A few companies got it already, and depending on how you look at design as a designer I’m sure you got it too.
Sometimes it’s a good thing to de-frame the frame though, step outside and from there look on what is happening within the particular frame. Sometimes you are the system, think and act like it.
That was what I felt when I recently saw an article about management schools newest advice to their customers. (I did of course knew about d-school already 
)
The article praises design as the new mantra – “think and act like a designer” it states.
But is that really it?
As a designer you maybe agree – sure you do – but what if I say it’s just a new stunt to earn new money at the B-schools? Years back we have had Just-in-time, CRM, HRM, TQM and what-do-I-know, so is everything really about design?
Step outside and take a look. You will see – I hope – that it’s also about a lot of other different things…..apparently
2 comments so far
The buzz is definately getting louder. Buzz always makes me suspicious.
There is precious little agreement over what “design” means even within the design community, let alone across disciplines. Indeed, are Tom Peters, Jared Spool, Jon Thakara, Bruce Mao and Alan Lafley all saying the same thing when they use the word “design”? I’m not so sure.
So how much substance can there really behind the buzz? I’m not so sure.
Hans -
Though everything is apparently about design these days, I think it has always been about Design, it just is receiving a lot more attention these days because it might just be the next new business tool for competitive advantage. Which is obviously what is creating most of the buzz right now.
As Niblettes suggests, design means different things to graphic, product, industrial, and interaction designers - as it also does to architects, marketing departments, cabinet makers, taxi drivers and CEOs. And I don’t get the feeling that one-size fits all here. I think it is very different for these different people, and much like the field of engineering, design should continue to have its specialties.
Again, like Niblettes, I am suspicious of the hype, but also feel good that it is being discussed more openly and is less of an alien consideration to be discussing design in a business context.
I don’t believe (or perhaps want to believe) that this is just a new business stunt, being fueled by mainstream media hype, but do think design thinking, design strategy and innovation will be more popular in certain times of industry instability.
So for now, we get to take full advantage of this climate, but sometime in the future, we’ll need to adapt to new changes and perhaps entirely new fields of business-thinking.
I do feel strongly that we’re not inventing anything new though. Design thinking has been around for a considerable time, and we can use those examples to show that this isn’t a fashionable tool, but needs more room to find a way to merge with business. People like Clement Mok, Tom Peters, Keeley and IDEO have been saying stuff like this for some time now, without being heard by this many people.
I like the idea in Physics or Maths that you don’t invent new theories or parts of the universe, but you ‘observe’ them perhaps for the first time. So I like to say that we’ve observed, for the first time (over the last 5 years or so), that design can fit inside business and make it better - because both are aligned somewhat.