Piloting for success

In this episode, we’re diving into the critical yet sometimes overlooked concept of piloting potential solutions. We’ll explore how extension practitioners, or as we prefer to say, enablers of change, can harness the power of piloting to foster on-farm innovation and create lasting impact. Piloting is not just a step in the process; it’s the bridge between ideas and their real-world application.

We think piloting is an essential component in many processes for enablers of change. We’ve talked about piloting before when talking about survey design. We’ve talked about piloting, or prototyping, as part of the double diamond process in a recent episode. 

Let’s remind ourselves of that double diamond process to start. This process is a pretty well known user-centred approach to problem solving and innovation. There’s four basic steps. Firstly, we need to discover, by understanding the user which means finding out about their needs and motivations. Then we define and state our understanding of the user’s needs. The third step is develop, creating prototype solutions based on the needs we heard, testing them and iterating with the feedback from those prototypes. In other words, piloting! We then deliver solutions that we know will work, and also seeking feedback. 

Similarly we’ve talked about piloting when we talked about co-design, a design-led process that uses participatory approaches to engage stakeholders in the design activity. Using co-design means thinking about the need for co-creation, co-implementation and co-evaluation, in other words, piloting!

We also talked about prototyping in a recent episode on the Technology Readiness Level scale. Level 7 is described as a system prototype demonstration in an operational environment. Piloting is just another word for this! Piloting enables us to refine solutions, assess their feasibility, and gather critical feedback before committing to full-scale implementation.

So whether you call it prototyping, iterating or co-evaluation, piloting is a critical step. It allows us to test ideas on a manageable scale, minimising risk while maximising learning. We can ensure that resources are used effectively and that solutions are adaptable to the complexity of farm businesses. Successfully piloting something means not only testing the technical feasibility of an innovation, but also considering the social and environmental contexts in which it will operate.

Piloting isn’t about success or failure in the traditional sense—it’s about learning. The phrase ‘pilots never fail; pilots never scale’ captures this sentiment perfectly. The goal is not to push every pilot to scale but to use the learnings from these trials to refine our approach. This mindset is critical for us as enablers of change because we can feel pressured to prove the worth of an innovation we’re piloting. Instead, we need to be clear that pilots are safe spaces to learn, adapt, and iterate. If a pilot demonstrates that an approach is not fit for scaling, that’s valuable knowledge that prevents us wasting time and resources, and hopefully gives an incentive to keep trying!

We think piloting is pretty familiar to researchers—think small scale field trials for example—but what about testing extension methodologies? For instance, if we’re developing a new workshop format to engage farm advisers on sustainable practices, we might first trial the format with a small group before launching it more widely. We could measure engagement levels, collect feedback on the activities, and assess whether participants leave with practical knowledge they can apply. The adjustments we make based on pilot feedback ensure that the final offering is as effective as possible.

Using piloting as part of the co-design process emphasises that piloting needs to be more than just a checkbox; it should be part of the learning. A well-structured pilot is planned with clear objectives and a defined scope. This includes outlining what success looks like—even if success means discovering that an idea needs significant revision. When a pilot is treated with the seriousness of a full-scale rollout, but with the flexibility to change as needed, we’re practising co-design at its best.

We thought a blog post on trojan mice rather than trojan horses sent to us by Warwick Waters (thanks Warwick!) highlights the need for thinking about lots of small pilots rather than one big pilot. The concept of Trojan mice refers to small, low-risk experiments or pilot projects designed to test new ideas in a controlled way before scaling up. Unlike Trojan horses, which involve large, disruptive changes that can provoke resistance, Trojan mice introduce incremental innovation, allowing for learning, adaptation, and organic adoption. 

To help us work through that, Woltering et al. (2021) is a useful way of thinking about piloting. In the paper, they outline the first step which is to adopt a new mindset. We need to understand that overlapping economic, social, technical, and political systems shape behaviours and choices. This requires recognising stakeholder dynamics and knowing who the key players are and what rules govern the current situation. By engaging effectively with these stakeholders, we can influence the system more meaningfully.

The second step is to design for scale from the start. It’s not enough to ask, “Does the pilot project work?” Instead, we should be considering, “What happens beyond the pilot if it works?” This approach involves collaborating with local partners capable of providing the necessary public or private funding and leadership to sustain the initiative. However, we must also anticipate and plan for any unintended consequences that could arise from scaling up.

Clarifying our role as extension practitioners is the third step. Scaling often means intervening in various parts of a system, so we need to recognise our strengths and limitations. If we lack key capabilities that might hinder a project’s effectiveness, strategic collaboration with other organisations becomes crucial. This ensures that we can influence different system components comprehensively.

Finally, we must see pilots as building blocks rather than standalone efforts. Pilots should be viewed as part of a broader ecosystem of initiatives aimed at long-term change. This perspective helps integrate pilot projects into larger efforts.

An important consideration during the pilot phase is building trust with our collaborators. Farmers and farm advisers are more likely to engage with a pilot if they see it as a genuine opportunity to contribute their expertise. This means involving them from the start, valuing their input, and sharing findings transparently. Trust fosters a collaborative environment where feedback is candid and solutions are co-owned, increasing the likelihood of long-term adoption.

We think that put into practice, piloting can provide helpful insights that shape better communication strategies, improve technical implementation, and ensure that the solutions we support are robust enough for the real-world. Piloting helps us move from assumptions to actionable knowledge, empowering us to make informed decisions that will benefit the individuals and communities we support. 

We’ve shared our perspectives, and now it’s your turn! We’d love for you to share your experiences with piloting, along with any tips or insights you’ve gathered. Leave a comment below and let’s make this a two-way conversation where we can all learn from one another.

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Until next time, take care and keep driving positive change!

Resources

Woltering, L. (2019). ‘Pilots never fail, pilots never scale’: Why the global development community needs a more realistic approach to reaching billions. NextBillion. Available online.

Woltering, L., Fehlenberg, K., Gerard, B., Ubels, J., & Cooley, L. (2021). Scaling – from ‘reaching many’ to sustainable systems change. Agricultural Systems, 176, 102752. Available online.