business needs design now

E X E R C I S E # 1 :

“What is it that designers do?”

Business needs design now, more than ever.

“Design, in short, is becoming an ever more

important engine of corporate profit: It's

no longer enough simply to outperform the

competition; to thrive in a world of

ceaseless and rapid change, businesspeople

have to outimagine the competition as well.

They must begin to think – to become –

more like designers.

-Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman B-school

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/109/open_design-tough-love.html



“Design, in short, is becoming an ever more

important engine of corporate profit: It's

no longer enough simply to outperform the

competition; to thrive in a world of

ceaseless and rapid change, businesspeople

have to outimagine the competition as well.

They must begin to think – to become –

more like designers.

-Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman B-school

What kind of design?




Product design

Product Design

Experience Design

Product Design

Design of Business

Experience Design

Design of Business

Digital Music, c.2001

Design of Business

Hard Drive?

Flash drive?

MP3 CD?

Wav?

MP what?

MP2?

MP3?

AIFF?

‘Rip’ my CD?Digital Music, c.2001

Design of Business

Hard Drive?

Flash drive?

MP3 CD?

Wav?

MP what?

MP2?

MP3?

AIFF?

‘Rip’ my CD?“No Market Leader”

Design of Business

Hard Drive?

Flash drive?

MP3 CD?

Wav?

MP what?

MP2?

MP3?

AIFF?

‘Rip’ my CD?

Design of Business

Hard Drive?

Flash drive?

MP3 CD?

Wav?

MP what?

MP2?

MP3?

AIFF?

‘Rip’ my CD?

“value of the network”

www.andrewhargadon.com/Release/Hargadon_DMR_Leading_by_Design.pdf

http://www.andrewhargadon.com/Release/Hargadon_DMR_Leading_by_Design.pdf






Design of Business

Product Design

Experience Design

lifestyle devices

transparent digital audio

formats

easy importing of music from CDs and other ‘sources’ (ahem!)

Design as process

Design as outcome

Design as process

Design as outcome

Jess McMullinwww.bplusd.org

http://www.bplusd.org

http://www.bplusd.org

Design as process

Design as outcome

Design as process

Design as outcome

same thinking skills

(different application)

Design as process

Design as outcome

same thinking skills

(different application)

...and a different perspective to traditional strategy-making


Why now?

A N S W E R # 1 :

the limits of efficiencies.

Why design is needed now!

New sources of competitive advantage:

1960s & 1970s

Making things cheaperAdvantage from Cost Division of labor, MTS,

mass production

1980s & 1990s

Making things betterAdvantages from Quality and Speed Lean, JIT,

!exible specialization, automation

2000s

Making better thingsAdvantages from Aesthetics and Authenticity,

Design, innovation, uniqueness

Source: Stuart Rosenfeld, Regional Technology Strategies, Inc. (2006)

this view leads to ‘design’ as a differentiator:


But ‘design’ in this sense is about something you produce - an outcome.


But ‘design’ in this sense is about something you produce - an outcome.

What if the Strategy is flawed?

A N S W E R # 2 :

increasingly complexinterdependent ecosystems

Why design is needed now!

http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2007/01/sobering_though.html




Coopetition




Coopetition

3rd Party Developers




Coopetition


Government Regulations




Coopetition


Global Market





Coopetition


Global Market


“The iPhone is a cool product. But it can be revolutionary if it becomes a cool ecosystem.”

Bruce Nussbaum, Business Week



increasingly complex

increasingly complex

increasing interdependence

social changeglobalization

economic & political uncertainty

new forms of competition

a networked economy

a value chain that can’t be controlled

mergers & acquisitions

commoditization of goods & services

environmental degradation

rate of technology change

deregulation & privatization

The long term winners in complex ecologies are those that fit with an environment, compete within a context of cooperation, and create systems that become increasingly complex while remaining extremely flexible.

“...we must understand that businesses are complex systems;

each is composed of myriad independent "parts" (employees,

information systems, teams, customers, partners, and so on)

that work together to meet business goals. What makes them

complex is their endless variety of parts (e.g., no two

employees are the same) and the sophisticated web of

relationships they make up.

This inherent complexity makes the behavior of the business

largely unpredictable, and generally uncontrollable by those

relatively few parts in leadership positions (just as ant colonies

or bee swarms are not controlled by their respective queens).

-Marc Rix, Chaotic IT

http://chaoticit.blogspot.com/2007/02/chaotic-innovation-give-mavericks-keys.html



organizations as organisms

“Wait, are we talking about business or biology?”

“My countless conversations with boards of

directors and senior management have

revealed that these people are unfamiliar

with current thinking... thinking that has

been accepted by scientists and philosophers

for decades.

These very same breakthroughs in thinking

are responsible for generating the

technologies that are reshaping life for

everyone in the world and are being applied

in every science and by virtually every

master practitioner in all fields of human

endeavor. Politics, business, and education

have managed to remain far behind in their

integration of new thinking.

We are no longer in an Industrial Era.

(yet we still manage things as if we were)

T H E P R O B L E M :

E X E R C I S E # 2 :

The next time you are sitting in an executive or

management meeting, or anywhere that people accountable

for the performance of a corporation are engaged in a

discussion, listen very carefully to what is said.

Listen to the ideas, and notice if they resonate with a new

way of thinking - a way of thinking that is capable of

achieving a marketplace advantage in today’s rapidly

changing environment.

As you listen, set aside the current buzzwords and notice

what remains. Do you hear theory that is different from

what you might have heard decades ago?

“Beat the competition!”

What kind of thinking would produce this statement?

Is this a finite game with agreed on rules and a clear winner? Are we at war with someone? Are there clearly defined players? Are the stakes defined? How will we know when we’ve won? Is this really a worthwhile goal?

A complex ecosystem requires business leaders to adopt a different kind of skillset and mindset.

Business needs design now, more than ever.a Design

Mindset!

This is not about having ‘design’ in your title (or not).

This is about a mindset and skillset that can produce better results.

A ‘design’ mindset.

“The trouble is, when confronted with a mystery,

most linear business types resort to what they

know best: They crunch the numbers, analyze,

and ultimately redefine the problem “so it isn’t a

mystery anymore; it’s something they’ve done 12

times before,” Martin says. Most don’t avail

themselves of the designer’s tools — they don’t

think like designers — and so they are ill-prepared

for an economy where the winners are

determined by design.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/93/design.html



“So, what are the differences?”

planning vs thinking

solving vs framing


solving vs framing


decision attitude vs design attitude

solving vs framing



exhortations vs strategic intent

solving vs framing




process vs play

solving vs framing




process vs play

analysis vs synthesis

solving vs framing




process vs play


These are still important

solving vs framing




process vs play


These are still important

But these are vital

Design minded folks are really good at: Observation. Framing problems. Prototyping solutions. Working with imperfect data. Focusing on people. Caring about the details. Creating narratives. Envisioning unseen opportunities. Casting visions of the future. Synthesizing information. Systems thinking. Abductive thinking.

Increasing Complexity

needs really good

Problem Framing

to enable

Revolutionary Solutions

Increasing Complexity

needs really good

Problem Framing

to enable

Revolutionary Solutions

Design thinking is needed here!!

E X E R C I S E # 1 :

“What is it that designers do?”

“Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.”

- Herbert Simon

What is possible?

Not what is likely, what’s probable, or what’s predictable.

What is possible?

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”

- Alan Kay

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Highlyrecommendedreading:

www.andrewhargadon.com/Release/Hargadon_DMR_Leading_by_Design.pdf

