design thinking (ux australia)

Design Thinking Is this our ticket to the big table?

Iain Barker Principal, Meld Studios

Business community

Design community

…design thinking…

WTF

“Design is not art; it is about pragmatic compromise rather than perfection.”

Bill Buxton, Principal Scientist at Microsoft Research

“There's something odd going on when business and political leaders flatter design with potentially holding the key to such big and pressing problems, and the design community looks the other way.”

Kevin McCullagh http://www.core77.com/blog/featured_items/design_thinkingeverywhere_and_nowhere_reflections_on_the_big_re-think__16277.asp

“For now, the business community seems to have the ball, and it's running with it. But designers can't afford not to be a part of this conversation. If you opt out, the purpose and value of the wider discipline of design is going to get twisted and subverted by well-meaning individuals who don't know what they're talking about. Designers, surely, need to be at the heart of the design thinking discussion.”

Helen Walters http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/next/archives/2010/04/design_week_van.html

“Design thinking is an approach that uses the designer’s sensibility and methods for problem solving to meet people’s needs in a technologically feasible and commercially viable way. In other words, design thinking is human-centered innovation.”

Tim Brown http://www.ideo.com/thinking/approach/

“[Design thinking] means stepping back from the immediate issue and taking a broader look. It requires…  …systems thinking…  …deep immersion into the topic…  …tests and frequent revisions…  …done in groups… Perhaps the most important point is to move away from the problem description and take a new, broader approach.”

Don Norman http://www.core77.com/blog/columns/design_thinking_a_useful_myth_16790.asp

Familiar

  Empathy  Collaboration  Prototyping   Iteration  Broader context

It isn’t all so familiar

  Innovation not optimisation

  Solving problems, not designing interactions

  Advocated by businesses, not designers   They use terms like “abductive

reasoning” and “synthesis”

“The most successful businesses in the years to come will balance analytical mastery and intuitive originality in a dynamic interplay that I call design thinking. Design thinking is the form of thought that enables forward movement of knowledge, and the firms that master it will gain a nearly inexhaustible, long-term business advantage.” Roger Martin: http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/ oct2009/id20091014_072850_page_2.htm

“…the prescription is not to embrace abduction to the exclusion of deduction or induction, nor is it to bet the farm on loose abductive inferences. Rather, it is to strive for balance. Proponents of design thinking in business recognise that abduction is almost entirely marginalised in the modern corporation and take it upon themselves to make their companies hospitable to it.”

Roger Martin From The Design of Business

Analytical

Intuitive

Intuitive

Analytical

Analytical Intuitive

“I now believe that CEOs and managers must know Design Thinking to do their jobs. CEOs must be designers and use their methodologies to actually run companies. Let me be even more precise. Design Thinking is the new Management Methodology.”

Bruce Nussbaum, http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/NussbaumOnDesign/archives/2007/06/ceos_must_be_de.html

Designer Researcher

“I now believe that CEOs and managers must know Design Thinking to do their jobs. CEOs must be designers and use their methodologies to actually run companies. Let me be even more precise. Design Thinking is the new Management Methodology.”

Bruce Nussbaum, http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/NussbaumOnDesign/archives/2007/06/ceos_must_be_de.html

“…long live the phrase "design thinking." It will help in the transformation of design from the world of form and style to that of function and structure. It will help spread the word that designers can add value to almost any problem, from healthcare to pollution, business strategy and company organization...”

Don Norman http://www.core77.com/blog/columns/design_thinking_a_useful_myth_16790.asp

“…When this transformation takes place, the term can be put away to die a natural death. Meanwhile exploit the myth. Act as if you believe it. Just don't actually do so.”

Don Norman http://www.core77.com/blog/columns/design_thinking_a_useful_myth_16790.asp

Are businesses really interested in design thinking?

The figures are compelling

Shares in design-led businesses outperform key stock market indices by 200%

Where design is integral, less than half of businesses compete mainly on price, compared to two thirds of those who don’t use design

On average, design alert businesses increase their market share by 6.3% through using design

More at http://www.designfactfinder.co.uk/

Channels/Touchpoints

Product strategy

Business strategy

Traditional business

values

“We don’t know enough to commit our ideas to paper yet.”

“What if my manager sees them? I haven’t decided they’re right yet.”

Traditional business values  Driving e!ciencies  Avoiding risks  Not looking stupid   Looking busy at all times   Short-term success   Respecting hierarchy   Following procedure   Providing full traceability  Numbers rule

Design values   Empowerment   Experimentation  Visualisation   Subverting hierarchy   Fail fast   Reflection  Collaboration  Honest critique

Design thinking

Business consultants

Market researchers

User experience designers

Meld Studios

“That’s the worst thing you could possibly do!”

“That is far too complicated. It makes the current solution look good.”

“That would make me actively discourage my clients from using it.”

Design space

Meld Studios

Meld Studios

Design thinking

User experience designers

?

Design thinking

User experience

design

Do you…

a)  Tell them that you don’t do “design thinking” b)  Tell them that what they’re after isn’t actually

called design thinking and that they should refer to it as design strategy, or something we’re far more comfortable with, or else you won’t do the work

c)  Ask them when they want you to start

Thoughts or questions?

Iain Barker, Principal, Meld Studios iain@meldstudios.com.au