We've all had an insight or crucial piece of feedback that, when we know it, contributes to a different way of working or course correction.

Working iteratively means working deliberately to arrive at those insights, hopefully quicker that you otherwise would. Rather than designing a whole project from the start and implementing it with your head down, you work on one small chunk at a time.

In this small chunk of time (sometimes called 'a sprint') you work on a particular deliverable - build it, learn and reflect upon what worked and what didn't, then iterate. Focus first on testing your most critical beliefs - (i.e. if this belief isn't true, the project is sunk). This will save you spending time and money developing something that won't work.

There are many ways of working iteratively. The most used are agile (which has its roots in software development) and lean (which started in manufacturing, but evolved to Lean Startup - for startups and Lean Impact - for social good).

How can we work iteratively on innovations?

Check out our resources below for some tips.

If you'd like an example, read this short case study of how Brink uses lean impact in our work with UKAid on frontier technologies. This example is about Ampersand in Kigali, to switch motorbike taxis from petrol to electric vehicles.