Each and every week the Square Holes team are deep in the bowels of a number of projects, working to mine all of the insights that we can to help grow businesses and support thriving cities.

These insights are used by businesses and organisations to innovate their offerings, move into new markets, track their impact and hone their products and output. Each week we will be sharing a broad insight that we have learnt for you to use in your own work.

Let us know what you find valuable!

Mahalia: A better way

Currently, public transport is free in Melbourne to help ease the demand on petrol while the war on Iran impacts our access. I always find it interesting what is possible when we are in crisis. The pandemic taught us that accessibility developments can be made at breakneck speed when it benefits industry and the government. And now the community has free access to infrastructure, which arguably should be free anyway. Why do we need a crisis to develop a better, more accessible, more sustainable society? As more and more of our community needs fall into the hands of private players, when are we going to see a government that takes control proactively rather than reactively?

Dylan: Thinking about systems

Systems thinking highlights that most problems we face aren’t caused by isolated issues but by patterns of interaction within a broader system. Instead of trying to fix individual symptoms, systems thinking tries to get us to focus on how behaviours and relationships combine to produce outcomes over time. This shift helps explain why well-intentioned solutions often backfire – actions create feedback loops that reshape the system itself. Sustainable change doesn’t come from optimising parts in isolation, but from understanding and redesigning how the whole system works. With this mindset, it’s useful to ask not just “what’s wrong?” but “what is this system perfectly designed to produce, and how do we change that?”

Jason: Is best practice really best practice?

A few years ago, a leader in government made a passing note that they were making a big change against best practice.

It struck me because it’s such a strong statement, “best practice.”

Yet, too often it’s more BS than truly best practice. The problem starts with the assumption that someone, somewhere, knows what “best” is, when in reality it’s often just a confident, subjective and potentially flawed perspective. It’s a bit like being the smartest person in the room, with high conviction, but low awareness of what might be missing. In most teams (unless it’s a dictatorship), someone more self-aware will quietly call BS or do their own research, and in a safe team environment, the narrative shifts. Another flawed version of best practice is relying on a trusted advisor or team member, whether experienced or simply across emerging areas like digital, where blind faith can again turn perceived best practice into BS. Then there’s public or AI-led “best practice” — Google, Wikipedia, summaries — which can be helpful but are often context-free, outdated, or not suited to your specific case. Even when best practice is evidence-based, times change. So it’s worth knowing the rules, but equally showing a willingness to critique them. There is often more ignorance and assumption than truth behind “best practice.” While it’s fine to aim for it, perhaps the real goal is measurable impact — because if so-called best practice is slowing things down or not improving outcomes, it’s probably not best practice at all.

Too much ‘best practice’ in government is much more pain than progress.

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