Ken: Happy to read your list properties defining text however that was not the focus of Mauricio Mejía’s question to me. Nor was it the focus of my reply.
First asking about my post on the subject of The OTHER Design Thinking Call for Participants, Mauricio was commenting on the nature of who gets asked to do what in the marketplace today from his personal perspective. I respect that view and was not disagreeing with Mauricio’s observation but rather commenting on the shifting nature of public perception among professionals that often plays into who gets asked to do what today.
In this regard I was inviting Mauricio to consider the shifting nature of public perception on the subjects of design and design thinking by contemplating which of the two discussion groups is likely to be impacting perception among professionals more, the most populated Design Thinking group on LinkedIn that presently has 24,000+ members or the PhD Design group with 2,500 subscribers. Don't take it personally Ken but in terms of impact on public perception among other professionals inclined to engage with the design community there seems to be not much of a contest there.
It was not clear 2 years ago or even 18 months ago but it has been clear for some time that LinkedIn has captured much of the professional discussion group business. I need not go into here how they have done that.
If you think a new generation of professional folks around the world, organizational leaders, etc. who are engaged with and or hire design firms get their perceptions today from the weekend section of the New York Times more so then from the global social networks I cannot help you there Ken. As I pointed out in my post, “whether everyone likes it or not” this change is occurring. You personally not recognizing or liking the change does not make it any less relevant.
Now if I was a senior leader based in an institutional design education setting that seeks to continue being relevant and seeks to continue generating revenue by charging fees to design students and I knew there was an active and growing global conversation occurring every day and every week with a listening attendance of 24,000 leaders and wanna-be leaders from various disciplines that were constantly being told that design education has become not only irrelevant but a determent to the understanding and practice of design thinking, that the knowledge of one is not relevant to the other, I would, on behalf of my school and my students do a little listen-up there. I would not only do a listen-up I would put my brain to work on understanding what was really going on there, what forces were at work, what was the agenda behind that kind of messaging, who was driving it and what might be done about it. I would do that understanding that such an agenda constantly being pitched to 24,000 business folks around the world by characters with competitive interests would very likely directly impact not only the near future in which my present students will find themselves, but also on how future students will view my schools offerings, indeed all design school offerings.
I would not bother myself with the defensive posturing of various detractors suggesting that it is not relevant. I would instead reach out and figure out how to connect up with others who, for what ever reasons, see what’s going on as important enough to give some consideration. At the very least I would do that much, for my students and my school, for my community and I would probably do even more.
What baffled me most about your long rationalization was the presumption that entangling your own interests, your personal capacity limitations and what you have chosen as your personal focus as a leader was not only relevant but central to considerations. From my perspective that logic stream had no place in the conversation and made no sense at all.
At any given moment the various challenges facing the design community are not and cannot be viewed or evaluated through the personal interests and capacity limitations of one individual’s comfort zone. These are collective challenges so the lens in terms of whether they are relevant or not is one of collectives. I cannot speak to what might be occurring in the design education community or the design research community but I can certainly tell you that the practice community would not be considering notions of what the challenges are or what the forward motion possibilities are based on your personal interests, on your personal capacity and or on your interest in Don Norman’s product design work. If you think the practice community is going to be bounded by the thinking of Don Norman you really should get out more Ken. With all respect to Don it seems highly unlikely that would ever happen.
If you have personally chosen a path or an interpretation of leadership that is focused around this list as an expression of your own comfort zone, lets not get that confused with the many challenges facing the strategic design community. If you see no need for any leadership beyond this list that is your choice to make Ken. That does not mean others have to have the same narrow interpretation of leadership, its possibilities, opportunities and or its responsibilities.
I will save my comments on your speculations regarding how product design logic projects into organizational change logic (it doesn't) for another day. As I recall I spoke at some length on this subject at Swinburne so I am surprised to see you still making such assumptions and projections here.
Have a good thanksgiving all!
Related:
Innovation Methods Mapping
See Findings 5,9,10,12 & 13
Pages 44-52
http://www.humantific.com/innovation-methods-mapping-preview/
Occupy Reimagining Design
http://tinyurl.com/pwplz7k
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GK VanPatter
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SenseMaking for ChangeMaking
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