Category: United States

Implementing Reparations in Asheville, North Carolina

Guest blog written by Bethany Dill, Isabel Mejia Fontanot, Kent Shi, Kerianne DiBattista MLD103, otherwise known as “PDIA in Action”, is a one-of-a-kind experience at HKS. On day one, we were randomly assigned teammates we would spend the next 7 weeks working with and given a problem to focus on. Quickly, we needed to get…Continue Reading Implementing Reparations in Asheville, North Carolina

Formin’ Normin’ and Stormin’ – My IPP Journey Through Pandemics and Hurricanes in Louisiana

Bourbon Street, New Orleans, Louisiana

Guest blog written by Liana Elliott When I began this executive education course – in the middle of a pandemic, while still recovering from a cyberattack – I was expecting to get some dry, Harvard-y lectures and maybe some good business-speak tools, and join the network of HKS practitioners around the world.  I was NOT expecting…Continue Reading Formin’ Normin’ and Stormin’ – My IPP Journey Through Pandemics and Hurricanes in Louisiana

Using the PDIA Toolkit to Help a Nonprofit in Philadelphia

Fishbone Diagram on homelessness and addiction in Philadelphia

Guest blog written by Jamison Hicks The PDIA toolkit has yet again proven to be both useful and effective in providing organizations with the structural means to continually monitor and evaluate programmatic and organizational success. From a usage perspective, even though the toolkit was created in the US, the majority of PDIA blog posts on…Continue Reading Using the PDIA Toolkit to Help a Nonprofit in Philadelphia

PDIA and Coordination Challenges within Government

Government building in Tarrant County, Texas

Guest blog written by Nevena Bosnic, Mehdi El Boukhari, Ama Peiris, Matthew Welchert Over the past seven weeks, our group embarked on the learning journey of problem driven iterative adaptation (PDIA) as it applies to coordination challenges facing the various levels of government as well as civil society in addressing homelessness in Tarrant County, Texas….Continue Reading PDIA and Coordination Challenges within Government

PDIA and Dementia in the Workplace

A woman using a laptop to assist and elderly man sitting next to her

Guest blog written by Tamsir Cham, Andrea Hayes, Fateme Najafi, Aysha Valery Overall, we learned that the PDIA process is about being patient, digging deep into a problem, continuing to iterate, and engaging both the stakeholders and the authorizers.  We also learned how to dig deep into problems.  Digging deep requires discovering the underlying or root causes…Continue Reading PDIA and Dementia in the Workplace

Strengthening Collaboration to Tackle Increasing Homicides in Charlotte, North Carolina

Crime scene tape in front of police cars

Guest blog written by Simone D’Abreu, Smriti Iyer, Sofia Salas, Hafou Toure, Annie White PDIA can simultaneously hold the complexity of being exciting and frustrating; challenging and inspiring; harder and easier than you think. If we could choose one phrase to define PDIA, it would probably be iterative learning. In the next few lines, we…Continue Reading Strengthening Collaboration to Tackle Increasing Homicides in Charlotte, North Carolina

A Reflection on PDIA in Action: Homelessness in Tarrant County

PDIA in Action group team meeting

Guest blog written by Akbar Ahmadzai, Emma Davies, Renzo Lavin, Fernando Marquez Six weeks ago, the class counted off numbers: One, two, three, four, five. Repeat. One, two, three, four, five. Repeat. Some of us were fortunate enough to have been assigned to group 2. Others convinced classmates to switch with them. Regardless of how we…Continue Reading A Reflection on PDIA in Action: Homelessness in Tarrant County

Public Policy Problems are both Inevitable and Approachable

Guest blog written by Doran Moreland I was extremely excited to begin the course, mainly because I was looking forward to the opportunity to approach my problem in new ways. I was also looking for new tools to help measure my progress and present my problem to others to gain outside buy-in. The course certainly…Continue Reading Public Policy Problems are both Inevitable and Approachable

Creating a Workplace Culture of Continuous Learners and Self-Starters in the U.S.

Guest blog written by Theresa Burnett I came to the program thinking I had a good idea about how to make things happen in the workplace. I had some idea of policy implementation and the challenges of government organizations. All that said, I learned that I did NOT have an organized, step-by-step approach to address…Continue Reading Creating a Workplace Culture of Continuous Learners and Self-Starters in the U.S.