Design Thinking Blog

Just had a very insightful meeting with Jeneanne Rae.  Jeneanne has been in the Design Thinking field since before it was called Design Thinking.  She was hired by David Kelley at IDEO to help grow the business integration part of that company as an MBA and a significant part of the growth into the company that they are today.  Since leaving IDEO, she has been working as a consultant to fortune 500 companies in the area of Service Design.

She regularly speaks at conferences and is an ongoing contributor to BusinessWeek.  She drinks dark roast coffee with both cream and sugar.

The majority of our time was focused on the best practices to involve End Users in the Service Design process.  One of the hallmarks of Design Thinking is breaking away from the “stakeholders only” mentality where insiders decide what they believe is needed, and then create and roll out the service or product. To be truly effective, the process must include regular involvement and feedback from those who will actually use the services (Users).

There are 3 key times for End Users to be involved:

1. When you are doing your initial research into the “problem” that you are solving (your service proposition)
2. When you are prototyping your services – BEFORE you implement
3. Immediately after implementation – to make sure that you are actually solving the problem.

Let’s go deeper into each of those. Read the rest of this entry »

Design Thinking and Innovation

Overview of Post: This is another overview of Design Thinking with one exception:  it goes into details of the process and gives other resources.

Thoughts on this Post: I like this.  When people ask me for a quick handout on Design Thinking, this may become my “go to” article.  Thanks Kendall!

Original Post HERE at FilterTalent.com by Kendall Hopwood

We’re not talking pixels or picas; we’re talking process.

I suppose tough economic times often divide people into two camps: those who want to play it safe and follow the straight and narrow road, and those who see crisis as a time for ideation and innovation.

A methodology for idea-generating, design thinking characterizes the latter group (whether they’re cognizant of it or not). And whether it’s your job hunt, your business strategy, or global warming you want to change, shifting your process—or your entire organization’s—towards  design thinking is a means of facilitating change and discovering new ideas.

Not a Degree, a Methodology

David Kelley, founder and chairman of IDEO and the man who coined the term “design thinking,” describes design thinkers as people who have “this creative confidence that, when given a difficult problem, we have a methodology that enables us to come up with a solution that nobody has before.”

Accordingly, the implications of design thinking aren’t contained in the arena of aesthetics alone. Design thinking applies to marketing and sales, philanthropy, conservation efforts, education, business, and everything in between.

Some Defining Characteristics of Design Thinking

Some people think creativity is purely a gift, a moment of divine inspiration. The notion of design thinking, however, implies that creativity and innovation can be fostered through a process, and as Linda Tischler says in her article on David Kelley, it’s a process not unlike the scientific method.

So what are some characteristics of design thinking, and how can it be applied to your creative vision, business strategy, or organizational processes? Read the rest of this entry »

Overview of this Article: This is an overview of the author’s take on Tim Brown and Change by Design

Thoughts on this Article: Pretty good. It’s like reading an executive summary of the book.  You still should read the book.

What is Design Thinking, Really?

Original Article HERE at Emergent By Design

by Venessa Miemis

If you’re a businessperson or someone interested in understanding how to facilitate innovation, you’ve probably heard of “design thinking” by now. Coined by IDEO’s David Kelley, the term refers to a set of principles, from mindset to process, that can be applied to solve complex problems. I’ve seen articles lately ranging from those that highlight its potential, [Design Thinking for Social Innovation, How does design thinking give companies a competitive advantage?] to those that warn of it’s impending failure as a practice [Why Design Thinking Won't Save You , The Coming Boom and Bust of Design Thinking]. I’ve been eager to enter into the conversation, especially because some of the arguments around the topic don’t make sense to me and I wanted to know why. Change by Design, written by IDEO’s CEO Tim Brown, was on my winter reading list anyway, so I decided to finish it before bringing in my own perspectives.

I just got through the book a few days ago, and feel like I “get it.” So I’ve spent a few days reflecting on it and rereading some innovation articles, and think there is a bigger picture at the essence of design thinking that is being lost on some. I’m going to provide a brief summary of the book (from my interpretation), and tie in some other areas that brought me insights into these ideas.

Read the rest of this entry »

5 Ways Design Thinking Can Raise the Collective IQ of Your Business

Original Article HERE at Fast Company

BY Michael Cannell

Business executives love stability and the cold imperatives of logic. Ambiguity gives them fits. Designers, by contrast, can’t abide the status quo. “That tension never goes away between inventing the new and preserving the old,” Sam Lucente, vice president of design for Hewlett-Packard, said yesterday at a panel discussion conducted by the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum during its National Design Week. “It’s like navigating no man’s land,” he said.

