What Others are saying
Here is the latest buzz on “design thinking” and related topics from sources we trust. Enjoy!
To create a better society: The 2020 MP Ranjan memorial lecture
November 20, 2020, 10:32 pm – The great spiritual and humanistic power of design has been lost in its current emphasis upon business and industry. Design can be much more powerful than that: Design is a way of thinking that can be applied to almost any issue, but most importan... [ Read the full story ... ]
The creative ceiling
November 8, 2020, 11:33 am – There is a funny phenomenon that occurs in your creative career that no one really tells you or forewarns you about. It isn’t entirely explicit, although, perhaps I didn’t see what was always hanging above me until my focus gazed upwards from my n... [ Read the full story ... ]
Being in sync, being connected
November 6, 2020, 8:23 am – [ Read the full story ... ]
Martin Thaler shares lessons in product design in new book
October 30, 2020, 8:44 pm – By Andrew Connor ID studio professor and product design expert Martin Thaler is the co-author of a new book, 101 Things I Learned in Product Design School. The book is a collaboration with Sung Jang, associate professor and chair of industrial de... [ Read the full story ... ]
Why does Nuance Matter when Translating and Transcribing Multilingual Content?
October 24, 2020, 9:05 pm – by , Multilingual Connections Languages are alive—vibrant and eloquent expressions of who we are. During my doctoral fieldwork I looked at how people used language to enact and express their identity, how connections and community were created th... [ Read the full story ... ]
Weslynne Ashton on teaching design and business in the current moment
October 22, 2020, 2:22 pm – Working across industrial ecology, business, and design, Dr. Weslynne Ashton is the newest faculty member at IIT Institute of Design. Her work focuses on shifting socio-ecological systems towards sustainability and equity. In this interview, Asht... [ Read the full story ... ]
Personal Reflections on Scale from the Business World
October 20, 2020, 5:36 pm – by , Gemic Hi everyone, my name is Adam Singer. I’m a Strategist at Gemic and I’m new to the world of ethnography. Gemic is a strategy consulting firm founded by anthropologists that embeds anthropological and social science theory and methods in... [ Read the full story ... ]
Sarah Buhayar, Director, Foundation Strategy Office, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
October 13, 2020, 8:50 pm – After working in education, both as an instructor in the Chicago Public Schools and in leading operations for research studies, Sarah Buhayar wanted to learn new ways to frame and solve problems. During her early years at Gates, Buhayar completed... [ Read the full story ... ]
Ethnography Taught Me to Fight Climate Change. But to Have Impact at Scale, Ethnography too Must Change
October 12, 2020, 3:52 pm – by , Intel In the spring of 2019 I met Klara, a fashion blogger based in Malmö with a growing reputation in sustainable design. Klara was a classic millennial of the type I had been studying for years: ambitious, anxious, confident and concerned ... [ Read the full story ... ]
izanami
October 10, 2020, 1:44 pm – The shinto goddess of creation and death, and a fitting representation to what feels like the death and re-birth of this blog. After many months (years??) of deliberation I decided to reach into the ashes to nurture a fresh new set of writing wing... [ Read the full story ... ]
“Stability”: Dissecting Banking’s Next Big Bet
October 9, 2020, 6:30 pm – by , & , ReD Associates Samantha – One of Us, and All of Us On a rainy spring afternoon, Samantha was absentmindedly reading the news as a procrastination tool between her two zoom calls, and finding the headlines even bleaker than usual. Unemplo... [ Read the full story ... ]
Designing Clarity 03 – Did Apple just Disrupt Healthcare?
October 8, 2020, 7:28 am – Did Apple just disrupt Healthcare? More specifically, Health Tech? I would say Healthcare is one of those industries ripe for... The post Designing Clarity 03 – Did Apple just Disrupt Healthcare? appeared first on Design Sojourn. Please click a... [ Read the full story ... ]
Chris Rudd selected as 2021 IMPACT Fellow
October 7, 2020, 6:26 pm – Christopher Rudd, ID instructor specializing in community-driven design at IIT Institute of Design (ID), has been chosen as one of 38 individuals to participate in Chicago Urban League’s IMPACT Leadership Development Program for 2021. The program... [ Read the full story ... ]
Announcing New EPIC Board Members
October 7, 2020, 3:16 am – This month, our first global, virtual conference will mark the 15th anniversary of EPIC. We are thriving with a growing membership and a range of new programs for connecting and learning together; we also face a spectrum of global crises that mak... [ Read the full story ... ]
ID is a 2020 Innovation by Design Finalist
September 30, 2020, 3:10 pm – Fast Company honors ID's Parking Ticket Reform project with the City of Chicago Non-Moving Violations: Advancing Equity among Low-income, Minority Chicago Residents has been recognized as a Fast Company Innovation by Design finalist in the Studen... [ Read the full story ... ]
From Crisis to Creativity at the Global Specialty Coffee Market
September 30, 2020, 12:20 pm – [ Read the full story ... ]
Ethnographic Research in Remote Spaces: Overcoming Practical Obstacles and Embracing Change
September 25, 2020, 5:26 pm – by , Spotify As an ethnographer and user researcher in industry a lot of my work depends on speaking to people face to face, understanding how they live their lives on their own terms and in their own spaces. Since the onset of Covid-19 both acad... [ Read the full story ... ]
Recalibrating UX Labs in the Covid-19 Era
September 25, 2020, 4:46 am – by , Convo Early in 2020 as a result of Covid-19, Convo—along with companies around the world—moved all research in India to remote solutions. This was quite a change and presented new challenges to the research team. While our preference is almo... [ Read the full story ... ]
Introducing EPIC China!
