Policy toolkit: alpha

Policy ideation is the initial phase where broad ideas and potential solutions are identified.

It is a creative and exploratory phase, focusing on understanding the problem space and considering innovative approaches.

The ideation process allows stakeholders to contribute ideas, ensuring that diverse perspectives are considered early.

Actions to ideate potential solutions

Consider the findings from the discovery phase

Revisit your research into the problem, the users’ needs and the broader landscape to familiarise yourself with what you are trying to achieve in the project and what solutions exist elsewhere.

Explore issues to address

Conduct an exercise to explore what issues could be addressed, for example a ‘how might we’ exercise.

Generate ideas

Generate ideas for potential solutions – at this stage don’t worry about feasibility or practicality, it’s all about getting lots of ideas!

Prioritise ideas

Evaluate and prioritise ideas based on feasibility, impact and alignment with broader objectives.

Shortlist ideas

Select a shortlist of ideas that you will develop into prototypes in step 3.

Prototyping is an early version or model of a potential solution, created to test and refine. Prototypes are developed before a solution is determined and build out in more detail. 

Prototyping includes testing ideas with users and refining based on feedback (also called iterating). This process reduces risks, ensures the solution is user-centered, and increases the likelihood of success in later stages. 

Prototypes may include draft policy options, a draft policy outline, a consultation paper or a framework for implementation.  

Create prototypes

Confirm ideas to prototype

Confirm which ideas from step 2 you want to build into prototypes.  

Develop the prototype

Create an initial version of the prototype. 

Ensure it is simple and focused enough to test the critical components, avoiding unnecessary complexity at this stage.

Define test objectives and measures

Clearly outline what you aim to learn from testing the prototype, focusing on key questions or risks to be validated. Develop any criteria or metrics needed to evaluate the prototype effectiveness. 

These may be similar or different to the success measures established in Step 1.  

Identify test participants

Select a group of stakeholders that represent the target audience who can provide diverse and valuable feedback.

Test with users

Gather both qualitative and quantitative data from users through direct observation, surveys, or interviews. This will help identify usability issues and improvement areas. 

You may like to design realistic scenarios or tasks for participants to interact with the prototype and observe how it performs in a simulated environment.

Refine the prototypes

Use insights from testing to make iterative improvements to the prototype. You may also decide not to pursue prototypes that are not working.   

Based on the results of the testing step, identify the preferred prototype(s) to build out in the next phase. Once complete, draft an alpha report to close out this phase.

An alpha report is a key deliverable in this phase of the policy development process. It summarises the outcomes of testing prototypes, key insights, and recommendations for further development.

The report provides stakeholders with clear information about what was learned during the alpha and it lays the groundwork for moving into the beta phase. To ensure informed decision-making, the report captures evidence from user testing, challenges encountered and proposed next steps.

Create the alpha report  

Objectives

A clear articulation of the goals of the alpha phase and what was intended to be tested or validated.

Overview of the prototype(s)

A description of the prototype(s) developed and tested, including core features and design decisions.

Testing methodology

An explanation of the approach taken for testing, including test participants, scenarios and data collection methods.

Key findings

Insights and feedback gathered from users, including any identified issues, risks and areas for improvement.

Performance against objectives

Include an evaluation of how well the prototypes met the alpha phase objectives.

Identification of preferred prototypes

Identify the preferred prototype(s) to build out further in the next phase.

Resources

• Generating ideas (United Kingdom Government, 2017)
• How might we (Queensland government, 2023)
• Ideation (Queensland government, 2023)
• Prototyping and improving ideas (Open Policy Making Toolkit, United Kingdom Government, 2017)
• Prototyping framework (Nesta 2025)
• Prototype testing plan (Nesta 2025)