Projects:LivingLab Design
LivingLab design is a series of workshop designed and facilitated by Katalin Hausel.
Context
The UniverCite co-working space is launched, given 16 months to build a live community and network of the business/scientific/artistic community within the Lausanne-Renens area. It is hoped to prove itself to be useful either for the commune, and/or businesses, and/or individual members to become economically stable after this initial period. Before addressing specific design issues, let's look at the big picture: let's try to design the near-future of the lab by asking questions, sharing the background of the different stakeholders to support this project. How can we build a common vision for the space? How can we set shared achievable goals that integrate everyone's own? How can the lab itself benefit from the diverse community it hopes to attract?
Goals
To understand the different interests and motivations behind the project; to have a shared idea of the future and how to start making it happen; to forge teams/collaborations and to make plans to tackle foreseeable challenges.
Method
- listen always to what is emerging, don't see the world just through an Excel spreadsheet
- build raw and fast prototypes, collect feedback, fine-tune and iterate till needed
- trust the collective and individual attitudes and skill
Workshop Specifics
To ask questions:
VISION: what is the vision of the space in a year's time for each workshop participant
EXPECTATIONS: we need to understand the expectations of stakeholders, including communities which will inhabit the space
CHALLENGES: what are the foreseeable challenges for the project
VALUES: what are the core values the space needs to reflect MOTIVATION: what are the personal motivations for each person to work on the project
GOALS: what are the goals for each stakeholder
SUCCESS CRITERIA: for each person - 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months
To design the near future:
VISION: let's create a shared vision
VALUES: what are our shared values
TIMEFRAME: create a shared timeline
GOALS: identify shared goals and place them within the timeframe
CHALLENGES: how to address specific challenges
SUCCESS CRITERIA: within the timeframe
COLLABORATION: teams; how to utilise the expertise of the emerging community of the space
TAKING CARE OF EACH OTHER: follow-up; a platform to trace progress and voice concerns; set a regular weekly meeting time for optional face-to-face exchange
References
http://www.artisopensource.net/projects/near-future-design.html
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wyIje9lqc1oFF7viViN6Tpls3p0J50GmTbuD47_m-XY/edit
Workshop OUTLINE
1. Check-in (circle)
Who are you? What brings you here?
2. COLLECTING personal inquiries - tools: post-it notes, pens, board to stick them on
ask to write and read them aloud one by one: vision; values, timeframe, etc identify overlaps and contradictions
break
3. FINDING common future(s) - tools: another board (white), post-it notes from previous session, markers
- Shared aspirations: VISION, VALUES, GOALS
each person tell a scenario for the future of the lab that incorporates as many visions, goals, values on the board as possible (based on previous "Wow!" moments) work on a shared narrative; try to tweak the central narrative so that everyone feels that their most important personal goals etc are included
- Shared responsibilities: TIMELINE, CHALLENGES, SUCCESS CRITERIA
in the shared narrative for the space, how deliverables will be delivered and problems solved (expand the narrative)
4. WORKING together to make it happen:
-personal expertise, how can you contribute, form teams -how to bring people on: the emerging community in the lab, finding specialists -follow-up - how to communicate successes and problems, how to keep the group working together, how to meet face-to-face
5. Check-out (circle) What do you take away from the workshop?
REPORT of first Livinglab workshop
'Workshop held on Sunday 28 October
Participants: Luc, Yann, Carmelo, Marc, Gianpaolo, Sachiko, Urs, Katalin Hausel
The idea was proposed by Katalin, to collect individual responses and then try to imagine the (near) future of the lab, in which most responses are accommodated, in the form of a narrative. Everyone, first person by person for each concept, later more intuitively associating and moving freely, articulated their response to the following questions:
- VISION: what is the vision of the space in a year's time for each workshop participant?
- EXPECTATIONS: (this was thrown in together with goals and values)
- CHALLENGES: what are the foreseeable challenges for the project?
- VALUES: what are the core values the space needs to reflect?
- MOTIVATION: what are the personal motivations for each person to work on the project?
- GOALS: what are the goals for each stakeholder?
- SUCCESS CRITERIA: for each person - 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months
There were a few rules:
- Responses should be based on personal positive experiences, which can serve as models for the Lab.
- Recall an event when you felt "wow, this is why I want to collaborate/to work in a co-working place/ to meet new people; etc", rather than saying “I hate {x}, and so my goal is to create non{x}”.
- No computers. The point is to pay attention to each other, and feel being listened to.
The idea was to move from first individual to shared aspirations (visions, goals, motivations), from there to measurable goals with timeframe, and from there to small tasks with deadlines that people can form teams around. Although we did not get to the “shared” part, the session already proved the approach useful. We walked away with a fairly detailed understanding of each other’s motivations and goals, and small deliverable tasks that already move things towards reaching them.
CONTRIBUTIONS:
Vision
- nice & humble people
- a place to MAKE
- explore ways of different knowledge distribution
- create new business model for biotech
- sharing, responsible community (culture!)
- a hub for innovation
- a place for diverse competences
- a perfect place for freelance work
- nurture independence and freedom in work
- mesh meeting
- connective vision
- “out” (beyond?) institution // Switzerland
- local community
Values
- self-governance
- openness
- spontaneity
- democracy
- independence
- sharing
- growth
- synergy
- open source, open everything
- alive
- sustainability
- responsibility (be excellent to each other)
- transparency
- trust
- safety
- ethic code diy bio/ no harmful diy/ no guns
Goals/Expectations:
- complementary with existing structures (of working)
- ideas/values pollination
- learn from other similar projects
- educating/training
- public events
- create a hub/node
- answer actual needs for freelancers (wifi; coffee; events; networking)
- mapping of competence needs
- recruit
- attract everybody, not nerds only
- gender balance
- new business model// ecosystem
- gain independence (weaning)
- library /digital+analog/
- kitchen
- gallery
- produce rich documentation
- quality tools
Challenges:
- burn-out
- existing science model, which is exclusive, protective
- to communicate culture low cost / low-tech
- to articulate values
- to build awareness
- to nurture distributed projects
- to become visible
- to set clear guidelines
- make a manual
- identify tools
Success criteria (subjective and/or objective):
- self-sustainable
- carefully picked dependencies
- in 15 months, we are doing better
- set higher standards/ better coworking culture in the area
- 30 stories in 3 months
- gender balance
- very independent members
- plan “B” risk management
- a community strong enough to be able to survive moving
- 50 users in 3 months
- 30 projects in 6 months
- co-designed space in 6 months
NEXT MEETING: Oct. 10
tasks/people:
- draft preliminary report / Luc
- preliminary inventory / Yann P. +Sachiko
- draft business model / Carmelo
- dirty lab wish list / Marc
- list of available (digital) tools / Yann H.
- description of ideal entrepreneur environment / Gianpaolo
- report of this session / Katalin
- interviews and a survey on website / Katalin