The Public Sector Innovation Network (PSIN) ceased on 8 January 2021.
The PSIN was an Australian government network helping public servants understand and apply innovation in their daily work.
The content on this page has been kept for historical purposes and may not be accurate.
See previous PSIN content on the National Library of Australia Trove archive.
Which is more important – being right, or having a go? Which is more helpful – being part of a specialised team, or being willing to try something new?
Is it better to be strict about innovation, or to be innovation(ish)?
Tessa Forshaw and Rich Braden, Lecturers at Stanford’s d.school, flew from the US to help a room full of Australian public servants answer these questions. (Spoiler: they reckon it’s best to have a go, try something new, be innovation-ish).
Tessa and Rich have been developing a body of work that uses ‘official’ (scare quotes intended) innovation methods, and doesn’t make a big fuss about it. This move mirrors D.School’s own abandonment of their ‘official’ design process. Tessa pointed out that as soon as they published the process, d.school researchers found people used it to exclude others and tell them they were doing it wrong.
Innovation became something that only people with designer glasses and hipster shoes were allowed to do.
Tessa and Rich’s innovation(ish) approach lowers the barrier to entry and expands access to useful, helpful, design tools.
As Rich said “You do the innovation things, but you don’t say you’re doing the innovation things”.
The innovation(ish) method breaks things down into mindsets and moves.
The mindsets are:
The moves are any and all design/innovation/other tool and technique that will help you take an idea and turn it into an action.
Tessa and Rich are working on publishing more about their approach.
