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Sabotage

The document discusses sabotage anti-patterns that hinder collaborative work and design processes, drawing from a 1940 OSS manual on sabotage techniques. It outlines methods such as misleading communications, creating bureaucratic delays, and complicating processes to damage organizational effectiveness. Additionally, it suggests using an 'anti-problem' approach to enhance creative problem-solving in service design contexts.

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vSabotage: Anti-patterns for collaborative work and getting design done Francis Rowland | Sigma Consulting Michele Ide-Smith | European Bioinformatics Institute
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith SABOTAGE Anti-patterns for collaborative work and getting design done #sdgc16 By Nationalmuseet - National Museum of Denmark from Denmark - Dansk Industri Syndikat i København i brandUploaded by Palnatoke, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21705601
Who we are Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith Product Saboteur at Europe PMC European Bioinformatics Institute Francis Rowland @francisrowland Senior Sabotage Architect Sigma Consulting Solutions
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith By Unknown or not provided - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16825469 What is sabotage? sab·o·tage (săb′ə-täzh′) 1. The deliberate destruction of property or obstruction of normal operations, as by civilians or enemy agents in a time of war. 2. The deliberate attempt to damage, destroy, or hinder a cause or activity.
General interference with organisations and production SOE - public domain
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Insist on doing everything through "proper channels". Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.”
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “When possible, refer all matters to committees, for "further study and consideration."” “Attempt to make the committees as large as possible - never less than five.”
Managers and supervisors By Los Angeles Times - Los Angeles Times photographic archive, UCLA Libraryhttp://unitproj.library.ucla.edu/dlib/lat/display.cfm?ms=uclalat_1429_b47_N36&searchType=subject&subjectID=2 13944, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6967922
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Do everything possible to delay the delivery of a project. Even though parts of the project may be ready beforehand, don't deliver it until it is completely ready.”
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Hold meetings when there is more critical work to be done.”
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Multiply the procedures and clearances.” “See that three people have to approve everything where one would do.”
Office workers and employees By Unknown - published in Japanese newspaper Rekishi Syashin, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5520475
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Contrive as many interruptions to your work as possible”
Lowering morale and spreading confusion By Palestine Railways, Khoury House, Haifa, Palestine - Report of The General Manager on the Administration of the Palestine Railways and Operated Lines:1946/1947. Warhaftig's Press. Haifa, Palestine, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15362402
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Fill out forms illegibly so that they will have to be done over; make mistakes or omit requested information in forms.”
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith Perhaps you recognise some of these methods for sabotage from where you work?
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith Well, these tips were taken directly from a 1940 manual produced by the OSS (what later became the CIA) https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2012-featured- story-archive/CleanedUOSSSimpleSabotage_sm.pdf
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith Anti-patterns for service design
1. Mislead customers about the purpose of the service By Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. from the Illustrated London News, 10 June 1893. Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Second_Carbolic_Company_advertisement.png
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Provide misleading information about the service”
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Make false claims about the benefits that the service offers”
2. Prevent people from using the service By Toni Pecoraro, 2007. Public domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Labyrinth_28.jpg
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Disorientate people with confusing and contradictory signage, maps, layout and navigation”
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Don’t provide an overview of the steps involved and remove all guidance”
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Design physical spaces to be crowded, cluttered, noisy and badly lit”
3. Reduce transaction completion rates Public domain: https://pixabay.com/en/files-paper-office-paperwork-stack-1614223/
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Force people to re-enter the same personal information in multiple places"
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Don’t notify people about what they need to do next”
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Make people wait several weeks in between different stages of their customer journey”
4. Increase the cost per transaction By rajomo1. CC-BY: https://www.flickr.com/photos/65821013@N05/6081891190
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Only offer paper processes - remove access to digital channels”
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Require people to contact the call centre repeatedly to check progress”
5. Make customers angry and frustrated By Luis Marina, “Grrr!”. CC-BY: https://www.flickr.com/photos/luismarina/15547142333
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Train staff to be surly and rude. Encourage staff to speak a different language or use jargon”
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Ask customers to contact several different departments. Ensure departments do not talk to each other”
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Never get back to a customer enquiries, and hide contact details”
6. Sabotage organisational change By unknown, Striking Serbin workers, 1955. CC-BY: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kheelcenter/5279086865
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Don’t involve staff at any stage of the re-design”
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “Make processes more complex than necessary, and add manual steps”
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith With these tips, you too can sabotage products, services and even organisations!
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith Anti-patterns Using sabotage constructively
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “An anti-pattern is a common response to a recurring problem that is usually ineffective and risks being highly counterproductive” Wikipedia
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith Anti-problem game (aka “reverse it”)
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “If you give someone an open-ended creative problem there is great difficulty in getting started. There is difficulty in moving at all.” – Edward de Bono
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith As service designers, we often co-design with people who are unfamiliar with the design process
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith When you’re stuck solving a problem, think about it in reverse.
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith Instead of: “How do we improve access to healthcare for patients in rural areas?”
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith The anti-problem: “How can we prevent patients in rural areas from accessing healthcare services?”
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith Ask teams to think of design solutions to solve the anti- problem
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith Then ask the teams to think of the opposite solution
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith When people are stuck, this approach can free creative thinking and create energy
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith It provides a new perspective on a problem, which was perhaps invisible before
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith “By disrupting the original way of looking at the situation one frees information that can come together in a new way.” – Edward de Bono
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith It can help teams understand what the “opposite of good” looks like
@francisrowland @micheleidesmith Sabotage manual https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2012-featured-story- archive/CleanedUOSSSimpleSabotage_sm.pdf The anti-problem http://gamestorming.com/games-for-fresh-thinking-and-ideas/the-anti-problem/ Reverse it http://www.designgames.com.au/reverse_it/ Pre-mortem http://gamestorming.com/games-for-opening/pre-mortem/ Anti-Patterns that Stifle Lean UX Teams - Bill Scott http://www.slideshare.net/billwscott/antipatterns-that-stifle-lean-ux-teams
Thank you! Michele Ide-Smith @micheleidesmith Product Manager European Bioinformatics Institute Francis Rowland @francisrowland Senior UX Architect Sigma Consulting