Design Thinking in times of Complexity

Introduction

Metaphor of Design Thinking

When a first time tourist who speaks no other language other than his own goes to another country, France, for example, and visits a local restaurant that speaks no English, ordering the menu becomes a dilemma — So what to do? Find a connection. Be inspired. Flap your make shift wings and say, Cock-a-doodle-doo. Five minutes later, an authentically French recipe of “chicken” comes out of the kitchen door and onto the table.

This is perhaps how best to describe Design Thinking at the moment. Each of us knows how to flap our “wings” and make chicken noises, because we have a clear idea inside our head, like we know what Design Thinking is when we see it, but we cannot seem to put a boxed definition of Design Thinking. Probably, because it is new, hence there is no right answer. Probably, because it is experienced differently, hence there are no words to write a user’s manual. Probably, because we are still struggling hence, to design think the process of design thinking.

Definition of Design Thinking

Thus, to define Design Thinking to me involves three of its characteristics:

1. There is no right answer. (ends)
2. Each experience is unique. (lead)
3. Design Thinking is a creative struggle. (means)

Tim Brown is CEO of IDEO, a design thinker’s paradise and a reputable company that has helped create solutions for its clients through their innovative approach.

 In a Harvard Business Review article, Tim defined Design Thinking as “a discipline that uses the designer’s sensibility and methods to match people’s needs with what is technologically feasible and what a viable business strategy can convert into customer value and market opportunity.” (Brown, 2008)

But, Tim in his blog (http://designthinking.ideo.com/?p=49) throws the question off to the world and many respond with their own definition of Design Thinking too. Not one definition duplicates the other. However, from a community of practitioners’ standpoint, we can say that what we then consider Design Thinking to be is a way to providing value, whether it is alone in the design studio or with the help of a team to reach the capitalist shelves of the marketplace.

 So having agreed that Design Thinking is a way to providing value, this article proposes how Design Thinking can be used as an effective approach in times of complexity.

To move forward, we need to define times of “complexity”.

Definition of Complexity

Complexity is also known as the “domain of emergence” that is “consisting of many different and connected parts”. Complexity is characterized by flux and unpredictability (characteristic: each experience is unique); no right answers (characteristic: there is not a right answer); many competing ideas (characteristic: is a creative struggle); emergent patterns provide instruction to move forward. (Snowden & Boone, 2007)

A leader’s job, therefore, in times of complexity, (Snowden & Boone, 2007) is to:

• Probe – Sense – Respond
• Recognize Patterns
• Foster an environment to promote innovation, and support emergent patterns
• Increase interaction and communication

A leader’s job is then to seek changes, however small, that can have the maximum impact. A leader cannot do this alone, nor can he task a group of specialists or subject matter experts because complexity does not have direct cause and effect relationships. I would argue then that the best means of decision-making during complexity is to for the leader to be open to incorporate the Design Thinking Approach.

Case Analysis I

The IDEO Way as described by Bruce Nussbaum in his article published in Business Week, for example, is one such effective approach. It involves five stages.

The first stage is observation.  Here, the IDEO team partner with clients to better understand the need. The second stage is brain-storming. Here, an intense, idea-generating session analyzes data gathered through observation.  Ideas during the brain-storming stage help translate the abstract into concrete in a rapid prototyping stage. Prototypes are then refined through the combination of models to narrow down choices. Finally, the IDEO team implements the best idea that has emerged. (Nussbaum, 2004)

We find in the IDEO Way the three characteristics that match Design Thinking and Complexity as discussed above. Observing, Brain-storming, Prototyping, Refining, and Implementing work around the fact that there is no right answer, each experience is unique, and both Design Thinking and Complexity are a creative struggle.

Case Analysis II

We look at another situation when a company might have used Design Thinking in times of complexity but did not.

Acme Technologies (real name disguised) is a $ 2 billion company in the business of virtualization that serves the world’s Fortune 500, it is the fourth largest IT services company in India, with 50,000 employees.

