Brian Ling critiques design thinking, arguing that it often gets confused with actual design execution and may stifle creativity. He highlights the overemphasis on process and the misconceptions surrounding the role of designers in innovation, suggesting that design thinking should be integrated with practical design doing for effective outcomes. Ling concludes that despite its popularity, design thinking has not consistently delivered the expected innovative results in business.

1. by Brian Ling, 16 October 2010Design Thinking is Killing Creativity

2. Hello!My name is BrianI’m a Design Strategist at Design Sojourn

3. DesignSojourn.comVisit me at my online home.

4. How it all started?

5. How it all started?Published 31 March 201049 Comments on my Blog Post5,756 Visitors to Date

6. ContentsWhat is Design Thinking?What are the Problems of Design Thinking?How can we Fix Design Thinking

7. What is Design Thinking?

8. They say, it’s the Best Thing Since…Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/60in3/2338247189/

9. Everyone is Talking about Design Thinking

10. There is a shift in the dominant logic of industrial to people orientation. Where improving the quality of life is the new consideration and competitive advantage.

11. Why Design Thinking?

12. What is Business ThinkingBusiness schools tend to focus on inductivethinking (based on directly observable facts) and deductivethinking (logic and analysis, typically based on past evidence)…Proctor & Gamble CEO A.G. LafleyLafley 2008, The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation Quoted in Business Week 28 July 2008

13. What is Design Thinking?Design schools emphasize abductive thinking – imagining what could be possible. This new thinking approach helps us challenge assumed constraints and add to ideas, versus discouraging them.Proctor & Gamble CEO A.G. LafleyLafley 2008, The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation Quoted in Business Week 28 July 2008

14. Why Design Thinking?While common methods of thought include deductive and inductive reasoning, Design Thinking embraces these but adds abductivereasoning. Abductive reasoning is effectively embracing a posture of "Why not?", but with a layer of rationale.Paula Thornton 31 August, 2007. (corante.com)

15. What are the Problems of Design Thinking?Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/donaldmacleod/4300324861/

16. Design Thinking is not Design Doing!

17. Design Thinking is not Design Doing!It has applications beyond objects and into systems.(getting fluffy…)

18. Design Thinking is a Process (Mess?)

19. Design Thinking is a ProcessThey say it’s about:The UserIteration Validation

20. Design Thinking is a Process

21. Design Thinking is a ProcessDesign is as much a process as it is an end product. The process should be simple.Joe Duffy Oct 12, 2009

22. Design Thinking is a Process

23. Design Thinking is a Process

24. Design Thinking is a Process

25. Design Thinking is a ProcessDesigning InteractionsBill Moggridge

26. Design Thinking is a Process

27. Design Thinking is a Process“Squiggle”Damien Newman 2006

28. Design Thinking is a MessIt is very frustrating to talk to several experts with diverging opinions when you are trying to learn about what to you is virgin territory. How can you expect “civilians” to know how to move forward?Rita Sue reflects on a Talk about Design in BusinessSuch diversity of opinion about the same subject. No wonder it is such a hard job to explain all this to people in organizations who haven’t a clue.

29. Design Thinking is a (Confusing) Mindset

30. Design Thinking Crossed MountainsImage Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/krayker/3936612610/

31. Design Thinking Meld MindsTranscended the “Language” BarrierImage Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bamboo-adventure/3530133273/

32. Design Thinking Meld Minds…the conversation was about how designers needed to learn the language and culture of business to make managers understand the power of innovation. It was the same conversation I heard a decade ago. The same two dozen company CEOs “get it”, plus a few new ones, and the rest still don’t.Bruce Nussbaum June 30th 2010, fastcodesign.com

33. Design Thinking Picked-up Bad HabitsData to Validate not PredictBenchmarking the New against the KnownRelying on Business MetricsAsking People what they WantOptimizing not Innovatinghttp://www.flickr.com/photos/bmhkim/4253242349/

34. Design Thinking Blinded by Science

35. Design Thinking is Just ThinkingBut note that we have had breakthrough ideas and creative thinking throughout recorded history, long before designers entered the scene. When we examine the process in detail, what is being labeled as "design thinking" is what creative people in all disciplines have always done. Don Norman 25 June, 2010 (core77.com)The myth? That designers possess some mystical, creative thought process that places them above all others in their skills at creativegroundbreaking thought.

