Comments for Design Sojourn | Strategic Industrial Design Blog http://www.designsojourn.com How to master the business of strategic industrial design. Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:53:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 Comment on Why are Businesses so Interested in Design Thinking and the Design Process ? by Fred Collopy http://www.designsojourn.com/why-are-businesses-so-interested-in-design-thinking-and-the-design-process/comment-page-1/#comment-64669 Fred Collopy Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:22:30 +0000 http://www.designsojourn.com/?p=1517#comment-64669 As an educator of managers, I see their interest in design somewhat differently perhaps. Of course, by better understanding design, managers and executives will make better use of it in their products and services. Collaborations with designers will be more productive. New product opportunities are more likely to be embraced. But what "design thinking" (a term I am coming to dislike) seems to be most about, is having people who traditionally are not trained as designers take on the attitudes, values, and yes, thought processes or patterns of designers. It is not about getting analysts to let designers influence particular decisions; it is about letting designers and design practices influence the nature of deciding itself. When this happens, all of managing becomes a balance of analysis and design. Whether one is attending to setting strategic direction, revising an HR policy, creating a new derivative, or solving a thorny problem in a project team's dynamics, there are design implications (as well as analytic ones). The collaboration, the partnership, for me is primarily an educational one. What can each side teach the other so that our lives are all more full, so that our customers are happier, so that the world is better for our action in it? As an educator of managers, I see their interest in design somewhat differently perhaps. Of course, by better understanding design, managers and executives will make better use of it in their products and services. Collaborations with designers will be more productive. New product opportunities are more likely to be embraced.

But what “design thinking” (a term I am coming to dislike) seems to be most about, is having people who traditionally are not trained as designers take on the attitudes, values, and yes, thought processes or patterns of designers. It is not about getting analysts to let designers influence particular decisions; it is about letting designers and design practices influence the nature of deciding itself.

When this happens, all of managing becomes a balance of analysis and design. Whether one is attending to setting strategic direction, revising an HR policy, creating a new derivative, or solving a thorny problem in a project team’s dynamics, there are design implications (as well as analytic ones). The collaboration, the partnership, for me is primarily an educational one. What can each side teach the other so that our lives are all more full, so that our customers are happier, so that the world is better for our action in it?

]]> Comment on What Role does Design Play within Your Organization? by Tim Fife http://www.designsojourn.com/what-role-does-design-play-within-your-organization/comment-page-1/#comment-64653 Tim Fife Sat, 04 Jul 2009 09:55:57 +0000 http://www.designsojourn.com/?p=1318#comment-64653 Ingo make a very important point when mentioning Tradition Design. The firm I work at in Syndey, 2nd Road, focuses on using design thinking at the strategic level and embedding design thinking into the DNA of the organization. The fact is, as a designer accends the ladder, the focus of their day to day work will very much shift from design doing to design thinking. A designer must be willing to make this move in order to move up the spectrum. Or, perhaps to make things more comfortable for the designer, they must redefine what Traditional Design work consists of, and begin to consider the actual activities of design to be less critical (personally) than achieving the goals of design, which is to create better, more delightful experiences for the user. Ingo make a very important point when mentioning Tradition Design. The firm I work at in Syndey, 2nd Road, focuses on using design thinking at the strategic level and embedding design thinking into the DNA of the organization. The fact is, as a designer accends the ladder, the focus of their day to day work will very much shift from design doing to design thinking. A designer must be willing to make this move in order to move up the spectrum. Or, perhaps to make things more comfortable for the designer, they must redefine what Traditional Design work consists of, and begin to consider the actual activities of design to be less critical (personally) than achieving the goals of design, which is to create better, more delightful experiences for the user.

]]> Comment on Why are Businesses so Interested in Design Thinking and the Design Process ? by DT http://www.designsojourn.com/why-are-businesses-so-interested-in-design-thinking-and-the-design-process/comment-page-1/#comment-64652 DT Sat, 04 Jul 2009 09:46:53 +0000 http://www.designsojourn.com/?p=1517#comment-64652 Hi Peter, Great comment and very true. That is where the Designers come in. Ultimately a successful product is one that sells. A product that sells means the product resonates well with the consumer. Designers gain critical insight after studying the consumer and then use this insight to develop product solutions that makes sense. Thanks for taking the time to leave your feedback. Hi Peter,

Great comment and very true. That is where the Designers come in. Ultimately a successful product is one that sells. A product that sells means the product resonates well with the consumer. Designers gain critical insight after studying the consumer and then use this insight to develop product solutions that makes sense.

Thanks for taking the time to leave your feedback.

]]> Comment on Why are Businesses so Interested in Design Thinking and the Design Process ? by Tim Fife http://www.designsojourn.com/why-are-businesses-so-interested-in-design-thinking-and-the-design-process/comment-page-1/#comment-64651 Tim Fife Sat, 04 Jul 2009 09:38:13 +0000 http://www.designsojourn.com/?p=1517#comment-64651 I think the big difference lies in the fact that businesses use analytics to run. That is, they are backward looking, trying to use their histories to tell them what they should do next. Design, in its essence, is forward looking, trying to determine what will best help improve the world of the user (whomever that might be) by making things which dont yet exist. Businesses use analysis to achieve certainty, and rarely move forward on things they do not have certainty about. Business needs to embrace and put value on the art of storytelling, the art of rhetorc (in its classical sense of using stories to move people to action); which is a key tool of the designer, and the one by which he or she demonstrates the value of that which has yet to be proven. I think the big difference lies in the fact that businesses use analytics to run. That is, they are backward looking, trying to use their histories to tell them what they should do next. Design, in its essence, is forward looking, trying to determine what will best help improve the world of the user (whomever that might be) by making things which dont yet exist. Businesses use analysis to achieve certainty, and rarely move forward on things they do not have certainty about. Business needs to embrace and put value on the art of storytelling, the art of rhetorc (in its classical sense of using stories to move people to action); which is a key tool of the designer, and the one by which he or she demonstrates the value of that which has yet to be proven.

]]> Comment on Why are Businesses so Interested in Design Thinking and the Design Process ? by Peter Thomson http://www.designsojourn.com/why-are-businesses-so-interested-in-design-thinking-and-the-design-process/comment-page-1/#comment-64641 Peter Thomson Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:20:32 +0000 http://www.designsojourn.com/?p=1517#comment-64641 Good insight that: The common results focused business culture thrives on the tried and tested. By contrast, a business that is flirting with design thinking will often be focused on the untried and untested. Good insight that: The common results focused business culture thrives on the tried and tested.

By contrast, a business that is flirting with design thinking will often be focused on the untried and untested.

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