Like many of its competitors, Acme Technologies is able to deliver to customers from across the world at the best price/cost for the customer. Virtualization is keeping the cost reasonable and effective. It opens the market to competition enabling providers to be efficient in the management of their business.

Through virtualization, the issues of travel and logistics especially of expert teams become inconsequent, as this brings down operating costs. Hence, we see the trend of offshoring and outsourcing. Companies find other companies are more efficient in handling business tasks such as billing and customer service. So these companies outsource these business functions to others for cost benefit. It so happens that the most cost effective service providers of this nature come (at this moment) from India, China, etc. 

Acme Technologies as an organization has been in the news spotlight for some time for not so good reasons. It all began when the company’s founder resigned early January 2009.

For weeks later, the Indian public, including Acme Technologies’s very own employees, was to discover the unraveling of the great mystery of where the money went and the disillusionment with a giant of a man who was even given the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 and the Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Governance 2008.

One morning, the employees, customers, and the investors of Acme Technologies awoke to a time of complexity .

That morning, Acme Technologies’s chairman and founder took responsibility in his letter to the board of directors for broad accounting improprieties that overstated the company’s revenues and profits, and reported a cash holding of approximately $1.04 billion that did not exist. Even if, the chairman along with his brother (the CEO/managing director), and the chief financial officer are in jail now for breaking the law, many stakeholders were affected. A lot have lost their jobs and their investments. True to the trait found in times of complexity, there were many different and connected parts that imploded. There was a breach of trust that had affected good will and lost customers and resulted in investor fall out.

When all of these happen together, the remaining leaders take authority and control to contain the anxiety and do damage control, when the best approach is using Design Thinking.

Acme Technologies’s interim leadership sent reassuring emails to staff and to the public to communicate that all contingencies were being done. In reality, those contingencies involved knee-jerk responses such as cutting a staff base of 50,000 employees to half, and selling off the company to a willing buyer.

A year before the scandal should have signalled the coming deluge, the IT giant was preparing for strategic and organizational changes that Acme Technologies needed to make in order to face the challenges the environment brought on — Challenges such as the Rise in Oil Prices, Rupee Appreciation, Subprime Crisis, Financial Crisis, and Recession.  There was a string of cost cutting measures and organization-wide restructuring and firing within Acme Technologies that started Fiscal Year 2008-09.

“Acme Technologies, which has just started giving pink slips to its employees, could potentially downsize its workforce by a whopping 4,500 employees. This translates to a little less than 9% of the 51,000 employees that the company employs. Company sources say 1,500 employees have been put under the performance improvement plan (PIP), euphemism for employees put on watch list and asked to shape up or ship out. Apart from this, 3,000 others have not been given any increment in the last appraisal cycle, thereby indicating that their services are dispensable.” (http://ashq.wordpress.com/2008/09/15/Acme Technologies-layoff-4500-employees/)

Another measure designed to save on costs was to move some of the company’s strategic consulting services that the company paid McKinsey and Company to do for its onsite relationships, alliances, businesses, projects, etc., in-house to leadership consultants who could have seen why these engagements were experiencing difficulties in performance.

Why were clients like Nissan, Citigroup, and Chevron threatening to withdraw from the relationship? What was going on in the ground? Is Acme Technologies delivering on the promise? What was being done to escalate these types of issues to the leadership team of Acme Technologies so that swift action can be taken?

If there is a threat of client withdrawal, is there something deeper at the heart of the issue? Perhaps promises were not kept; expectations were not met, etc. Consultants should be able to identify/diagnose and suggest an intervention.

Conclusion

What if Design Thinking were employed? What would have been the result?

I argue that if Acme Technologies’s leadership probed the financial statements, months or years before the scandal and saw the diminishing margins, they would have recognized an emerging fractal pattern and questioned what is wrong when revenues are on the rise. Leadership would have then increased interaction and communication by calling in a Design Thinking team to understand the emergent pattern.  Through brain-storming of possible ideas of what was happening and prototyping through the modelling of different situations, it would emerge that the books were being cooked, or at least there was something fishy going on.

