Design thinking - Discovery

Saturday morning began with a leisurely walk to Luke's for a coffee and then as the caffeine kicked in we were into our first session for the day.

We took part in a role play which invited us to take the roles of parents of the fictional Kuaotunu Area School.  The Chair of the BOT (Dorothy), and Principal (Jenny) then presented to us some of the issues identified as negatively effecting achievement within the school.  These were discussed with vigour by the assembled parents which included a female plumber (with a substantial beard - Matt), a local grandparent, lawyer, and new arrivals from Auckland.  

As the role play developed it became apparent that these "issues" were the problems that each of the MIT participants had identified as our challenges.  This was at times uncomfortable, especially as I realised that I had really overdone the academic language in writing my problem statement.  Many of the "parents" gathered had a hard time understanding what I was trying to say.  It also made me realise that it is important to frame problems in a way that don't assign blame but rather invite opportunities for change. 

We were then given an opportunity to rework our problem statement and really get to the heart of the problem.