Design Thinking for the Greater Good

by Jeanne Liedtka

  The TSA story is much more than a lesson in social media use. It is a story about bringing technological capabilities and human-centered insights together to attempt the almost impossible: build a relationship of trust and cooperation amid threats of violence and terror and do so in the spotlight of constant scrutiny and critique. It is a story of having the courage to initiate a conversation that may not be pleasant and the resolve to learn from both the good news and the bad.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Making Innovation Safe at MasAgro

  THE CHALLENGE TO THE GREATER GOOD

  What if stakeholders targeted by a design effort are afraid or reluctant to change? Often, especially in the social sector, working toward a greater good involves inducing people to alter their behaviors—to adopt healthier lifestyles, prepare more carefully for air travel, or stay in high school instead of dropping out. But innovators, who are advocates for change, regularly underestimate human resistance to it and are surprised when their obviously “superior” solutions fail to be embraced by stakeholders. Deferring consideration of the challenges of inducing humans to change their behaviors is tempting—especially among the Geoffreys of the world—but yields predictably negative consequences.

  DESIGN THINKING’S CONTRIBUTION

  Design thinking insists that we construct a clear and compelling case for an altered future as part of the process, not as an afterthought, and provides powerful tools, like prototyping, co-creation, and experimentation, to accomplish this, as the story of MasAgro illustrates. MasAgro is a partnership between the Mexican government and agricultural groups that works with local farming communities to bridge the gap between farmers and research scientists and to encourage the adoption of sustainable modern agricultural methods. But subsistence farmers’ entire livelihoods can rely on each year’s crop, and they are understandably loath to risk abandoning tried-and-true traditional methods for new ones, even ones aimed at raising their income. MasAgro uses respected community leaders and local hubs to create compelling prototypes and experiments that demonstrate results. They offer testimony to design thinking’s ability to reassure stakeholders reluctant to embrace new ideas.

  What if we build it and they don’t come? Attempts to introduce innovation—particularly practices that challenge long-standing approaches rooted in tradition—have an uneven track record in the developing world. MasAgro, an effort arising out of a partnership between Mexico’s agriculture ministry and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (abbreviated CIMMYT from the Spanish), is a dramatic exception. In this instance, a national government has directed the funding for a major initiative through an international nongovernmental organization because it perceives it as a way to gain more bang for the buck. More than 40 percent of participating farmers have adopted at least one MasAgro innovation—an extraordinary rate of success. Starting with a blank slate, MasAgro has designed a powerfully aligned set of elements and works in full consultation with its stakeholders, all with a goal of helping farmers increase crop yields in ways that improve their livelihood but do not contribute to climate change.

  MasAgro brings together national and international organizations that partner with members of the entire agricultural value chain to practice conservation agriculture, an approach to farming that aims to improve soil management in order to achieve higher crop yields as well as long-term environmental sustainability—which results in greater long-term profitability. Often, farmers in Mexico lack access to modern agricultural technologies. MasAgro aims to help them increase their income by combining improved farming practices with high-yield varietal crops that do not negatively impact the environment or contribute to climate change. MasAgro also helps with postharvest farm-related activities.

  MasAgro’s director, Huntington (Hunt) Hobbs, found his calling serendipitously when he was a student at the Darden School of Business. Hunt’s comments in an agribusiness class reflected an understanding of context in developing countries that impressed a group of class visitors. Shortly thereafter, he received a handwritten invitation, mailed from the Philippines, to join the CIMMYT team in Mexico. Hunt accepted the offer and found his passion: the desire to have an impact on feeding the world and helping the poor, small-scale farmer.

  ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL MAIZE AND WHEAT IMPROVEMENT CENTER

  The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center grew out of a pilot program sponsored by the Mexican government and the Rockefeller Foundation in the 1940s and 1950s, to raise Mexico’s farm productivity. Headquartered in Mexico but with offices throughout the developing world, CIMMYT’s mission is to reduce poverty and hunger by sustainably increasing the productivity of maize and wheat cropping systems. Best known for work in the Green Revolution, it has developed initiatives that have led to the widespread adoption of improved crop varieties and farming practices. These initiatives, led by CIMMYT biologist Norman Borlaug, who was awarded the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize, have been credited with saving millions of lives across Asia (some say more than a billion). Today, building on Borlaug’s work and legacy, CIMMYT is focused on providing affordable maize and wheat to the poor in the context of today’s challenges, which include rising demand for food, climate change, and the desire for a healthier environment.

  Also leading the innovation charge is Carolina Camacho Villa. Carolina is a principal researcher in the socioeconomics program of CIMMYT and works for MasAgro. She completed her PhD thesis after living in an indigenous community for a year in Chiapas, in the south of Mexico. Carolina understands firsthand the value of deep immersion and the importance of adapting to local contexts.