September 23, 2020, 3:26 am – In a year when EPIC has become more international than ever, we are thrilled to introduce EPIC China. EPIC China was launched by a talented group of EPIC people to be the home for the ethnographic community in China, offer EPIC resources in Chine... [ Read the full story ... ]
Designing Clarity 02 – Maish Nichani – The Digitisation Tipping Point
September 21, 2020, 6:09 am – Finally, episode 2 of the Designing Clarity Podcast is here! Sorry, it took a while as there was a lot... The post Designing Clarity 02 – Maish Nichani – The Digitisation Tipping Point appeared first on Design Sojourn. Please click above if you... [ Read the full story ... ]
Listen to Steve on the Why UX? Podcast
September 10, 2020, 7:56 pm – http://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/forcedn/whyux/30Steve_Portigal.mp3 Thanks to Helena Levison (“Queen of UX”) for having me on the Why UX? podcast to talk about Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries. The audio (28 min) is embedded above, and avail... [ Read the full story ... ]
Where Were You During Covid-19? An Ethnographic Lens on Local Life in a Global Pandemic
September 10, 2020, 7:35 pm – by , CRAstudio.com Where were you during Covid-19? The question seems destined to become a standard conversation piece at future get-togethers. For professional anthropologists and ethnographers, we can also add in questions about what was looked... [ Read the full story ... ]
DESIGNBITES REPORT 2020 OUT NOW
September 8, 2020, 10:29 am – [ Read the full story ... ]
ID creates new student practice experiences with practiceID
September 4, 2020, 3:14 pm – When ID faculty and staff realized summer internships would be limited by the COVID-19 pandemic, they developed a suite of innovative alternatives, including externships, fellowships, and MasterChallenges, for a total of 70 practice projects. Ext... [ Read the full story ... ]
How to Do Ethical Research
September 4, 2020, 4:41 am – An EPIC Talk with , October Anthropologist THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED—WE WILL ANNOUNCE A NEW DATE SOON! (originally scheduled for 10 November) Overview In commercial environments, there is often a lack of understanding of research ethics. As a... [ Read the full story ... ]
Steve contributed to “Remote User Research: 12 Tips from Experts”
September 3, 2020, 5:06 pm – There’s a really good range of ideas and best practices in Remote User Research: 12 Tips from Experts. Mine is below 2. Set expectations for your participants If you’re carrying out remote research via video conferencing tools, it’s always a good... [ Read the full story ... ]
Can you transfer empathy?
September 3, 2020, 9:37 am – [ Read the full story ... ]
Designing new ways to solve problems in the civic sector
September 2, 2020, 9:14 pm – By Andrew Connor With a bachelor’s degree in engineering and business, a budding career as a consultant, and a passion for public transit, Catalina Prada went searching for a graduate program that encompassed her interests and ambitions. She coul... [ Read the full story ... ]
MasterChallenges test ID students with real-world design issues
August 25, 2020, 6:22 pm – By Andrew Connor As the COVID-19 pandemic hindered opportunities for many students to pursue summer internships, the Institute of Design developed an innovative alternative: two MasterChallenges. Both challenges brought together multiple groups o... [ Read the full story ... ]
Designing Clarity 01 – Alrick Dorett – Captaining Yourself and Your Ship
August 25, 2020, 2:04 pm – Bam! Here comes the real first episode. The famous military strategist Sun Tzu said: If you know the enemy and... The post Designing Clarity 01 – Alrick Dorett – Captaining Yourself and Your Ship appeared first on Design Sojourn. Please click ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Video of my Mind The Product AMA
August 24, 2020, 6:12 pm – I recently did a small Ask Me Anything session organized by Mind the Product. The video is now online. It runs about an hour and includes discussion about balancing quantitative and qualitative research in an organization that leans heavily towar... [ Read the full story ... ]
Designing Clarity – A Podcast Series for Innovating and Designing Your New Normal
August 24, 2020, 2:28 am – I am very excited to share the launch of my first podcast series with you! My team and I... The post Designing Clarity – A Podcast Series for Innovating and Designing Your New Normal appeared first on Design Sojourn. Please click above if you... [ Read the full story ... ]
Your Client Relationship Is an Ethnographic Field
August 18, 2020, 7:19 pm – by , JC Associates John is teaching a new EPIC Course, Creating Impact with Projects & Clients: Leveraging Organizational Culture. Hope you enjoy this article and check out his course! —ed. Some years ago a renowned UK-based charity invited me to... [ Read the full story ... ]
Read the recap of my Rosenfeld Media AMA
August 17, 2020, 3:54 pm – I recently did an “Ask Me Anything” session on the Rosenfeld Media Slack. We touched on subjects ranging from how to handle difficult clients, my favorite band, and recommended reading, to dealing with “heavy topics” in interviews and how to impr... [ Read the full story ... ]
Observation in Ethnographic Practice
August 5, 2020, 6:25 pm – Learn a toolkit of observational research techniques and interpretive frameworks for projects in human-centered design and innovation. Instructor: MIKE YOUNGBLOOD, PHD Enrollment: 20 Schedule: November 4–December 16 (see Coursework and Schedule) ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Retooling Our Skill Set for Resilience: Ethnography in Project Risk Analysis and Quality Assurance
August 4, 2020, 6:58 pm – by , Harborlight Management Services LLC & New York University In the months since the Covid-19 pandemic began disrupting everyone’s lives, people and organizations worldwide have adapted quickly for the sake of survival. This is a matter of long... [ Read the full story ... ]
Andreya Veintimilla on the role of design in education innovation
August 4, 2020, 5:20 pm – Over on ID’s Medium publication, Andreya Veintimilla (MDes 2020) writes about the emerging role of design in education innovation. Systems design, she writes, can "design elements within the ecosystem to empower people to make change" by: designi... [ Read the full story ... ]
From indie music fest to Amazon: Anna Olsztynska interviews Janice Wong
August 3, 2020, 8:31 pm – On ID’s Medium publication, Anna Olsztynska (MDM 2021) talks to Janice Wong (MDes + MBA 2013) about her path from print designer at a Montreal indie music festival to her current role as senior design researcher at Amazon’s UX Lab. At POP [music ... [ Read the full story ... ]
5 minute video on Asking User Research Questions
July 28, 2020, 4:49 pm – Here’s my sub-5-minute video on Asking User Research Questions The post 5 minute video on Asking User Research Questions first appeared on Portigal Consulting. [ Read the full story ... ]
Read an interview with Steve in QRCA Views magazine
July 20, 2020, 5:41 pm – I was interviewed recently by Kay Corry Aubrey for QRCA Views magazine. The interview has been published online and in print (PDF). Take a look! The post Read an interview with Steve in QRCA Views magazine first appeared on Portigal Consulting. [ Read the full story ... ]
Building User Research: Careers, Teams, and Leadership
July 14, 2020, 4:17 am – An EPIC Talk with , Spotify Overview Systematic study of people as users of services and products has a long history, but the practice in the industry, commonly known as user research, is as vague as it is ubiquitous. User research draws from man... [ Read the full story ... ]
The Future of Design Education
July 13, 2020, 9:22 pm – Does design education prepare designers to work with the multidisciplinary teams required for the complex issues of the 21st Century? Join us in rethinking design education. Help us find people who will provide diversity of age, gender, race, inte... [ Read the full story ... ]
Ethnography and Independent Consulting: Strategies for Surviving and Thriving
July 10, 2020, 2:30 pm – An EPIC Talk with , , & Overview Our thid EPIC Talk on the latest strategies, opportunities, and challenges of gig work. Last year’s presentation covered how to get started, find work, make an impact, and navigate a career path—watch it here. Thi... [ Read the full story ... ]
Check out Steve on the Design Thinking 101 podcast
June 24, 2020, 5:22 pm – https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/designthinking101/DT101_048.mp3 I really enjoyed my conversation with Dawan Stanford for his Design Thinking 101 podcast. The audio (57 min) is embedded above, and available on the episode page. We talk about Ste... [ Read the full story ... ]
Check out Steve on the SHIFT podcast
June 9, 2020, 7:59 pm – I had a really lovely conversation with Kavita Appachu and Mike Kendall for the SHIFT podcast. The 56-minute episode (available as either video or audio only) is embedded above, and available on the episode page. Steve Portigal, Author, Speaker, ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Sign up for either of my new Masterclasses, hosted by Business of Software
May 21, 2020, 3:41 pm – I’ll be teaching two Masterclasses in partnership with Business of Software. You can sign up for either one, or both! The first is User Research – Uncovering compelling insights through interviews being held on Tuesday June 16th and Thursday June... [ Read the full story ... ]
21st Century Design (In 6 minutes)
May 13, 2020, 12:45 am – The 21s Century brings new challenges to design The implication? Design Education must change. [ Read the full story ... ]
Here’s a whole pile of new episodes of Dollars To Donuts
May 12, 2020, 10:18 pm – In the past couple of months I’ve managed to post a raft of new episode of Dollars To Donuts, the podcast where I speak with people who lead user research in their organization. Here are the latest episodes Danielle Smith of Express Scripts Amber... [ Read the full story ... ]
Catching emotions
May 12, 2020, 9:55 am – A newborn begins to cry, inducing her neonatal neighbors to join in an ensemble of high pitch cries. A few years later, that child runs to hug her classmate in pain. As a teenager, she enjoys hanging out with her friends. Sometimes she laughs with... [ Read the full story ... ]
Ask Us Everything online series
April 23, 2020, 3:14 pm – If you follow me on LinkedIn, you may have noticed I’ve been doing an online series of open conversations called Ask Us Everything. Each hour-long meetup (on Zoom or Google Meet) is co-hosted with someone else, and we take questions from the peop... [ Read the full story ... ]
Steve’s talk “Stop Solving Problems!”