The panel, entitled “The Business of Design,” addressed ways to integrate designers, and design thinking, into organizations that usually resist change. Here are some of their observations:

The most effective designers know instinctually how to navigate bureaucracies. They handle matters “often in subversive ways,” Lucente said. “They quietly figure out how to end run the system and get things done. They know how to work it.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Original Post and Comments HERE at Archis.org

Thinking through Design Thinking

IDEO /Tim Brown, Bruce Nussbaum and Stanford d.school call it Design Thinking.

Michael Speaks, Michael Shamiyeh, Bruce Mau talk about Design Intelligence,

Nigel Cross writes about Designerly ways of knowing (one of the best books i’ve read so far on design thinking).

All these ideas deal with design as process rather than object. They all articulate and confirm the idea that there is a ’specific way of thinking that is unique to design’ and ‘that this way of thinking is applicable on any problem’ It is a way of seeing, understanding and making the world, and the ‘design way’ is a universal way, there is no problem that can not be solved, … or so it seems (this is one of the claims of Bruce Mau’s Massive change exhibit and book anyway).

Although one has to acknowledge a certain naivety behind this idea, it is non the less very appealing, especially for a designer, or well … an architect like myself.

Read the rest of this entry »

Overview of this Interview: This is PART 3 of an interview with Tom Kelley on many aspects of leading at IDEO and the things they are still learning as a company.

Thoughts on this Interview: Vern Burkhardt does a great job of asking insightful questions into the things that Tom has learned as a leader in a company that is rewriting the rules of design and business. I appreciate that Tom brings the importance that Face to Face communications as a primary issues for effectiveness.

Original Interview HERE at ideaconnection.com

Design Thinking for Innovation

Interview with Tom Kelley, General Manager of IDEO, and Author of The Art of Innovation and The Ten Faces of Innovation

Begin Part 3…

VB: Would you talk about the concept of mapping your customers’ or potential customers’ journeys?

Tom Kelley: We discovered while designing products and services that you can follow a customers’ journey every step along the way in their dealings with you. Some of the steps include discovering about your service, exploring your offering, trying it for the first time, becoming more familiar with it, and then using it on a regular basis. In each step you can distinguish yourself, you can provide something special as opposed to being the same as every one else.

One slightly extreme example is the backpack company, JanSport, which made its warranty services different than anybody else’s. If you send your backpack in to be re-sewn or repaired JanSport sends you a little postcard with a message from your backpack while it’s at camp. No one would say this warranty service is ordinary. Read the rest of this entry »

Overview of this Interview: This is PART 2 of an interview with Tom Kelley on many aspects of leading at IDEO and the things they are still learning as a company.

Thoughts on this Interview: Vern Burkhardt does a great job of asking insightful questions into the things that Tom has learned as a leader in a company that is rewriting the rules of design and business. I appreciate that Tom brings the importance that Face to Face communications as a primary issues for effectiveness.

Original Interview HERE at ideaconnection.com

Design Thinking for Innovation

Interview with Tom Kelley, General Manager of IDEO, and Author of The Art of Innovation and The Ten Faces of Innovation

Begin Part 2…

VB: “There’s something terribly liberating about applying an abundance mentality to your ideas, thinking, and work. There’s a Zen-like force here at play…” Would you talk about this?

Tom Kelley: An abundance mentality drives innovation.

The opposite of an abundance mentality is a scarcity mentality. If people have a scarcity mentality about their ideas, and we’ve all encountered people like this, they’ve usually got one favorite idea. They’ve been plugging at this one idea for the last decade, and are worried about not getting enough credit for it. They’re defending their idea–even if it’s weak they’re defensive about it.

If you can have the opposite attitude – an abundance mentality – it goes a long way towards fueling a culture of innovation. With this mentality you are more likely to say, “I’ve got this idea, but you may take it and build on it.” You and the other person go back and forth and when he or she says, “This part won’t work”, you are more likely to reply, “Okay, how can we make it work?” rather than, “No, I think it will”. You are not defending your turf all the time.

In an abundance mentality, you are more generous with your ideas because you know you’ve got more. This allows you to blend and mix your ideas, and to get synergy. It’s an important cultural value that contributes to innovation.

In an innovation culture, people will know you are continuously creating and contributing new ideas. The group doesn’t concern itself with who created the ideas. It’s more of a group effort.