  The MasAgro story is a lesson in experimentation through collaboration, community building, and change management. One of the strengths of MasAgro is its constant science-based experimentation to learn and improve (rapid prototyping in design thinking language). MasAgro works with all farmers, and many of the areas they serve are remote. The nature of the farming zones can vary from temperate mountainous to flat coastal areas and from humid tropics to semiarid zones. This variation also makes it challenging to scale practices and requires experiments to ensure adaptation to local needs. The farmers themselves can be very different from each other. Some have limited literacy skills or speak only a local dialect. Hunt described sitting in a room full of farmers, where several had laptop computers while others were illiterate.

  Elements of the design thinking process can be seen throughout MasAgro’s approach. Although MasAgro has a long history of working with farmers, their user-centered methodology starts with research and discovery, paying significant attention to What is. Having developed this knowledge, they design What if experiments based on the interests and needs expressed by locals. Research workers collaborate with innovative local farmer leaders to assess What wows. Then, through experimentation and iterative prototyping, they refine technologies as they apply to local conditions in What works. The learning is shared with the community and the research center. Over time, the farm leaders decide what works best and share it with other locals, offering them the opportunity to follow suit.

  A Three-Part System for Learning and Experimentation

  MasAgro’s goal is the adoption of good farming practices through adaptation to local farming needs. With that goal in mind, they set up a network, which they call a hub, where new maize and wheat technologies are developed, tested, and transferred. Hunt described how the hub works:

  MasAgro employs cutting-edge scientific teams to develop better seeds, machines, and innovative approaches. At the same time, we scan for potential needs which may benefit from technological solutions. We then select a set of promising innovations, in this case for Mexico. Next, we take these “best bets” and test them in fields in the region we are seeking to serve; these “platforms” could be land lent to test that is owned by a university, a private sector company, or an NGO [nongovernmental organization]. A committee of informed local farmers selects the bets to move forward and reviews the results, identifying the b
ets of most potential interest, which are often fine-tuned based on what we learn, and go through another season of testing, sometimes again and again.

  The selected innovation is not always a technology; it can be a new practice such as spacing between rows, or the planting date, or when to weed. It is then tested in “modules.” A module is where the farmer uses the innovation on half of their field and follows current practice on the other half. Farmers choose which modules they want to test. Finally, local farmers are brought to the modules. The participating farmers and technicians describe what is being tested and the emerging results.

  Together, the platforms, modules, technical support staff, and advisory form the network hub within which all MasAgro initiatives happen. Participating farmers then adjust as they decide what to adopt in their own fields.

  The hub is designed to test, validate, and scale practices using six MasAgro technologies. The hub not only showcases proven MasAgro technologies but also serves as an experimental space for adaptation to local needs. Local farmers are offered an array of options, ranging from seed varieties, types of fertilization, conservation, and postharvest techniques to diversification and access to new markets, and can select those that are of greatest interest for testing. The selected MasAgro technologies are then placed into experimental platforms to adjust and refine the technologies for local conditions. The technologies are designed to sustain agriculture by maintaining and/or improving the quality of the land, conserving water, and ensuring the quality of the crops.

  MASAGRO’S SIX TECHNOLOGIES

  1. Appropriate varieties or types of maize (for example, yellow or multicolored), wheat, and other crops (ideal varieties for local conditions)

  2. Diagnostic tools to measure soil fertility, emphasizing nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium

  3. Fertilization techniques

  4. Conservation agriculture (including crop rotation and the protection of soil) for best adaptation to climate change

  5. Diversification and access to new markets

  6. Postharvest technologies, such as steel silos designed to protect the harvest

  Diagram of the hub system. Source: MasAgro.

  Parts of the Hub

  In the hub system, the experimental plots of land allow for investigation and experimentation in conjunction with local farmers. The aim is to generate knowledge, data, and information, driven by the interest of local farmers in specific technologies. The advisory committee of farmers works with a team of collaborators from universities, government organizations, church groups, and nongovernmental organizations, including MasAgro’s certified technicians and scientific workers, to establish needs and experiment with options in a space where farmers can easily compare the yields of traditional and more scientific farming. This collaboration allows MasAgro to learn and adapt to local conditions and needs, including agricultural and ecological needs and technical, economic, and environmental factors. Members of the local farmer advisory committee, along with innovative local farmers, decide which technologies or practices they want to try, and they help to evaluate the results of the experiment. These local farmers are often community leaders, who then share their knowledge with others in the hub.

  The modules in the hub system are farmers’ plots of land, which allow for side-by-side comparison of innovation and control plots. Control plots use conventional farming techniques, while innovation plots use one or more of the six MasAgro technologies. Local farmers volunteer to plant a module, and they choose which of the six technologies they want to try. This arrangement allows for experimentation with new technologies but also adaptation to local needs and conditions. A MasAgro technician will listen, to understand local needs, and follow with diagnostic tests. Often, the farmer and technician negotiate how to proceed with the crops.

