Another dynamic planning methodology

I have become interested in something I'll call dynamic planning.  I am not sure if that's the right term, because various language is out there, sometimes rooted in particular institutions or industries and sometimes someone's intellectual property.  It will have to do for now.

Dynamic planning (or whatever it should be called) is the practice of maintaining an ever changing strategic plan.  Instead of doing some big planning process every couple or few years that results in a Holy Binder that is faithfully implemented (or ignored), a living plan is constantly adjusted and updated.  I really like this approach for a few reasons:

• You are more likely to actually use and benefit from your plan if you are paying attention to it (which you would have to do if you are reviewing and updating the thing)
• A frequently updated plan is never out of date or obsolete
• It might end up being less effort to constantly update a dynamic plan, compared to the work of creating a new plan from scratch every few years.

I got the term "Dynamic Planning" from the Dynamic Planning Institute, which is a PLA initiative that involves several months of online study and a three day course in Washington, DC.  I can't participate but as I study the Institute from afar, it seems to include a mix of stuff including design thinking and community engagement.

The word "agile" seems to be commonly used in this context, especially in connection with systems development and other STEM (science/technology/engineering/math) activities.  

"Real Time Strategic Change"  is a phrase used by one Jake Jacobs.  His website identifies principles that support change in real time  They are shown in one of those "management circle of life" diagrams with no beginning and end, but they include

• building understanding (learning and also teaching others what you know)
• making reality a key driver (sort of like an internal / external environmental scan)
• engaging and including (leading and also inviting input)
• preferred futuring (the planning part, done by looking at the present state and imaging the best future)
• creating community (individual and group performance)
• fast results (planning the future and being there, in real time.)

Could there be drawbacks or risks to a dynamic planning approach?  I seem to recall that ever changing plans have doomed more than one army; there is certainly a risk to never seeing a plan through to a conclusion.  Leadership Freak identifies six problems with flipflopping, including confusion, delay and loss of leadership credibility.  Okay, we are warned.  Be careful out there.

RACI charts, agile and otherwise

RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed.  A RACI chart or matrix defines who fills those roles for a given task, step or function.

The Responsible one does the work and gets it done.  (The Worker)
The Accountable one has the ultimate authority and accountability.  (The Manager)
The Consulted one has skin in the game and needs to be part of the process.  (The Stakeholder)
The Informed one is connected and needs to know what is going on.  (The Audience)

RACI charts are useful for workload management (making sure some poor Worker doesn't get saddled with too much work), for ensuring buy-in from the Manager, for giving Stakeholders the input they deserve and for effectively communicating to any Audience that is interested.

RACI analysis can support agile processes (which can change mid-course) by defining people's higher roles.  Knowing who has to do the work, who has ultimate signoff, who has a stake in the results and who should be in the loop is important if you change things.

Another new library needs assessment / planning model

Another library planning thingee has come to my attention:

Website is at http://www.ala.org/pla/education/dynamicplanning

Four things

I believe that community engagement and needs assessment

1. is a "kindergarten skill", i.e. we are all born with the basic ability to do it if we try (although it comes easier to some than others)
2. Can be done in many ways, i.e. there is no one magic way to do it
3. Is best done iteratively, i.e. over and over again
4. Can be analyzed in highfalutin' ways, but really just boils down to communicating: talking and listening.

Active vs. passive needs assessment

When it comes to listening to your community, you can do it actively:

• engaging patrons at the checkout desk, at programs, etc.
• engaging people anywhere you run into them, at the grocery store etc.
• identifying agencies that are potential partners or otherwise important and initiating a conversation
• doing a survey
• holding a community needs assessment meeting
• asking questions and inviting input on social media

You can also listen to your community passively:

• reading the local newspaper, listening to community radio and watching local TV news
• monitoring local social media
• looking up community statistics and information from the federal census, from ecmap.ca, and other sources
• reading your municipal strategic plan and other planning documents from local organizations.

Most of us would probably think that active listening is somehow best, maybe because it takes a little more work.  I do think that active listening has the advantage of being visible: the community sees you doing it, which has its own value. But passive listening is useful too.

PNLA 2016 conference

My takeaways from this conference I attended in Calgary:

"Design thinking" could be part of needs assessment and service planning.  More on this later.

"Community engagement is like a snowball - you just gotta get it going" (then watch out)

"Lively Library" signage - put it out when you have a noisy program etc. - a courtesy heads-up and also piques curiosity 

Risk and how to manage it in a library:

- show stories of failures across system, to learn and also to legitimize

- consider risk in which, even in failure, something is gained

-risk mitigation from project mngmnt could be useful

"Microlearning"

 Learner engagement is lower when you don't refresh the content (even if they're not familiar with the content)

Cathy Ostlere, author of Lost, gave an amazing talk.

Design thinking for libraries

I heard Dan Buchner give a presentation on this at the PNLA 2016 conference and it got my wheels turning.

Design thinking is a method for needs assessment, analysis and planning.  It starts with people's values and aspirations, seeking solutions that meet those needs.

Business think    Vs.    Design think:

Logical                        Intuitive

Deductive/inductive     Abductive

Proof requirement        "What if"

Precedents required    Free from history

Right and wrong          A better way

Quick decision             Open possibilities

Anti-ambiguity             Ambiguity YEAH

Results                        Meaning

Identify a problem,     Identify values
plan approaches          and resulting aspirations
and tactics                   and desired experiences

Besides a general attitude and approach, design thinking includes a methodology for interviewing people about their values, aspirations etc; and an implementation philosophy that stresses action, experimentation and prototyping.

There is a guide available at designthinkingforlibraries.com

Fire truck at Calgary Public Library

CPL recently moved a fire truck into their downtown branch for kids to play on.

I was particularly impressed by this because CPL is moving to a new location within two years.  They are not coasting during this interval.