CPH127

I have been done some thinking on how design, as it is discussed here and across the global business media today, fits into the corporate world of today. How the discussion on "new design" or "design thinking" sounds in the ears of a CEO who knows nothing of design - to whom design is something you see in some smart shops or at a museum. These are the guys I talk to and I try to convince that design can make a difference in their business. On the other hand, events like Index has opened up for a new definition of design which again opens up for new questions; does design have to look good? Does the design has to be designed in a traditional sense?

I need some way to structure the different business related views on design today. One thought I dwelled with lately is that design is like Abraham Maslow´s "the hierarchy of needs", often presented as a pyramid. Basically, a human has to fullfil his or hers needs from the bottom and up. If you want to build a pyramid you need to start with a base. You can´t jump into the middle of it. While Maslow´s pyramid has 5 levels the one I think of related to design has 3.

At the base you have "design practise". Related to the business use of design, "Design practise" represents the basic use of design: the definition of a design brief, the identification, selection and contractual engagement with a  designer (if the business does not have internal designers) etc. A company needs - at least - understand the most basic use of design, if even to start thinking about how design can apply to their corporation. The work is most likely not focused on user-centered design but rather on styling.

In the middle you have "design process". Related to the business use of design, "Design process", represent an organizational and structured use of design. Typically, it is focused on the use of an explicit process which can include cross-functional competencies. However, it is focused on the organization and leadership of design in the design and/or development department where other departments are looked upon as "clients" to the solution. The work is most likely focused on user-centered design.

At the top of the pyramid you have "design thinking". Related to the business use of design, "Design thinking", represent an top-level, cross-organizational use of design. Typically, it is also focused on the use of an explicit process which should include cross-functional competencies. It is focused on the use of the design process as an problem solving/opportunity realizing tool on a corporate strategy level where all departments are involved in the process. The work is most likely focused on user-centered design.

Again - from a design perspective - a company cannot start at the top. They need to establish and master the other levels before they can persue the level above.
The middle part, "design process" could have been called design management but I choose not to because of the need for management or leadership across all parts of the pyramid. Much the same could be said of "design process" since all design activities (like all other activities) follow a process. However, in the "design practise" level the process can be totally internal in the given designer and not involve the company (client) at all.

Hmm…what do you think? Does it make sense? These thoughts are by no means concluded - they are just thoughts - so I would love some comments on them!

Of course you know the term “Social Software” – maybe you don’t. For me it’s a movement, some of my dearest friends would say that I’m almost religious about the possibilities that these tools has to offer.

The reason why I’m coming back to this over and over again is that I see a HUGE potential for companies that adopt the principles of Open Source and Social Software.

I’ve written about it before, I know -

http://www.cph127.com/cph127/2005/08/open_sourcethin.html

and here -

http://connecta.typepad.com/cph127/2005/08/_the_four_pract.html

Over the past months we’ve experienced an explosion of new tools and companies coming almost out of nowhere. The tremendous ideas will have – I’m almost sure – great impact on how we will use technology, access information and create new knowledge for personal use. Don’t you think?

Not everybody is so exited that I am – Ross has, despite the great possibilities, a “critical” post about restrictions and “don’t haves”.

If you know of “Bricks & Mortar”-companies that already has adopted some of the principles, please share.

• Interview with Tom Kelley
  A discussion on how to encourage and recognize daily innovation and creativity, assessing what tools, talents, or personas drive innovative projects and ideas.
  (tags: jacob ideo innovation podcast design creativity persona)

• Leadership, Change and Innovation
  Leading positive organizational change to achieve extraordinary organizational performance (via idpd)
  (tags: jacob pdf leadership change management innovation innovationmanagement)
• Radical Innovation and Design Research
  From the international design conference in Dubrovnik, May 14 - 17, 2002. (via idpd)
  (tags: jacob innovationmanagement innovationeducation innovationknowledge innovationcompetence pdf research design)
• Customer as Co-Designers
  Christoph Berger and Frank Piller explain how sports goods manufacturer Adidas Salomon mastered the challenges of Mass Customisation. (via idpd)
  (tags: jacob customer-made customer-centric mass-customization co-creation adidas)
• Creativity and Leadership in Learning Communities
  by Fritjof Capra, from the Center for Ecoliteracy (via idpd)
  (tags: jacob creativity leadership learning communitybuilding community pdf)
• Methodology for the evaluation of the Innovation level of Products and Services
  First published in the proceedings of the Altshuller Institute TRIZCON2005, Brighton MI USA, April 2005 (via idpd)
  (tags: jacob evaluation innovation products services methodology methods pdf research)
• How to turn End-User Understanding into Innovation
  Principles and techniques of customer-inspired innovation (via idpd)
  (tags: jacob customer-centric usercentric innovation principles techniques empathy presentations pdf)
• Meaningful Product Relationships
  From the Design and Emotion conference 1-3 July 2002 in Loughborough, England (via idpd)
  (tags: jacob productdevelopment usercentric perception pdf research)
• Interaction Design history in a teeny little nutshell
  by Marc Rettig (nierenberg chair of design at Carnegie Mellon University) - via idpd
  (tags: jacob interactiondesign presentations pdf experiencedesign history)
• User-Centered Design
  IBM’s portal for User-Centered Design
  (tags: jacob usercentric design ibm experiencedesign)
• Strategic Design - Putting People First
  Lots of good book recommendations from IVREA
  (tags: jacob ivrea strategic design usercentric experiencedesign)
• Creating Blue Oceans
  New innovation blog
  (tags: jacob blog business strategy innovation)
• Defining Customer Innovation (Creating Positive Context)
  Good blog entry on how to define customer innovation
  (tags: jacob customer-centric usercentric innovation customer-made co-creation)

