The critical step in a successful co-design project
Project planning is critical to a successful co-design process.
Co-design is often seen as a tool for conducting collaborative workshops to address issues and find solutions. While engaging workshops matter greatly and are the most visible element of co-design to stakeholders, they don't just 'happen'.
A great deal of project planning is required, firstly at the project level and then again on engaging with stakeholders throughout the co-design process. A well-structured co-design project plan encompasses engagement and facilitation techniques plus underpinning elements like context and drivers, the project approach, and project management.
This blog is dedicated to developing a co-design project plan that provides a flexible framework for delivering your co-design project. It covers the three main elements that you need to cover in your co-design project:
Plan document context and drivers (why you are co-designing)
Document project approach (what are you co-designing and when will it happen)
Document project management arrangements (how you are managing the co-design project)
Documenting the context and drivers of your co-design project
Before starting a co-design project, you and your team must grasp the context and drivers of delivering the project. Essential questions that you should ask yourself (and other stakeholders) as early as possible in a co-design project are:
"What issue/s are we trying to address?", and
"What value will co-design bring to developing solutions?"
Understanding context and drivers helps you define project requirements and scope. It also helps to decide where to focus your initial efforts in a co-design process, which is often iterative.
History and context will likely exist regarding the rationale for using co-design to develop or redesign the program or service you are focusing on. Conversations must be built upon what is already known by your organisation so it pays to take time to document previous conversations and summarise any work that may have already occurred.
To ensure you gain a comprehensive understanding of project context and drivers, take what you know and build on it with the help of your team members and other people involved across your organisation, including lived experience folks' where possible.
As a starting point, use the questions below to design a purposeful agenda and facilitate an effective conversation (this is often termed 'project discovery' in the world of consulting).
Questions for context might include:
What is the existing background?
What contextual factors exist that could affect the project?
What do we already know about the issues or opportunity?
Who are the key stakeholders?
What are the time constraints?
What similar projects have we done before?
Questions for project drivers might include:
Why undertake this project now?
What problem is the project addressing?
What opportunities could arise throughout?
What outcomes are desired?
When asking the questions above, capture as much detail as you can in preparation for summarising and refining the project context and drivers when you develop your co-design project plan (more on that later).
By understanding the context and drivers, you set a solid foundation for a successful co-design project.
Documenting the approach of your co-design project
When embarking on a co-design project, documenting your approach is vital. Your plan will change over time (don't avoid this), but it's still valuable to plan the process at an appropriate level of detail ahead of time.
Documenting your co-design approach involves two critical components:
Scope of work: this outlines the high-level plan for each phase of the co-design project.
Project schedule: this lays out what will be delivered and the respective timelines.
Scope of Work in Co-Design
There are many ways to visualise and document a scope of work for your co-design project.
One way is to create a 1-page visualisation of the project purpose and how each of its phases aims to combine to achieve it.
Visualising your project scope on a page can be as simple as assigning a user story (i.e. what stakeholders want to achieve) and tangible description (what you'll deliver at a high level to meet those needs) to each project phase. Agile folks call this an 'EPIC' but you don't have to. It is simply a one page visualuation of each of your co-design project's components.
User stories serve as mini-scenarios that help validate the objectives at the beginning of each phase. They follow a consistent format:
As a...(who—stakeholder or user role),
I want to...(what—objective or need),
So that I...(why—expected outcome).
For example:
As a manager, I want to be able to understand my colleagues progress, so I can better report our success and failures.
Achieving the objective of the user story across all project phases should form a cohesive narrative that fulfils the project's purpose.
(There is an extensive amount of reading you can do to learn more about using ‘epics’ and ‘user stories’ to build your understanding of project scoping using this methodology that we won't touch on here).
The purpose of presenting each phase of the project in a lean and tangible way is so that at the start of every new phase in your co-design project you can ask yourself (and other stakeholders):
Does the overarching aim or purpose of the project still make sense? Are there new elements to consider?
Does the existing user story for this phase still accurately reflect what the project primarily intends to achieve?
Commonly, a 'scope of work' infographic is often accompanied by longer form narrative text for those seeking more detail. In the work that we do, we try to limit that to a paragraph for each phase — the intent is to plan at a more detailed level as each phase draws near.
Project Schedule in Co-Design
It's typical for timelines to fluctuate in co-design projects. Project managers often request Gantt charts, but we try to avoid using them as they lapse in accuracy and relevance as soon as they are written. Yes, it is helpful at the start of a project to know how realistic the project timeline is, but at the same time, there are greater forces at play that influence what is delivered and when.
Instead of using a Gantt chart, opt to use a high-level project timeline that outlines the 'sprints of work' that are required to complete a phase of the co-design project. Sprints of work mainly focus on higher-level and tangible outcomes (e.g. producing a co-design facilitation plan) rather than a detailed task listing (which you often see in a Gannt chart).
This way, you can have more targeted conversations about timeframes with your stakeholders and clearly understand the dependencies between different project phases without getting down into the weeds. Disclaimer: detailed planning is still required and highly valued. It should just happen closer to when the work is about to happen to ensure it is accurate and relevant.
By documenting both the project scope and project schedule of your co-design project, your organisation sets the stage for a co-design project that is both well-structured and adaptable to change.
Documenting project management arrangements for your co-design project
Before you start a co-design project, it's crucial to set up how you'll manage it. While we covered external project governance, the purpose of documenting project management arrangements ensures that everyone in the project team knows their roles and how decisions are made.
The key elements of documenting project management arrangements for a co-design project are:
Roles and responsibilities: define who does what in the project. Construct clear roles that carry decision-making authority, i.e. project sponsor or relevant functions, i.e. day-to-day project management.
Work methodology: describe how you'll manage workflow and juggle this project with others you may have.
Governance framework: outline the role of any steering groups or working groups, making sure they are suited to your project’s scale and scope.
Stakeholder mapping: identify all stakeholder groups you'll need to engage with during the project at a high level (more detailed planning can occur later).
Communication plan: set out how you’ll keep the project team informed throughout the co-design process to set expectations.
Risk management: list potential risks and how you plan to handle them.
By putting these governance elements in place from the start, you set a solid foundation for a well-managed, successful co-design project.
Bringing it all together — developing your co-design project plan
Tailoring the way you capture your project plan is essential. The format should align with your organisation's requirements and the scale of the project. Whether it's a detailed project plan for a large-scale initiative or a simpler format like shared documents, a series of dot points saved in a public communication channel of Teams or Slack for a smaller project, the important thing is to ensure it meets the needs of your team and stakeholders.
By capturing your co-design project plan in a manner that's both scalable and aligned with organisational protocols, you maximise its utility and impact. This approach ensures your co-design project is not just participatory, but also well-planned and positioned for success.
To dive deeper into co-design and ensure your projects are set up for success, visit Beacon Strategies' Co-Design homepage. Get started now by visiting www.beaconstrategies.net/co-design.
