About this blog

Ramblings, thoughts, facts and opinions about political things - starting point council tenant participation with my land-lord Camden council and council tenant reps plus other housing issues, and whatever.


NOTE: I believe this account has been illegally hacked. Little clues have been left for me. They like playing games.

Sunday 15 March 2020

Systems Thinking in Local Government

Housing Management Performance Page HERE



Systems Thinking - The Vanguard Method [ST-VM]

What is Systems Thinking - the Vanguard Method  [ST-VM] ? I don't really know but am trying to read up on it to get a basic understanding. Its been around for a while and various councils have been using it, reportedly with good or even outstanding results.

Some information about ST-VM can be found at the below links:

9 Feb 2020
https://localgovernmentutopia.com/category/systems-thinking/
Some interesting points made by someone who seems to know a lot more about the Vanguard Method than I do.

15 May 2015
https://www.local.gov.uk/systems-thinking-methodology-improve-services-and-reduce-cost

2014
https://locality.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Locality-Report-Diseconomies-updated-single-pages-Jan-2017.pdf
excerpts from Forward
" As the report sets out, far too many public service systems ‘assess rather than understand; transact rather than build relationships; refer on rather than take responsibility; prescribe packages of activity rather than take the time to understand what improves a life’. The result is that the problems people face are not resolved, that public services generate ever more ‘failure demand’, that resources are diverted to unproductive ends, and that costs are driven ever upwards."

"Our report sets out an alternative strategy. We propose that public services should be ‘local by default’, that they should help people help themselves, that they should focus on underlying purpose rather than outcome, that they should manage value not cost."

Feb 2012
http://www.parliament.scot/S4_LocalGovernmentandRegenerationCommittee/Inquiries/Vanguard_Consulting.pdf

Jan 2010
https://www.audit.wales/system/files/publications/Lean_and_Systems_Thinking_in_the_public_sector_English_2010.pdf
pg 8 "Command and control is defined as “regulation by management, with its battery of computer and other informational aids … where decision-making is distant from the work and based on abstracted measures, budgets and plans” (Seddon and Caulkin 2007).

Systems thinking emphasises not just ‘wholeness’, but also the ‘thinking of the system’ (i.e. that of the managers and workers within a system) which needs to change in order for the system to be able to improve. Figure 1 shows some of the key differences between the two approaches."

pg 17 "Simply put, attempts to improve the efficiency of the service flow without understanding the often high percentage of preventable demand will lead to designing a process which is both ineffective and inefficient."

update Sunday 5 April 2020
I've read a little about ST but I can't find what it is exactly ie a step by step guide to how it is implemented. I may still come across such a Guide/Instructions and will let my 'billions of trillions' of readers know.

A Camden Councils Housing officers report from 2017 HERE  Systems Thinking Review of Landlord Services.  I think it may be fair to say that even senior housing officers haven't a clue how its supposed to be implemented - but don't tell anyone.


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