April 22, 2020, 5:28 pm – I’ve been giving a talk entitled “Stop Solving Problems!” over the past year or so. Last week I shared that talk remotely at a joint uxWaterloo/Product Tank meetup. They’ve published their writeup here. Often UX designers are focused on the solut... [ Read the full story ... ]
Pressing COVID-19 pandemic: an acid test of creativity in the food and beverage industry
April 7, 2020, 9:29 am – Product development is a team sport in small food and beverage companies, requiring creative collaboration efforts between entrepreneurs and their stakeholders. As the epidemic continues to stir the marketplace and ways of working, rapidly created... [ Read the full story ... ]
Tamara’s War Story: Piercings, Power and Getting Older
March 31, 2020, 3:49 pm – Tamara Hale leads the research practice at Workday. She presented this story live at the Advancing Research conference. (This post will be updated with videos etc. as available) As a researcher, I’m quite used to changing my appearance and my bod... [ Read the full story ... ]
Randy’s War Story: Don’t Fall Flat
March 31, 2020, 3:28 pm – Randolph Duke II is an Experience Strategist with Cantina. He is always open to connecting on Slack or LinkedIn. He presented this story live at the Advancing Research conference. (This post will be updated with videos etc. as available) As a res... [ Read the full story ... ]
"The universe is made of stories, not atoms"
March 19, 2020, 10:18 pm – A quote from the poet Muriel Rukeyzer's book "The speed of darkness." Why stories? Because they combine history and context, critical events and results, both good and bad, expected and unexpected all linked through causal explanations. Stories em... [ Read the full story ... ]
Recycling: A poor solution to the wrong problem: An essay in two parts
March 10, 2020, 12:26 am – A two-part essay: 1. why recycling is too complex for me (and perhaps everyone)to understand; 2. Why recycling is the wrong answer to the problem of waste. [ Read the full story ... ]
Changing Design Education for the 21st Century
March 10, 2020, 12:00 am – Updated: April 2, 2020. We recommend a procedure for updating design education through curricula that match their goals and abilities of every school, producing practitioner and academics who will fully realizing the value of design in the 21st ce... [ Read the full story ... ]
Tamara’s War Story: Sea Legs
March 6, 2020, 7:17 pm – Tamara Hale leads the research practice at Workday. This story is adapted from Hale, T. 2018 People Are Not Users. Journal of Business Anthropology. 7(2):163-183. She will be telling a completely new story at the Advancing Research conference. A ... [ Read the full story ... ]
What if you could see inside your users head?
March 6, 2020, 11:49 am – We have started to measure what the user is thinking and it has given us quite a surprising result: we understand them up to 50%. This is significant. We tend to believe that when we talk to users and spend time in their environment, we get good u... [ Read the full story ... ]
WHAT DOES RESEARCH SAY ABOUT EDUCATING USERS ON NEW PRODUCTS?
February 25, 2020, 7:00 am – [ Read the full story ... ]
From growth to responsibility: Changing conversations in Silicon Valley – excerpt from book ‘Design+ Organizational renewal and innovation through design’
January 30, 2020, 8:00 am – [ Read the full story ... ]
The evolution of empathy
January 30, 2020, 7:00 am – Empathy is part of our everyday life. Empathy allows us to understand others and to feel the joys and sorrows of fictional movie characters as if they were real. Empathic understanding helps us to recognize the needs of other people and can even l... [ Read the full story ... ]
We are Hiring (2020)
January 28, 2020, 3:50 pm – Design Sojourn is an exciting strategic design consultancy passionate in helping our clients leverage on Design Led Innovation to make people's lives better. We have openings for Designers or Design Researchers with a strong background in Ethnogr... [ Read the full story ... ]
Why Designers don't have much power in companies
January 11, 2020, 7:43 pm – Every division of a company plays an essential role. Each has a different, valid perspective. To be successful, learn to balance the conflicting views and select a course that is best for the product, customer, and company, even if you must discar... [ Read the full story ... ]
Check out Steve on the UX Cake podcast
December 9, 2019, 4:53 pm – https://feed.pippa.io/public/streams/5a9354b6a5f5bf0c738a8e31/episodes/5de883c9103a3d6f7409a3b5.mp3 It was great to speak with Leigh Allen-Arredondo for the UX Cake podcast. The audio (32 min) is embedded above, and available on the episode page.... [ Read the full story ... ]
My talk “Great User Research (for Non-Researchers)” from Productized
December 2, 2019, 7:38 pm – I just got back from Lisbon where I gave the closing keynote – Great User Research for Non Researchers – at Productized. The video is now available and is embedded below. Note: this talk is a slight evolution of those from Mind the Product and Aw... [ Read the full story ... ]
The Design Thinking Process Paradox
November 4, 2019, 7:39 am – Designers or Design Thinkers often like to think that they require a certain level of “freedom” to allow their creativity... The post The Design Thinking Process Paradox appeared first on Design Sojourn. Please click above if you cannot see this... [ Read the full story ... ]
My talk “Great User Research (for Non-Researchers)” at Mind the Product
September 17, 2019, 7:56 pm – I recently spoke in front of a 1500+ person audience at Mind the Product. My 25-minute talk was Great User Research (for Non-Researchers). The video is embedded below and is available here. Also below is the write-up by Emily Tate (originally pos... [ Read the full story ... ]
Steve Portigal on Reusable Research, Interview War Stories, and Letting Go of Implicit Beliefs
