Think about design driven innovation as shaping behavioral, emotional and intellectual engagement.

This kind of design can help solve many tough business problems but you allude to complex social issues, well, design in isolation couldn’t address complex social issues without taking a holistic view of the problem. I think it’s no longer an either or scenario.

Design is making a real difference at the beginning of any new technology discovery like the iPod, MP3, Nintendo Wii, and the MEMS technologies. These are all applications of new technologies that have created huge business because companies have been capable of applying design to these new technologies.

So, what makes the difference? Not the style of a product when the product becomes a commodity. It’s the business idea behind the product. Design is a transforming aspect of business success.

I draw an analogy with Steve Jobs. He also did not attend a business school. Sometimes business schools converge towards one model for innovation through the study of business case studies resulting in students acquiring essentially the same set of tools for solving business problems.

This means there is no innovation in the way they go about innovating when they graduate and move into the business world.

Dan

Thanks for your thoughtful comments. One of the things I’m realizing through this discussion is that the analytical process of Customer Development is very different from Design Thinking as it is more appropriately used to systematically iterate and test a startup’s business model. It is not a substitute for good design techniques taught by d-schools. However, it does take into account how users behave and feel, by measuring user interactions and gathering qualitative input as well.

I do see the importance of applying d-school techniques to help create a vision or hypothesis that can tested. Once you’ve determined that people aren’t behaving as expected, you can again use these techniques to redesign a solution.

For me, broadening the application of Design Thinking to be a business innovation that will solve significant and complex social issues feels like a stretch. Do you agree?

Matt

Couple of quick pointers. I agree on the whole with your thoughtful remarks. Great posting.

D-schools teaches actionable methods and approaches. Activities like rapid-prototyping or iterative user centered design is only as good as the people making new discoveries and identifying new insights.

But the real reward from using d-school talent or methodologies come from having them design something useful, desirable and getting it in the hands of users.

At dare we use all manner of d-school techniques (increasing we call upon storytelling and even social media) to help us evolve product design ideas. Data-driven and results driven methodologies are very analytical and quantitative ways of looking at problems.

What about qualitative results which talk about the ‘why’ we ‘feel’ something? Remember your end users have needs and desires and ultimately wish to connect with something meaningful. We all have emotional needs and desires.

But hey, that’s a much softer and a bit lofty. We are all more sensitive to how good design, branding and narrative play into building products that people have strong connections with.

Douglas Bowman says it rather nicely:

“A confusing, poorly designed message will miss its target almost every time. In a world where data bits flow abundantly, our minds have developed filters to sift through the overflow of useless and badly designed information.

While design must appeal to our sense of aesthetic, it must not stand in the way of delivery, cause complications, or introduce stumbling blocks. Rather, the presence of design should simplify and facilitate our everyday life, enable us to accomplish our tasks more effectively, and help us enjoy them along the way. “

Thanks for your comments and great posts about MVP on your blog (http://torgronsund.wordpress.com/)! I agree with you that Customer Development is more of a data-driven or results-oriented methodology, but I think to be successful it requires creative/design thinking to come up with the initial and subsequent hypotheses to be tested. What I love about Customer Development and Lean Startup principles is the balance between creative and analytical thinking. It is my belief that successful entrepreneurs and startups need to adopt a whole-brain philosophy as they design their products and build their organization of complimentary left and right brain people.

Regards,
Matt

I reckon that the key take-away from design thinking is the customer-centric, problem-solving approach. I believe that this is natural development. Value migrates from high-end innovation towards low-end innovation as technology is commoditized. Cyclic. Similar to Clay Christensen’s Disruptive Innovation.

Dave McClure, Eric Ries & Co do at the same time favor data-driven approaches. As this is formal and structured methods, how does that compare to the concept of [creative] design thinking?

“So you want to be an entrepreneur?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said.

“Then why are you going to B-school?”

Strangely, she never really talked to me again after that.