36. Business Orthodoxies Resist Change

37. Constraints to CreativityCommon Causes Accessibility to diversified skills-Lack of expertise and tools and processes- Relationshipwith appropriate partners / suppliers- Collaborative culture is overshadowed by corporatepoliticsPeopleAbility to fail, and budget for it.- Complacency- Low cross-functional communication or cooperation- Command-and-control management styleCulture Distracted with immediate real or perceived crisis (e.g. quarterly results)- Not given compelling case for investment (e.g. marketability, finance,customer loyalty)- New executives or nearing the end of their termLeadershipOrganizational Challenges

38. TechnologyDesign BusinessSilos in Corporate Culture

39. Motorola bucked the industry trend in 2004, by introducing the ultra thin Razr.Successfully navigated 3 key challenges:Avoided consensus based decision makingAvoided temptation to layer in additional featuresDid not involve phone operators in the developmentGeoffrey Frost (Motorola CMO) 4 lesson’s of the Razr: It was a bet being made, not coveredNo compromise was the standard operating procedure – no trade-offsWe did not try to predict the market based on history, we bet if it was good enough it would make its own marketWe put the best, brightest, craziest & most passionate people on itDefying Corporate Gravity – The Razr

40. Design Thinking as a Happy Meal

41. Design Thinking as a Happy MealPackaged DeploymentOver-emphasis on the process not solutionBogged down by processLearnt in RoteImage Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tubedesign/2131802450/

42. Design ~solutions come from any part of the processis an iterative activityhas broad guidelineshas no fixed processImage Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/silverbromide/50079343/

43. Did Design Thinking Killed Design?When it required:Structure RepeatabilityReliabilityImage Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexhughson/50151744/

44. Design Thinking, one of the Many Tools?Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennbridgens/4651796254/

45. The Way Humans Think

46. Sometimes, We are our own worst Enemy

47. Errors in ReasoningSource: WikipediaA cognitive bias is the human tendency to make systematic errors in certain circumstances based on cognitive factors rather than evidence.

48. Examples of Errors in ReasoningNot Invented Here — the tendency to ignore that a product or solution already exists, because its source is seen as an "enemy" or as "inferior".Outcome bias — the tendency to judge a decision by its eventual outcome instead of based on the quality of the decision at the time it was made.Status quo bias — the tendency for people to like things to stay relatively the same.Bandwagon effect — the tendency to do (or believe) things because many other people do (or believe) the same. Related to herd behaviour.Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases

49. How Can We Fix Design Thinking?Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bitzcelt/4787422150/

50. For the Record: I’m not against Design Thinking!Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tearsandrain/2868003710/

51. Design Thinking is Over-Hyped

52. The Higher You are, the Harder…Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/racketrx/3884955834/

53. Design Thinking + Design DoingDesign Thinking cannot really be separated from design doing when the design problem can be characterized as a wicked problem. To be able to generate “creative” solutions you need to have some kind of artistry (Donald Schön’s term), this artistry is acquired through lots of practice (reflection in-action and on-action). A couple of workshop with post-it are just not enough to turn you into a designer.Ariel Guers (interacciones.org)

54. Design Thinking + Design DoingDesigners think in a very different way than what Design Thinking puts forward. Designers usually consider a “very limited” set of alternatives and develop guiding principles right from the start. They don’t postpone judgment and decision making in order to open-up to new alternatives, they rapidly create a rough (partial) solution (to a partially defined problem) and move forward to see what else they can learn about the problem, through iterations.Ariel Guers (interacciones.org)

55. We should remember that designers learn by doing, not by learning and practicing a theory, designing involves a lot more tacit knowledge than in other areas of business. It’s therefore hard to believe that senior managers can change their thinking habits of a lifetime after a workshop or two working with designers. And, to be frank, to suggest as much devalues what designers do.Roberto Verganti @Core77 (core77.com/blog/featured_items/design_thinkingeverywhere_and_nowhere_reflections_on_the_big_re-think__16277.asp)Design Thinking + Design Doing

56. Design Thinking + Design DoingA key factor in creating good design that really does make a difference is great designers. These talented individuals are few and far between and provide critical competitive advantage. Let’s forget about Design Thinking as a magic process, and focus on how designers and managers should best work together to deliver great quality outputs. Roberto Verganti @Core77 (core77.com/blog/featured_items/design_thinkingeverywhere_and_nowhere_reflections_on_the_big_re-think__16277.asp)

57. ConclusionDesign Thinking has not produced the results the business has been hoping for, and despite the best efforts, design thinking will continue to be something only a few can do well.

58. ConclusionThis is probably why after half a decade; the companies that are creating innovative products continue to be the usual suspects. The same old brands that have been doing so even before Design Thinking had its day.

59. So How Can We Fix Design Thinking?Teach Design Thinking with Design DoingFocus on solutions and don’t get bogged down by the processGet acquainted but leave implementing Design Thinking activities to the expertsCall Design Thinking something else

60. Thank You!More info at DesignSojourn.comEmail me: brian@designsojourn.com

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