ARCHITECTURE

Systems and services are designed to get the results they get.  Different kinds of underlying design principles—we call these principles "architecture"—will engender different kinds of results from our public delivery systems.

Generally speaking, the architectural style that dominates most public purpose systems is based on the fundamental principles of bureaucracy (see left hand column in table below).  We don’t think of bureaucracy as a bad thing; in fact it has been an extremely successful architecture.

However, bureaucracy’s utility is diminishing.  This is because bureaucracy was explicitly intended to make organizations predictable, consistent, and standard.  In the conditions of logarithmically increasing change, the non-adaptive features of bureaucracy become a hindrance to public organizations and public purpose delivery systems.

Over the past two or three decades a new architectural style has been emerging in organizations both public and private.  These design principles focus on innovation and are generally characterized by the principles in the right hand column of the table below.

Redesign is a term to characterize the process of introducing a different kind of architecture to our public service delivery systems

FROM:

ARCHITECTURAL GAME-CHANGING “OPPORTUNITIES”

Over the past forty years, Re:DESIGN practitioners have utilized this new architecture inside the design process.  This architecture “urges” us to ask new questions.  

For instance, during the Get Curious phase, we often try to ‘follow the money’, asking: who pays, who benefits, and who decides what’s needed?  This led designers to change the money flow for people with disabilities from paying contractors who decide what a person needs towards paying the people to be served directly and letting them purchase what’s needed (and no more).

During the Get Crazy phase of the Design Lab, we often ask designers:  “Have you considered new ways to:

• Catalyze voluntary compliance? 

• Use marketplace competition for good?

• Uncouple steering and rowing?

• Empower customers? – via informed choice, voice, and actual $s (purchasing power)

• Change the incentives? 

• Build in trust?

Game changing ideas alter assumptions about ‘the way we’ve always done it.’  This does not happen overnight; some ideas will take longer than others.  Some will have more leverage than others.  Some will require more resources than others.  But, designs that ask and answer these questions have not only produced dramatically better results, but saved significant amounts of money.  (See “Twice the Life at Half the Cost” under Stories).

Here is a sampling of ideas to increase performance and save money: 

Liberating local governments

Local governments can willingly exchange lower state funding for relief from state requirements. Freedom from reporting obligations and restrictions (such as mandated limits to fines and taxes) allows local government to more flexibility manage their own operations and provide services for citizens. Savings in local aid are augmented by savings on red tape at both ends. 

Winning voluntary compliance

Much of what government does involves trying to get citizens and organizations to pay their taxes, obey the speed limit, protect the environment or have safe workplaces.  In fact, over half of all public enterprises are organizations with a mission to enforce regulations or law.  Most of these organization rely heavily on enforcement techniques (e.g. fines, audits, inspections) to get citizens or internal services to comply.  While enforcement does work, it is not the only strategy.  Our designers have developed new strategies that work in partnership with compliers, make the process of compliance easier, and create incentives to reward compliance -- often leading to high voluntary compliance levels - at a fraction of the cost of enforcement.  

Making customers more powerful

Some designs have made customers more powerful.  Providing for customer choice, funding customers directly, providing for customer voice in decisions, establishing redress strategies and public reporting are a few of these design elements.