Buzzword unveiled: design thinking

Design and design thinking are definitely buzzwords: they stand on the lips of many, but are understood only by a handful.

While performing some research for a future talk I'd like to give about design thinking and its value in the modern competitive landscape, I found myself gathering some material ranging from Wikipedia articles to books written by gurus of design management. As usual this activity seems to spark my synapses and I'd like to share with you, random or regular hypnogram readers, some of my thoughts about the real meaning of design thinking. I will start by saying what design thinking is not:

Design thinking is not a mysterious, indecipherable way of thinking only designers possess. Design schools simply provide their students with tools and stimuli to trigger  and train the right side of the brain, the one from which creative and lateral thinking stems from. Each and every human possesses the capability to solve problems in new and different ways: it's just that designers are way more used to it.

As Thomas Lockwood puts it in his book Design thinking, the word "design thinking is referred to the application of a designer's sensibility and mehods to problem solving"; and I can only agree with this statement.

Personally, I think of design thinking more as a general attitude,  a high degree of openness towards anything that is multidisciplinary exchange of knowledge, driven by a very clear purpose: the enhancement of experiences, being them tied to products or services. It is possible to identify three basic types of contributors (although many other disciplines can be involved): engineers, designers and business people.

A design thinking approach requires they all contribute to a project not only within their expertise domain but throughout all subjects involved, so to reach the best result from every point of view. Business people carry out the main task of facilitating designers and engineers in their technological and design challenges. They have to feel free to experiment and push the boundaries of what is conventional, of what is feasible and logical. Designers and engineers well into a design thinking approach will be open to any feedback/suggestion coming from anyone so as to include the best input into the work.

Given the knowledge and the skills: it’s all about being open, curious and focused. Good deliverables and disruptive innovation will follow. If not, a new lesson will be learnt and will be the basis for a new, more aware initiative.

If you want to know more about design thinking and design management, check the dmi website or simply... Google it!