Flux

At Make Sense Of It we use a process that we call Flux. By creating a deliberate oscillation between making and learning, Flux breaks the cycle of overthinking and creates momentum through tangible progress.

Today where AI, and other tools, have dramatically reduced the time needed to make solutions, Flux enables small teams to accomplish in days what previously took months.

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We need a new process

For many organisations building anything new often feels like trying to run through waist-deep water. The intention and effort are there, but progress is frustratingly slow. Teams find themselves caught in endless discussion loops, struggling to translate ideas into action. Meetings lead to more meetings, research expands to fill available time, and deadlines drift further into the future.

The impact of this slowness isn't just measured in time - it's reflected in diminished enthusiasm, wasted resources, and missed opportunities. When progress isn't visible, energy dissipates. When ideas aren't tested quickly, teams become attached to concepts that may not actually solve the right problems.

This sluggishness isn't unique to any specific sector. We've seen it happen in well-funded tech companies, resource-constrained charities, and everything in between. The common thread is a tendency towards analysis paralysis, where an attempt towards perfect planning prevents meaningful action. But it’s particularly damaging for charities because they have limited resource to deliver their services to best support their beneficiaries.

Learning through doing

We learn more from making something and testing it than we do from endless discussion about what might work. Making-to-learn helps strategy and research produce more valuable insights by grounding them in reality.

The world is changing rapidly with AI and standardised digital tools. Those trends make the make-to-learn process even more valuable. The time and effort required to fabricate solutions has dramatically decreased, allowing small teams to accomplish in hours what would previously have taken weeks.

Importantly, making-to-learn doesn’t attempt to ignore, or remove, complexity. The complexity of creation is a feature, not a bug, by embracing it we can get to better and more resilient solutions.

Why Flux?

We’ve taken the name Flux from glass-making. In glass-making an alkaline flux transforms rigid silica into malleable, transparent glass through heating and cooling cycles. This oscillation is a useful way to think about successful innovation where we move between building and learning phases.

Make<>Learn loop

New things can be built most effectively when we create a rhythm between making things and reflecting on what we’ve made.

The Make<>Learn loop works by creating a structured balance between two complementary states:

• Making: Periods of focused, collaborative creation where ideas become tangible
• Learning: Deliberate phases of testing, reflection and integration where insights emerge

You can think of it like a cyclist making countless micro-adjustments to maintain forward momentum and balance. The oscillation creates a dynamic stability that lets us figure out hard, complex, problems quickly.

Three principles for building and learning

We’re guided by three principles in order to deliver the most value from the Make<>Learn loops.

1. Working in loops
   Obvious perhaps, but important. We work in loops to validate assumptions quickly rather than build elaborate solutions based on untested ideas. Each loop increases certainty and reduces risk, which can make everyone feel more confident the further into the project we get.

2. Starting small to build big
   We don’t try to solve everything at once. The value of taking this approach is that it forces us to break complex challenges into smaller, digestible components. It maintains focus and enforces conversations about trade-offs that are necessary to make the project a success.

3. Deliberate incubation
   You can’t sprint your way to a marathon finish. You get stronger by taking deliberate pauses between intense work. The learning side of the loop is an incubation period that allows for integration of insights, prevents burnout, and often leads to breakthrough thinking as non-obvious connections emerge.

How AI helps make this possible

Generative AI has dramatically expanded what teams can accomplish within compressed timeframes. This has been combined with the continual standardisation of databases, data connectors and user interface frameworks, which can allow small teams to accomplish work that would have, until recently, required either much bigger teams or much more time. We’re using AI to amplify human capabilities rather than replace it. Now that AI has made “making” easier, we need to focus more of our attention on human imagination, judgement and purpose.

Make<>Learn loops in practice

Challenge Coin

Every Flux project begins with what we call a Challenge Coin - a clearly defined starting point that focuses our efforts.

The Challenge Coin has two sides, and you need to choose one as your "price of entry" to begin the process:

• Pains: Specific problems, challenges, or pain points to address
• Gains: Opportunities for advancement or improvement to explore

Rather than trying to tackle both simultaneously, we start with one clear focus. You might choose to address declining volunteer retention (a pain) or explore the potential of integrating AI into your call-centre team’s software (a gain).

We'll work with you to define your Challenge Coin at the start of the Beat. This creates alignment from day one and ensures we're solving the right problem or pursuing the right opportunity.

