It can be particularly hard to solve a problem that you’ve experienced for some time. In public services there might be a shortage of innovation or inspiration from other organisations. So it’s useful to look at very different services to understand what they do well, and what you can learn from them.

Lightning demos can help a team develop a shared idea of what good looks like. By taking examples they aren’t necessarily used to (or haven’t studied in detail) it can trigger a set of ideas that can be applied to the task.

Make a list

Ask everyone on your team to come up with a list of products or services to review. These should be inspirational. Remind people to think outside of local government

Give a demo

Each person who suggested a product or service should give a brief presentation to the whole team, showing what’s good about it.

Capture big ideas

Write on the whiteboard the big ideas behind the products that might be useful. Make a quick sketch of that inspiring component, write a simple headline above it and note the source underneath.

When set alongside your map, you’ve now got:

• an initial area of focus,
• insights about what matters most, what we already know, and what constraints we face
• external stimuli - what does a great product or service look like?