Rethinking Design

Abstract:Design thinking involves designers from an early stage in the product and service design process. It did not originate in the quality profession, but it shares many aspects with common quality approaches. Its uniqueness lies in the attention paid to understanding …

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Thank you for the clear explanations, especially why and how quality professionals can embrace Design Thinking. Noting the similarities is far more effective and satisfying than arguing that "our profession" should be the go-to profession. At my workplace, it was a welcome development to learn that there is an entire team devoted to "User Experience Design", which I recognize in your article.

If any major point from this article is expanded widely, I hope it is the principle of framing the questions and using direct observation BEFORE brainstorming solutions. The other great point is to try out many concepts (maybe call it "quick and clear" rather than "dirty") and get feedback before delving deeply into fine-tuning the solution concepts.

I would hope that many statisticians buy into this thinking. As a statistician, I like to remind myself and others of this strategy from Box/Hunter/Hunter (Statistics for Experimenters, 1978 or 2nd ed 2005): "In an ongoing investigation, a rough rule is that only a portion (say 25%) of the experimental effort and budget should be invested in the first design." When ignoring that simple rule in a collaborative effort, I have usually lamented that decision.
--Mark Martin, 03-05-2012

All I need to use results of something like this are (1) a summary framework such as is provided by your article's Table 1 and Table 2, and (2) a list of tools that go with each item in the summary. I know the tools for 6 Sigma, I'm not familiar with the tools for Design Thinking. I'm familiar with "The New New Product Development Game" from the 1980s.
--Joe Dunn, 03-05-2012
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