Making Moment

Making Moments are structured periods of creative work where ideas become tangible. While often completed in a single day, they can extend over several days for more complex challenges. A Making Moment consists of five key components: Intent, Hook, Modulation, Drop and Bridge.

🔌 Intent

The Beat begins with Intent - setting goals and priorities through a structured decision-making process. This ensures everyone understands what we're trying to achieve and why it matters. You can see an example of an intent workshop here.

🎼 Hook

During the Hook phase, we deeply explore the challenge to ensure we fully understand the problem or opportunity. This might involve rapid research, stakeholder interviews, or exploration of analogous solutions from other sectors.

∿ Modulation

Modulation serves as a crucial checkpoint where we reconnect with you to share initial directions and gather feedback. This course correction ensures we're on the right track before investing further time in development.

🎶 Drop

The Drop is where we bring solutions to life - creating prototypes, visual concepts, service blueprints, or other tangible outputs. We use AI tools and rapid prototyping approaches to accelerate this creative process.

𝄐 Bridge

We conclude with Bridge: presenting what’s been created, capturing key insights, and defining specific hypotheses for testing. This creates a clear handover to the Learning Leap phase.

Learning Leaps

Learning Leaps are deliberate periods of reflection, testing, and integration that complement the creative work of Making Moments. Like Moments, their duration can vary based on the complexity of what's being tested. Unlike Moments they’re non-linear, it’s possible for Learning Leaps to run through one, some or all of their components and they can be done in any order. Through experience we’ve found this is the most effective way to ensure a deliberate pause to learn without stalling processes.

A Learning Leap contains three components: Spin, Tour, and Chart. It's the brave process of using the thing ourselves, getting others to use it and then writing down what did, or didn't, work.

💿 Spin

Individual team members independently review what's been created, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and questions that need exploration.

🏟️ Tour

We take what we've built "outside" - gathering feedback from users, stakeholders, or subject matter experts through appropriate testing methods.

📈 Chart

We systematically collect and organise the feedback, looking for patterns and insights that will inform our next steps.

The Learning Leap creates space for genuine reflection and incubation, ensuring that each iteration builds on real evidence rather than assumptions.

Cadence

Different problems have different sizes. We tailor the Make<>Learn loop to what we’re working on. For initial problem understanding, or for straightforward issues, we work in a rhythm of 1 day building and 1 day learning (if a full day is necessary). But this often needs to scale. We’ve found that a 5 day Making Moment is a good balance of moving quickly whilst not being too difficult for the client team to integrate.

Working with us

Flux works best with a small, dedicated team that brings diverse skills to the table. Here's what you can expect when you work with us.

Our team

We’re a team of specialised generalists, we are deeply t-shaped and can wear multiple hats through the work such as: visual and interaction design, AI prompt engineering, service design and user experience, content creation, strategy, technical prototyping, research and analysis

Your team's involvement

For Flux to work effectively, we need your involvement at key points in the process. We work hard to make sure the involvement is as valuable for you, and your team, as possible. We’ve found that it’s incredibly important to have senior stakeholders in the Making Moment Intent and Bridge checkpoints to avoid surprises!

• Challenge definition: 10 min survey
• Intent workshop: 45 - 60 mins
• Modulation session: 30 mins (only project team required)
• Bridge workshop: 45 - 60 mins
• Spin self-reflection: 10 - 30 mins of reflection and feedback

This level of engagement ensures the work remains connected to your organisation's needs and constraints while not overwhelming your schedule with unnecessary meetings.

Getting started

Step 1: Challenge exploration

The first step is to book an initial conversation where we'll explore your potential challenges and opportunities. You can send us an email at edd@make-sense-of-it.com or suzanne@make-sense-of-it.com. You can also set up a calendly call here.

Step 2: Proposal and planning

We'll provide a clear proposal outlining:

• Our understanding of your challenge
• Recommended approach and cadence
• Team composition and key stakeholders
• Expected outputs and outcomes
• Timeline and investment required

Step 3: Kickoff

Once approved, we'll schedule a kickoff session to refine your Challenge Coin and establish the practical details for your first Making Moment.

Step 4: Your first Make<>Learn cycle

Experience the process in action with your first Making Moment and Learning Leap. This initial cycle will deliver tangible outputs while setting the foundation for continued progress.

Get in touch

Ready to experience a collaborative process that delivers tangible results from day one? Flux brings your team strategic involvement without overwhelming time commitments, evidence-based learning that reduces risk, and increase's your impact.