Simple Systems represents the future of design and foresight consultancy, by showcasing how design is shifting towards a holistic understanding and foresight is helping us see the future. Simple Systems is bringing together a balanced group of progressive, systems and design thinking practitioners who apply their knowledge through valuable methodologies. It’s a marriage between design thinking, strategic foresight and operational strategy. Our team worked with CEO David Knight to explore possible operational initiatives through a rigorous design process. David Knight was open to new ideas but made clear there were important constraints to consider. We discovered through our participatory design process, with CEO David Knight, that he was more interested in developing new metrics around participation and building community, rather than simply increasing profit. Getting to this insight was challenging and an important pivot moment for our team to reach our current operational objectives. The Operations Plan reviews our design process and demonstrates the final initiatives we settled on: optimizing the core business model through strategic data integration into WorkshopSF’s workflow and processes. Short-Term Vision: Within the next three years, WorkshopSF will increase repeat customers from 32% (current) to 45%. Repeat customers are prioritized as it is a target that best aligns with the overall mission (as opposed to increasing revenue). Creating a community through the maker culture and skill acquisition is foundational for the company. Project Objectives: Between 2016 to 2019: Increase repeat customers to 45% overall. Integrate web analytics and customer data in marketing strategy Add new feedback loops to acquire insights on customer experience Optimize and document business model so that it would be ready to be replicated if desired.