September 16, 2019, 6:04 pm – I did a brief Q&A with Bloomfire. The original is here and I’ve reposted it below. As just about any market research professional would be quick to tell you, their job isn’t just about conducting research: it’s about disseminating what they learn... [ Read the full story ... ]
Check out Steve on the Happy Market Research podcast
September 9, 2019, 6:15 pm – Excerpt https://media.blubrry.com/happymr/s/content.blubrry.com/happymr/UPDATED-Steve_Portigal-Completed_Ep_2.mp3 I had a great conversation with Jamin Brazil for the Happy Market Research podcast recently. The audio and video are embedded above,... [ Read the full story ... ]
People-Centered (Not Tech-Driven) Design*
July 26, 2019, 10:25 pm – How did we reach the point where our technology is more important than people? How can we reverse this to ensure that technologies are designed with people in mind, more humane, more collaborative, and more beneficial to the needs of people, socie... [ Read the full story ... ]
The Four Fundamental Principles of Human-Centered Design and Application
July 23, 2019, 12:57 am – Human-centered design has four major principles: 1. Understand and Address the Core Problems; 2. Be People-Centered; 3. Use a Systems Approach; 4. Use Rapid Iterations of Prototyping and Testing. [ Read the full story ... ]
Why Criticism Is Good for Creativity
July 22, 2019, 12:53 am – A popular mantra for innovation is “avoid criticism.” Criticism, it is thought, kills the flow of creativity. We suggest that this infuses a superficial sense of collaboration that leads to compromises and weakens ideas. Effective teams do not def... [ Read the full story ... ]
Delightful Products for Healthy Aging
May 26, 2019, 8:52 pm – More people than ever are living long, healthy lives. The number of active, healthy oldsters is large–and increasing. Despite our increasing numbers the world seems to be designed against the elderly. [ Read the full story ... ]
Why I Don’t Believe in Empathic Design
May 26, 2019, 7:33 pm – An Article written for Adobe Blog. I approve of the spirit behind the introduction of empathy into design, but I believe the concept is impossible, and even if possible, wrong. [ Read the full story ... ]
21st Century Design for Societal Problems. Combining Community and Domain Experts
April 20, 2019, 12:36 am – We advocate a multi-step approach toward major societal issues, combining community-driven wisdom with knowledge of domain experts. Add an opportunistic, incremental approach to large problems, followed by continual attention to the fundamental pr... [ Read the full story ... ]
Inviting Workshop Proposals
April 19, 2019, 9:38 pm – Requesting proposals for a workshop on Community-Driven Design (fort the ACM Designing Interactive Systems conference). [ Read the full story ... ]
Overcrowded, by Roberto Verganti: In favor of criticism
April 14, 2019, 7:08 pm – In his book Overcrowded, Roberto Verganti argues that the rule "don't criticize" is flawed. Criticism is good -- it leads to radical innovation. This is an important book for designers: read it! [ Read the full story ... ]
Wishing All A Hap-pig Lunar New Year!
February 1, 2019, 6:53 am – It the time of the year where we look back, reminisce, reflect and appreciate everything that has happened to us... The post Wishing All A Hap-pig Lunar New Year! appeared first on Design Sojourn. Please click above if you cannot see this post. [ Read the full story ... ]
TR18-001 | Bring Home Methods: Additions to the Bootcamp Bootleg | Julia von Thienen, Hanadi Traifeh, Christoph Meinel, Antje Schubotz, Maximilian Diez, Simon Krogmann, Ahmad Bourazan, Anne Radunski, Arne Boockmeyer, Ramin Gharib
December 23, 2018, 10:44 am – For years, the Bootcamp Bootleg (d.school, 2010) has been a valuable toolkit to facilitate design thinking practice. The booklet shares methods for five process phases, or modes, in creative work. Teams are guided up to a point where they hold suc... [ Read the full story ... ]
Thoughts on the iPhone Xs Max
November 14, 2018, 6:10 am – As a typical post-industrial type designer, I’ve given up the need to buy new stuff. This MacBook Retina I’m writing this... The post Thoughts on the iPhone Xs Max appeared first on Design Sojourn. Please click above if you cannot see this post. [ Read the full story ... ]
Design Thinking Experts Fill In Gaps Between Steps
November 2, 2018, 7:20 am – How do you identify the best Design Thinkers? Separate the men from the mice? They can fill in the gaps between... The post Design Thinking Experts Fill In Gaps Between Steps appeared first on Design Sojourn. Please click above if you cannot see... [ Read the full story ... ]
We turn 8 Today!
September 27, 2018, 8:17 am – It has been 8 years since I decided to evolve as a human by moving from employee-ship to entrepreneurship. Since... The post We turn 8 Today! appeared first on Design Sojourn. Please click above if you cannot see this post. [ Read the full story ... ]
Your strategy needs a minimum viable experience
April 15, 2018, 1:40 pm – Let’s all play a game of buzzword bingo. But instead, let’s name those words that denote practices which pragmatically improve our understanding of how we work, without resulting in confused shrugs. I’ll start: The ubiquitous MVP (minimum viable p... [ Read the full story ... ]
TR17-002 | Success-Failure Analysis: A Tool for Advancing Domain Knowledge - Design Thinking Style | Julia von Thienen, Anja Perlich, Christoph Meinel, Giovanni Corazza
August 28, 2017, 1:08 pm – Drawing on the Dynamic Creativity Framework and Failure Theory, this paper explores what it means to advance domain knowledge with creative ambitions. Failures are analysed as an extraordinary resource in the search for radical innovation. Success... [ Read the full story ... ]
Are you a designer, or just a facilitator?
