Monday, April 03, 2017

Designerly Thinking Workshop Reflections

I am just back after a full day workshop on "Designerly Thinking and Doing" in Chicago last week. It was a great day with wonderful participants who contributed with a lot of insights, comments and questions.

It is as always fascinating to hear the stories from individual designers about their professional experiences in widely diverse organizational environments. The stress and frustation of not being understood, the importance of everyday practicalities related to design practice, the philosophical differences between professional groups, the misconceptions about what the design process requires, etc. But also experiencing the enormous energy and willingness among these professionals to learn more, to keep developing, to take the next step. There is a passion about design that in many cases goes far beyond professional need and organizational loyalty. These professionals not only want to do good design work, they are to some extent addicted to it and need to know how to get there.

Anyway, here is the agenda for the day, even though we did not follow it in detail :-) If you are interested in knowing more, just write to me.

AGENDA
9.00 Who I am and who you are
The day in overview
Discussion, who has been trained in design thinking, what are your experiences, why are you here
Approach of the day, schemas
The design map
No problem, no process, no solution
Design Thinking is not a process that leads to good design, it is all about you
10.00 A brief history of design thinking, what does it look like, some examples
Schools of thought about design thinking
What is designerly thinking as a practical method
11.00 Why engage in design at all
What is it that makes designing appealing
The uniqueness of designing
Design Challenges, risk, courage, no process, overwhelmingly complex, insufficient information,
unpredictability, first intentions, depth, value, judgment,
12.00 LUNCH
1.0 Who am I as a design thinker
How to assess design thinking character and competence.
2.00 Developing your own designerly expertise,
How do you stay aware of the development of the field
How do you keep your competence relevant and how do you develop it
3.00 Design thinking and leadership: Build culture (wide), Organize process (middle), Develop expertise
(narrow),
Creating a design culture in your group, team, section and organization
Overcome organizational pushback when implementing a design thinking strategy

Next step!

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