A policy lab government could actually run.

Stage reached: A four-phase lab kit and competency framework delivered.

Policy was still a paper thrown over a wall. Design lived in services. The two had not been given a room they could share.

The situation

A state government knew policy had to become more adaptive — closer to the people it affected, able to be prototyped, not only drafted. The default was still consultations, handoffs, and a document. Service design existed. It had not been installed in policy.

What we did

A four-phase lab for NSW. Call sheets, screenplays, visual guides, journey maps. A competency frame for public problem-solving so the practice could outlive the facilitators. Pia Andrews held the lab from inside government. Years later we wrote The Policy Playbook together — the method, written down. That book is lineage. It is not the lab’s deliverable.

What changed

Policy had a designed room, not just a drafting process. A kit meant the next team could run it without importing the same outsiders.

The evidence and status

Four phases. Screenplays, reports, journey maps, and a competency frame for public problem-solving. The kit was the deliverable.

The pattern

If policy is still a paper that gets thrown over the wall, a workshop will not fix it. Design a lab the department can run, and leave the frame.