All the Small Things
Start small and scale. We claim to live by this practice as designers. We’ve been taught it from the start, learned and re-learned its importance through big public failures, wasted resources, or public backlash. But examples and models for what it really looks like to start small are lacking from innovation and design spaces. How are we supposed to live this practice when we only read about the big aha! Moments of success or the failures turned learnings that are so silver lined that it’s as if there was never a flop at all? So this blog post is an effort to make visible what it really looks like to “start small”.
Montgomery County Police Department brought a big challenge to the Innovation Team: How might we recruit and retain Police Officers that reflect the county they serve? Actually, that wasn’t the exact challenge they brought. Wouldn’t it be great if partners handed such clear and formulated challenge questions to designers? But this post is about the reality of this process and I don’t want to sugar coat anything. So the actual challenge was: Our staff departures are increasing and our incoming Academy classes are the smallest in decades. Those are actually two big challenges so we made the decision to start by focusing on recruitment.
We started by trying to map the recruitment process and quickly realized there were gaps. Different officers focused on different parts of the process which left them less familiar with other parts. Some officers were more than 20 years out from when they had done through the process of applying. And to complicate the process further, the Covid-19 pandemic forced some in-person sections of the process into new virtual formats that no sworn officer on staff had experienced first hand.
I figured there’s only one way to find out so I applied! I found the job posting online, made a profile, built a resume, took the online exam, sat through oral boards, and filled out 86 pages of background paperwork. I even trained for and passed the physical fitness assessment of 17 push ups, 34 sit ups and a 1.5 mile run. It may sound a bit silly but it built comradery in the partner team and helped identify some key pain points in the application process where we could make immediate improvements.
So immediate improvements sound great, right? Quick wins, low hanging fruit! Those are all true but when you’re in the work, it doesn’t feel like it. From going through the application process, I identified confusing instructions, opportunities to keep applicants engaged, and errors that can be reduced through automation. As a result, I built e-mail templates that automate recurring e-mails and track clicks to learn more about the applicant pool, plain-languaged exam instructions, and eliminated PDF attachments to better enable mobile use. Each of these small changes chipped away at the partner’s challenge and made the experience better for applicants. Each of these small changes were made in a way that reduced administrative burden and potential for human error. So while it might not feel or look like much to designers and changemakers, these are important markers of starting small. How are you starting small in your innovation work? Let us know in the comments!
