DESIGN THINKING - 18MBH262J

UNIT V
POLITICS OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
Civic engagement describes how individuals become involved in their community to make
a positive difference in the lives of their fellow citizens. Drawing on the ideology
of communitarianism, the active involvement of people through civic engagement seeks to secure
the common good. The success of civic engagement activities depends on the tendency of people
to consider themselves to be an integral part of society and therefore view problems facing society
to be at least partly their own. Such people recognize the moral and civic impact of problems
facing their community and are willing to work to correct them.
The activities of civic engagement seek to address issues in several major aspects of society
including family life, the economy, education, health, the environment, and politics. Similarly, acts
of civic engagement can take several forms including individual volunteerism, engaging in
communitywide projects, and participation in the processes of democracy.
It should be noted that these forms of participation are often interrelated. That is,
participation in the political and electoral process often helps address problems in other
community societal areas such as the economy, police policy, and public health. For example,
working or volunteering to help elect community leaders who support low-income housing can
help relieve homelessness.
Types of Civic Engagement
The act of civic engagement can be conducted in three main ways including electoral
participation, individual volunteerism, and advocacy, or activism.
Electoral Participation
The freedom of citizens to participate in the formation and procedures of their government
through the electoral process is the foundation of democracy. Besides the obvious and vital act of
voting, civic engagement in the electoral process encompasses activities including:
 Helping with voter registration drives, “get out the vote” campaigns, and other activities
intended to increase voter turnout.
 Contributing money to candidates’ election campaigns
 Donating time and effort to candidates’ campaigns or party organizations
  Showing support for candidates or causes by displaying buttons, signs, and stickers, or
handing out campaign literature
 Serving as poll workers or election judges on Election Day
Volunteerism
Since Benjamin Franklin formed the first volunteer fire department in 1736, volunteerism
has been a hallmark of civic engagement in America. The desire of Americans to help each other as
well as their community through volunteering is a proud part of the nation’s legacy.
A few common examples of volunteerism include:
 Collecting and donating food to food banks
 Helping groups like Habitat for Humanity build houses
 Joining a neighborhood watch group
 Helping to grow food at community gardens
 Helping with recycling and cleanup efforts
The federal Corporation for National and Community Service reported that during 2018, over 77
million adult Americans volunteered through community organizations.
Activism and Advocacy
Activism and advocacy involve working to bring about political or social change through
increasing public awareness of and support for particular causes or policies.
Some common acts of activism and advocacy include:
 Taking part in peaceful protest demonstrations and boycotts writing to or meeting
with elected officials
 Contacting print, broadcast, and online media
 Petitioning the government or helping to gather signatures for petitions
Though typically associated with the protests during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s,
many expressions of activism and advocacy take place at the community level and have become
for more common since the rise of the internet.
MANAGING GRIDLOCKED IN BUSINESS
Companies are like cars: In order to get where they want to go, they must be able to travel
freely and openly from origin to destination. When there are traffic jams in their way, progress is
slow and sometimes, nonexistent.
Regrettably, one of the most common "traffic jams" companies experience is decisional
gridlock. "Never mind what industry you're in, how big and well known your company may be, or
how clever your strategy is. If you can't make the right decisions quickly and effectively, and
execute those decisions consistently, your business will lose ground."
If your company suffers from decisional gridlock, it must find ways to eliminate it,
according to Rogers and Blenko, who say the most effective tool for doing so is assigning the
people in your organization clear roles and responsibilities. An approach called RAPID help
hundreds of companies develops clear decision making guidelines.
"The letters in RAPID stand for the primary roles in any decision-making process, although
these roles are not performed exactly in this order: recommend, agree, perform, input, and decide .
Those who "recommend" decisions are responsible for making proposals. Those who "agree" are
responsible for signing off on proposals before they can move forward. Those who give "input"
provide information to support or oppose a decision. The person who "decides" eventually makes
the decision and finally, those who "perform" execute and implement the decision.
Either way, the goal is simple: to move organizations toward their goals quickly by making
sure everyone knows his or her role in the decision-making process.
