'Perfect' Design for an Imperfect World: A Recipe for Failure

"The entire system is so bad and hopeless, no one can change it".

"How dare you blame me? This is what the system teaches me to do".

"This is what our system is. इधर  सब चलता है (everything is acceptable here)".

"It is a good system, designed with good intentions. But what to do? People have ruined it".

Most of us would be familiar with these gloomy statements. Let us explore what, if anything, we can do to lessen this gloom. 

Systems Everywhere 

Indeed, systems pervade modern societal life. As the volume, variety and complexity of human interactions increase, we would need more and more systems. They help organize, structure and lend predictability and reliability to the business of our lives. Thereby making our lives more efficient, effective, productive and fruitful. They are a huge force for good. 

Oh wait! I just forgot the opening lines. That is what "good" systems do. "Bad" systems do just the opposite. While good systems can nurture and build lives, bad systems can kill dreams as well as lives. And make our lives miserable.

What is it that makes a system good or bad? 

A crucial and fundamental aspect of a system is its design. How it is designed. 

Now, every system will have to be designed based on some facts and some assumptions. 

There are multiple failure points here, such as factual errors, ignorance of facts and wrong assumptions. We look at the last one, and how a particular wrong assumption is often nothing less than fatal for many systems.

Assumptions about Human Behaviour

One class of assumptions has to do with how the people involved will act, once the system is deployed. An assumption that designers seemingly make often is:

The people will act in line with the goals of the system.

An example: Departmental Performance Appraisal 

Something I have observed firsthand. 

A system has been put in place in a large organization, whereby each Department puts in writing, their goals for the coming year. The goals are broken down into objectives, along with quantifiable metrics/standards against which the attainment of those objectives can be objectively measured. So, a (crude) example is:

Construct toilets: 500 (poor), 1000 (fair), 2000 (good), >3000 (excellent). 

What I have observed in some cases is this. 

1. The Department chooses objectives which are superficial and do not really do justice to their mandate. 
2. On top of this, the Department officials set ultra-conservative, very low targets for these sub-optimal objectives

So that both the kind and the degree of under-performance are condoned, and are passed off as excellent!

Designed for a Perfect World 

This is nothing but (moral) corruption. It appears that the designers of this system assumed that the top officials entrusted with this goal-setting exercise would behave as we think they should. Setting targets which marry ambition with reality. Which flow from their commitment to professional excellence, imperative for public service and sense of responsibility as leaders.

The idealism of the designers, flowing from their honest intentions, seems to have led them to assume that everyone else would act with the same intentions. In the larger organizational and societal good.

However, they did not anticipate that many people might find it convenient to rather protect their own personal turf. With minimum effort.

Need for a Different Design Approach

So, what do we do? Here are a few humble suggestions:

1. Design the system in-situ, appreciative of existing realities. Not in a vacuum, in an ideal world.
2. Actively explore the assumptions we are making, and test them out, to the extent feasible. 
3. Adopt co-creation in design and operation of systems.
4. Make the system itself flexible, and self-learning. 

The above call for using insights from behavioural economics, design thinking and systems thinking in making of systems and policies. Please do share, and spread the message, if you find this worthwhile. Thank you. 

You may like to read: Public Policy Design and Assumptions about Human Behaviour

Government's Innovation Imperative

To innovate is a fundamental and universal organizational imperative; for continuous improvement, learning and rapid adaptation; in an external environment that is changing at lightning speed; in an age of ever-increasing uncertainty.

Here we explore why innovation ought to be a top priority for a public sector organization.

1. Innovate or Die: Just as in the private sector, failure to innovate continually and adapt to fast-changing realities would lead to a gradual obsolescence, irrelevance or eventual death of an organization. The death may perhaps arrive slower than it would in a market system, but arrive it will! This therefore makes the failure to innovate that much more dangerous; as the decay will persist longer before it is set right, and the death may happen more abruptly when it does happen.
2. Part of a bigger whole: Even more importantly, one Government organization's failure to innovate could affect the credibility of the Government, with possible ripple effects on citizens’ trust in other Government institutions as well. Further, it could also call into question the ability of the state to be an efficient and effective service provider. Indeed, exactly the opposite, and salutary, outcomes would occur if the organization performs very well. 
3. Actions with huge potential impact: The state is often called upon to expand and strengthen its role as an enabler, as distinct from its role as a service provider to the citizen. In this enabling role, the state is responsible for nurturing and building ecosystems, networks and systems of systems. The actions of even one public sector organization thus may have the potential to make a huge impact in the lives of millions of people. An innovation deficit would thus have a very big social cost, and for a long time to come. This cost is compounded many-fold if the service provided by the particular organization is either an exclusive preserve of the state and/or if the state is best equipped institutionally to provide that service. The negative externalities due to inadequate delivery of public services can thus be monumental. Well, so can be the positive impact of the work of a high-performing innovative organization.

I might have missed some other imperatives for innovation in Government. Please do fill the gap. Thank you.

Let Citizens Power the Future: by Gifting it!

The Government of India is giving a huge thrust to Renewable Energy. Minister for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy, Shri Piyush Goyal has declared the Government's aspiration to make India the renewable energy capital of the world.

#renewableenergy is now a part of the mainstream initiatives of the Government: @PiyushGoyal #REInvest2015
— PIB India (@PIB_India) February 17, 2015

One of the many initiatives taken in this direction is the following one for promotion of LED bulbs, launched by the PM on January 5.

Hon’ble PM, Shri @narendramodi ji launched National Programme for LED Street Lighting & LED Home Lighting in Delhi pic.twitter.com/3WZpjUn6eY
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) January 5, 2015

"Suggesting innovative ways to generate awareness and spread the message of energy efficiency, the Prime Minister said gifts such as diaries and calendars on New Year should be replaced by gifts of LEDs."

That is a very innovative and noble call to action from the Honourable PM. Here's an idea, and a humble proposal to facilitate this citizen action.

.@PiyushGoyal Sir: Can't we have a web-based #eGifts platform, to gift #LEDBulbs, as exhorted by PM @narendramodi? @PMOIndia
— Dheep (@TheDeepServant) February 15, 2015

Proposed Models

Indeed, these models can be refined and there can be alternative models. But hope you get the idea.

Tweeted the above in the hope that Power Minister or PM would perhaps notice it and consider it. Going to now try to get an appointment with the Power Minister and present this to him. Indeed, if you can do so, you are free to do the same. Thank you.

Grateful to my colleague Mahima who has been a religious votary of saving the planet, in her own right. It is she who brought my attention to this initiative of the Government, and particularly of the PM's call to gift LED bulbs. And thankful to my senior Malhotra Sir for suggesting that I tweet to the Power Minister about this idea.