What does radical mean?
The word radical is a popular one in digital circles, but what does it look like in practice? How do we create change that addresses the causes, not just the symptoms?
I’ve been brewing on this for a while. For those of you who’ve worked with me before (hi, I’m Sian 👋🏻), you’ll know I don’t mince my words. 15 years ago I landed in a tech team with my extremely (not) practical Philosophy & Politics background and had very little clue what I was doing. But I climbed that steep learning curve, solved problems before anyone else noticed them, got sh*t done, and I loved working with people who were great at the bits I sucked at. The fact I’m a born and bred Star Trek nerd helped.
8 years ago I struck out on my own, started my small business as a Product/ digital consultant and coach and have never looked back. I’m fluent in all things Agilese, and could bore the arse off you about the perils of a product-led approach in a legacy/waterfall environment.
But I’ve increasingly felt this is not enough. In a world where our basic human rights are under threat, diversity initiatives are being squeezed out - going around in circles about the same topics that are decades old now, isn’t changing things quickly or radically enough.
Radical implies extreme, revolutionary, drastic. If a person has been “radicalised” it has dangerous connotations. But the idea of “Radical Candor” in the workplace has gained popularity over the years. Wes Streeting our current Health Secretary in the UK came into this new parliament with a bang, stating his intent to “radically reform the nation’s health service”. Our friends at Public Digital outlined their take on what a fundamental transformation of government might look like in their “Radical How” paper.
And there is little to argue about here. Those of us who have spent our careers trying to bring organisations into the 21st century, whether in the public, charity or private sectors know - we are barely scratching the surface. Rallying behind a motivating vision, a shared understanding of what good looks like, managing conflict, focusing on outcomes over outputs, getting the right things done the right way - there’s still so much work to do. As the frenzy of getting to grips with AI takes over discourse, I can’t help but worry that the basics are often still not in place, and how easy it will be for bad solutions to overwhelm good people.
So what do I mean when I say radically good products are badly needed? And that we need digital people of all kinds to know how to make them?
I’m going to start saying the quiet bit out loud.
User centred design is not enough, it’s time to be humanity centred.
Too many teams are filled with whip-smart, socially conscious people who lack the conditions to create products and services that create meaningful, fundamental change. Users don’t live in a vacuum from the socio-economic and political conditions imposed upon them. User centred design is not enough, it’s time to be humanity centred.
Too many people in digital and technology professions are wildly insulated from the most harmful effects of the policies we are asked to implement. Too many voices champion tech-bro libertarianism, rather than a world where technology is solving real problems, and the harmful machinery of white supremacy, patriarchy and capitalism are a thing of the past.
By radical I want us to start having serious conversations about the structures that cause inequality. Let’s stop assuming they’re the orbit around which we have no choice but to keep spinning. Sticking plasters aren’t enough if we’d still like a planet for future generations to live on (besides Mars).
I know this probably sounds a bit scary! I’m aware those with the levers of power may not want to buy this flavour of radical. And perhaps they don’t have to. The boring, manual aspects of our jobs are likely to be automated out of our day to day, freeing up capacity that could go to better places. But let’s not automate a feature factory. We need real humans who are alert to the consequences of the decisions they make, and apply critical thinking where it’s desperately needed. We don’t always need to agree on the solutions, but let’s start a proper dialogue about what the problems are, out loud - even if they don’t impact you personally.
“Radically good” is my attempt to bring something constructive and positive to the table, and I’d love it if you joined me! I’ll be dipping my toe in the water developing training courses, workshops, and maybe even a community of like-minded folk who believe a better world is possible, one radically good product at a time.