August 27, 2017, 1:37 am – A few weeks back I was standing in a room facilitating a large ideation workshop. Mid-session I found myself thinking, I am not sure if I enjoy this. Walking out of that workshop, I told myself that I entered into the design field to become… Read ... [ Read the full story ... ]
TR17-001 | A Short Theory of Failure | Julia von Thienen, Christoph Meinel, Giovanni Corazza
July 25, 2017, 7:16 am – Failures are a key concept in design thinking. They are discussed as a resource for learning, whereas fear of failure would be a major block to creative activity. We attempt to clarify the term by reconstructing “failures” as “inconclusive outcome... [ Read the full story ... ]
Culture eats innovation for breakfast
July 1, 2017, 3:18 pm – There are often times when I come to a sudden halt and find myself feeling stuck or unable to produce or execute work that I otherwise may feel confident and comfortable to complete. This happens to everyone at some point in their career, and more... [ Read the full story ... ]
The Asshole Survival Guide: My Latest Book
April 17, 2017, 4:19 pm – The No Asshole Rule was published 10 years ago. It focused on building civilized workplaces. Yet the most frequent question that it provoked were variations of "Help. I am dealing with an asshole (or a bunch of them), what do... [ Read the full story ... ]
Design generates growth here and now
December 10, 2015, 10:33 am – Far too many companies have a management approach that is too traditional to secure their long-term market value. Studies and think tanks from several countries point to strategic design as part of the answer, but many business leaders think that... [ Read the full story ... ]
The design cluster aims to transform Denmark into an innovative society by means of design
December 9, 2015, 2:41 pm – In the design cluster D2i – Design to innovate, we are sharpening our focus with four new priority areas aimed at contributing to growth in Denmark. Our design cluster consists of companies, organisations and knowledge environments working togeth... [ Read the full story ... ]
TR15-002 | Manifesto: Design Thinking Becomes Foundational | Larry Leifer, Christoph Meinel
May 19, 2015, 10:33 am – With the integration of design thinking into engineering education, a missing link has been created between the science-focused, context-independent part of engineering and the human society-focused, context-dependent aspect. The latter area has l... [ Read the full story ... ]
TR15-001 | Building on a Stages of Change Model to Bring Home More Big Design Thinking Ideas | Julia von Thienen, Christoph Meinel
February 27, 2015, 9:30 am – Design Thinking is an approach to creating human-centered product or service innovations, based on a model of problem solving. Regularly, design thinking projects yield exciting visions for a better future. However, up to the present they often fa... [ Read the full story ... ]
The Dark Side of Scaling Up: Will You Want to Live in What You Build?
February 12, 2015, 11:21 pm – My Stanford colleague Huggy Rao and I devoted seven years to learning about what it takes to scale up excellence in organizations. We studied how leaders and teams build and identify pockets of goodness in organizations and spread such goodness... [ Read the full story ... ]
My Organizational Behavior Class: The Current Iteration
January 3, 2015, 7:13 pm – The first time I taught an introductory organizational behavior class was in 1980 or 1981. I was a second-year doctoral student in organizational psychology at The University of Michigan. I had no teaching experience (except for one guest lecture ... [ Read the full story ... ]
12 Books That Every Leader Should Read: Updated
December 17, 2014, 9:03 pm – I have been maintaining – and occasionally updating -- a list of “Books Every Leader Should Read” on this Work Matters blog since 2011. These are books that have taught me much about people, teams, and organizations -- while at... [ Read the full story ... ]
Open lecture by Silvia Grimaldi
November 17, 2014, 2:04 pm – Tellable Objects: Designing Narrative Product Interactions On Wednesday 19 November designer, researcher and academic Silvia Grimaldi will visit Kolding and present a series of techniques and guidelines to help designers think of the product expe... [ Read the full story ... ]
How Strategic Use of Design Connects Business with People
October 28, 2014, 12:08 pm – Arne Jacobsen chairs, PH lamps and blue fluted china. These are classic examples of Danish design. But design is so much more. Design includes – when used strategically – top executives going on observation trips far from vision statements and Ex... [ Read the full story ... ]
An effective diet starts with a saliva sample
September 24, 2014, 9:39 am – A newly started company may sometimes find it a challenge to target its business – particularly when its product is intended for an extremely broad group. The Danish-owned start-up Diet and Genes found help in understanding market mechanisms at a... [ Read the full story ... ]
Film: Isover – from product sale to project sale
September 23, 2014, 1:16 pm – Watch the film and see how Saint-Gobain Isover through application of design thinking developed their business model. The company learned through a design consultation with D2i how to apply design thinking so they could identify their customers n... [ Read the full story ... ]
Film: Easyfood – when design-thinking causes less waste and more growth
September 23, 2014, 12:35 pm – Over the years Easyfood worked increasingly more focused on design thinking and design methods in product development and innovation. The company has repeatedly sought help and inspiration for design thinking and accompanying innovation. They hav... [ Read the full story ... ]
Film: Kruuse – supplier for the veterinary industry and design thinkers
September 23, 2014, 12:27 pm – At D2i we focus on how companies use design thinking in their different development processes. Kruuse A/S is an example of a company that works consciously with creative processes, designers and design thinking can initiate. Kruuse will among oth... [ Read the full story ... ]
A mobile space for innovation
September 22, 2014, 9:42 am – For the past 50 years, OJ Electronics has been producing electronic solutions for controlling heating and ventilation. When preparing an overarching, more closely targeted innovation strategy, the company came up with completely new ideas and spe... [ Read the full story ... ]
Kitchen users and designers deals with waste issues
September 22, 2014, 9:36 am – What started out as a no-obligation full-day meeting between the Danish kitchen manufacturer Kvik and a team of designers from Design2innovate quickly developed into something more exciting. The partnership has now resulted in the development of ... [ Read the full story ... ]
TR14-002 | A Design Thinking Process to Tackle Individual Life Problems (Created for Use in Behaviour Psychotherapy) | Julia von Thienen, Christoph Meinel
May 28, 2014, 7:13 am – The design thinking community has at its disposal a rich pool of teaching material to help students master the process of creative problem solving. We re-designed some of this material for use in a new context: behaviour psychotherapy. Here, patie... [ Read the full story ... ]
Random thoughts on the future and implications on corporations and universities
May 19, 2014, 3:26 am – I just got back from the Bay Area Maker Faire 2014. Looking at all of the cool maker stuff, the upcoming technologies and the startups pitching their next generation 3D printing robot drones has got me thinking about the future. I thought it wou... [ Read the full story ... ]
Random thoughts on the future and implications on corporations and universities
May 19, 2014, 3:26 am – I just got back from the Bay Area Maker Faire 2014. Looking at all of the cool maker stuff, the upcoming technologies and the startups pitching their next generation 3D printing robot drones has got me thinking about the future. I thought it wou... [ Read the full story ... ]
TR14-001 | Let’s Bring Home Even More Benefits from Design Thinking: Ideas for an Iterated Design Thinking Process Model | Julia von Thienen, Christoph Meinel
May 12, 2014, 7:39 am – Design thinking research has provided two good reasons for a revision of the design thinking process model. (a) Prototyping is now considered an important means for facilitating communication in all stages of the design thinking process. Therefore... [ Read the full story ... ]
Innovation Networks in Action: The Case Study of Intuit's Innovation Catalysts
May 2, 2014, 7:58 pm – I recently published a case study on the Innovation Catalysts. I was focusing on how creating a network for people to connect with upon completing innovation training can ensure the lasting impact of the training and ignite new opportunities to r... [ Read the full story ... ]
