Design thinking resource
Representations used to test how connected roles, decisions, information and activities operate across a wider service or system.
Many experiences depend on processes and systems that users do not see directly. A strong interface cannot compensate for unclear responsibilities, broken handovers or missing information behind it.
Systems and process prototypes make these relationships testable by representing actors, steps, decisions, resources and dependencies.
Teams can use maps, role-play, scripts, tokens, mock data and staged scenarios to simulate how work travels through a system.
The prototype can reveal delays, bottlenecks, duplication, conflicting incentives and points where people lack the information or authority to act.
A proposed process can be rehearsed before formal policy, technology or organisational structures are changed. Stakeholders can experience new roles and identify consequences that diagrams alone may hide.
Iterations should consider user experience, staff experience, operations, governance and the feedback loops that keep the system functioning over time.
Put the method to work
Identify everyone who participates in, influences or is affected by the process.
Show actions, decisions, information, resources and handovers across time.
Choose a realistic case that will exercise the important parts of the system.
Ask participants to enact responsibilities and respond to the evolving situation.
Test delays, exceptions, errors and changing demand rather than rehearsing only ideal conditions.
Record effects on users, staff, resources, decisions and downstream activity.
Why it matters
Show where one role, decision or resource relies on another.
Locate delays, duplication and points where work cannot progress.
See how a local improvement may create pressure elsewhere in the system.
Test operational requirements before formal rollout.
Continue exploring
Place this method back within the broader 5E Design Thinking Framework and continue developing your understanding.