Design thinking approach for public policies

Ricardo Kadouaki ricardo.kadouaki@gmail.com

Public policy is a conscious process of selection of targets, made by agents of the decisionmaking system, covering the identification of the means to achieve the goals. It cant be conceived as an isolated act, but as a dynamic social process (Saasa). Despite of that, the commonly stages of a public policy constitution are: 1) Problem recognition and issue identification; 2) Agenda Setting; 3) Policy formulation; 4) Policy adoption; 5) Policy Implementation (Theodoulou). Under this context, the design thinking approach can enhance the connection between public policies agents and citizens in order to better deliver public good. Design thinking starts by understanding the citizens needs in order to ensure solutions are appropriate, avoiding waste and encouraging end users to buy into it (Design Council). Similarly to the public policy process, the design thinking process is better thought as a system of overlapping spaces rather than a sequence of orderly steps, but with three spaces to keep in mind: inspiration, ideation and implementation (Brown). As a premise of this research proposal, we may infer that these design spaces can be applied on the public policies stages, as shown below. Design techniques can enhance the government agenda setting process. The government agenda is a list of topics that are the subject of serious interest on the part of gover nment officials and their advisors. [] The agenda setting begins when decision-makers first recognize a problem, fell the need for government to address it, and start to search for a solution (Kingdom). Therefore, identifying problems is a critical step for the agenda establishing process. However, not always the declared objective conditions are enough to characterize these problems (Fuks). The design process of identifying problems can contribute with public agents and public entrepreneurs to better identify them, even latent needs that people may not know they have. Although people often cant tell us what their needs are, their actual behaviors can provide us with invaluable clues about their range of unmet needs. (Brown). The policy formulation stage is the creation of relevant and supportable courses of action for dealing with problems [] For policy formulation to be successful, it is essential that policy proposals be adoptable. In other words, policy proposals have to be formulated that will be acceptable not only to the people who make policy decisions but also to most other actors. (Theodoulou). Design techniques can help the policy formulation process, converting the needs of citizens in public policy. They can help to observe the citizens in their natural habitat, developing insights of their behavior, and how they interact with groups and how groups interact with themselves. (Brown). The failure of a public policy is evident in the stage of its implementation. The reasons why public policy does not always do what it is supposed to do are multiple: unclear goals, adversarial conditions within the system, and ambiguous criteria for success. (Theodoulou). Many of the implementation problems arise because there is a tension between the normative premises of government - what should be done and how it should happen. (Barret;

Hill). The design approach of prototyping ideas into products and services, can help to enhance the implementation stage. Ideas are tested, iterated and refined through prototypes. In this sense, costly mistakes can be avoided, such as allowing complexity too early and grab a weak idea for too long. (Brown) My hypothesis is that, once applied, there will be a better public enhancement on its process. However, it is necessary to analyze some questions: How should the participants be invited to participate? What are the key mobilization factors? What kind of tools can be used to identify problems and ideas? How can the Internet be used as a tool to mobilize citizens, without losing quality of participation? What kind of social problems can or cant be addressed using design techniques? How broad can these problems be? What kind of premises must be adopted in complex themes? How different or conflicting ideas should be considered? What variants must be considered on a public policy prototype?

References:
Barret, S.; Hill, m. Report to the SSRCCentral. London: Metheuen, 1981. Local Government Relations Panel on the core or theoretical component of the research on implementation (unpublished) Brown, T., Wyatt, J., (2010), Design thinking for social innovation, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Vol. 8, Iss. 1, pp 31-35, Stanford University, Center for Social Innovation, Palo Alto. Brown, Tim. Change by Design: How Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation. New York: Harper Business, 2009. Design for public good. London: Design Council, April 2013. Fuks, Mario. Definio de agenda, debate pblico e problemas sociais: uma perspectiva argumentative da dinmica do conflito social. In: Bib, n.49, 1 sem. 2000, p.79-94 Hill, M. Implementation: an overview. In: ___. The public policy process. 4th ed. Pearson Longman, 2004. Cap. IX, p. 174-195. Kingdom, John W. Agendas, alternatives and public policies, 2nd ed. Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 1995, p1-4.

Saasa, Oliver, "Public Policy Making in Developing Countries: The Utility of Contemporary DecisionMaking Models" in Public Administration and Development, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 309-321 (1985).
Theodoulou, Stella Z. (1995) How Public Policy is Made in Public Policy the Essential Readings, Stella Z. Theodoulou and Matthew A. Cahn, New York: Prentice Hall, pp. 86-96.