Innovation Networks in Action: The Case Study of Intuit's Innovation Catalysts
May 2, 2014, 7:58 pm – I recently published a case study on the Innovation Catalysts. I was focusing on how creating a network for people to connect with upon completing innovation training can ensure the lasting impact of the training and ignite new opportunities to r... [ Read the full story ... ]
Walt Disney and Brad Bird on Why They Want to Make Money
March 7, 2014, 12:06 am – I was exchanging emails with a colleague that used to be at the Stanford d.school and now works with schools. He menionted Brad Bird, which reminded my of an interview that Huggy Rao and I did with him in 2008... [ Read the full story ... ]
Why Big Teams Suck: Seven (Plus or Minus Two) Is the Magical Number Once Again
March 3, 2014, 5:28 pm – I also posted this piece over at LinkedIn this morning. It offers a simple lesson, but one that is often disregarded, and in turn undermines the team and organizational performance, creates dysfunctional conflict. and weakens social bonds. In 1957... [ Read the full story ... ]
The Writing Life And Scaling Up Excellence: You Are What You Do
December 27, 2013, 11:42 pm – A few years back, one of my closest friends at Stanford, Steve Barley, made a comment that I still think of often “If you are what you do, then I am a sociologist.” Steve was making a general point (drawn... [ Read the full story ... ]
Essentialism; It Will Make You Think and Might Even Make You Less Crazy
December 8, 2013, 3:08 pm – Greg McKeown's publisher sent me an advanced copy of his book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. I said I would look at for a possible blurb (I don't do advanced praise for a lot of books, in part, because... [ Read the full story ... ]
Huggy Rao, Scaling, and Me: An Excellent, Exacting, and Eccentric Adventure
November 27, 2013, 5:16 pm – During the seven years that Huggy Rao and I worked on Scaling Up Excellence, we got involved in some pretty unusual situations – at least for two rather staid old professors. We did everything from working with a company that... [ Read the full story ... ]
Three Hallmarks of Good Performance Evaluations
November 24, 2013, 8:18 pm – Phyllis Korkki of the New York Times wrote a piece this Sunday for her Workstation column called Invasion of the Annual Reviews. It emphasizes the risks and downsides of annual reviews, and she quotes me quite a bit -- I... [ Read the full story ... ]
Creativity,Inc. by Pixar's Ed Catmull: One of the Best Business Books of All Time
November 22, 2013, 7:12 pm – Ed Catmull has been one of my favorite senior executives for a long time. I admired him from afar after reading about him in David Price's excellent The Pixar Touch. I admired him even more after talking to people at... [ Read the full story ... ]
Scaling Up Excellence: The Problem of More
October 9, 2013, 4:34 pm – This is reprinted from the Harvard Business Review site. A big thanks to Julia Kirby for the wonderful editing. Start talking about the challenge of “scaling” with people, and you’ll find the term gets used to mean a lot of... [ Read the full story ... ]
James G. March: Organizations aren't Rigid, They are Impressively Imaginative
October 7, 2013, 4:28 pm – Stanford's James G. March is arguably the most prestigious living organizational theorist. We are reading his 1981 classic paper "Footnotes to Organizational Change" for my scaling up excellence doctoral class. There is one paragraph in this paper... [ Read the full story ... ]
Back at HBR, the Joys of Writing, and Continuing the Scaling Conversation
October 5, 2013, 6:37 pm – Earlier in the week, I did my first post at HBR.org in over 2.5 years -- my last was in January 2011. I was pretty shocked that it had been so long -- my last post was about a story... [ Read the full story ... ]
TR13-002 | Jumpstarting Scrum with Design Thinking | Christophe Vetterli, Falk Übernickel, Walter Brenner, Thomas Kowark, Franziska Häger, Jens Krüger, Jürgen Müller, Hasso Plattner, Barbara Stortz, Vishal Sikkha
September 23, 2013, 9:25 am – Customers have become more demanding in terms of customization, speed, and involvement with the value proposition of today’s services and products. This means that in order to remain competitive, companies need to re-design their existing developm... [ Read the full story ... ]
F.M. Cornford's Complete Principle of the Dangerous Precedent
August 28, 2013, 9:51 pm – I was tried to get this out over Twitter, but breaking it into pieces ruins it. If you want to read one of the most spot on, timeless, and funny books about organizational politics, check out the F.M. Cornford's 1908... [ Read the full story ... ]
Scott Berkun's The Year Without Pants: Funny Title, Silly Cover, Seriously Well-Crafted Book
August 22, 2013, 6:43 pm – Several months back, Scott Berkun's publisher sent me an advanced copy of "The Year Without Pants" to read; it is a pretty silly title and as you can see, the cover is pretty wild too (I love it). Scott's last... [ Read the full story ... ]
Dysfunctional Competition, the Knowing-Doing Gap, and Sears Holdings
August 21, 2013, 9:56 pm – A compelling and instructive story on Sears Holdings appeared in BusinessWeek last month -- they own Sears stores, Kmart, Land's End and a host of other brands such as Craftsman tools, Kenmore appliances, and DieHard batteries. It is written by... [ Read the full story ... ]
Delta Airlines Shows How to Apologize
July 15, 2013, 4:30 pm – Please forgive my months of silence. I appreciate all the folks who have asked if I am OK (I am fine!) and who have urged me to start blogging again. You will start hearing more here about what I've been... [ Read the full story ... ]
Lessons from Leading the Innovation Catalysts
May 30, 2013, 6:15 pm – I have a fantastic job that I love. I know that I'm lucky, but I also have aligned my work to my strengths and passions.My current job is as the Leader of the Innovation Catalysts at Intuit. I've been a part of the Innovation Catalyst program her... [ Read the full story ... ]
Lessons from Leading the Innovation Catalysts
May 30, 2013, 6:15 pm – I have a fantastic job that I love. I know that I'm lucky, but I also have aligned my work to my strengths and passions.My current job is as the Leader of the Innovation Catalysts at Intuit. I've been a part of the Innovation Catalyst program her... [ Read the full story ... ]
TR13-001 | Design Thinking Research - Building Innovation Eco-Systems | Christoph Meinel, Larry Leifer
April 19, 2013, 6:44 am – This is the introductory chapter of the fourth volume “Design Thinking Research – Building Innovation Eco-Systems” edited by Hasso Plattner, Christoph Meinel, and Larry Leifer to be published in the series “Understanding Innovation” of the Springer. [ Read the full story ... ]
Beyond the PhD - advice for PhD students and grads who want to get into Industry
March 16, 2013, 9:53 pm – I recently spoke on a Panel at USC at their "Beyond the PhD" conference. I was struck by how academia hasn't really changed much in it's preparation of PhDs for the outside of academia (clearly, of course, USC recognized this, thus put on the con... [ Read the full story ... ]
Beyond the PhD - advice for PhD students and grads who want to get into Industry
March 16, 2013, 9:53 pm – I recently spoke on a Panel at USC at their "Beyond the PhD" conference. I was struck by how academia hasn't really changed much in it's preparation of PhDs for the outside of academia (clearly, of course, USC recognized this, thus put on the con... [ Read the full story ... ]
UX Influence & Innovation
March 16, 2013, 7:42 pm – UX Influence & Innovation from Wendy CastlemanA talk I recently gave at the Walmart Global UX Summit on Gaining influence as User Experience Professionals within corporations by empowering others with your tools. [ Read the full story ... ]
UX Influence & Innovation
March 16, 2013, 7:42 pm – UX Influence & Innovation from Wendy CastlemanA talk I recently gave at the Walmart Global UX Summit on Gaining influence as User Experience Professionals within corporations by empowering others with your tools. [ Read the full story ... ]
12 Books Every Leader Should Read:Updated
November 26, 2012, 9:13 pm – I first posted this in 2011, but I update it now and then. Note I have removed two from the list: Men and Women of the Corporation and Who Says that Elephants Can't Dance? They are both great books, but... [ Read the full story ... ]
Kurt Vonnegut, Joe Heller, and a Great Thanksgiving Message
November 22, 2012, 5:53 pm – It is Thanksgiving morning here in California and I was thinking of all the good things in my life I have to be thankful for, just as I know that so many of you are thinking today. I thought it... [ Read the full story ... ]
Two talks I gave and haven't posted here...