IDEO and d-school extraordinaire Tom Kelley is due with a new book on innovation, it has not reached danish bookstores yet, so I wanted to share an excerpt I found online at Fast Company’s website. In the book he introduce ten new personas (faces) for innovation processes, this is quite nifty!

The Learning Personas
Individuals and organizations need to constantly gather new sources of information in order to expand their knowledge and grow, so the first three personas are learning roles. These personas are driven by the idea that no matter how successful a company currently is, no one can afford to be complacent. The world is changing at an accelerated pace, and today’s great idea may be tomorrow’s anachronism. The learning roles help keep your team from becoming too internally focused and remind the organization not to be so smug about what you know. People who adopt the learning roles are humble enough to question their own worldview, and in doing so, they remain open to new insights every day.

1. The Anthropologist brings new learning and insights into the organization by observing human behavior and developing a deep understanding of how people interact physically and emotionally with products, services, and spaces. When an Ideo human-factors person camps out in a hospital room for 48 hours with an elderly patient undergoing surgery, she is living the life of the anthropologist and helping to develop new health-care services.

2. The Experimenter prototypes new ideas continuously, learning by a process of enlightened trial and error. The Experimenter takes calculated risks to achieve success through a state of “experimentation as implementation.” When BMW bypassed all its traditional advertising channels and created theater-quality short films for bmwfilms.com, no one knew whether the experiment would succeed. Its runaway success underscores the rewards that flow to Experimenters.

3. The Cross-Pollinator explores other industries and cultures, then translates those findings and revelations to fit the unique needs of your enterprise. An open-minded Japanese businesswoman was taken with the generic beer she found in a U.S. supermarket. She brought the idea home, and it eventually became the “no brand” Mujirushi Ryohin chain, a 300-store, billion-dollar retail empire. That’s the leverage of a Cross-Pollinator.

The Organizing Personas
The next three personas are organizing roles, played by individuals who are savvy about the often counterintuitive process of how organizations move ideas forward. At Ideo, we used to believe that the ideas should speak for themselves. Now we understand what the Hurdler, the Collaborator, and the Director have known all along: that even the best ideas must continuously compete for time, attention, and resources. Those who adopt these organizing roles don’t dismiss the process of budget and resource allocation as “politics” or “red tape.” They recognize it as a complex game of chess, and they play to win.

4. The Hurdler knows that the path to innovation is strewn with obstacles and develops a knack for overcoming or outsmarting those roadblocks. When the 3M worker who invented masking tape decades ago had his idea initially rejected, he refused to give up. Staying within his $100 authorization limit, he signed a series of $99 purchase orders to pay for critical equipment needed to produce the first batch. His perseverance paid off, and 3M has reaped billions of dollars in cumulative profits because an energetic Hurdler was willing to bend the rules.

5. The Collaborator helps bring eclectic groups together, and often leads from the middle of the pack to create new combinations and multidisciplinary solutions. Not long ago, Kraft Foods and Safeway sat down to figure out how to knock down the traditional walls between supplier and retailer. One strategy–a way to streamline the transfer of goods from one to the other–didn’t just save labor and carrying costs. The increased efficiency sent sales of Capri Sun juice drinks, for example, soaring by 167% during one promotion.

6. The Director not only gathers together a talented cast and crew but also helps to spark their creative talents. When a creative Mattel executive assembles an ad hoc team of designers and project leaders, sequesters them for 12 weeks, and ends up with a new $100 million girls’-toy platform in three months, she is a role model for Directors everywhere.

The Building Personas
The four remaining personas are building roles that apply insights from the learning roles and channel the empowerment from the organizing roles to make innovation happen. When people adopt the building personas, they stamp their mark on your organization. People in these roles are highly visible, so you’ll often find them right at the heart of the action.

7. The Experience Architect designs compelling experiences that go beyond mere functionality to connect at a deeper level with customers’ latent or expressed needs. When Cold Stone Creamery turns the preparation of a frozen dessert into a fun, dramatic performance, it is designing a successful new customer experience. The premium prices and marketing buzz that follow are rewards associated with playing the role of the Experience Architect.