Leadership would have then held the chairman and his closely-knit group accountable for the cheating. By doing so, they would have inoculated the company from the chairman’s actions instead of engaging in a breach of trust with stakeholders.

Leadership and the Design Thinking Team could have “located responsibility in the system” prior to implosion by designing a system for intrinsic responsibility. It means that the system is to be designed “to send feedback about the consequences of decision-making directly, quickly, and compellingly to the decision-makers”.  (Meadows, 2008)

From the above example, I can argue that Design Thinking can be used as an effective tool in times of complexity because it would have involved a way of providing value where:

• there is no one right answer;
• each experience is unique;
• and, it involves a creative struggle.

References:

Brown, T. & Katz, B. (2009). Change by Design, New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

Brown, T. (2008). Design Thinking, Harvard Business Review.

Jackson, M. (2003). Systems Thinking: Creative Holism for Managers, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Meadows, D. (2008). Thinking in Systems, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing.

Nussbaum , B. (2004). Power of Design, Business Week

Snowden, D. & Boone, M. (2007). A Leader’s Framework for Decision Making, Harvard Business Review.

http://designthinking.ideo.com/?p=49

http://ashq.wordpress.com/2008/09/15/Acme Technologies-layoff-4500-employees/

Goodbye, Russ!

A tribute to Russell Ackoff  (February 12, 1919 — October 29, 2009)

By Sarina Pasricha

Russell Ackoff’s death is a sad loss not only to the Penn community but to the world. He said of his own work, “My objective is not to convert those who are satisfied – even though I believe they need conversion – but to give those who are dissatisfied cause for hope and something to do about it.”

Russ gave anyone who wished to learn from him hope. There is no better time when hope was most needed than right now.

I came to know of Russ in the classroom of John Pourdehnad, my Systems Thinking professor. I never actually met Russ in person, but he was present in the video streams of Youtube, in the PowerPoint presentations and lectures, in the books that we read, and in the disciplines that Russ himself had formulated throughout his life’s work.

As a tribute to the life of Russ Ackoff, I would like to dedicate this page to learning the unique contribution he made.

For my Systems Thinking class, I am learning Russ’ particular approach to planning which is known as “interactive planning”. It is different from three other types of planning: reactivist, inactivist, and preactivist.

Reactivists reminisce of a Rennaissance age so they approach problems in piecemeal fashion, where they identify deficiencies and reduce or remove them. Reactivists live in the past, and do not grasp current realities.

Inactivists try to maintain the status quo by avoiding real change, and keeping things as they are. Inactivists treat problems separately by “satisficing” or attempting to meet the criteria for adequacy, rather than to identify an optimal solution.

Preactivists plan, predict, and prepare for the future.  Preactivists tackle problems through forecasting techniques and quantitative models.

Then, there are the Interactivists or Russ’ preferred approach. Interactivists do not want to return to the past like the reactivist, accept things as they are like the inactivist, or prepare for an inevitable future like the preactivist. Interactivists are interested in inventing ways of designing a desirable present to shape an ideal future. Interactivists are interested in dissolving problems by changing the containing system radically.

 Interactive Planning involves five phases.

• Formulating the Mess
  • This phase involves identifying the messes or how disaster will occur if the current behavior continues. This is done through systems analysis + obstruction analysis + reference projection.
• Ends Planning
  • This phase involves formulating a mission statement, outlining ideals, going through an idealized design process, approximating the ideal design, and identifying the gaps between the approximated design versus the current state.
• Means Planning
  • This phase is concerned with producing the means to pursue the ends. This is done examining procedures and processes in place and evaluating them according to their ability to close the gap between the idealized design and the desired state.
• Resource Planning
  • This phase happens when planners determine what resources (inputs, facilities and equipment, personnel, and money) will be required and when.
• Implementation and Control
  • This phase is done when planners determine who is to do what, when, and where and when planners decide how the implementation and its consequences are to be controlled.

