18. Design Thinking

In truth, companies such as Apple in particular, but also General Electric, Levi Strauss, Nike, and Procter & Gamble, to name a few, pioneered the notion some time ago.

See, for instance, Brown and Wyatt (2010). In 2007, Oxfam approached IDEO, a global design consultancy, with a brief. How might the charity better educate people to understand climate change? How might Oxfam translate that understanding into a better relationship with donors?

Herbert Simon (1916–2001) was an American political scientist, economist, and psychologist whose research ranged across the fields of cognitive psychology, computer science, public administration, economics, management, philosophy of science, sociology, and political science.

Herbert Simon saw that the rationality of individuals is limited by the information they have, the cognitive limitations of their minds, and the finite amount of time they have to make decisions. “Bounded rationality” leads them to “satisfice”, that is, choose what might not be optimal but will make them sufficiently happy.

Abduction is the process of inference to most likely, or best, explanations from accepted facts. Deduction means determining the conclusion. For example: “When it rains, the grass gets wet. It rains. Thus, the grass is wet.” Induction means determining the rule. To illustrate: “The grass has been wet every time it has rained. Thus, when it rains, the grass gets wet.” Abduction means determining the precondition. For instance: “When it rains, the grass gets wet. The grass is wet, it must have rained.” Abductive thinking is very close to the concept of lateral thinking, for which numerous tools exist.

Pink (2005) has identified six high-concept, high-touch abilities that have become crucial in the conceptual age. (The term “conceptual economy” describes the contribution of creativity, innovation, and design skills to economic competitiveness, especially in the global context.) The six abilities are design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning. By high-concept, he means the ability to detect patterns and opportunities, to shape artistic and emotional beauty, to craft satisfying narratives, to fuse apparently unrelated ideas into an invention. By high-touch, he connotes the ability to understand the subtleties of human interaction, empathize, and find happiness in the pursuit of purpose and meaning. Design is one profession that relies on all six abilities.

It can, for instance, be used to develop and drive strategy, open new markets, fashion new offerings, formulate new business models, identify new applications for technology, articulate new ways of connecting to customers, and forge new partnerships.

Some articulate these further into seven: define, research, ideate, prototype, choose, implement, and learn.

The first stage of the knowledge funnel is the investigation of a mystery (that may have several forms). The second is the delineation of a heuristic, viz., an educated guess, intuitive judgment, rule of thumb, or simple common sense, that narrows the area of inquiry so that it may be managed. The third is the creation of an algorithm, viz., a formula. As one moves down the funnel, one creates efficiency but must necessarily leave things out (Martin 2009).

T-shaped individuals possess deep knowledge in a core area of expertise as well as broad knowledge in disciplines such as management, finance, and business operations. Kelley (2008) of IDEO has also observed a number of roles that people can play in an organization to foster innovation and new ideas and offer an effective counterpoint to naysayers. They are the anthropologist, the experimenter, the cross-pollinator, the hurdler, the collaborator, the director, the experience architect, the set designer, the caregiver, and the storyteller.