April 27, 2012, 2:23 pm – These are two webinar format talks that I gave over the last 9 months that I neglected to post on my blog. Actually, I've been neglecting the blog completely for a while. Perhaps its time to revisit... Shift: 5 lessons for changing a corporate c... [ Read the full story ... ]
Two talks I gave and haven't posted here...
April 27, 2012, 2:23 pm – These are two webinar format talks that I gave over the last 9 months that I neglected to post on my blog. Actually, I've been neglecting the blog completely for a while. Perhaps its time to revisit... Shift: 5 lessons for changing a corporate c... [ Read the full story ... ]
TR12-001 | Design Thinking Research Report | Christoph Meinel, Larry Leifer
March 27, 2012, 6:40 am – This is the introductory chapter of the third volume “Design Thinking Research – Measuring Performance in Context” edited by Hasso Plattner, Christoph Meinel, and Larry Leifer to be published in the series “Understanding Innovation” of the Springer. [ Read the full story ... ]
Go through training to be your customer
June 28, 2011, 3:49 am – We all know that when we aren't our customer, we make design choices that often don't really resonate with the customer. This can be especially true if you are highly tech savvy and your customer is not. In some cases, we are designing for audie... [ Read the full story ... ]
Go through training to be your customer
June 28, 2011, 3:49 am – We all know that when we aren't our customer, we make design choices that often don't really resonate with the customer. This can be especially true if you are highly tech savvy and your customer is not. In some cases, we are designing for audie... [ Read the full story ... ]
Deep Customer Empathy Method: Be the solution
June 7, 2011, 10:08 pm – Want to understand the relationship between your customer and your product? Here's a method that might reveal some good insights. Use bodystorming with your customer and have them teach you. In this case, you play the role of your product. Ask y... [ Read the full story ... ]
Deep Customer Empathy Method: Be the solution
June 7, 2011, 10:08 pm – Want to understand the relationship between your customer and your product? Here's a method that might reveal some good insights. Use bodystorming with your customer and have them teach you. In this case, you play the role of your product. Ask y... [ Read the full story ... ]
Get first-hand experience with the task to understand the experience
September 23, 2010, 3:32 pm – I've worked with a lot of teams who have been trying to design a feature or product to help people with a particular task. Oddly, I often find that people on the team have not tried the task itself, either with their solution or with any other m... [ Read the full story ... ]
Get first-hand experience with the task to understand the experience
September 23, 2010, 3:32 pm – I've worked with a lot of teams who have been trying to design a feature or product to help people with a particular task. Oddly, I often find that people on the team have not tried the task itself, either with their solution or with any other m... [ Read the full story ... ]
AIGA D.Talk on The Rise of Service Design
September 17, 2010, 4:38 pm – Last night I attended a panel at AIGA on “The Rise of Service Design”. It was a packed room, reflecting the general interest in this topic. The session was moderated by Josh Levine (Great Monday) The panelists were: Chris McCarth... [ Read the full story ... ]
AIGA D.Talk on The Rise of Service Design
September 17, 2010, 4:38 pm – Last night I attended a panel at AIGA on “The Rise of Service Design”. It was a packed room, reflecting the general interest in this topic. The session was moderated by Josh Levine (Great Monday) The panelists were: Chris McCarth... [ Read the full story ... ]
Make your life an integral part of your customer's life
September 16, 2010, 8:32 pm – We all want our products and services to be important to our customers. So important that they are integral; the customers can't live without them! Since this is our aim, we need to really be intimate with that customer's life. Talking with them ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Make your life an integral part of your customer's life
September 16, 2010, 8:32 pm – We all want our products and services to be important to our customers. So important that they are integral; the customers can't live without them! Since this is our aim, we need to really be intimate with that customer's life. Talking with them ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Become the Customer for Deep Customer Empathy
September 15, 2010, 3:12 pm – About a year ago, I wanted to understand the big deal about Farmville... it seems that 1% of the world's population plays Farmville. I know that it leverages some of the key components of gaming that make it compelling (check out slide 8 on Byron ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Become the Customer for Deep Customer Empathy
September 15, 2010, 3:12 pm – About a year ago, I wanted to understand the big deal about Farmville... it seems that 1% of the world's population plays Farmville. I know that it leverages some of the key components of gaming that make it compelling (check out slide 8 on Byron ... [ Read the full story ... ]
101 Ways to get Deep Customer Empathy for Design Inspiration and Insights
September 13, 2010, 2:51 pm – Okay, so I'm not going to list all 101 right now. What I am going to do is start a series where I will be talking about these 101 ways. My goal is to write about at least 2 per week... but, before I start, I thought I'd lay some context:Why do y... [ Read the full story ... ]
101 Ways to get Deep Customer Empathy for Design Inspiration and Insights
September 13, 2010, 2:51 pm – Okay, so I'm not going to list all 101 right now. What I am going to do is start a series where I will be talking about these 101 ways. My goal is to write about at least 2 per week... but, before I start, I thought I'd lay some context:Why do y... [ Read the full story ... ]
Necessity as the mother of invention
August 20, 2010, 6:50 pm – I'm sure you've heard the Plato's phrase "Necessity is the Mother of Invention".. .A couple of weeks ago, I was introduced to someone who once again drove this home. His name is Matthew Browning. He's a nurse and founder of a really cool web a... [ Read the full story ... ]
Necessity as the mother of invention
August 20, 2010, 6:50 pm – I'm sure you've heard the Plato's phrase "Necessity is the Mother of Invention".. .A couple of weeks ago, I was introduced to someone who once again drove this home. His name is Matthew Browning. He's a nurse and founder of a really cool web a... [ Read the full story ... ]
Understand Your Customers' Minds
July 12, 2010, 2:40 pm – In some ways, this method isn't at all new. Yet, the video articulates it and the benefit so well... [ Read the full story ... ]
Understand Your Customers' Minds
