Rani Ghazzaoui Interviews: Steve Hicks, NSW Department of Education

Steve Hicks, personal archive.

Malala Yousafzai once said: "One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world". It has become impossible, in recent years, not to discuss education, innovation and how the world is changing rapidly around us. Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing the Practice Lead for Business Analysis in the NSW Department of Education, Steve Hicks.

RG - Hello Steve. Thanks for talking with me. Could you start by telling my readers a little about yourself? SH - My name is Steve. By day I work as a business analyst and project manager in a large government department. After hours, I produce (mostly) electronic music under the name The Audio Snorkel. I won an Aria Award in 2017 for the lowest selling album of the year!

RG - What you do for work, Steve? SH - I've worked in various IT roles for the past 20 years. Currently, I'm the Practice Lead for Business Analysis within the NSW Department of Education's IT Department.

RG - In your opinion, why is innovation important in your field of work? SH - Being a government agency, the Department of Education is in the business of providing teaching and learning services to the children of New South Wales. Applying technology to enhance and support teaching and learning is integral to the success of this mission. As technology is changing so quickly, it is important for us to stay abreast of these changes and to innovate new ways to integrate the tech into service provision. A high-quality service provision depends on our ability to design services that synthesise technology with teaching practice.

RG - When was the first time you heard about Design Thinking? SH - I've been hearing about Design Thinking for the past year or so. Within NSW government it is a growing area of interest and as a practising business analyst and service designer, I'm very keen to learn more about emerging trends in the field.

RG - You have recently attended a Design Thinking course. How do you think the knowledge you brought back to your company can positively impact your industry? SH - Our new strategic plan emphasises the importance of placing the student at the centre of everything we do. This implies designing services that meet evidence-based needs of students. The skills I've learned on the two courses I attended will be directly relevant to achieving that goal.

RG - What were your biggest learnings whilst practising this new method? SH - The course was very hands on. You apply the techniques to an actual challenge. I liked that we went through the double diamond several times over the week to reinforce each stage of the process. I also like the process of testing your assumptions, insights and prototypes by questioning real customers.

RG - Are there any projects in which you have applied Design Thinking or Service Design methodologies? SH - I'm currently working on a solution for the online enrolment of children into NSW public schools. It's a digital transformation initiative and the team is using Design Thinking. We're working in partnership with the Department of Finance, Services and Industry's Digital Accelerator team who are DT specialists.

RG - What pearls of wisdom would you share with someone who is starting their innovation journey through Design Thinking? SH - The Echos courses are a great introduction to Design Thinking, but it's great if you can find a way to partner with DT specialists* on your first few major projects after completing the course. It's a whole new way of building services and there's a lot to get your head around so an experienced guide is invaluable. Another approach is to start small and build through experience.

RG - Anything else you’d like to share? SH - The courses are based on kinesthetic learning (learning by doing). They're very hands-on and practical. This makes them quite engaging and helps to cement the learning in a practical context.

RG - Thanks for all the insight, Steve! To finalise, could you share a quote that inspires you? SH - "Men plan and the gods laugh." Design Thinking is a good mitigation against this risk as you keep testing and trimming and reshaping based on feedback as you go along.

(This article was first published at Desired, The Blog on July 24th, 2018).