The model has three dimensions, drawn as one object lying on its side. Across are three questions that never line up neatly. Value asks whether people will use what we've made and what value it might create. Legitimacy asks whether we have the support and permission to pursue it. Capacity asks whether the organisation can actually deliver it.

Through are five layers of an institution, from the narrow end on the left to the wide end on the right. Citizen interaction, service processes and technology, organisational priorities, cross-institutional arrangements, and political and strategic support. They are drawn as rings on a cone that widens and fades, because you rarely know which layers matter until you hit them.

Depth is the learning that comes from moving across and through, drawn as a sphere that grows as the experiment reveals dependencies, starts new conversations and challenges assumptions.

Drag in any direction to turn it. Focus the drawing to use the keyboard. Up and down arrows turn it to face the next question. Left and right arrows move between layers. Page up looks end on, page down looks from the citizen end, and home looks side on. It turns slowly by itself when left alone.

ValueWill people use what we've made, and what value might it create? LegitimacyDo we have the support and permission to pursue it? CapacityCan the organisation actually deliver it? Depth

Experimentation as navigation

Experiments move across value, legitimacy and capacity and through the layers of an institution, and what they learn can reshape both.

v0.6.1

Start here

Start with a question.

About

A working sketch from CIVICWORKS, to sit alongside Tasting the organisational treacle. Drag it any way to turn it, or flick it to set it tumbling. Left alone, it drifts. What it turns up reshapes the drawing.

Value, legitimacy and capacity after Mark Moore. Pace layers after Stewart Brand. Scales of a system after Hill and Melander. Dark matter from Bryan Boyer.

v0.6.1