Insights | Articles | Quick notes
Field notes.
Articles, case studies and working notes from inside the Labs. Written by the team — for practitioners making change hold up in the real world.
All articles
LabResearchThe system was never designed to remember
We still open most initiatives with a blank board. Not for lack of talent, but because we built a way of working that struggles to remember what we already know. The encouraging part is that, for the first time, that looks fixable.
Jon Maher3 Jun 20267 min read
ArticleResearchWhat synthetic users are actually good for
Most arguments about synthetic users ask whether AI can stand in for real research. It cannot, and we never use it that way. The more useful question is what these personas are quietly brilliant at instead.
Jon Maher24 Apr 20265 min read
Quick notesExperimentExperiment or pilot? It matters more than you think
Are you doing an experiment or a pilot? Do you know the difference? The two terms get used interchangeably, but they really shouldn't
Jon Maher3 Apr 20263 min read
Quick notesEfficiency is a measure, not a mission
Efficiency can feel like the safe, obvious goal, the one choice that needs no justification. It isn't. Pursued blindly, it reshapes a service as much as any other change, only faster, and it can do as much harm.
Jon Maher23 Mar 20263 min read
LabRetrofitInside the Retrofit Policy Lab
Retrofit policy in the UK has been built on a belief that people act on numbers. The Retrofit Policy Lab was set up to test what they actually act on.
James Johnson12 Mar 20262 min read