Interactions - March/April 2009

These breakout sessions proved especially valuable. Rather than the “genius approach” of designers generating concepts in the studio or inviting a client in for a brainstorm session, live|work team members facilitated a design process that brought together workers from different agencies who delivered care. During these concept-genera-tion sessions, the agency staff members directly addressed how they felt service could be improved, based on the research that live|work presented. They brainstormed outside of the constraints of their work environment, freeing them to consider a broader set of options.

Another issue this innovation exercise addressed was the disconnect between the agencies live|work had observed—by mixing workers from different agencies and having them work collaboratively, live|work enabled the formation of new connections between staff at different agencies that had not previously communicated well. The new networks, enabled by the process of co-creation, formed much of the foundation for successful service delivery and allowed for the development of a cohesive, connected set of support services.

The Make It Work project ultimately acted as an umbrella, bringing support agencies together, enabling communication between them, and unifying the client’s experience of service delivery. The program is ongoing and expanding, and the results so far are impressive: In one area of Sunderland alone, 966 people are currently moving through the program at different support agencies, and 206 have found work.

As Gillian and Bill Hollins remind us, “Everybody can be creative. It is simply a case of teaching people how to be open to experiences beyond their own…. Allow them the opportunity to use their creative skills and give them the environment in which they can be creative [ 2].” In this sense, live|work’s approach to the Make It Work project demonstrates that when designers take the backseat and actively involve individuals from all levels of an organization in the innovation process—empowering them as co-creators of service concepts— they can develop a more cohesive experience at the point of use. Following the genius design approach of a design team that maintains control over the innovation process before handing off deliverables at the end of the project would have meant missing vital nuances. By opening up the design process in this manner, live|work identified crucial factors that led to the project’s continued success.

Acknowledgments With great thanks to Richard Telford and the rest of the live|work family.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ben currently works as an interaction designer at IDEO in Palo Alto. He has facilitated workshops at Adaptive Path’s UX Week,

spoken at the Berkeley iSchool, and was an invited participant and speaker at Design Engaged. Prior to IDEO, he spent time designing future mobile interactions at Samsung Design Europe, creating services for public and private sector clients at live|work Studio, and building multi-chan-nel digital experiences in one of the UK’s first full service agencies, Oyster Partners.