 

Russ believed that by affecting the system, we as individuals and as part of a whole can be called to act in a more extraordinary and purposeful way.

 I believe that is how we will celebrate his life.

Reference:

Jackson, M. (2003). Systems Thinking:  Creative Holism for Managers,West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Calling OD International Students

Organizational Dynamics at Penn is arranging a social event for its international student community. Others in the OD community who are interested are also invited to join.

On October 20, 2009, Tuesday, international students will meet for dinner at Inn at the Penn. There, they will interact, have fun, get to know each other, and also talk about revitalizing ODISC, the Organizational Dynamics International Student Community.

ODISC has been instrumental in welcoming and helping Organizational Dynamics international students adjust to life at Penn and in the United States.

After dinner, international students will proceed to watch a live Philadelphia 76ers Basketball game, tickets courtesy of the department.

Please contact Professor Alan Barstow (215) 898 6967 if you can come.

Think Design

By Sarina Pasricha

I am reading some interesting articles for a class that I am taking currently. I find that more and more people are talking and writing about design thinking as it relates to solving problems and ultimately improving human life.

In contrast to analysis, design thinking uses synthesis, where instead of focusing on choosing from a series of alternatives for the best solution, effort is made to come up with the most innovative concept and improve condition. We are so used to picking from a stack, the challenge is to rethink our paradigm to questioning the purpose and meaning of “the stack”, which to the users might take some time and adjustment to when we are counting the cost. But to forego design thinking is to forego an opportunity for the better answer or the next big thing that goes to market. There are numerous examples of innovative design thinking in the marketplace, in architecture, in technology, etc. Some would be post-its, the iPod, flat screen television, touch screen technology, and many more.

This building up of ideas is risky but the rewards are well-worth it because the final result is not only utility but character. And in a world of cut and dry goods and services, consumers will pay for character even at a time of a tight economy. We see this time and again. Our purchases are ultimately a mark of the story of our identity as human beings.

How does one build up ideas in the work place? Well, it starts by what Steve Jobs says in the graduation speech he made at Stanford. Do not be afraid of failure. “No failure is big in the face of death,” Jobs articulates. And it is true.

Mistakes are a learning opportunity. Leaders and managers need to realize that experimentation and free association and dreaming lead to better results for the bottom line in the end.

So what will it take you to lead the way and think design in your organization? Go on take the risk, raise your hand, and move the world forward.

Announcement from J

Every semester, some students have trouble figuring out how to use Blackboard, our online class content system. This year, some student volunteers will be giving Blackboard tutorials and question/answer sessions over dinner every night next week from Tues, 9/22 – Fri, 9/25.

Blackboard is the online course materials website, used by most classes. If you need to learn how to use it, or just have some questions, stop by the Blackboard Tutorial Table at dinner at the Inn at Penn before class, where volunteer students will walk you through it. If you are already a Blackboard user, do feel free to join us and help out your fellows!

Time: Every night Tues, 9/22 – Fri, 9/25 in the before-dinner period. The tutorial walkthrough will start at 5:45 (3:45 on Fri).

Bring: Your PennKey & password. This is the login & password that gives you access to all of Penn’s online system. If you don’t know what it is, think back to the information you got when you first registered– it included an ID card with an ID number, and a setup code for PennKey. If you are a new student or just forgot, information can be found at http://www.upenn.edu/computing/pennkey/. If possible, bring a laptop.

Tips for OD Newbies

I am a full time International student. If you are like me, it would be the same for you as it was for me last year. You would just be coming to the United States to start your first day of school as an Organizational Dynamics student. Welcome.

Here are ten survival tips to help you adjust to your new life at Penn.

