The Shift Lab 2.0 Journey

We chose to conduct the lab over several weekend intervals, known as sprints, for a number of reasons, including feasibility, participation, and logistics. Transportation and childcare were also factored in to enable broader participation.

The Triple Helix In Action: The Sprints

Each design sprint started with a grounding activity, typically Indigenous focussed, to intellectually and emotionally centre the participants. The opportunity to Indigenize the design sprints was essential to their effectiveness. Indeed, it’s what grounds the work of the Shift Lab in Edmonton and Treaty 6 Territory. Under Jodi’s tutelage, each sprint featured Indigenous-themed activities, foods and speakers, including local/regional elders and wisdom keepers, political representatives, educators, activists, drummers and business people.

This was followed by sharing food and relationship building. A participant observer (witness) was invited to provide feedback on group dynamics throughout each weekend, and invited to share anonymous feedback with the team. Feedback from each sprint was considered and iterated into each successive sprint. Sprints were structured as three-day intensive working sessions, starting on Friday evenings with relationship building activities and a shared meal and finishing by Sunday afternoon with a debriefing session to allow participants to close the weekend.

While no sprint is identical, each followed a similar structure, combining three elements from Shift Lab 1.0: Grounding Days, Workshops and Campfires (see below). As much as possible, each design sprint embodied our Triple Helix of Design Thinking, Systems Thinking and Indigenous Epistemologies.

• Grounding Days made space to think deeply about the topic at hand, usually started by an Indigenous custom, practice or observation as assisted by Jodi and Elders.

• Workshops reflecting an exploration of the humancentred design process from a solutions-oriented narrative.

• Campfire exercises provided emotional on- and offramps into the topic, with often deeply emotional experiences shared alongside problem-oriented analyses.

Sprint 1: March 1-3, 2019 ECF and Skills Action Lab

Getting to know one another; relationship building; Indigenous practices of locating ourselves, which includes the sharing of where we come from, who our ancestors are, and our purpose; setting up the team for ethnographic research to explore their Challenge Briefs.

Sprint 2: April 5-7, 2019 Skills Action Lab

Indigenous speaker panel about Treaty; ethnographic research shareback; adaptive cycle/nemesis; open space for team members to share their skills and insights to support our work together.

Sprint 3: May 31-June 2, 2019 Skills Action Lab

Elder circle; cultural teachings and medicine wheel; COM-B; evaluation; ideation; landing on prototype ideas.

Sprint 4: July 12-14, 2019 Yorath House

Berry picking; land-based practices; circle work exploring power relations; getting ready for field testing; prototype presentations/pitches.

September 15-16, 2019 Banff Centre

Stewards sifted through Core Team feedback, envisioned how prototypes could be launched and determined future aspects of the Lab. Started to develop an indigenous evaluation tool.

October 25, 2019 Norquest

Each team presented their prototypes to potential partners and funders from the community.