, we design a three dimensional tool that uses physical material properties – like yarn, stainless steel, and rubber elastics – to understand and shape relational public and social services. We used this tool at a workshop at RSD3, where we explored the relational properties of different materials, we compared relational mapping in two and three dimensions and experimented with the format of group facilitation. The output was a relational-material vocabulary for each of the three-public and social service challenges presented. The relational-material vocabulary allowed teams to granularly define the properties of the relationships between the actors in a socially complex public service setting

Dancing with Complexity

Our world has always been complex, but in an increasingly competitive market we can no longer ignore it. Join us when we get lost in the woods, find a way through it and dance with complexity. A rough guide to how we dance with complexity along with our clients. In this workshop we will share a sample of out process flow, a selection of mapping approaches for visual sense making and best practices on process planning. In addition, one of our case-partners will participate with a real-world case which we will map and work on during the work shop. Recommended read before the workshop: “Dancing with Systems, ”Donella Meadows Output: Improve your confidence and ability not only to deal with complexity but also enjoy working with it. We know that even the simplest of projects has some degree of complexity, and we want to help you explore a framework that makes sense of it all. Together we take one step towards making “the elephant in the room” a bit more approachable

Attempting to fly: Deployment of system-oriented design methodology conducted by the Norwegian Design Council

A metaphore Albatrosses are amongst the largest of flying birds. They are known to cover thousands of miles in a short space of time, they fly high and low, with such little effort that they can complete a full circle around the Earth in just over a month. An albatross's takeoff on the other hand, is an embarrassingly clumsy affair. On land they have to run, using a 'runway' area of flat open ground, usually placed on the windiest part of the breeding island, and sloping downhill to increase speed. They face downhill, into the wind, and start a headlong run with wings outstretched, this combined with a couple of flaps, usually gets them into the air. When landing on land they use their tails and webbed feet as ‘air brakes' and, if they are still too fast when they land, they may topple forward rather comically onto their beaks. What does this have to do with systems oriented design (SOD)? SOD is still maturing as a methodology and is not easy to communicate. To explain how we see SOD we use this metaphore. Our part in the developement of SOD so far has been as sensors and bridging partner to the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO) and as an orchestrator of projects. This paper will focus on how the collaboration with AHO has put the Norwegian Design Council in a position to stage the necessary circumstances to get SOD projects in the air, and describe a specific case and its main

Mapping Urban Food Security in Delft: A Bottom Up Perspective

Doctor EducationisFood security is a complicated phenomenon that consists of the intersections of food and people, and the cultures that people create around food. In general, food security research is concerned with how people access food, how reliable that access is, how affordable that food is, and how culturally appropriate that food is. This analysis tends to ignore the complex relationships people have with food and who these people are. Through the mapping of the Delft food system by remote sensing, surveys and interviews I create a food atlas that consists of maps of the spatiality of food but also maps of feelings, anxieties, fears and resilience, all centred around the people of Delft. The results and discussions of this thesis shows that food security is far more complicated than initially thought and that there are multiple avenues of inquiry into the lives of people who are considered food insecure. My research shows that the people of Delft are food insecure but that this label cannot be applied too liberally as food insecurity has different meanings for various residents and it manifests in various ways. I explore this through the creation of three women who represent three different classes of women who live within Delft

Professional application of Systems Oriented Design: Developments in practice

Halogen is one of the leading digital design consultancies in Norway, with expertise in design of critical systems and applications, websites, intranets, products and processes. One common denominator in all of Halogen’s services and projects is a human-centered design approach aiming for holistic user experiences. The company has through recent years gone from being experts in digital user experience to become a strategic design expertise with focus on service design, design of critical systems, innovation and work processes. This means that projects are much more complex on many levels such as operation, process and deliveries. Halogen has established a partnership with The Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO) by applying the proven methods and techniques of Systems Oriented Design into a practical and commercial context. Through the last couple of years Halogen has carried out more than 20 design projects using System Oriented Design as a central approach. Our experience with applying Systems Oriented Design in a commercial context has led us to develop new techniques and expand the usage of the method. This includes: 1. The use of predesigned GIGA-map layouts. 2. The development of four main GIGA-map typologies. 3. Commercial usage of the concept of establishing ceative spaces both at company office and mirrored to our clients. 4. Developing techniques for selling Systems Oriented Design. Systems Oriented Design has proven to be a cost effective and practical tool for dealing with development in complex settings. It provides and delivers an organisational strategic alignment. At the same time it creates a basis for the development of products and services that connects and fits into larger contexts

Gearing up the level of systems oriented design in public sector: Case, experiences and learning from Stimulab innovation program

