The IDEMS Principle

In this last episode of The IDEMS Principle series, Kate guides David and Danny through a general reflection on the principles and the series as a whole.

David and Santiago consider the IDEMS Principles in the context of the starfish thought experiment and try to see how they can stand scrutiny.

David and Santiagop analyse how the Maths Camps influenced the IDEMS Principles and how our support strands to scrutiny related to the principles.

David and Lucie test out how one of IDEMS’ capacity building activities holds up to our principles. The discussion highlights how principles can be used to guide decisions.

David and Lily explore the principle Critically Assessed: “This principle conveys the company’s positive attitude towards being peer reviewed. It expresses an appreciation for criticism, which enables reflection leading to opportunities for learning.” This principle was introduced to bolster IDEMS' commitment to reflection, learning, and continuous improvement. It underscores the value of feedback...

David and Lucie explore the principle Developing Research: “This principle is born from our experiences being involved in research for development. It recognises the active need to develop new research methodologies that make use of new data opportunities that are increasing availability.” They argue that traditional research methodologies, developed in an era of data scarcity, are no longer suffi...

David and Santiago discuss the principle Evidence Based: “This principle highlights the importance the company attaches to rigorous evidence. It explains the presence of academic rigour and integrity in all aspects of the company’s work.” They explore the inherent tension between evidence-based approaches and informed decision making, emphasizing that while rigorous evidence is central to IDEMS’ o...

David and Santiago introduce and discuss the IDEMS principle Informed Decision Making: “This principle indicates the company’s deliberate effort to include diverse forms of information, while measuring their uncertainty, as part of decision making processes. It intends to support balanced consideration of options while reducing our susceptibility to misinformation.” They explain its significance a...

Danny and David introduce the last set of IDEMS principles: Informed Decision Making. They recount how they arose and review why IDEMS incorporated them as guiding principles, as well as delving into an analysis of their general complexity in order to avoid misinformation.

Santiago and David discuss the Consciously Ethical principle: “This principle represents the company's conscience and it encourages an effort to be made to think through any decision which has potential ethical implications.” Ensuring fully ethical processes and decision making at all stages is highly complex, so Santiago and David discuss why IDEMS strives to be Consciously Ethical. This principl...

Lily and David discuss the principle Enabling Opportunity: “This principle describes the company's relationship to its staff. It challenges the company to aim beyond equal opportunity by creating opportunities.” This principle results from and is deeply connected to the other Inherently Inclusive set of principles. Lily and David explore why IDEMS wants to go beyond promoting equal opportunities t...

Lucie and David explore the principle Collaborative by Nature: “This principle forces the company to always look beyond itself. It encourages people to think beyond themselves within the company and about building partnerships for the company.” They discuss how IDEMS takes the unusual approach to be collaborative as an organisation, rather than competitive and what this means in practice.

David and Lucie discuss the principle Inherently Inclusive: “This principle applies to the company ethos. It builds from the founders’ appreciation of diversity and challenges the company to eliminate discrimination in all its forms.” David explains that this principle is rooted in the organisation's ethos and focuses on eliminating discrimination by naturally incorporating inclusivity into all ac...

Danny and David introduce this fourth set of IDEMS principles: Inherently Inclusive. They review why IDEMS aspires to these principles and what makes them particularly suited to IDEMS’ mission and structures.

David and Lucie discuss the principle Holistic Interventions: “This principle applies to company activities. It leads to an expectation that any interventions consider all angles and implications of implementation.” David emphasizes the importance of looking at the whole system rather than isolated components, using examples from education and health to illustrate the potential pitfalls of not thi...

David and Santiago discuss the principle Trans Disciplinary: “This principle defines the role of subject experts in company activities. It forces subject experts out of their comfort zone by engaging beyond their expertise and discipline.” David clarifies the differences between multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary methods, emphasizing that transdisciplinary work requires su...

David and Lily discuss the principle Embracing Diversity: “This principle expresses the company’s approach to complex problems. It emphasises the value placed on diversity in building stable solutions.” David explains that this principle goes beyond hiring diverse staff; it encompasses the company's approach to tackling complex problems by valuing diverse perspectives, work areas, and types of wor...

David and Lily discuss the principle Systems Thinking: “This principle affects how the company tackles problems. It encourages building an understanding of how any company activity relates to and fits into the bigger picture.” They highlight how the principle describes how company activities fit into the bigger picture. David explains that at IDEMS, this involves looking at broader contexts rather...

Danny and David discuss the second set of principles: Systems Thinking. They present all the principles in this set, and discuss how they relate to each other, their motivation and history.

Lily and David discuss the principle Continually Evolving: “This principle provides a world view for the company. It fights against complacency and stimulates innovation.” They emphasise that continually evolving means recognising that many problems, such as improving education, can never be fully solved but can always be improved upon. This principle drives IDEMS to think beyond project-based cyc...

Santiago and David explore the principle Local Innovation: “This principle is something the company believes in and wants to support. It can empower communities both for today and the future while enabling interventions to adapt.” They highlight the contrast between the typical global innovation approach and the need to support local innovation that is sensitive to specific needs and contexts. The...

Lucie and David discuss the principle Open by Default:”This principle affects both the inputs and output of the company. It implies the need for a justification not to ‘go open’ as the default is to be open. In particular when a valid justification exists then no negative judgement is given to being ‘closed’.” They emphasise the default stance of openness in both inputs and outputs unless there ar...

David and Lucie discuss the principle Options by Context: “This principle is part of core company thinking. It requires context to be considered when proposing options or interventions, in particular it precludes the search for single or blanket solutions.” They emphasise the importance of considering specific contexts when proposing interventions or solutions and highlight the importance of tailo...

Danny and David discuss the second set of principles: Options by Context. They present all the principles in this set, and discuss how they relate to each other, their motivation and history.

David and Lucie discuss the principle Capacity Building: “This principle defines the heart of company implementation. It manifests itself through the company mentorship programme as well as the implementation approach of specific projects.” They emphasise its role in mentoring and training individuals at various stages of their careers and highlight how capacity building is integral to IDEMS activ...