Co-creation

What is it?

Co-creation is most commonly used in the planning and development of ideas. It can be used as a user engagement tool at different phases of the research, development and implementation process. You may use co-creation to gather insights, improve an idea, evaluate a prototype or align on an implementation plan.

Purpose of co-creation

Co-creation is most commonly used in the planning and development of ideas. It can be used as a user engagement tool at different phases of the research, development, and implementation process. You may use co-creation to gather insights, improve an idea, evaluate a prototype, or align on an implementation plan.

Co-creation follows some key principles, including:

• Creating with, not for: allows for true collaboration between governments, end-users and organizations.
• Openness to new, innovative ideas: hearing the users and stakeholders to encourage innovative ideas for policies and services without getting stuck on feasibility.
• Moving beyond thinking: allows building and bringing ideas to life so that they can be rapidly tested and iterated.
• Engaging stakeholders: aligns and inspires participants on a problem space and possible solutions, reach a consensus around the user perspective, and get buy-in.

As a research tool, co-creation can be highly valuable as it is a great opportunity to hear anecdotes about user experiences, as well as getting a clear picture of preferences and pain points. These insights, while directional, can help reframe a problem space. Similarly, participating in a session that involves cross-ministry teams or multiple organizations often provides an opportunity to hear about how stakeholders approach the problem.

Planning your co-creation sessions

Defining your objectives and participants

• Session’s objectives: Identify what is the need or opportunity you are addressing. Often this will be defined from the research and the identification of opportunity areas.
• Participants: Consider who is using the service your ministry provides, or who will be impacted by the policy you’re making. Reach out to individual citizens, community organizations, businesses and any other relevant groups.
• Outcomes: Define the outputs you are expecting from the session (for example, high fidelity digital prototypes, low fidelity prototypes, service blueprints, etc.), while keeping in mind the next steps of your project.

Determine flow and experience (inputs and outputs)

As you are planning a co-creation session, start by defining from start to end, an overall flow for the session. This helps to think broadly about the workshop outputs and the experience you are taking your participants through before jumping to the activities.

• Inputs/outputs: Define what your inputs when starting the session (insights from user interviews, usability testing sessions, guerrilla testing, etc.), and outputs when you end the session (high fidelity digital prototypes, low fidelity prototypes, service blueprints, etc.)
• Session’s flow: Identify what you would like to get out of the session. You may want to organize around generating ideas, evaluating ideas, clustering ideas, or prioritizing ideas.
• Estimate time: Estimate the time you spend one each session.
• Schedule your sessions: Consider developing an agenda to encompass an introduction, warm-ups, breaks (every 90-120 minutes) and a wrap-up.
• Example of co-creation session: You may refer to a sample guide of how a co-creation session can be arranged.

Design activities & templates

Based on the flow of your session, the intention and outcomes of each phase, you can determine your co-creation activities. A lot of resources are available online to help you find the right activities (for example, designkit.org, gamestorming.com). Activities might include:

• analogues analysis
• card sorting
• dot voting
• 5 whys
• prototyping
• storyboarding
• elevator pitch

As you are defining and detailing your activities, keep in mind:

• Context: Consider what your participants need to know to successfully complete your activity. You can ask yourself “What is the main purpose of this activity?”, “What might participants need to know on the product, program, service, or policy, to comfortably engage in the activities?”
• Group dynamic: Plan for a mix of group and individual activities to allow for consensus and share-backs as well as independent work for quieter participants to capture their thoughts.
• Fast vs. slow pace: Alternate fast paced activities and slower activities to keep your participants engaged. It will also prevent you from getting stuck on details that might not matter in the context of the session.
• Templates vs. facilitation-based activity: Consider your group size, facilitators availability and what needs to be captured on paper. Pick a diversity of appropriate template-based (audience participation) and discussion-based (facilitators moderating and taking notes) activities./li>
• Closing: For the last activity of your session, leave your participants on a high note by planning for an activity that will provide them with a sense of accomplishments and teamwork (for example, presentations).

Once you have plotted out all of the details, a good practise is to organize a dry run with your facilitators to get their feedback on the flow of your co-creation session. Walk through the entire session, putting yourself in the shoes of your participants and look out for transitions, tiredness, timing and activity outputs.

Plan the logistics

• Recruitment: Make sure you have the right voices around the table. Ask yourself “who might be impacted by the solutions we are creating?”, “Who might be involved in implementing them?” Look for individuals that will be comfortable in generating ideas and working as a team when recruiting. Conduct a short 15-20 min call with every prospective participant as part of the screening process.
• Location: Work with event planners to book location, catering and room layout. Plan the seating chart and think about group dynamics. Look for a large room with configurable tables. If your group is more than 20–30 people, plan to use breakout rooms.
• Printing: Co-creation activities often require printing in advance. Make sure to account for turnaround time on any prints (large and small scale).
• Facilitators: Plan for the right number of facilitators. Rule of thumb is one facilitator per group of 5–6 participants. Have a timekeeper that will make sure all the groups are on track and that the session runs smoothly.

Tools for co-creation

To ensure a successful co-creation session, there are some key tools that you can use:

• Facilitation guide: The facilitation guide is a document that outlines the entire day, providing facilitators with a detailed breakdown of the activities (overarching goal, expected outcomes, grouping, timing, steps, and materials).
• Templates: Templates are what will guide your participants through the different activities. They need to be simple, self-explanatory, and provide participants with enough space to capture their thoughts.
• Research readout: The research readouts allows your participants to refer back to key information or insight they might need to comfortably engage in your activities. It might be posters, handouts, or slides.
• Thank you note: Thank you emails or letters provide participants with a sense of accomplishment.
• Survey: Post-workshop surveys can gather useful feedback for future sessions.