July 12, 2010, 2:40 pm – In some ways, this method isn't at all new. Yet, the video articulates it and the benefit so well... [ Read the full story ... ]
iPad, Kindle and Paper - Reading Speeds and Immersion
July 2, 2010, 4:56 pm – Jakob Nielsen just released a study on iPad, Kindle, Paper and PC reading rates.I have issues with this study, but it's interesting. As a user of Paper Books, PCs, a Kindle, and an iPad, I can definitely say that I have some preferences. But, wh... [ Read the full story ... ]
iPad, Kindle and Paper - Reading Speeds and Immersion
July 2, 2010, 4:56 pm – Jakob Nielsen just released a study on iPad, Kindle, Paper and PC reading rates.I have issues with this study, but it's interesting. As a user of Paper Books, PCs, a Kindle, and an iPad, I can definitely say that I have some preferences. But, wh... [ Read the full story ... ]
Innovation Lessons from Visual Perception and Walks
June 9, 2010, 7:20 pm – I was just out on a walk at the lovely Shoreline park, just behind where I work. I was walking along, thinking about Innovation challenges, and passively observing the world go by.One of the things I noticed was the phenomenon of Motion Parallax... [ Read the full story ... ]
Innovation Lessons from Visual Perception and Walks
June 9, 2010, 7:20 pm – I was just out on a walk at the lovely Shoreline park, just behind where I work. I was walking along, thinking about Innovation challenges, and passively observing the world go by.One of the things I noticed was the phenomenon of Motion Parallax... [ Read the full story ... ]
Digging for innovation diamonds
June 2, 2010, 4:12 pm – This morning on NPR, I heard a story about Einstein’s brain. Bear with me, this is relevant to innovation…Apparently,Einstein’s brain was fairly normal, except that it had an overabundance of a type of cell called a Glial cell. When I was taught... [ Read the full story ... ]
Digging for innovation diamonds
June 2, 2010, 4:12 pm – This morning on NPR, I heard a story about Einstein’s brain. Bear with me, this is relevant to innovation…Apparently,Einstein’s brain was fairly normal, except that it had an overabundance of a type of cell called a Glial cell. When I was taught... [ Read the full story ... ]
Is your culture inhibiting your creativity?
May 26, 2010, 7:28 pm – I'm giving a talk tomorrow morning on the impact of working environment "culture" on creativity and capability to design great solutions. This is an update on the one that I gave a little over a year ago at the Design Research conference in Spok... [ Read the full story ... ]
Is your culture inhibiting your creativity?
May 26, 2010, 7:28 pm – I'm giving a talk tomorrow morning on the impact of working environment "culture" on creativity and capability to design great solutions. This is an update on the one that I gave a little over a year ago at the Design Research conference in Spok... [ Read the full story ... ]
Apparently, Nothing Trumps the Power of a Personal Experience
March 12, 2010, 12:06 am – A small group of executives was given a vast amount of data about a problem they were tackling about employee engagement. They looked it over and set it aside. Then, they had frank conversations with a couple of individual employees. They came a... [ Read the full story ... ]
Apparently, Nothing Trumps the Power of a Personal Experience
March 12, 2010, 12:06 am – A small group of executives was given a vast amount of data about a problem they were tackling about employee engagement. They looked it over and set it aside. Then, they had frank conversations with a couple of individual employees. They came a... [ Read the full story ... ]
Soaking rain of ideas in a brainstorm
February 23, 2010, 5:21 pm – I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on brainstorming. Sometimes brainstorms are wildly successful, and we come up with really new ways of approaching a problem/solution. Other times, it seems like brainstorms don't really generate much of any... [ Read the full story ... ]
Soaking rain of ideas in a brainstorm
February 23, 2010, 5:21 pm – I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on brainstorming. Sometimes brainstorms are wildly successful, and we come up with really new ways of approaching a problem/solution. Other times, it seems like brainstorms don't really generate much of any... [ Read the full story ... ]
Following Objects
February 12, 2010, 5:49 pm – When studying a new area, we often talk with and watch people doing whatever it is we're interested in. For example, if we were interested in Shopping, we might talk with people about their shopping habits, watch them shopping (maybe going with t... [ Read the full story ... ]
Following Objects
February 12, 2010, 5:49 pm – When studying a new area, we often talk with and watch people doing whatever it is we're interested in. For example, if we were interested in Shopping, we might talk with people about their shopping habits, watch them shopping (maybe going with t... [ Read the full story ... ]
Cool New Trend in Resumes
January 9, 2010, 8:57 pm – Looking for work? Got a resume? This is for you:Why be boring and staid like everyone else in the pile of resumes? Why not show your uniqueness, creativity and visual thinking design skills in creating a visual resume?One of my favorite blogs is ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Cool New Trend in Resumes
January 9, 2010, 8:57 pm – Looking for work? Got a resume? This is for you:Why be boring and staid like everyone else in the pile of resumes? Why not show your uniqueness, creativity and visual thinking design skills in creating a visual resume?One of my favorite blogs is ... [ Read the full story ... ]
Do I listen to what I say I do?
December 21, 2009, 8:55 pm – Anyone who studies behavior knows that what people say is not what they do. More evidence reported in the NY Times shows that what people report listening to isn't what they actually listen to. [ Read the full story ... ]
Do I listen to what I say I do?
December 21, 2009, 8:55 pm – Anyone who studies behavior knows that what people say is not what they do. More evidence reported in the NY Times shows that what people report listening to isn't what they actually listen to. [ Read the full story ... ]
Visualizing You.... leveraging the internet to break down your name
October 2, 2009, 4:02 pm – This shows 3 iterations of "Wendy Castleman". It is a pretty cool visualization from MIT:It combines all of the data on the internet related to your name and creates a "digital DNA map". It seems to change every time I do it... and it combines m... [ Read the full story ... ]
Visualizing You.... leveraging the internet to break down your name
October 2, 2009, 4:02 pm – This shows 3 iterations of "Wendy Castleman". It is a pretty cool visualization from MIT:It combines all of the data on the internet related to your name and creates a "digital DNA map". It seems to change every time I do it... and it combines m... [ Read the full story ... ]
Author: Jan Schmiedgen | Last modified: September 29, 2015