Quick EW1 summary (ICYMI)
Experimentation Works (EW) is an initiative meant to build public servants’ capacity in experimentation skills and practice through a unique learning-by-doing model that supports and showcases small-scale experiments in the open. Led by the Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada (TBS) and governed by an interdepartmental Assistant Deputy Minister Committee on Experimentation, which consists of senior management executives from across 16 departments and agencies, EW is a concrete response to the Government of Canada’s mandate to test new approaches to learn what works and what does not work using a rigorous method, aiming to reinforce capacity within departments.
A first cohort launched April 2018 and included 4 experimental projects from 3 departments (Natural Resources Canada, Health Canada, and Canadian Heritage) and was supported by 10 experimentation experts from 5 departments (Canada Revenue Agency; National Research Council; Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada; Natural Resources Canada; and Employment and Social Development Canada).
The experimental projects — meant to be designed, implemented and reported on within a year — were proposed to TBS by teams looking for rigorous answers to questions of relevance for their program area. Project leads were matched with experimentation experts, which provided teams with access to technical expertise throughout their project.
The EW cohort benefited from a collaborative environment involving 100+ individuals from across various Government of Canada communities of practice interested in experimentation. From informal interactions between project teams and experts to learning events and blog posts, there were multiple occasions to present findings, discuss challenges, share lessons and insights on experimentation in a public sector context. We have seen 20+ blog posts from EW projects teams and experts documenting their experimentation challenges, lessons and insights in real time, and we hosted 10 EW learning events on a wide range of experimentation-related topics.
While the Innovation and Experimentation Team within TBS oversaw the projects and provided guidance to project teams, result ownership and responsibility stayed with individual teams. More information on each project can be found on the EW blog.
Post by TBS EW team: Dan Monafu, Terhas Ghebretecle, Pierre-Olivier Bedard
Article également disponible en français ici: https://medium.com/@exp_oeuvre