1. Get your immunization shots as soon as possible at the Penn Student Health located at 3535 Market Street. There are ten or more vaccines to be spread out in six months. If you do not schedule and take your shots, your enrollment would be placed on hold and you would not be able to register for Spring. Do not be afraid. The nurses are kind. You can even sing while they give you your shot.
2. The cheapest place to buy ready to eat meals is at the Food Trucks located in front of the Wharton School Huntsman Hall. There is a choice of Chinese, Japanese, Indian, or Italian. Four dollars would give you a full meal. The nearest McDonald’s is located at 40^th Street beside Fresh Grocers where you can buy your groceries. When you have the time, you can go to Chinatown where you can find an assortment of cheap stuff as well.
3. You would need a good winter coat, gloves, caps, thermal wear, and boots in time for the heavy snow. GAP goes on sale for winter coats just before Christmas. The store is located at Walnut Street.
4. Take advantage of the online Library resource as well as the brick and mortar Library– there are three libraries at the University. You can even ask for help regarding references to consider for a particular paper topic from the reference librarian. You submit your topic and in a few days you can get your complete list of references related to your topic. Online is much faster of course.  Good references are a mark of a good paper.
5. After sitting with Benjamin Franklin and taking your historic photo, near the Chemistry building there is a secret place where you can sit and meditate. Here there is a pond with ducks, turtles, and a lone swan. Warning, please be careful going home after our night classes. Do not put yourself at risk while going home.  You can ask for security escort service while walking to your car or walking home if you live on campus. In any emergency, just lift the blue phones on the sidewalks and security will come.
6. You have free access to Morris Arboretum, the garden of the University. Although it is outside the University grounds, it is worth seeing the flowers and the trees, all 22,000 species of plants in times of fall and spring.
7. There are two Starbucks outlets in case of emergency. One in Chestnut street, and another in Walnut street. They are wifi ready for your mobile devices.
8. Souvenir for the family back at home is available at the Penn Bookstore. You will find Penn shirts and other items like diaries, sweatshirts, notebooks, etc. with the University logo. Items with the Organizational Dynamics logo are given exclusively by the department.
9. Choose your adviser/mentor as early as possible so you can take advantage of the learning opportunity. Have conversations with the faculty and your classmates while having dinner at the Inn at the Penn. Attend the special lectures open to OD students. That is what life at the University of Pennsylvania is all about. Send colleagues and teachers emails with your thoughts and ideas. Blog here. Believe me, the University of Pennsylvania is committed to ensuring your academic achievement.
10. Attend orientations, parties, brunches, Thanksgiving day, Passover, and other networking events.  You will never feel alone that way.

If you need anything, or are experiencing challenging situations with regards to academics or your stay at Penn, schedule a meeting or a phone call and the program director is always ready to help. Professor Larry Starr is the grand fromage.

Upcoming events

I would like everyone to know about two upcoming events this Fall in the Organizational Dynamics Program at Penn.

Oct 24^th, 12 -1:30p – “Disasters: An overview of preparedness and response management” by Christopher T.  Born, MD.  Dr Born writes and lectures extensively on disaster management both nationally and internationally.

Nov 13-14 – Celebration and Kick off for Organizational Dynamics’ new Sustainable Development concentration featuring our partners Dow Chemical Company and The Natural Step, an NGO founded in Sweden and one of the world’s foremost pioneers in taking a systems approach to sustainability. Friday evening keynote panel and Saturday workshop 9a-12p.

More details to come but please mark these events on your calendar.

Register Now

By Sarina Pasricha

Have you registered?

What courses are you planning to take for Fall 2009? Post a note and let us know.

As for me, I am a full time international student taking up Organizational Dynamics. I have been taking three courses a term and I am now on my fourth term. I really enjoy the intellectual learning and rigor of the program as well as the interactions with classmates and teachers.

During my first term, I took the Foundations Course taught by Professor Janet Greco and Professor Alan Barstow. I also took Organizational Consulting Proseminar taught by Professor Larry Starr, and the Art and Science of Organizational Coaching taught by Professor Bill Wilkinsky.