8. The Set Designer creates a stage on which innovation team members can do their best work, transforming physical environments into powerful tools to influence behavior and attitude. Companies such as Pixar and Industrial Light & Magic recognize that the right office environments can help nourish and sustain a creative culture. When the Cleveland Indians discovered a renewed winning ability in a brand-new stadium, they demonstrated the value of the Set Designer. Organizations that tap into the power of the Set Designer sometimes discover remarkable performance improvements that make all the space changes worthwhile.

9. The Caregiver builds on the metaphor of a health-care professional to deliver customer care in a manner that goes beyond mere service. Good Caregivers anticipate customer needs and are ready to look after them. When you see a service that’s really in demand, there’s usually a Caregiver at the heart of it. Best Cellars, a retailer that takes the mystery and snobbery out of wine and makes it simple and fun, is demonstrating the Caregiver role–while earning a solid profit at the same time.

10. The Storyteller builds both internal morale and external awareness through compelling narra-tives that communicate a fundamental human value or reinforce a specific cultural trait. Companies from Dell to Starbucks have lots of corporate legends that support their brands and build camaraderie within their teams. Medtronic, celebrated for its product innovation and consistently high growth, reinforces its culture with straight-from-the-heart storytelling–patients’ firsthand narratives of how the products changed or even saved their lives.

Five tips for agencies and companies that aim to develop their competencies in strategic design.

STRATEGIC DESIGN AGENCIES MUST BE
PREPARED TO:

1. Separate content from process. WHAT and HOW are two different questions.
2. Develop a habit of evaluating design processes and learn from the conclusions. Make the learning your intellectual property.
3. Recruit people with different competencies and backgrounds and learn from them.
4. Encourage curiosity and collaboration. Have your employees stretch beyond their own discipline specific boundaries.
5. Develop the ability to teach and transferskills to the clients.

COMPANIES HIRING STRATEGIC DESIGN
AGENCIES MUST BE PREPARED TO:

1. Separate content from process. WHAT and HOW are two different questions.
2. Ask the agency to walk you through their approach – HOW they work.
3. Be ready to invest the human resources necessary to be part in the design process.
4. Expect design processes to be learning journeys.
5. Changes, new insights and opportunities will occur. Be ready to act on them.

I think I need to have a chat with Silje Kamille Friis - she is doing a Ph.D. on the new understanding of design methods and processes at the forefront of strategic design agencies. The article is part of her Ph.D.-project.

Got it from Mark

The Innovation Toolbox / A Guide to New Design
By Sunne Aagaard & Silje Kamille Friis
New Design Business Journalists
Copenhagen, Denmark
Written for a special issue of the journal; Monday Morning
Developed in collaboration with INDEX entitled: ‘Entering the Creativity Economy’.
You can read more and order the magazine at:
http://www.mm.dk/bestilling_beskrivelse.php?bestilling_id=36

(I’m proud to say that I suggested INDEX to make a pdf-to-download, now it’s finally here )

• Gautam Ghosh on Management: Innovation blogs and some thoughts
  Good Asian blog about topics very familiar
  (tags: Gautam Organizations India Work People Strategy Learning hanshenrik Knowledge Innovation Highperformance)

• Using critical intelligence
  Indirectlt got it from Niti - INTERESTING - and well put on what design think is all about. Interesting to see it on a site for “Pediatric Services”
  (tags: nitibhan designthinking hanshenrik leadership design thinking)

10 years back I founded my third company – it was before the newspapers could spell the word “Internet”. It turned out to be a Internet-consultancy company, and when I left it in 2000 the unit I founded was grown to around 60 people. We merged the company into one of those big players at the time – and over night we turned out being aprox. 2000 people in the same company.

Those where the days….;-)

Since then I wished to learn something about what happened – creating a language for it. So I took a Master in Management Development, which part wise consisted of studies on personal leadership, business development and a lot of psychological stuff…..dealing with people, leading them – and your self – through massive change.

The past 3-4-5 months a lot of buzz has been created in the blogsophere around the term “Design Thinking”.

Why?

I also find it interesting and maybe it’s THE term for creating sense around what design can add to doing meaningful business - in the broadest sense.

As I see it there is nothing new under the sun – the new thing is though that “Design Thinking” encapsulate many different disciplines, Management, Design, HRM, Strategy, Innovation, Ethnography and a lot of others…..

Then again – looking back to the “old” days it came down to being openminded - again in the broadest sense - agile and alert on change. So is “Design Thinking” = “Change Management” in every aspect? Product/Service, Processes, Culture/identity?

Something like that – I think But I’m also sure that I missed something – please tell me what.

Interesting times we live in and I’ll look forward being part of the discussion – maybe a topic for the CPH127-Summit next Spring?