FAST-FAIL ITERATIVE
Fail fast is the principle of freely experimenting and learning while trying to reach the
desired result. The real aim of fail fast principles is not to fail as fast and often as possible, but to
be iterative. When experimenting and innovating, we must be open to failures. It is what we do
after the failures, in the iterative process, that matters. Continuous learning equals continuous
improvement.
The concept of failing fast has had its fair amount of doubters and has received a whole
bunch of criticism. Often because fail fast is put in a phrase like “fail fast, fail often”. When talking
about this, there is a danger in relying too much upon the later part “fail often”. Sure, failure is
inevitable when experimenting, but no one wants to fail often. The important thing is that the
lessons learned from failing are utilized to improve your next attempt.
 In Agile methodology, the speed of execution is more important than perfect execution. In
today’s complex business environment, the first solution providing value is often the best, at least
as a start. From there you can scale up and learn from the journey so far. The risk of failure should
never stop you or your team from experimenting and trying new things.
Fail fast, without failing the process.
To get the most out of the fail fast principle, there are a few important things to remember.
1. Take intelligent risks.
Just because the idea of failing fast is liberating, it still does not free us from the
consequences our failures might generate. Some problems and challenges still require strategic
planning and careful execution. Taking bold risks just because you can is neither smart nor
innovative, it’s just dangerous.
2. Never fail to learn.
This can’t be stressed enough. By learning from mistakes, mistakes become gifts. Take time
to really reflect over the positive and the negative sides of the experiment, and make sure to adapt
the next iteration of your solution according to the new knowledge. Without changing something
in your next swing at the challenge, the outcome will still be the same.
3. Start trying and don’t stop.
Don’t spend hours perfecting your solution; try it as soon as you consider it “good enough”.
This might be harder than it seems and doesn’t fit all projects, but the sooner a solution can be
tested, the sooner it can be improved. Innovation does not come from failing as fast as possible
and then giving up, it comes from a relentless motivation to keep on trying, trying again and
learning from what didn’t work the first, second or even the seventh time.
DRAFT A PROTOTYPE
The main purpose of the prototyping model is to satisfy the customer’s need. To acquire
this, developers implement the prototype and present it to the customer for evaluation. After
evaluation customer suggests the modifications in the prototype. The suggested modifications are
then implemented in the prototype and again it is presented to the customer for evaluation.
These iterations are continued until the customer is completely satisfied with the prototype. Once
the customer is satisfied with the prototype, developers start implementing the final system.
Building a prototype opens a pool of opportunities for the betterment of your product idea.
When you interact with it in a physical world, you can come up with new features and
functionalities and remove those that are not necessary. It’s natural to want your product to stand
out. And during the ideation stage many try to pack it with everything they can think of. But
having one on one time with your physical product idea allows you to look deeper into the product
and see that not all the features are needed. You can also discover new and not previously thought
functionality and usage in other applications and markets. And this gives the opportunity for your
Product idea to evolve further. our potential partners and investors will also want to touch and
test your idea to see how it works in the real world rather than imagining it. Therefore, prototypes
are very handy when running crowd funding campaigns or pitching in front of investors.
Type of prototype you need
One way to do it is to ask your stakeholders, or people you’re going to present your
prototype to, what they want to see in it, what specific features and functionalities need to be
displayed. Another way is to consult product development or prototyping companies. You can
describe your situation and they’ll be able to help.
Or you can always do it on your own. To determine what type is necessary for your specific case,
you just need to set a goal or a purpose you want to achieve with your prototype. You goals can
include:
 proving the concept
 validating your design before manufacturing
 raising funds for further development
 getting potential customers’ feedback
 starting a marketing campaign
Steps to make a prototype of a physical product
Here are the steps for making a physical product prototype:
1. Conduct research based on the prototype’s goal
2. Select materials, parts, and prototyping technologies
3. Create CAD files
4. Make or purchase all the components
5. Test fits and adjusts the design if necessary
6. Test functionality and adjust the design if necessary
7. Apply surface finishing and decorative elements
8. Conduct the final testing
9. Prepare the final design for manufacturing