The paper will present the Stimulab program, a program for innovation in the public sector in Norway. The design of the Stimulab program was inspired by amongst others, Systems Oriented Design (SOD) approaches and techniques. This turned out to be useful in general and a requirement for success for the most complex projects in the program. We will present two cases in the framework of Stimulab especially with the design consultancy Halogen. These two projects were especially challenging because they were crossing institutional barriers and contained multiple stakeholders. In the end we will present a discussion on what kind of learnings and generalizations this has lead to. Background Public sector need to strengthen innovative capabilities to be able to solve citizens needs and reduce management resources. To increase public sector use of service design and to bring forward more examples of public innovation, the Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation established a two-year trial program in 2016. The task of developing the program was assigned to the Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (Difi). Due to the emphasis on design they entered into a partnership with DOGA. The result of our collaboration is the experimental program StimuLab. Since improving complex public issues can lead to substantial socioeconomic benefits, the Difi DOGA team decided to emphasize such issues, as they tend to be left untouched due to their level of complexity, e.g. sectoral responsibility, lack of financing and coordination challenges. The DOGA partner were aware of how SOD can bring a much needed, richer understanding of a given challenge, including relationships and regulations embedded in complex issues, somewhat risky choice. This was of vital importance to the project. The StimuLab platform The program provides cross-disciplinary support, guidance and financial resources for innovative public projects. In this way, StimuLab is testing new ways of working to improve services, systems, procedures, regulations or the exercise of authority on state- and municipality level. The Stimulab platform was built around the following elements: Difi + DOGA as catalyst – utilize existing public ecosystem for innovation in new ways. a. Stimulating cooperation across sectors and levels of government b. Finding the flex in regulations and procurement processes c. Focus on impact, but be explorative d. Reduce risk and catalyze innovation Utilize the market and make demands for competence configuration to handle complex issues – required skills: (Systemic) Design methods in lead, Change management, Impact assessment. Method for Complexity: StimuLab rethinks how we apply design methods to explore complex public issues. a. Demand for a Trippel Diamond approach, emphasizing the DIAGNOSE PHASE, to ensure a systemic understanding of the situation and exploring & reframing of challenge. These elements were informing the selection of public actors to be invited to the project and they were forming the call for project assignment that went out to the service design companies in the Oslo area and that were defined in the contracts. StimuLab grant to procure experts: • 2016 – 2017 NOK 5 + 5 mill. • 2018 NOK 10 mill. Two Cases Halogen, in collaboration with Rambøll Management Consulting, qualified to take on two cases from the Stimulab pool of public service providers. The projects were presenting very different topics, organizations and type of case owners but shared a very high level of complexity. The main challenge was the need for crossing disciplines and silos to induce change. How to frame the project in a way that allowed for cross-disciplinary work was a major challenge. They both had been through a variety of different attempts of improving their respective service systems, but there had been few successfully implemented changes over the last 5-10 years. Through applying SOD as a central methodology, supported by service design, KPI1`s and change management – the teams could visually frame the challenges and focus efforts on leverage points in the organizations. Co-creative methods give shape to both interventions and the contextual support needed to create a healthier working environment around the projects in terms of collaboration, communication, financial and legal issues and regarding the relationship between the actors involved. SOD brings a richer understanding of the elements the given service is built on and relations holding the elements together. It helps the teams think broader on what and how interventions can be shaped. The first project initiated was a project around how to manage citizen’s right to drive (Førerett). This project is still ongoing. The second project was around the governmental initiatives to reduce human trafficking in Norway, this project is being politically decided on as this abstract is written. License to drive – SOD supported changes Four directorates moved from working in parallel and unsynchronized disconnect to actual co-creating a seemingly marginal and unimportant service of reassigning driving licences to people who have lost them for medical or legal issues. The process of systemically untangling and innovating in this cross institutional problematique turned out to be both interesting and relevant for a larger audience within the government Lack of political attention has shifted through realizing there are significant organizational and economical savings to be made and the cross-directorate collaboration has inspired a renewed funding for a long-term development program with political support. Human trafficking – SOD supported changes One department, municipal actors and a network of NGO`s lacking a clear organization are now being re-organized with a focus on the victims of human trafficking. Lack of collaboration and leadership is being addressed through a reorganization and implementation of better service delivery frameworks, collaboration channels to strengthening each other’s efforts. The previous change initiatives where little cocreation had been applied is being addressed with a renewed focus and understanding of why and how services can be improved together. Discussion We are starting to find ways to untangle and co-design services for very fragmented systems that cross disciplines and organizational silos. Systemic approaches and in this case SOD is required to achieve success in such cases. The current migration of service design into public services needs to be able to distinct the relatively ordinary (though complicated) projects from those that are truly complex. The challenge in the complex problems lies on the systemic level and it is often an issue caused by missing relations and assumptions on how flexible the systems that enable the given service are. SOD brings a promising perspective and methodology for co-designing relations and connections across organisational and professional boundaries

Conclusion : going over the edge

A solid foundation of knowledge about care-leaving processes and outcomes has been laid, albeit largely in a few Global North countries. This knowledge foundation has edges that have been neglected, even overlooked. Young people leaving care are, in many ways, ‘on the edge’, as they transition between childhood and adulthood, care and independence, school and work. That's whay this book regards specific groups of care leavers, methods, and theories, rather than keeping to the mainstream research topics. Further, it describes the backgrounds of the authors who themselves are ‘on the edge’ as well – emerging from their post graduate studies around the globe. This book aims to conduct research about edgy facets of leaving care – understudied groups of care leavers, and fresh methodological approaches and innovative theories. The research has been conducted and chapters written by authors from all over the world who are, mostly, on the edge, transitioning between postgraduate student and scholar. Spring-boarding from their new insights, the chapter attempts to imagine what leaving-care research will look like in the future and where the new edges might be. It will draw attention to the many gaps and edges that remain and suggest possibilities for ongoing research that pushes the boundaries yet further forward

Integrated care in mental health: next steps after the NHS Long Term Plan.

Health and social care face growing and conflicting pressures: mounting complex needs of an ageing population, restricted funding and a workforce recruitment and retention crisis. In response, in the UK the NHS Long Term Plan promises increased investment and an emphasis on better 'integrated' care. We describe key aspects of integration that need addressing.Declaration of interestD.K.T. and S.S.S. are on the editorial board of the British Journal of Psychiatry and executives of the Academic Faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists. A.J.B.J., H.P. and Z.M. have roles at the Royal College of Psychiatrists that include evaluation of integrated care systems. A.J.B.J. is married to Dr Sarah Wollaston, Member of Parliament for Totnes and Chair of the Health Select Committee