How do we scale human centered Design?
Acknowledging complexity and challenges of Policy Design
Whilst I applaud the attempt to surface the need for a more human centered approach to governance, and to Government, I feel this article has too many bold assertions and sweeping generalisations to be taken seriously.
“Current strategies either make things worse or fail entirely, pushing our problems further and further past our ability to rectify them.”
Whilst there’s undoubtedly plenty of examples like this, there’s also plenty of examples of policies which have actually worked out really well, even if they weren’t created using ‘human centered design’ processes.
“Problems with unclear possible solutions and complex underlying causal dynamics run rampant. Governments just can’t cope. But they weren’t built to. Relying on them is like a craftsperson relying on broken hammers and saws made 100 years ago.”
Many institutions are operating based on models whose primary goal is to maintain services and systems which people depend on.
They may be slow and inefficient compared to other industries like corporates and startups, but society rarely depends on those other organisations for fundamental services. They can selectively make choices about who they serve, and everyone else can just lump it. It doesn’t work that way for societal institutions who have to maintain legacy systems because they’ve been designed and evolved for universal accessibility.
So yes, institutions are struggling with working in the context of complexity, but who isn’t?
This surfaces broader questions which I think the Design community needs to reflect more deeply on:
What scale does human centered design operate best on? Is that always compatible with the scale at which Policy design and development works?
If I get more time soon, I’ll elaborate on this piece. Thanks for the provocation Adam Hasler.

