developing design thinking practice in
complex organisations zaana howard queensland university of technology

background research question methodology cases
design thinking practice developing design thinking capability integrating design thinking in organisatons outline

background

design thinking is… a human
centred and collaborative approach to problem solving using a designerly mindset to solve complex problems background

design thinking practice in complex
organisations § for driving innovation and organisational transformation § little empirical research, much bias background

design thinking practice and capability
§ how to build design thinking capability? § how to integrate design thinking practice? background

research question

how is design thinking practiced
in complex organisations? research question

in complex organisations: what constitutes
the meanings and practices of design thinking? how is design thinking capability developed? what is the role of the design thinking professional in leading complex design projects? research question

methodology

a pragmatic approach case study
methodology ethnographic methods constant comparative method for analysis methodology

cases

three cases: retrospective case study
of Second Road participatory case study of Deloitte Australia expert interview study cases

case: Second Road § practicing
design thinking for more than a decade § 12 semi structured interviews + retrospective project audit cases

case: Deloitte Australia § introduced
design thinking in early 2011 § 250 hours of participant observation + 30 semi structured interviews cases

study: expert interviews § academics
and practitioners who identify themselves with design thinking § 13 semi structured interviews spread across Australia, USA, UK and Europe cases

design thinking practice

design thinking practice = design
led professional process & environment methods design thinking practice

culture environment ‘safe’ physical space
design thinking practice

breadth & depth of toolkit
process & methods conversation structure & & sequence visualisation design thinking practice

skills & knowledge design led
professional personal experiences attributes & worldview design thinking practice

design lead composer & educator
director design led facilitator professional ‘cool kid’ as role taker design thinking practice

developing design thinking
capability

design thinking is… easily understood
yet complex in execution design thinking capability

design thinking capability requires mentoring,
experience and skill training alone is insufficient design thinking capability

developing design thinking requires a
sustained learning program supported by design led professionals design thinking capability

integrating design thinking
in organisations

levels of capability aware participant
capable specialist integrating design thinking

integrating design thinking individual to
organisational design thinking professional design thinking professional process & environment methods process & environment methods integrating design thinking

integrating design thinking requires long
term commitment integrating design thinking

zaana howard associate lecturer |
information systems school queensland university of technology phd candidate | faculty of design swinburne university of technology zaanahoward@gmail.com | zaanahoward.com | @zaana