At IDEO we believe everything that is done in organizations today is ultimately a group effort. An abundance mentality helps fuel that type of perspective.

VB: You say, “Prototyping is a state of mind.” “When all else fails, prototype til you’re silly.” Why is it so powerful? Read the rest of this entry »

Overview of this Interview: This is an interview with Tom Kelley on many aspects of leading at IDEO and the things they are still learning as a company.

Thoughts on this Interview: Vern Burkhardt does a great job of asking insightful questions into the things that Tom has learned as a leader in a company that is rewriting the rules of design and business. I appreciate that Tom brings the importance that Face to Face communications as a primary issues for effectiveness.

Original Interview HERE at ideaconnection.com

Design Thinking for Innovation

Interview with Tom Kelley, General Manager of IDEO, and Author of The Art of Innovation and The Ten Faces of Innovation

Vern Burkhardt (VB): What are some of the most interesting and exciting parts of your job as General Manager of IDEO?

Tom Kelley: The most interesting and exciting are tapping into the collective brain of the 530 people who work at IDEO. I am not a designer, engineer, or anthropologist so I don’t generate the source material at IDEO. I am the lucky guy who gets to tap into the reservoir of great insights that are being generated there every day.

I recently spent three days at an off-site meeting where most of the participants were IDEO people from around the world. They shared new insights about healthcare, green technology, and media entertainment projects we are working on. Wow, it was an incredible download because there’s a lot of interesting ‘stuff’ going on. Being a part of that community is one of the most interesting aspects of my job.

VB: It’s a highly creative environment.

Tom Kelley: Since we are members of the same family at IDEO open sharing occurs. It’s fun to see the latest things. It’s the future because these are innovations that haven’t yet been announced to the world.

VB: You say if you could choose just one persona it would be the Anthropologist. No doubt because you are adept at one of the hardest parts of the innovation process – “seeing with fresh eyes”. Which one or two of the other nine personas do you especially enjoy playing in terms of “being innovative?” [Vern's note: Tom Kelley describes ten 'roles' – the 'personas' – various members of an innovation team may choose to take on. They are the learning personas (Anthropologist, Experimenter, and Cross-pollinator), the organizing personas (Hurdler, Collaborator and Director), and the building personas (Experience Architect, Set Designer, Caregiver, and Storyteller).]

Tom Kelley: Anthropology is number one in my mind, but I also love the Experience Architect. The Experience Architect takes the insights from anthropology and other sources, and converts them into the customer experience, employee experience, or whatever is the target audience. How you translate or adapt insights into action when thinking about the customer journey and trying to be special at every step along the way, rather than only considering your product as a commodity is fascinating.

I also like the Set Designer. They’re the person who uses the physical environment as a strategic tool to influence the attitude, behavior, or even the performance of the team that works in a physical space. While it may not be the most powerful of the innovation roles, it’s often the persona most frequently overlooked. People don’t think of space as being strategic. At IDEO we think space can be quite strategic, and that it can affect everything that happens.

There is a new book out titled Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein. I am in the middle of reading it. The authors talk about how making small changes can make a difference. For example, retailers understand that if you put candy at the eye level of young children they will grab onto it, and their mom will be encouraged to buy it. That’s not necessarily a positive nudge, but it works and increases sales.

In the same way, small changes in the work environment can change behavior, encourage interactions, get people to share more things, and keep people from being isolated. It can make for better brain storming sessions. That’s why I like the Set Designer.

VB: It can keep people from becoming stale? Read the rest of this entry »

Overview of Article: This is an interview with Tim Brown, primarily on the information in his book, Change for Design, but also on his views of the implications of Design Thinking in a few specific areas.

Thoughts on this Article: I like both the questions and the answers in this interview.  The S+B team did a good job of getting into the ideas and asking appropaite questions that give deeper insight into the topics that Tim addressed.  This interview also continues to highlight for me the differences between Tim Brown’s views of Design Thinking and Roger Martin’s views.  It will be interesting to see who becomes the primary voice on the Design Thinking movement.

Original Article and comments HERE at Strategy-Business.com

The Thought Leader Interview: Tim Brown

The CEO of Silicon Valley–based design firm IDEO contends that elegant, customer-centric design stems from a simple set of thinking practices.

Now IDEO is being retained by Barack Obama’s White House to help to reinvigorate the American civil service; by the government of Iceland to help the country to innovate its way out of financial crisis; and by the Kellogg Foundation to reinvent education. Read the rest of this entry »