When we reimagine what a health system could look like from scratch, we invite conversations that lead us to places we wouldn't go to otherwise. This is the gift of design futures.

Physician health data tells an important story, but real impact happens when that insight is put into action. Join us for a webinar tomorrow to explore how organizations are using data from the 2025 National Physician Health Survey to work towards meaningful change. Register here: bit.ly/3OXLmf9

"The longer I live on this planet the more I understand why roosters start their day screaming"

We're obsessed with the creative individual, not the creative organization. Tips, tricks, tools & techniques won't save you if your culture can't support thinking differently together. Systems over self-help. #strategicdesign #creativity linktr.ee/censemaking

Developmental evaluation and strategy are intimately linked. Here's why and how: www.cense.ca/developmenta... #evaluation #strategy #innovation

Complexity sets traps as it tells stories. Moving faster doesn't tell them better, but gets us to add more complexity, not less.

What does does designing for classroom complexity look like?

Join a curated evening at the intersection of aging, brain health, and innovation, co-hosted by Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation and Association for Competitive Technology at the Pinnacle Hotel Vancouver. Space is limited, RSVP in advance: tinyurl.com/4eedptn6

Nothing like a little refresh of the website, clearer language and some fresher images that are inspired by learning, springtime and the creative energy that makes us, us www.cense.ca #strategicdesign #innovation

Milan design week might have reached peak brandification this year, but there were still plenty of outstanding independent exhibitions to be found in the margins. Below, the Dezeen team shares nine of its favourites. https://www.dezeen.com/2026/04/30/grassroots-shows-milan-design-week-2026/

Classroom complexity brings together policy, practice, and design challenges for those seeking to make education and learning more effective. I'm exploring what this looks like, and why it's not a simple fix.

Strategy and preparedness in health systems can learn from other contexts like the recent incident in Finland where one of the most prepared countries in the world missed something that was right under their nose.

So about that whole use AI to bypass the time and energy required to do real strategy making? Yeah, that's not going so well. Introducing "trendslop" hbr.org/2026/03/rese...

The complexity of the present day has echoes of COVID-19 -- we can learn lessons from then to apply to today's complex world. https://censemaking.com/2026/04/08/to-live-and-learn-with-complexity/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social

Weakness of Strong Signals

Don't take my word for it. www.amazon.com/product-revi...

When wisdom seems thin, and complexity seems high. What way do find through it all? My thoughts on what happens when we go past our ability to make sense of where we are and our place in… https://censemaking.com/2026/01/29/when-complexity-exceeds-wisdom/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social

Want to learn how to practically apply systems thinking to health and social impact design? Try Boundary Critique. We introduce the questions to get you going in the latest Design Loft lesson #systemthinking #strategicdesign #healthdesign designloft.substack.com/p/designing-...

Want to resist the algorithmic prison that our feeds have become? It might be time to check your email. https://censemaking.com/2026/01/16/algorithmic-anti-design/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social

Remembrance and Care

What does it mean to create or make strategy? If you're creating a healthier future, you'll want to read this and consider how to build your strategy, by design. #strategicdesign #strategy… https://censemaking.com/2025/11/09/the-practice-of-strategy/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social

Future health sciences students, visit us at the Explore Health Sciences: Grad & Professional Programs Fair at U of T on Thurs., Nov. 13! Register here: https://ow.ly/lxGS50XizzB.

We design strategy, impact assessment, and implementation plans into every strategic plan we create. You can do more than just fit your work into a logic model. We can help -- let's talk if you want our help bit.ly/talkcense #strategicdesign

Fall Into Strategy: The Practice of Making Strategy Real Strategy is the means of connecting our aspirations and resources to our actions and outcomes. Strategy is something we design with our organization's goals, values, assets, people, and customers/clients/patients/partners in mind. Strategic…

Agreed. Few people have shaped the way we view the science of animals living in their natural habitats and the role of conservation more than Dr. Goodall.

Discover the Power of #Journalism in #PublicHealth Join us for the Dalla Lana Fellowship Online Open House in Oct 2025! Learn how journalism can be a catalyst for public health change. 👉 Reserve your spot now: www.eventbrite.ca/o/dalla-lana...

