Frankly about ten years back i started hearing ‘Design Thinking”, i rolled my eyes…the world seemed to have discovered air that you could breathe on earth…and i am sure all designers must have felt the same. Afterall this is how we work, we always worked..it was only now that a smart guy decided to milk the word. Same thing goes with ‘innovation”.
But what ‘Design-Thinking’ did do, was to attract business/ industry guys to a “fresh” way of looking at their business. I guess Design process sounded too technical to them..also too mechanical..perhaps you dont need brains for it..but ‘Thinking” aha..how do u do it with out “brains”. and that was attractive. Then you started hearing more of this word from non-designers..it almost got adopted by management companies as a new solution generating mantra.
Thats all good for us Designers. As long as it attracts business to adopt design process and generate work for us. However what many management and business people forget is that you can not really run a “Design thinking’ workshop without designers. The workshops needs to have users, managements, operational teams and designers.
Its not rocket science to imagine that the best results will come only if it is lead by designers. There are many reasons. One of them is that designers can live in confusion, they dont need instant clarity and thus do not keep jumping on “solutions”. this is important to let the solution emerge. Business and Management teams suffocate in confusion, they need clarity..even at the cost of failure they fabricate clarity,
A one day session on ‘Design thinking” can put an organisation into a transformation mode. I have seen organisations rethink their product plans, product features, plan new business, alter organisation structures and look for new markets…all after a days session with senior management and owners on Design Thinking.
Design Thinking doesnt work in all situations and it needs preparation. I have been making these basic presentations to new clients and then we follow it up with workshops and projects. The results are astounding everytime.
Here is a basic intro presentation to Design Thinking. If you want more..get in touch with me.
I am not a designer but I love interacting and working with them.
I believe Indian designers should write more about Design Thinking and User Experience. This will provide management and technical professionals a hook to connect with them which will lead to intense interaction and mutual win-win as the relationship matures.
Design Thinking and Design Doing has huge potential for businesses not only in India but world over.
I absolutely agree with you Vimal. Thank you for seeing the presentation and commenting.