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Develop90 min · v1.0

Pilot and learning design

Original workshop design for pilot use. This format has not been validated for effectiveness.

Summary and decision

Test the most consequential uncertainties before scaling.

Decision: Approve a pilot with explicit success, adaptation and stop criteria.

Preparation

  • Bring the intervention logic and available baseline data.
  • Choose a representative setting and record where it differs from other settings.

Audience

6-10 people: pilot team, intervention owner, analyst, FM, HR and sponsor delegate.

Agenda

Agenda in minutes
#BlockMinutes
1Opening10
2Evidence10
3Exercise A25
4Break5
5Exercise B25
6Decisions15
Total90

Exercises A and B

Exercise A: Experiment card

  1. State the mechanism and the uncertainty the pilot must resolve.
  2. Define who participates, duration, exposure and a feasible comparison.
  3. Agree measures and stop criteria before the pilot starts.

Exercise B: Learning and adaptation log

  1. Specify which observations would challenge the preferred explanation.
  2. Record implementation changes so results remain interpretable.
  3. Plan a review that can decide scale, adapt, repeat or stop.

Worksheets

Worksheet A

Hypothesis and uncertainty
Setting, participants and duration
Baseline and comparison
Success, adaptation and stop criteria

Worksheet B

Observation and date
Delivery change or external factor
Interpretation and uncertainty
Decision and next test

Illustrative example

Illustrative, not a real case

  • Illustrative: two teams test room-release rules for four weeks.
  • Compare actual room use with the same teams’ baseline and note seasonal workload.
  • Treat improvement as provisional because the pilot is small and non-randomised.

Completion criteria

  • The pilot can disconfirm its own hypothesis.
  • Measures and decision thresholds are agreed in advance.
  • The record distinguishes delivery, use and outcomes.

Follow-up

  • Run the pilot and document adaptations weekly.
  • Feed findings into concept confirmation before broad delivery.

Points of attention

  • A before-and-after change alone does not prove causality.
  • Do not scale unresolved access or workload problems.

Workplace phase and change activities

Workplace: Develop (phase in the Workplace method)

Change Management

  • Prepare

    Why this workshop helps: Defines a pilot with success, adaptation and stop criteria before scaling.

    Adapting outside a workplace setting: Replace the room-release example with the uncertainty that matters most in your change.

  • Activate

    Why this workshop helps: The pilot is where new practices are first tried with support.

    Adapting outside a workplace setting: Replace workplace examples with situations from your own change; the structure can stay.

  • Learn

    Why this workshop helps: Stop and adaptation criteria make learning explicit.

    Adapting outside a workplace setting: Replace workplace examples with situations from your own change; the structure can stay.

These links and notes are editorial guidance of the Codex, not a new or validated template. The workshop text and files on this page are unchanged.

Planned sessions

No sessions are planned.

Sources and downloads

Sources

S05Research guidanceNot effectiveness evidence

Skivington et al. (2021). A new framework for developing and evaluating complex interventions

Why here: Informs the choice for a pilot with pre-agreed measures, adaptation rules and stop criteria before scaling. It does not validate this workshop.

Finding:
Context, programme theory, stakeholder involvement, uncertainty and iterative refinement belong throughout intervention development.
Limitation for workplace:
Guidance from health research informs our design. It does not validate this workplace workshop sequence.
Reviewed 2026-10-02

Downloads

Last reviewed: 2026-10-02