Roger Martin of U. Toronto and I just had an on-stage discussion at the
IIT/Institute of Design Strategy Conference in Chicago (moderated by
Patrick Whitney).
Roger made a very interesting point about the need to combine both
qualitative and quantitative information (he called these "intuitive" and
"analytical" -- but I detest the word "intuitive" because it doesn't mean
what most people think it means)
During the discussion of this, a new insight (at least for me) emerged:
that the transformation between qual and quant was via testing.
In the form of Human-Centered Design that i practice and preach, which I
now call Observe, Make, Test (TOM -- letters restructured to make it
pronounceable):
- Observations are qualitative
- Making can be sketching, drawing, prototyping -- think of this as
instantiation
- Testing transforms the qualitative Observations into quantitative
information, via the Made material
This argument requires considerable elaboration, but I wondered if this
gorup can provide constructive critique of the notion.
Part of this is to try to transform the argument about quantitative versus
qualitative to eliminate the word "versus" with something else ("combined
with"?). The point is that each serves a different purpose, and both are
often needed.
don
On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 6:28 PM, Ken Friedman <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
> Roger Martin and you are both correct in stating that “design thinking is
> not about providing proof but about insights that change the meaning of
> situations.”
>
> David Sless is correct in arguing that testing and evidence help us to
> choose among better and worse design solutions before implementing them.
>
> Design thinking is one kind of design process. Evidence-based testing is
> another.
>
Don Norman
Director, Design at UC San Diego: Think Observe Make
Nielsen Norman Group, IDEO Fellow
[log in to unmask] www.jnd.org <http://www.jnd.org>
"Stupid Smart Things" and other LinkedIn
Essays<http://www.linkedin.com/influencer/12181762-Don-Norman>
| Core77 Essays <http://www.core77.com/blog/author/don-norman/default.asp> |
Essays on my website <http://www.jnd.org/dn.pubs.html>
Book: "Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded<http://amzn.to/ZOMyys>"
(DOET2).
Course: Udacity On-Line course based on
DOET2<https://www.udacity.com/course/design101>
(free).
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