Design Thinking
Design Thinking is a human-centered approach to problem solving. Our project teams observe, collaborate, learn quickly, visualize ideas, and rapidly prototype to create innovate and impactful solutions.
Our iterative five-phase approach provides a framework to create and deliver solutions that provide continuous value to the organization, its workforce, and its customers:
EMPATHIZE
FRAME
EXPLORE
EXPERIMENT
IMPLEMENT
In an era of data abundance, Federal agencies face the challenge of distilling vast amounts of complex information into actionable insights. To unlock the potential of data to inform strategic decision-making and policy and program implementation, traditional information presentation methods may fall short, occasionally leaving federal leaders without actionable insights.
Internal Innovation Labs are key to enhancing innovation and collaboration in Federal agencies. They allow employees the opportunity to engage in creative processes, such as brainstorming, design thinking, and creativity, which create solutions and spur innovation. These techniques allow organizations to solve complex problems and implement solutions efficiently.
According to the Harvard Business Review, the average worker has attended 13.5% more meetings since the COVID-19 pandemic, with many held online. Given the Federal government’s partial shift to remote work when feasible, it is increasingly important to consider how teams can enhance the effectiveness and engagement of online meetings.
In the past several years, Design Thinking has become a prominent technique to solve complex challenges in Government. Design Thinking is a human-centered approach to problem solving where empathy is a key principle, and where we strive to understand stakeholders’ goals, ambitions, motivations, needs, desires, and frustrations. It provides a structured, yet iterative and flexible process to create alternatives, and identify and then implement new ways of working to achieve mission goals.
Collecting and analyzing Customer Data is an essential element of Customer Experience. However, using Customer Data to tailor and improve a Customer’s experience is a tricky scenario to get just right. Using too much data, or too personal of data, can make a customer uncomfortable and turned off. Suggesting a related product or service or offering help, in an authentic way, can make for a delighted customer.
Do you ever find yourself adding fruits and vegetables to your tray while dining at a cafeteria and the asking yourself “Why do I have an apple and salad on my tray when I don’t even like salad”? How about grabbing a lighter or a shaving razor from the check-out lane at the Supermarket? If the answer is yes, then you have experienced and been influenced by Choice Architecture.
More and more, Information Technology (IT) modernization programs are improving customer experience for those who interact with agencies. The modernization process identifies new technology that can replace legacy systems or promote electronic processes. A taxpayer’s experience in filing tax returns or a senior seeking public housing are two examples where modernization makes a difference for citizens.
Asking people to interpret statistics and numbers is not the most efficient way to communicate information – after all, scientific studies show that humans are notoriously bad at interpreting them
In 2014, The World Bank conducted research on their website traffic to determine if anyone was reading what they published online. They found that one third of the documents were never downloaded. Forty percent had fewer than 100 downloads. Only 13 percent had been downloaded more than 250 times.
So often, senior leaders must communicate their strategic and simple vision in a world of growing complexity. They must make decisions – and frequently explain them – based on an enterprise view of their data. It’s getting easier to do this these days through data visualizations and infographics that speak to specific employee and stakeholder audiences. Design+Data is what we call it at Arc Aspicio.
A senior Government leader once said, “Doing it differently and thinking from a different perspective is the only way we’re going to make progress.” I couldn’t agree more with this individual, who has a ton of experience in acquisition and problem solving—and that is why we are learning by doing in Peer Groups at Arc Aspicio.
Design Thinking is on the rise in the business world. Design Thinking leaders focus on creating the best product for their clients and working with the experiences and insight of fellow coworkers. Some of the key characteristics of Design Thinking leaders present themselves in individuals who are open and subject themselves to vulnerability with clients and coworkers. These qualities help leaders to connect and build relationships with others. They also create an open flow of communication that allows for others to better share their knowledge to align with and understand the company's mission.
Legendary actor and director Robert Redford often calls for fellow actors to “learn their craft”—to be so great at the fundamentals that you have the confidence, security, and flexibility to pursue your passion.
Innovation is difficult to harness for organizations of all sizes (Government and private sector alike). Replicating a process to encourage and produce innovation is even more challenging. Innovating in a structured space and time seems counter-intuitive, and begs the question: can thinking outside the box be a structured activity? Arc Aspicio recently held an Innovation Day to answer this question.
When working as part of a group, team members often shy away from experimentation. They tend to follow traditional problem-solving approaches that focus on predictability and control. While these techniques might help avoid risk, they also stifle innovation. They no longer work in our changeable, fast-paced environment.
We tell our story to share who we are as a company. This blog is the fourth in a series that highlights how our strategy and culture lead to positive results for our clients and employees.
We tell our story to share who we are as a company. This blog is the third in a series that highlights how our strategy and culture lead to positive results for our clients and employees.
For the past few decades, there has been a growing increase in the digital channels available to network with the Federal government. These channels have made it easier for the public to interact and elicit responses from elected officials.These growing interactions have increased expectations for Government to be more transparent and collaborative. From the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to the Department of State (DOS), Design Thinking transformations have begun to develop and modernize programs to be more human-centered. Agencies and programs beholden to serve the public good should logically adopt a problem-solving mindset that places the individual at the heart of any lasting changes.
At Arc Aspicio, our very best assets are our people. In 2017, we introduced a program called the ‘Leaders by Design’ aimed at growing future leaders of our firm in a peer group setting. Leaders by Design is a customized experience for Senior Associates within the company to develop leadership skills and grow professionally and personally by interacting with others with similar experiences and also with senior leaders. The Peer Group is a co-investment to focus on collective growth and development – this means the company invests money and time in developing the training and the growing leaders also invest personal time.
The private sector has long been on board with the overwhelming benefits of Design Thinking. Empathizing with the end user during iterations of creative exploring, experimenting, and prototyping results in the most successful solutions. But the Government has not been quite so quick to adapt. One arm of the Department of Defense (DoD) is working to change this.
Washington, DC, June 7, 2017 — Arc Aspicio plans to host an inaugural Design Thinking Forum featuring a discussion on how Federal leaders can innovate solutions to create the future of Government. Design Thinking is a human-centered innovation process that emphasizes observation, collaboration, fast learning, visualization of ideas, rapid concept prototyping, and concurrent business analysis, which ultimately generates innovation and increased mission outcomes.
New technologies are popping on the scene every day – artificial intelligence, Big Data, visualizations – and the rate of technology change continues to increase rapidly. You might think the best approach is to jump into Agile software development to get the new tech as soon as possible. But sometimes it’s better to slow down before you accelerate.
As a growing consulting firm focused on the Federal government, we have something in common with our clients. Our workforces must both increase their focus on habitually using innovation techniques to solve problems – getting results more quickly and more broadly.
Government agencies and businesses must embrace innovation and strategic thinking to keep up with today’s changing society, rising demands, and complex problems. Encouraging organizations to fully adopt innovative thinking, however, is difficult. Organizations are often focused on their daily activities and have limited time to discover new approaches. In addition, employees often choose to stay with proven, mainstream solutions because they fear wasting resources or failure.
Despite new methods, agile processes, and more certified project managers than ever, large, complex programs are not achieving mission goals faster or more cost effectively. Can legislation make a difference?
Dana Asper | Consultant + Designer + Developer | Dana obsesses on all the little things that create an experience. She tweaks, refines, perfects.
Washington, DC, March 10, 2017 — Consulting Magazine announced Arc Aspicio Design Thinking Practice Lead, Christina Tierno, as one of its 2017 Rising Stars of the Profession. Consulting Magazine’s Rising Stars of the Profession is an annual list of 35 up-and-comers in the consulting profession under the age of 35.