a splash of cynicism, what is all this hype about design thinking?
DESCRIPTION
The outline presentation for a talk I gave at a Design Thinking Conclave in Lavasa, near Pune. The conclave was organized by MIT Institute of Design (http://www.mitid.edu.in/) to restructure their Design Management curriculum. Other speakers included Design Professors and Professionals from Consulting and Design Firms with Phds and Masters Degrees in design. I was the odd one out! :-) Friday, March 12, 2009TRANSCRIPT
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A SPLASH OF CYNICISMWhat is all this hype about
“design thinking?”
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HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL was recently named one of the TOP 10 DESIGN SCHOOLS by BusinessWeek
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Roger Martin’s “DESIGN OF BUSINESS” is probably the most talked about Design Book of last year
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Every DESIGN SCHOOL wants to launch a MANAGEMENT course
*Business Schools in India haven’t caught up with their own DESIGN courses yet!
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Yet, a “DESIGN MANAGEMENT”
student recently told me that she’d
learnt how to “MANAGE DESIGNERS”
and she can “Understand them better”!
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DESIGNERS are HUMAN
They don’t think differently,
they think DIFFERENT things
How can I make this look better?
How can I make it easier to use?
How can I make this less cluttered?
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The current curriculum is designed to
make Designers into pseudo-MBAs and
everyone else into pseudo-designers.
NEITHER IS A GOOD IDEA.
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“DESIGN THINKING”
IS TOO ABSTRACTWhat are its practical applications? Service Design? Experience Design? Product Innovation? Designing Business Models? Retail Design?
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What do WALL CLOCKS and FLOOR TILES have in common?
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An UNEDUCATED BUSINESSMAN
from Gujarat knows the answer...
*But he’ll laugh you out of his factory if you harass him with “Design Thinking” Jargon!
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STRATEGIC DESIGN
CREATIVE LEAPSRIGHT-BRAINED
PROBLEM SOLVING METHODS
HUMAN CENTERED
EMPATHY ECONOMY
INTEGRATIVE THIINKING
GO EASY ON THE
JARGON!
DISTRIBUTED DESIGN MANAGEMEENT
SENSORY BRANDING
DESIGN VISIONARIES
DESIGN MANAGEMENT
DESIGN ROI
DESIGN MINDEDDESIGN
RESEARCH
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PRACTICE
PRACTICE
PRACTICE
PRACTICE
PRACTICE
PRACTICE
PRACTICE
PRACTICE
Innovation cannot be learnt in a classroom,ONLY BY
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A MODEL FOR TEACHING
Design Thinking and InnovationA not-for-profit organization that brings professionals from technology, design, marketing, academics... and asks them to develop a business prototype over a weekend
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Make teams of 5 STUDENTS
from different disciplines and make
them work on a REAL BUSINESS
EVERY WEEK, followed by
A WEEK IN THE CLASSROOM
where the Professor analyses
their progress and teaches the
part of the subject relevant to
their business stage. THAT’S IT.