#4.4 Implementation

Beth Simone Noveck in Analyse & Kritik (2018)

Read #4.3 Drafting

4.4.1 MindLab, Denmark

Once legislation is drafted and passed, it still must be implemented, often by an agency to whom responsibility has been passed. Implementation provides another opportunity to practice many of the same techniques already outlined and engage in the public in developing concrete strategies for execution. For the last sixteen years in Denmark, Mindlab, a cross-ministry innovation lab has facilitated the active involvement of Danish citizens and businesses in developing new public-sector solutions in practice. Public servants from Danish ministries bring policy challenges to MindLab. Citizen and business stakeholders collectively participate in decision-making and the development of prototypes and large-scale experiments with the ministries.

MindLab uses iterative design methods such as user journeys, expert interviews, what-if scenarios, and prioritization grids to manage the engagement process. Insights are gathered from their experiments and prototypes to determine how initiatives will be fully deployed by the Danish ministries (MindLab 2018). In so doing, MindLab directly involved the public in the creation and testing of actual services, policies and programs. This collaboration offers distinct advantages to agencies. Citizens can identify problems and better approaches before a program is fully deployed. They can bring their expertise to problem-solving alongside the government. MindLab, however, was disbanded in Spring 2018. Perhaps this is a sign of success? MindLab’s collaborative and engaged practices became the standard operating procedure for so long that there was no longer need for a new and separate agency to run them. However, politics seem also to have played a role. MindLab was replaced by a ‘Disruption Task Force’, a unit set up by the prime minister to reform Denmark’s civil service through digital technology. MindLab, which pioneered design thinking was not, in fact, a technology agency or big data analytics unit, and thus it was folded into this new shop focused on digital and tech-based innovation.

The challenge with engaging the public in implementation — whether through human-centered design and observation or whether through digital consultation and ideation — is ensuring that the process yields information unavailable to bureaucrats, rather than re-litigating the legislative process post hoc. Doing this well will depend on close collaboration between the public and government to cocreate implementation strategies This administrative phase is not designed to be a popularity contest but a further opportunity to obtain expertise to ensure successful implementation. Opening up the implementation process to public collaboration, however, will have inevitable consequences for the nature of administrative practice.

Read the next part — #4.5 Evaluation