Some recent developments and articles of interest:

• The Centre for Excellence in Public Sector Design is hosting a ‘show and tell’ event with sharing from the Brisbane design firm Tough Problem, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and from Jane Treadwell, CEO of the Centre. The event is on Wednesday in Canberra and you can register at Eventbrite
• Waiting to be told that you can innovate? Tim Kastelle has some mixed news for you. ”You can’t wait for permission to innovate – you’ll never get it. You need to start changing things on your own – right now.”¹
• Nesta have released a report looking at how (the UK’s) businesses, charities, government, and financial system can make the most of crowdfunding
• Efficiency is good – but can it be too good? Casey Haksins and Peter Sims argues that too much efficiency can be dangerous for organisations. “However, in complex systems, where most decisions are made locally instead of centrally, and where outside forces affect things in often-unexpected ways, both problems and solutions have a disconcerting tendency to evolve. An organization where everyone does the same things in the same way — an efficient organization, in other words — is often ill-equipped to adapt to a changing world.”²
• Want to change the culture of an organisation? Then stop trying to change the culture. Robert Schaffer advocates focussing on starting small. “We’ve found that managers get better results when they start with a few smaller successes, which then provide a basis for expanding. Start with one problem — or a few. Get some people to plan a couple of modest experiments to make progress on that issue, with guidance on the kinds of innovation you’d like to see. Build in some learning on the cultural issues that need to change. Try it out. Pay careful attention to what works and how. Incorporate the successful ideas into subsequent steps.”

As always, please feel free to identify any other recent developments or articles of interest in the comments below.