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Design Now! The Agenda for Action
Summary
Juhan Sonin will show how design actually gets things done inside healthcare and public systems—where nothing is clean, politics are thick, and progress comes from pushing through bullshit, not waiting for permission. The key isn’t just starting, it’s starting with an agenda: a point of view, a spine, and the integrity to hold the line when the system tries to grind you down. Through real projects in public health, civic tech, and AI, Juhan Sonin shares how scrappy, messy ideas turned into shipped services for millions, often spawning better projects than the ones we started with.
Key Insights
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Small side projects can seed major healthcare initiatives over time.
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Personal motivation, like Johan’s health card, can spur innovation despite lack of initial funding.
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Healthcare design requires narrow focus due to the system's immense complexity.
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Iterating many ideas improves the chance of producing impactful solutions.
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Economic interests, especially in private healthcare, often conflict with user-centered design goals.
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Civic stamina and grit are critical for sustaining long-term policy and system changes.
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Designing for policy and systemic context is as important as user experience design.
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Technical interoperability advances, such as open source testing tools, have paved the way for national data standards.
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Patient data ownership is a complex but essential future focus, requiring legal and technical innovation.
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Non-binding local ballots can be effective signals towards broader health policy changes.
Notable Quotes
"Nobody asked for this damn thing, nobody funded it, but we just made it."
"If someone says hell no, don’t stop, keep going."
"The more ideas you make, the quality of your ideas also goes up."
"Why the hell would you wanna move the furniture?—Gropius on design arrogance."
"For every dollar spent on cancer care, roughly four are spent on administration."
"HIPAA isn’t that complicated; sending data to patients only needs two sentences."
"If you get eight people who give a crap together, you can start a federal agency."
"Designing healthcare means thinking about how your city, state, and nation work."
"You have to find your needle focus and go after it."
"Civic stamina is the grind of hearing no a lot while pushing toward yes."
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