Design Thinking & Emergency Management
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This document introduces design thinking as a problem-solving approach within emergency management, emphasizing user engagement and iterative processes. It highlights the importance of observation, ideation, and prototyping in addressing real-world challenges, particularly in government and community preparedness efforts. The partnership aims to create effective solutions that enhance resilience and improve emergency response through continuous learning and adaptation.
Design Thinking & Emergency Management
- 1. DESIGN THINKING & EM This document is an introduction of the design thinking and emergency management partnership. June 2014 Prepared by: Alicia D. Johnson San Francisco DEM
- 2. ‹#›| TableofContents 3 6 10 page page page DesignThinking ThePartnership TheFuture 12 page Resources
- 4. ‹#›| DesignThinking is… Design thinking is a developing approach to problem solving. It draws directly upon the real-world experiences of users (those directly impacted) to address modern challenges. Design thinking investigates and reframes problems, using the power of testing, feedback and iteration of real-world users to drive implementable change. “Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.” —Tim Brown, president and CEO, IDEO Iteration Ideation Observation Observation of the challenge, going deep for ideas to meet the identified challenge and then prototyping, testing and then adjusting the prototype (this is iteration!) are the basis of design thinking.
- 5. ‹#›| Breaking itDown… Observation Observation is the earliest stage of design thinking. It's the opportunity to gather data and research on what you think the problem might be. While observing you might interview, read, experience, use existing solutions and gather data. This is the time to determine if the problem you want to solve, is really the problem you need to solve. Iteration Iteration is where the rubber meets the road. You've gathered the research about the challenge and you've chosen the first possible solution, so now it's time prototype your idea. Iteration is all about testing, re- testing and adjusting the solution. It's an opportunity to find the best fit for the challenge. Ideation Ideation is where the creation begins. Grab your team and start with some huge ideas. Nothing is too large or crazy for sticky notes and a sharpie. You might need to visit this stage more than once, but the process is what helps you unite the research with a probably solution to begin testing through the next stage, iteration.
- 7. ‹#›| You’ve heard the one about wisdom coming from experience and experience coming from mistakes...? Yes, well...call that my early forays into design thinking. Truth is, we do iterative problem solving all day, every day. Our lives are in a constant state of innovation and adaptation. So why do we (especially we in government) resist the idea of intentional iteration? Of thinking through a design or process from multiple angles, prototyping it, testing, evaluating it and finally launching it? I don’t have the answers to why, but whatever the reasons, I was once very much resistant to the process, without even acknowledging that I was doing it all day, every day. When I first joined the department they had just adopted a new emergency operations plan. It was a typical thing....weighed about 12 pounds and consumed most of a national forest to print. Everyone was so proud of their accomplishment. All the City department heads readily signed off and put a shiny new copy in the bookshelf to gather dust. Problem was no one actually tested the plan's assumptions, processes or authorities during the writing. Guess what happened? First time we went to follow it, everybody had a fit. Arguments over who was in charge, information control and flow, procedures, all of it was wrong. Rewriting the emergency operations plan became my first real design thinking project. Of course, I didn’t call it design thinking, having never heard that term before. We started with research & talking to users. We looked at best practices and tested theories as we went. The mission I gave my team was to make it real (as in reflecting how things actually worked) and usable. The relevance and ease of access to the end user was paramount. It took us two years to develop the first iteration. And it is still evolving. We planned for the time and effort and the result has been a pretty good plan. Every time we use it we learn and we make changes. Sometimes small, sometimes large. The point is we became a learning organization. Instead of developing solutions in search of problems, government is best served by adopting the principals of design thinking. We’re doing our best here to drive that idea home. It’s slow going sometimes, but it’s led to hiring people with a variety of skill sets and openly creative minds. It’s led to challenging the norm and amazing products like SF72. Now I look at things from the other side and look forward to the mistakes and the testing. It’s way different when you call it iteration instead of “oh damn, that wasn’t supposed to happen.” Rob Dudgeon Deputy Director Emergency Management City of San Francisco
- 8. ‹#›| Whatabout Emergency Management? Design Thinking is one more tool for solving problems Emergency management is all about coordinating capabilities, aiding in response and building a strong mechanism for recovery. We work diligently to anticipate and solve. Design thinking is one more tool to help us learn more about the people we serve. Design thinking is qualitative and can often seem messy. It doesn't offer any guarantees, but it does provide direct connection with users, clients and customers we serve. Prototyping helps us protect the communities we love Preparedness education is vital to creating a resilient community. But in order for the preparedness message to sink in, it must be targeted and palatable. The design thinking methodology does just that, by allowing direct feedback and prototyping a solution. Helping us to find the best messages and tools to protect the communities we love. How does it help preparedness?
- 9. ‹#›| MeetSF72 We believe in connection, not catastrophe Here’s the thing – actual emergencies look more like people coming together than cities falling apart. Of course, preparedness is about getting your supplies together. But it’s also about knowing your neighbors, lending a hand and sharing your knowledge. SF72 is positive community preparedness, focused on making the next steps to getting prepared easy – 18 supplies, most of which you have around the house, a one-page plan and a meeting place you already want to visit. Because small actions can have lots of impact. SF72 was designed from the start using the design thinking methodology, tested (repeatedly) with users throughout the Bay Area from concept to prototype. The goal was to design something that motivates without using fear. Our user research shows that the concept, website, presentations and collateral are doing just that.
- 10. The Future
- 11. ‹#›| Thepossibilities Training & Exercise Development The design thinking process is valuable in any customer-centric process. It provides an avenue to investigate how individuals learn, what they need to know and how they might retain essential information. Developing capabilities to tailor necessary materials to student needs is vital for successful exercise and eventual response. That ability to empower instructors and students to be progressive in their own training further enables the emergency management field. Operations & Response Our job as Emergency Managers is to anticipate second and third order impacts from a decision made in the field. An evacuation necessitates a shelter which leads to providing food, assisting with companion and service animals and addressing medical needs, among other things. The ability to incorporate user-driven solutions to problems that arise from operations and response decisions is vital to a successful response. Long-Term Recovery Long-term recovery is vital to a community impacted by an event and often requires strong community participation and support. Understanding the heart of the challenge is essential to building a successful solution, especially when many concerns are involved. The ability to prototype and examine solutions fully is vital to strong economic recovery.
- 12. Resources
- 13. ‹#›| Resources Articles Human Centered Design Toolkit http://www.ideo.com/work/human- centered-design-toolkit/ Stanford D.School Bootcamp Bootleg http://dschool.stanford.edu/wp- content/uploads/2013/10/METHODC ARDS-v3-slim.pdf Books Change by Design by Tim Brown Creative Confidence by Tom and David Kelly Design Thinking by Nigel Cross The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage by Rodger Martin Courses Design Thinking at InVersity https://iversity.org/courses/desig n-thinking Virtual Crash Course in Design Thinking - Stanford University http://dschool.stanford.edu/dgift /
- 14. ‹#›| WantMore Information? Alicia D. Johnson Resilience & Recovery Manager SFDEM Alicia. Johnson@sfgov.org @SF72Org | SF72 on Facebook