Taking it home, part 2: passion, permission and prototyping

Passion, Permission and Prototyping

We just wrapped up a Design Thinking Bootcamp with 37 executives from around the globe. A few came from start-ups, others from large corporations. We even had a few folks from governmental agencies. Despite the difference in organizational backgrounds, one thing was on almost all of our participants’ minds: “How do we make design thinking work back home?”

Anticipating this question, we finish up the program with a section we call, “Taking it Home.” For this class, we were fortunate to have several alumni from previous programs share their thoughts with the group. There was too much to capture so I wanted to highlight three things that I took away from our guests.

Passion

You’ll need passion. If you don’t have it, don’t expect to get far with your innovation efforts. The creative process is ambiguous and unpredictable. It doesn’t progress in a linear fashion. We heard of instances with significant business outcomes directly linked to design thinking. To me, that sounds like a silver bullet. But it’s not the case. Even with demonstrated business success, design thinking can still be a tough sell. But that didn’t seem to slow down the folks on our panel. They were so driven to create change that they found a way to make things work. They were totally committed. And let’s face it, like any long-term relationship the commitment is going to be a lot more fun if you’ve got the passion to go along with it.

Permission

So about permission, here’s the thing… don’t ask for it. Just start doing. Permission is a way of protecting yourself. It places you within the structure or your organization. It keeps you from putting your job at risk. All good things. But there are two problems with permission. First, it takes time. That’s time when you could be building things and learning. The other issue is that it requires you to argue for a process, an inherently amorphous thing. I’d rather use something concrete to help make my case. Of course, I’m not saying go bet the farm on design thinking. Start small. Maybe that means doing something on your own time. Maybe it means finding a project no one cares about or finding creative ways to work without an additional budget. Use those initial projects to get your feet under you. Once you have more confidence, you can take on some of the bigger projects.

Prototype

And finally, prototype! Getting permission is one way to minimize risk, but prototyping is another. The added benefit is that a prototype also helps you learn along the way. One of the participants in my group, prototyped her PowerPoint decks using post-it notes. (A tip from Duarte Design). You can also prototype the way you run a meeting, or connect with users. (Try buying someone coffee instead of a focus group?) Think of a prototype as a way to learn quickly with minimal risks.

As I said, there was plenty to take away, but those three seemed worth highlighting. A huge thanks to our Bootcamp alumni panel: Kaaren Hanson from Intuit, Doug Dietz from GE Healthcare, Bonnie Simi from JetBlue, and Stanford Professors Bob Sutton and Bernie Roth.

-- Tom Maiorana

Comments

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