Childcare centre

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How might we create a childcare centre that supports female staff and students with young children to return to and continue work?

The gist

Science thrives on diverse ideas, but it has a problem. Women have made up the majority of biology undergraduates for decades, but progress towards parity at senior levels has been glacial. We know that participation drops at the postdoctoral level when pressure to build a professional profile competes with family caring responsibilities. The Walter and Eliza Hall institute is building an on-site Early Childhood Education Centre (ECEC) to encourage parents to return to work earlier, and make the juggle of work and family commitments easier to manage.

I was invited onto the project team to provide a design thinking perspective on the process of setting up an ECEC. My work clarified questions around how this unique audience approached childcare, and the intersection between family and work.

Key skills used:
* Research planning and implementation (problem definition, identification of stakeholders, research scope and objectives, identification of risks and assumptions, interview question construction)
* Interviewee recruitment (chain sampling)
* Qualitative research (contextual enquiry)
* Research analysis and synthesis (affinity mapping, insight development, objective prioritisation)
* Research reporting and presentation (journey mapping and executive report)
* Workshop design
* Project planning and reporting
* Stakeholder management (team liason)

Process

There was a lot at stake for this project, so I lined up two external, experienced design mentors to help me through the process. I drew up a project proposal to scope how and where service design would fit into and contribute to the wider ECEC project plan. I would be conducting qualitative stakeholder research to supplement findings from an earlier quantitative survey of institute staff and students. I would synthesise those findings into insights and recommendations to inform external consultant briefs and any internal design workshops the institute elected to have. Finally, I would create visual tools to communicate those findings and any solutions developed to stakeholders.

Scoping out project stakeholders and stating initial knowledge and assumptions upfront.

I accompanied the project team on visits to two ECEC providers, reviewed the quantitative survey findings and read reports on similar organisation sponsored ECEC projects to understand the current situation. I planned and conducted semi-structured one-on-one interviews with Institute staff and students, their partner and children (if available) at their home or in their workspace. I recruited the participants myself, based on their own interest and demographic information provided in the quantitative survey. As I was the only interviewer, I obtained permission from each interviewee to record the sessions. I felt a great sense of achievement when a visibly shy participant entrusted me with very personal information during an interview.

My final interview question provided participants with drawing materials, lego or playdough to create their ‘perfect’ childcare centre. I observed and encouraged them to talk out their process in order to understand their values and motivators.

I synthesised my research observations and learnings using affinity maps. I identified the key insights relating to each theme, then prioritised them according to their contribution towards gender equity and project success. On advice from my mentors, I illustrated each theme and picked out a relevant direct user quote. I presented my findings to the project team in person, and in a written report to the project steering committee my team reported to. We learnt that providing childcare didn’t just make it easier to return to work, it also made balancing work and family more possible. “Having childcare at work would probably add an extra hour onto every work day"

A section of the findings mapped into affinity themes and distilled into insights. These were displayed on boards for transport to the project team meeting.

Illustrated insights, prioritised by importance to project objectives.

I discovered at this stage that I had not developed support within the team to continue with my original proposed project scope. In hindsight, I can now see my explanations had failed to develop a deep understanding in my colleagues of the value my work brought to their efforts. My proposals did not adequately counter their concerns about the risks of staff unrest and the time commitment required. If I were to do this project over, I would have put more emphasis on informally interviewing my team members and senior stakeholders to ascertain their values and barriers. I would also communicate more deeply with my team members to ensure we were all on the same page about my contributions.

The solution

Pivoting from the original project proposal, I presented a single insight from my research that was relevant to another department in the organisation. I introduced them to the journey of a single, key persona and talked about some of the barriers this user experienced in the current system. On this department’s encouragement, I drew up a proposed co-design workshop to explore the opportunity, including an agenda, timings, objectives, potential participants and expected outcomes. The team are supportive of the initiative and considering when to schedule this project in their work plan.

Storyboarding a parent’s return to work journey

I benefited from the opportunity to research users and synthesise insights with visual tools on a real business concern. I also developed my understanding of how to negotiate buy in and explain the design process to team members.