Summary/Response to Doug Powell's "A New Approach to Design Thinking"

In this YouTube, Doug Powell discusses IBM design thinking principles.  Though he admits design thinking has been used for quite some time, he believes the fundamental assumptions of design theory -- the importance of empathy, collaboration, prototype, and iteration -- have been reinvented and rearticulated in new, exciting ways by IBM.

Three principles he mentions in this rearticulation of design thinking by IBM are the focus on users and their needs above anyone else, multidisciplinary teams, and a term he calls “restless reinvention.”  He emphasized the importance IBM is currently placing on users, seeking to “close the gap between our assumptions and their reality.”  The redefinition of space in today’s world is not a single workspace, but a global workspace and a global team composed of people with extremely varying viewpoints and from different disciplines.  He also emphasized the importance of constant iteration (even saying “iterate, iterate, iterate”) and when he described restless reinvention, he said constant iteration is necessary for a modern, continuous-delivery model.

Powell said “the antibody of great outcomes is stagnation,” and to avoid stagnation three principles conducive to movement and avoidance of delay are reflect, make, and observe.  He illustrated these principles visually by drawing an infinity symbol and showing movies of a variety of people drawing the infinity symbol.

Powell also outlined three management principles relevant to the IBM improved design theory: hills, playbacks, and user sponsors.  He said a hill is a statement that frames the problem addressing who, what, and "wow."  He described a playback as showing the audience, not just telling them, as in a demo.  User sponsors are another way to make sure the product is relevant and accessible to the users, as he continued to emphasize throughout the talk. 

I knew I was in trouble when the very title assumed knowledge I didn’t possess because I couldn’t begin to understand a new approach to “design thinking” when I had no idea what the default design thinking approach is.  The jargon was a bit tough to chew in this YouTube without context in the corporate environment.  Google was my friend as I looked up design thinking theory as well as many other terms that Powell assumed I’d be familiar with such as “legacy project,” “continuous-delivery model” and “blue skies project.”  And what was with the post-it notes?

The challenge for me was trying to make competent-business-people-directed vocabulary -- that seemed to me ambiguous and cliché without the relevant experience and knowledge -- meaningful and applicable to my own little miserable attempts at creative output.

I liked that Powell too brought up the idea of space and collaboration -- I guess there's no escaping it -- especially as I had just been thinking about workspace in relation to Margo Chase’s Silver Lake workspace.  Chase tore down walls and eliminated cubicles, and in our modern world, even entire oceans and continents are no longer barriers to global collaboration, as in the extreme IBM uber-collaboration Powell described.

I often feel lack of muse, so I really liked the idea of a constant, flowing loop and the visual portrayal of a variety of different people drawing the infinity sign.  With constant reflecting, making, and observing, perhaps the creative block I often feel could be avoided, or at least assuaged somewhat, because I would never be stagnant but always in some kind of discovery process.  I think I can be more proactive in exploring the environment and gathering new information, not just passively hoping some inspiration will randomly pop up.