| Design Thinking Needs Us |
Design Thinking needs us
I've been following Design Thinking for a few years now. I read Daniel Pink's book A Whole New Mind. in 2005 I attended the DMI summer Empowering Innovation. I read BusinessWeek's section on Innovation and Design. I follow Roger Martin articles and Bruce Nussbaum's blog. I've checked out Stanford's d.school, and receive announcements from the Institue of Design in Chicago. I've even presented on the topic. What's cool about design thinking is that it matches the way I work. I've been criticised for not being focused since I'm often found busy looking at all the possibilities. Design thinking is about seeking the possibilities without leaping to an answer. Designers are willing to make a lot of mistakes before arriving at a good solution. Business thinking tend to look for numbers, stats and proof that it's safe to explore an idea. Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management, calls it Reality vs Validity. Design thinkers, on the other hand, look for validity in an idea. They are problem solvers. Design thinking may allow for mistakes, generating ideas and exploring options. There is still a process behind it. And that's where we come in. Martin also wrote "Great designers seek deep understanding of the user and the context, which entails consideration of many variables." User centered design techniques have moved beyond software design. They are being used to design processes, products, services, even businesses. Why does a dean of a leading business school and a business magazine care about Design Thinking? Because it's being held up as an approach companies need to adopt to remain competitive.Claudia Kotchka, Design Evangelist at Proctor & Gamble wrote "Business people don't need to understand designers better, but to adopt design principles into their problem solving approach. When we weren't looking, designers who are not in the software or web business started trying out user-centred design. It's cool. And it's real. |