  The experiment allows for learning on both sides and tweaking of proven methods. Logbooks are used to track the process and results. In other words, the experimental modules allow farmers and technicians to hypothesize about and test potential solutions and then feed the results back into a common knowledge base. As Carolina shared:

  In place of offering a package [a predetermined solution], which beforehand was very common, now it’s a portfolio of options in which, depending on the type of farmer, he will select the kind of technology that will fit for adoption and adaptation.

  Carolina explained that the hubs engender cooperation among farmers, trainees, and researchers. This type of user involvement and interaction, in design thinking language, is called co-creation.

  The final part of the hub, the area of extension, is land on which the farmer is no longer experimenting but has actively embraced one or more of the MasAgro technologies. These plots also serve as visual models for the entire local community. When the crop is harvested, neighboring farmers are invited to see the difference that the new technology made. The local farmer and supporting technician will compare the old and the new practice and describe the use of the technology.

  The farming community comes together in annual hub meetings to discuss and assess issues, potential solutions, and performance. At these meetings, the stakeholders, including farmers from different regions, discuss the main regional difficulties and how they might be addressed. The pioneering farmers who try potential solutions on their own land (the modules) are ultimately solving regional challenges, and their modules showcase the results. Hub meetings serve as an important forum for sharing and feedback.

  How the Hub Works

  The hub system serves as a space for research and discovery at the front end of the process and for the development of possible concept solutions and experiments at the back end. Through collaboration and over time, the hub allows MasAgro to iteratively adapt the technologies that are working locally. MasAgro currently has hubs across all the regions of Mexico, with more than 450 modules.

  One example comes from Oaxaca, a state in southern Mexico known for its indigenous cultures. Oaxaca is the poorest state in Mexico; daily farmer income might be $2.50. In its mountainous areas, farmers farm on inclines so steep that they tie ropes around their waists while working. Many are subsistence farmers whose livelihood, and likely the family’s food supply, depends on the success of their crops.

  Imagine if you were to approach such a farmer with a handful of seeds, saying that the seeds would increase the farmer’s crop or income. Because the loss of a single crop would mean devastation for the farmer’s family, those new seeds are not a risk easily taken. However, the hub system allows a farmer to visualize the new technology in action, grown under local conditions, rather than relying on abstract arguments about its scientific superiority.

  DESIGN TOOL: CO-CREATION

  Enlisting users to help you modify, enhance, or choose among a portfolio of concepts, rather than waiting until a concept is fully developed to present it to them, is called co-creation, in design thinking language. If you want your innovations to be meaningful, you need to invite into your process the people who will use them. In a world where we are used to being the “experts,” yielding this role to our stakeholders may make us uncomfortable. But innovation is about learning, and stakeholders have the most to teach us. The sooner you put options in front of them to react to, the faster you’ll get to a value-added solution.

  Visualization, as we have seen in other stories, serves multiple important purposes. Early in the design thinking process, it is a tool to encourage discussion and dialogue. Later in the process, it expedites the testing of assumptions through prototyping and refinement. Eventually, it becomes a tool for making the vision a reality. The experimental plots and side-by-side modules are, in fact, three-dimensional visualizations that first allow a conversation to take place. The conversation helps both the farmers and the research workers learn how to adapt to the local environment. Their resulting experiments produce results that inform the next round of planting.

  For example, farmers might choose to experiment with a different type of seed or with fert
ilization. In a dry region, they might experiment with drought-resistant varieties. Alternatively, they might engage in conservation agriculture and conserve soil by leaving behind crop residues to protect the soil from being blown away and to add moisture-retaining texture to the soil. If a farmer requires the crop residue to feed animals, an alternative that might meet both needs would be a seed that produces many leaves along with the maize.

  Some results take longer than others to show, but when farmers can see the results on the experimental plots of land or can see what other farmers adopt on their own land (in the side-by-side modules or the extension areas), they are encouraged to follow suit. As Hunt explained, “It is often when they see with their own eyes the difference that a technology can make that their interest is then captured.” With the stakes so high, providing results that farmers can see for themselves, tailored to local conditions, is critical.

  What we learn from best practices in design thinking is that successful prototyping starts with the quickest and simplest prototype that you can design. A technician might start a relationship with a farmer by offering a small sample of seed, such as a five-kilogram bag that will grow just a few rows of crops. If interested, the farmer will start a discussion with the technician. Starting with a small experimental plot, the testing eventually builds up to a small farm. Next, farm by farm, the area of extension is expanded. Through successive iterations, co-creators can learn and refine their solutions. Each prototype, in this case each plot of land, allows for better performance the next time. The hubs serve to visually tell a story and to cut through communication barriers, allowing MasAgro and the farmers to combine the old and the new into best practices that serve local farmers and communities’ unique needs.