In the Foundations Course, I got introduced to the dynamics of the program. The professors gave what I consider a great starter account of what it would be like to be a student of the program. I learned about the expectations, the offerings, and I got to get a taste of the OD experience. My favorite lessons are on metaphors specifically on the organization as a social conversation. The professors were fantastic together, they had a brilliant partnership and they gave good inputs to the students… they also made the classroom highly interactive through lessons such as the Hermann Brain Dominance and other exercises.

In the Organizational Consulting Proseminar, we, the students got exposed to the many different styles and frameworks of consulting through interactions with guest speakers. We learned how change consultants are able to transform and create a lasting impact by hearing from their real world experiences. My favorite is the part when we were able to put forward questions about our organizational issues and get feedback from similar situations. I was initially reluctant and doubted the application of appreciative inquiry in the workplace but I got lured to its practicality and validity when I was able to use the framework to a particular issue I faced in a group setting. Needless to say, after working in an IT company for three years as manager and writer for corporate strategy, I loved the framework of virtualization when every change is monitored and managed in real time. Professor Larry Starr provided a free for all interaction with the different speakers and encouraged critical thinking from us.

Organizational Coaching is a highly popular course. During dinners at Inn at the Penn, students discuss how it is a great offering and how one should not miss the opportunity to register for it. Professor Bill Wilkinsky teaches with Linda Pennington and Deb Denis as teaching assistants. This Pas de Trois or dance for three is a unique and mind set changing experience. First, you get to be a coach or a client and have an actual coaching relationship. Second, you experience LIFO, a technique that helps one better understand how others think and act. And third, you get to read theories of coaching that you get to compare and contrast and more importantly apply.

This was my first year first term. In case you are still deciding, you might want to consider these three. As I remember the squirrels and the ducks and the falling autumn leaves of Fall 2008, I shall also remember the special way the first term was for me through these three courses.

I shall talk about Spring 2009 and the blossoming magnolias in the next blog.

The New Blog

I like this first blog entry particularly with the group photo of students, faculty, staff, and alumni, but I am disappointed about the lack of online engagement of others. I have been planning to write a “Director’s Blog” but if I should expect the response to be equally absent, why bother?

Let me pose some questions as a prompt: (1) How do you feel about the new registration page? Would you like a stronger international commmunity? What would you like to improve within the degree program? What are your organizational dynamics thoughts about the global financial crisis generally and our community in particular?

Don’t respond to me; express yourselves to each other. Hello? Hello? Is there anyone out there (other than Roger Waters)?

By Sarina Pasricha

Someone has to start the conversation, or the thread, in blogspeak, so I am raising my hands and volunteering my thoughts. I hope you will do the same, next time, for this space.

This is a blog dedicated to the natural rhythm of life in Organizational Dynamics at Penn. You know, a story of how we roll. Both inside the classroom and outside of it.

Recently, the OD community celebrated Canada Day. Canada Day celebrates the anniversary of the 1 July 1867 enactment of the British North America Act, which united Canada as a single country. What a beautiful reason to call for a picnic with faculty, staff, and students of Organizational Dynamics present! This certainly is a proof of how international and diverse the program has transformed itself into where the community comes together to share in the opportunity to bask under the summer sun and celadon sky.

It was on this occasion I learned that ribs are best eaten with hands, and so they are. They are best eaten in the company of good friends as well. We had ribs, salads, chicken, cookies, and my favorite Coca-cola. It was a great time to relax, unwind, and share stories and metaphors from the everyday kind to the scholarly. I realize that as students, we are lucky to have the kind of professors and department staff that we do. I see their concern for students, how they advocate for us, and prioritize our best interests. In the classroom, it is all about the reading or the lesson, but in a picnic, you see the authenticity in how a person behaves and shows positive regard for others.

I have been a student at the program for three terms now. I can say I have learned a lot from the experience. It is a unique one, something you cannot get outside Penn and outside the program, Organizational Dynamics. You not only learn from your professor, but also get a minefield from interactions with classmates who come from varying paradigms and bring their expertise to school.

Canada Day Is a snapshot of this.

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