Introduction

Safe-to-Fail probes (S-t-Fs) has been purposely designed for experimenting with social change interventions in complex situations with seemingly no repeating relationships between cause and effect. and which are highly sensitive to small interventions and cannot be determined by outcome based targets; hence the need for experimentation.

Safe-fail Probes are small-scale experiments that approach issues from different angles, in small and safe-to-fail ways, the intent of which is to approach issues in small, contained ways to allow emergent possibilities to become more visible. The emphasis, then, is not on ensuring success or avoiding failure, but in allowing ideas that are not useful to fail in small, contained and tolerable ways. The ideas that do produce observable benefits can then be adopted and amplified when the complex system has shown the appropriate response to its stimulus. Where systems and the environments in which they exist become increasingly complex, what is known and what can be planned for becomes less certain – introducing and increasing research tolerance for failure and learning, therefore, becomes part and parcel of the research process.

S-t-Fs is an agile approach for using during TTDR processes with social actors / stakeholders as a concrete means of dealing with stakeholder expectations of social change, without making promises that cannot be kept - a key aspect of honouring the 'social contracting' throughout the research process. In this regard, StF probes - which can be amplified / dampened in real-time - is part and parcel of collaborative decision-making when having to figure out the next step(s) and facing the consequences of any action-taking flowing from this collaborative decision-making.

Features and uses

• Making decisions in situations of high uncertainty;

• As an alternative to traditional strategic planning which place excessive emphasis on ideal future states;

• Stimulating practical innovation under current conditions;

• Engender support and consensus for new initiatives to contribute to meaningful change.

Summary: End-notes

• The agility / versatility of S-t-Fs resides in the fact that it can be used either as a synergic - standalone - method or used synergically together with some other agile methods. For example, at some point during the SenseMaker (SM) process - especially during the Returning and Vector Monitoring & Evaluation (VME) phases - the need for experimenting with actual interventions will arise - and it is at this point that this approach can be introduced and used very effectively. In this regard, S-t-Fs can play a crucial role as the praxis of a radical incrementalism theory of change;

• Active involvement in facilitating S-t-F processes can open up multiple and rich opportunities for researchers to work on - refining, changing, innovating - their dynamic epistemic objects - the net effect being that researchers are no longer solely dependent on the literature only for doing this theoretical work - provided that any new insights and understandings gained from this have been well recorded and made available for interrogation by others and referencing purposes.