written by Salimah Samji We often get asked the question “why do you need to use PDIA for a problem that we already know how to solve?” The answer is simple. You don’t. If people have already crawled the design space and figured out how to solve a type of problem, then by all means,…Continue Reading How do you know when to use PDIA?
written by Lant Pritchett Yuen-Yuen Ang, a Professor of Political Science at University of Michigan came to speak at Harvard the other day and I was lucky enough to hear her presentation. Her most recent book is How China Escaped the Poverty Trap, which is an original and insightful take on what is perhaps the…Continue Reading How did China Create “Directed Improvisation”?
written by Anisha Poobalan In theory, PDIA seemed like the most logical, straightforward way to go about solving a problem. A team is formed, they deconstruct the identified problem and then attack each causal area, learning and adapting as they go. Being in the field, meeting with the teams weekly, hearing about the obstacles cropping…Continue Reading Motivating teams to muddle through
written by Anisha Poobalan The PDIA team has been working in Sri Lanka for the past six months with five talented and motivated government teams. This work is challenging and demands hard work by government officials and yet through short, repeated iterations, real progress is achieved. The teams update a facilitator every two weeks while…Continue Reading Building capability: the true success of PDIA
written by Matt Andrews I recently wrote a blog in response to a question I was asked by a colleague about how we move from the foundation or framing workshop in PDIA processes—where problems are constructed and deconstructed—into action, and beyond that, action learning. In this post I will offer some ideas on how we…Continue Reading Initiating action: The action-learning in PDIA
Guest blog by Duncan Green Jetlag is a book reviewer’s best friend. In the bleary small hours in NZ and now Australia, I have been catching up on my reading. The latest was ‘Building State Capability’, by Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock, which builds brilliantly on Matt’s 2013 book and the subsequent work…Continue Reading Building State Capability: Review of an important (and practical) new book
Guest blog post by S. Nagarajan I recently joined the PDIA online course, inspired by attending the launch of the Building State Capability Book at the Center for International Development at Harvard University. A few weeks into the course, I was introduced to the typology of the capability required depending on the task. The task…Continue Reading Dealing with a wicked hard problem in India
written by Matt Andrews A colleague asked me two questions in response to last week’s blog on initiating PDIA: “It does not sound like you develop a thorough plan for action. Is this correct?” “How do you move from the workshop to action, and particularly to action learning?” I will reflect on these questions in future…Continue Reading Active and adaptive planning versus set plans in PDIA
written by Matt Andrews “Once there is interest, how do you start a PDIA project?” Many people have asked me this question. They are often in consulting firms or donor agencies thinking about working on PDIA with host governments, or in some central bureau in the government itself. “We have an authorizer, know the itch that…Continue Reading Initiating PDIA: Start by running…and then run some more
written by Matt Andrews “How do you decide where to work on a PDIA project?” This is probably the most common question I have been asked with respect to PDIA. After over 5 years of doing this work in a variety of countries and sectors, I have a simple answer: “When we find authorizers with an…Continue Reading PDIA and Authorizers with an itch
