Business process mapping refers to activities involved in defining what a business entity does, who is responsible, to what standard a business process should be completed, and how the success of a business process can be determined. Why is process mapping important? Process maps help to gain insight into how processes work—and also how well they … Read more
We developed a framework called the governance cube a few years ago to help multi disciplinary teams build a common understanding of government systems. It looks at government systems as having 3 dimensions. These dimensions are:
Governance Domain: these are the places where constraints can be imposed on a system to influence the behaviour of the entities operating within it;
Governance Functions: these are the tasks that are carried out by governments to ensure the entities adhere to the rules;
Governed Entities: these are the entities whose behaviour we are trying to govern.
Systems thinking is a holistic approach to thinking that breaks down larger systems into their individual parts. It focuses on the way that these individual parts interrelate with each other in the context of larger system. The 3 key concepts of systems thinking are: All systems are composed of inter-connected parts. The connections cause behaviour of one part to affect another. All parts are connected.
The overuse and generalization of the term “innovation” has led to a loss of understanding of what it is we need when we say we need more innovation. It has become a buzz word that is now being applied to things that aren’t innovative at all. At its simplest, it is the use of imagination during the design … Read more
Design thinking is a process for solving problems in creative ways. Design thinking is centered around how people naturally operate. It encourages organizations to focus on the people they’re creating for and this tends to lead to better products, services, and internal business processes.
We prioritise Visual Thinking over Report Writing for doing work. To do this we organise teams to work in groups to develop sketches. Sketching is a fundamental tool that allows teams to quickly develop and communicate ideas. Sketching means different things to different people. Sketches are used for visual thinking and idea development. Sketching is … Read more
The internet drove the cost of transferring information to near zero. This destroyed the business models of traditional media and retail businesses. The blockchain drives the cost of transferring value to near zero. This will destroy the business models of traditional finance and banking businesses. Example: Traditional banks term deposits average less than 5% in … Read more
The brain is a pattern recognition engine. Cognitive distortions are thinking patterns that lead to the misrepresentation of the reality. People from similar disciplines tend to have the same cognitive distortions / blind spots.
The Problem Traditional approaches to system design don’t work well for complex e-government projects. There tends to be a lot of time and effort spent planning and designing systems based on unvalidated assumptions. There is a tendency to try to do too much and given the sheer size, scope and complexity of government systems, this is … Read more
Over the last few years we’ve spent time modifying the Business Model Canvas for use in the design and development of government systems. For those of you unfamiliar with the Business Model Canvas it is a strategic management tool that creates a shared language for describing, visualizing and assessing business models. The principles used by the Business Model Canvas provide a useful framework for government ICT projects which are notorious for high rates of failure with reports of 70%-80% rates of failure. However the Business Model Canvas was developed for the needs of business. We have spent several years modifying and battle testing the Government Business Model Canvas for use in the government context.