The three filters
Every Lab intervention passes three filters. Small: doable inside one school term. Cheap: costs transport and printing, not grants. Measurable: moves the number you counted in lesson one.
Examples that pass: a gutter-clearing rota with a WhatsApp reporting line and a monthly photo log. Reflective paint or cross-ventilation fixes for one classroom, with temperature readings. A painted waterline scale on a wall so the whole street can log floods. Examples that fail: 'raise awareness generally'. Awareness of what, measured how?
Who has to say yes
Every intervention has gatekeepers: a landlord, a principal, a street chairman, sometimes the LGA. List yours by name before you start. Design for the permission you can realistically get, not the one you wish you had.
The ask matters as much as the design. You are not asking anyone to fund you. You are asking them to allow a measured experiment that makes them look good if it works. Phrase it exactly that way.
Baseline before action
The most common Lab mistake: acting first, measuring after. Then you have no before, so you have no proof. Freeze your lesson-one numbers as the baseline. Two weeks of readings beats one.
Only when the baseline is written down does the intervention start. This discipline is what separates a Cylin project from a nice gesture, and it is exactly the standard our own Impact dashboard lives by.
Hold on to these
- Small, cheap, measurable. All three, no exceptions.
- Name your gatekeepers and design for gettable permission.
- No action until the baseline is recorded.
Check yourself
No grades here. If you can answer these out loud, you own the lesson.
- 1.Does your intervention pass all three filters? Show how.
- 2.Who has to say yes, and what exactly will you ask them?
- 3.What is your baseline, over what period?