The It Depends Podcast with Matt Healey

#19 Beyond Sticky Notes: Beauty, Power, Patience and Practice with KA McKercher

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What if most communities don't actually need a new co-design project — just someone to notice and strengthen what's already there?

KA McKercher is a co-design and co-production facilitator, trainer and professional supervisor, founder of Beyond Sticky Notes, and author of the book of the same name. In this conversation, they unpack why good co-design is as much about beauty, choice and relationships as it is about methods — and draw on more than 15 years of practice to explain how "purpose" can quietly hide power, why endings matter as much as beginnings, and what it takes to build disability justice into how we do this work.

We also get into the implicit promise that comes with the word "co-design," why seasonality should shape the pace of change, and when not to co-design.

We cover:

  • The difference between doing co-design and just running a process that borrows the language
  • "Whose purpose is this?" as the most important upstream question
  • Choice, access and disability justice as core principles, not add-ons
  • Endings, promises and what it takes to do them with dignity
  • When not to co-design, and what to do instead

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    Resources Mentioned

    • Beyond Sticky Notes — KA's practice, courses and free resources on co-design
    • Beyond Sticky Notes (the book) — KA's accessible guide to doing co-design for real
    • Kowa Collaboration — Skye Trudgett's practice, referenced by KA
    • The Relationship Is the Project — recommended by KA as an essential read
    • Mia Mingus — on accountability, conflict and transformative justice
    • It Depends: Episode 14 with Jesse Robinson — on sitting in relationships before the formal work begins
    • It Depends: Episode 9 with Emma Blomkamp — on being clear about your purpose in co-design
    • It Depends: Episode 3 with Skye Trudgett — on Indigenous data sovereignty and Indigenous-led evaluation

      • For the full list of resources, visit the episode page.

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      The It Depends Podcast with Matt HealeyBy First Person Consulting