In reading business magazines and new book titles, it seems that the world is getting curious as to what Design Thinking is all about – or maybe wondering if there is money to “found” in this new concept.

For those of us who teach and practice Design Thinking, there is still a huge debate over the “true” definition and whether the process that is used should even be called “Design Thinking”. Our internal debate can be challenging at times.

What we do agree upon is that the single most significant contribution of Design Thinking is that it offers  a holistic  approach to solving problems/creating products.  “Holistic” in that it is not self limiting – it does not focus one “type of knowledge” or “school of thought” to find possible solutions. Read the rest of this entry »

Overview of Video: Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, talks with BusinessWeek about the design approach to solving problems and how to apply it to recent events, including the financial crisis.
Thoughts on this Video: Martins’ definition of Design Thinking hit me as odd initially, by made more sense as the interview progressed.  I don’t always think Design Thinking has to create a “model”.  However, his definition may be more suited to the business world than some others.

Overview of Post: Robert Fabricant is leading a group of Social Innovators through steps of the Design Thinking process during a conference.

Thoughts on Post: Robert touches on one of the biggest challenges that Design Thinking faces when applied to the social/human application:  How do you create an effective rapid prototyping experience?  I look forward to reading his thoughts on this.

Original Post HERE at FastCompay

Live From PopTech: Bringing Design to Social Innovators

BY Robert FabricantWed Oct 21, 2009 at 11:58 AM

Every year (at least for the last two) I have had the honor of serving as part of the core faculty of the PopTech Fellows Program. This means I’m involved in the planning stages for this five-day retreat. No matter how much time I spend preparing for the program, I’m always astounded when I finally meet the fellows. It’s difficult to comprehend the variety of innovations that this incredible group is driving, from virtual mobile phones and paper diagnostics to batteries made of common soil and building materials made of mushrooms. What’s even more astounding is the fact that the people driving these ideas are both incredibly special and shockingly ordinary.

My role is to introduce them to the design process–to provide some tools to help them think through and challenge the assumptions they’re making about their interventions. As always, I’m struck by how open-minded and creative these social innovators are (otherwise they would not have achieved anything close to the outcomes they’ve already seen). Creativity is not something they chose as an identity or practice–it’s a means, not an end. They many not spend a great deal of time talking about design, but research, prototyping, and abductive reasoning are at the heart of their work. Read the rest of this entry »

Overview of Post: This is another resource in the rapid prototyping part of Design Thinking.

Thoughts on this Post: This a a good guide for practitioners who are learning how to put the concepts into action.

Original Post HERE at Usability.net

Summary

Parallel design is a method where alternative designs, often interface designs, are created by two to four design groups at the same time. The aim is to assess the different ideas before settling on a single concept for continued development. The design groups work independently of each other, since the goal is to generate as much diversity as possible. Design groups should not discuss their designs with each other until after they have produced their draft design concepts and presented them in a design workshop. The final design may be one of the designs or a combination of designs, taking the best features from each. Read the rest of this entry »

Overview of Post: The d.school at Stanford has a website for their k12 group that is focused on teaching design thinking to school aged kids.  This is a graphic from that site.

Thoughts on this Post: This graphic and yesterdays video are from the same source (d.School) and are both really good resources.

Original Post and other content HERE

UNDERSTAND

Understanding is the first phase of the design thinking process. During this phase, students immerse themselves in learning. They talk to experts and conduct research. The goal is to develop background knowledge through these experiences. They use their developing understandings as a springboard as they begin to address design challenges. Read the rest of this entry »

Overview of Video: This is a video of an online learning experience that was offered at the McKay School of Education on the basics of the Design Thinking Process.  The leader for the project is facilitator from the d.school at Stanford.

Thoughts on this Video:  This may be the best “short” look at what Design Thinking is and how to do it that I have come across.  If you can, find a way to participate in the activities that the facilitator leads.

Overview of Article: The process of Rapid Prototyping is central to the effectiveness of Design Thinking, but can also be the one part of the process that people overlook.  This article gives a god look at the why and how of the process.

Thoughts on this Article:  If you can learn how to do this very well, you will have much better results with your design thinking efforts.

Original Post HERE at Usability.net

Summary of Rapid Prototyping

In rapid prototyping interactive prototypes are developed which can be quickly replaced or changed in line with design feedback. This feedback may be derived from colleagues or users as they work with the prototype to accomplish set tasks.

This method is concerned with developing different proposed concepts through software or hardware prototypes, and evaluating them. In general the process is termed ‘rapid’ prototyping. The development of a simulation or prototype of the future system can be very helpful, allowing users to visualise the system and provide feedback on it. Thus it can be used to clarify user requirements options. Later on in the lifecycle, it can also be used to specify details of the user interface to be included in the future system.

Within software engineering circles the method is closely associated with user interface management systems and various design support tools. The latter tools offer the designer libraries of process and graphical interface elements for defining the software’s logical structure and ‘look-and-feel’. Here the title refers to an approach adopted by software developers in which the prototypes exhibit a higher fidelity with the end product than those created as part of other methods such as paper prototyping. Read the rest of this entry »

Overview of this Video: The Power of collaboration is explored as the Future of Fish team is interviewed.

Thoughts on this Video: The concept of collaboration across disciplines has been around for a while, and can be very effective.  The FOF team is using this approach as part of the overall Design Thinking process, which gives it more strength.