What does it mean to iterate, and what does it mean to innovate? @guykawasaki.bsky.social has a great primer for both: guykawasaki.substack.com/p/the-differ... #innovation #iteration #strategicdesign

You can read the full un-paywalled article here:

Should RCTs be the gold standard of impact measurement? SSIR’s Aaron Bady speaks w/ Nicole P. Marwell and Jennifer E. Mosley about their new article, “The Nonprofit Sector Has an RCT Problem.” Join us tomorrow at 10 a.m. PT! ssir.org/live-rct-conversation

What does complexity look like in our human systems? This article from @cdnorman.bsky.social explores how complexity manifests itself in our human service work #complexity #strategicdesign

Research design and evidence issues brought to the fore in the latest issues of @ssir.org

OCADU Graduate Programs: Evening session with #DanielHoyer + #NealHalverson on What Can System Thinkers Learn from Quantifying History, moderated by #ZaidKhan. Continues work of #PeterTurchin on cliodynamics, with #SoDy as historical policy lab. Mix of cyclical historical framing methods from MRP.

"The scale and urgency of the current threat should settle a long-simmering debate about the strategic value of targeting oil and gas production directly." @earthjustice.org president @abbiedillen.bsky.social writes in SSIR on the next chapter of the climate fight:

It's great to see 'design' discussed again. Design is the discipline of innovation, and that means doing something different to benefit people. Design poorly and we end up with many of the lousy programs and policies that we see in our communities. #strategicdesign

Good policy isn't just about good ideas - it's about designing and delivering solutions that truly work in practice. At Nesta, we’re increasingly using design and policy skills in tandem to grow the impact of our work with key principles to guide our approach ⤵️

Consultants can be great partners in creating positive change -- which isn't the case much of the time. Reductionist approaches to complex problems that separate strategy, learning, evaluation, and people are a big part of the reason why censemaking.com/2025/08/27/s... #strategicdesign

Designing care into your organization is not about being nice, it's about setting yourself up to be high-performing, innovative, and complexity-ready. #strategicdesign #care #design https://censemaking.com/2025/08/07/caring-by-design/

Profiles in burnout isn't an overly optimistic focus of an article, but doing this draws attention to something that is a critical factor in designing human-responsive organizations. #burnout www.strategy-business.com/article/Prof...?

In the last post of the summer series on strategic design and complexity we put it all together and set the table for what we hope will be a wonderful meal. Happy Summer! #strategicdesign #complexity #systemsthinking https://censemaking.com/2025/08/01/setting-the-table-the-making-of-strategy/

Developmental Evaluation is a way of approaching learning, innovation, and accountability that is suited to innovation, complexity, and uncertainty. The best way to use it is to prepare yourself first, not just try it "out of the box" (it's never out of the box). www.cense.ca/developmenta...

Design-driven evaluation is a way to embed learning into your organization, prime yourself for innovation, and build in a compass for navigating complexity. #strategicdesign #evaluation #innovation https://censemaking.com/2025/07/24/design-driven-evaluation-and-strategic-design/

Foresight is one of the features of strategic design that sets it apart from traditional plans, by helping you envision futures and the systems needed to get you there. #strategicdesign #foresight #systemsthinking https://censemaking.com/2025/07/18/strategic-foresight-and-design/

Circle on "What Can SystemThinkers Learn from Public Transit Planning" with #AndrewMiller + #SergioDeLara, moderated #ZaidKhan . Public accounting discourages government hiring experts, private sector contractors assuming risk. Plans for urban transport need political will. #SystemsThinking (OCADU)

What are the design skills for the present moment? This short list outlines what we think designers need to be successful. These are the technical skills, but the thinking and strategic ones where #strategicdesign fits www.cense.ca/design-skill... #designer

How do we connect systems thinking with our intentions? Strategic design is the means to connect where we're sailing to, our journey and where we dock and this is where we connect it together. #strategicdesign… https://censemaking.com/2025/07/11/systems-thinking-strategic-design-and-transformation/

What does strategic design look like? It's about connecting intention, imagination, production and learning using systems thinking to achieve sustained change. In this article, we look at what… https://censemaking.com/2025/07/03/strategic-design-bridging-complexity-planning-evaluation-for-impact/

Strategic design will always require leadership to translate ideas, inspiration and strategy into action. In complex conditions, this means setting a leadership course that involves humility, agility, and… https://censemaking.com/2025/06/26/leadership-for-complexity-humility-inquiry-and-agility/

Strategy making is the intentional way of charting your ship across the seas of complexity and arriving safe and sound. In this latest in the Censemaking summer series, I take a closer look at the strategy… https://censemaking.com/2025/06/14/strategy-for-leadership-by-design-a-brief-introduction/

The metaphor of sailing is a way to articulate what strategy is (and what it isn't). Complexity requires us to explore strategy and navigate it differently than with mechanical systems. In this post, we look at what… https://censemaking.com/2025/06/10/from-complexity-to-action-the-role-of-strategy/

What are some practical ways to address complexity? In this second post in our Summer Series, we look at the metaphor of navigation and how it applies to complexity and taking strategic action, by design. https://censemaking.com/2025/06/05/navigating-complexity-using-strategic-design/