Businesses Take a Page From Design Firms†

Sloan-Kettering Taps Industry for Innovative Ideas on Management, Dealing With Unexpected Rivals

Wall Street Journal, November 10, 2008 — When New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center wanted to make the chemotherapy process easier on patients three years ago, it sought help from an unusual place: the design firm IDEO Inc.

The IDEO consultants approached the problem the way they design eggbeaters or CD players: by closely watching patients and testing little changes.

The process delivered surprises. Clinic staffers thought patients disliked long waits for treatments. But patients said other worries were more stressful, so the clinic changed how patients are tested, how they learn about chemotherapy and how they get to the clinics.

Thinking by Design†

Brandweek, November 2, 2008 — While marketers have appreciated the value of distinctive design for some time now—at least since Apple and Target started making it a key differentiator about a decade ago—design thinking is something else. The premise is that if you tap a designer, or a designer's problem-solving approach, to tackle standard business problems, you will get game-changing results.

Design Is More Than Packaging

New York Times, October 5, 2008 — THE word “design” tends to conjure up images of crisp graphics, nicely arranged interiors or pleasing packaging. But a growing cadre of advocates say the world of design has much more to offer corporate America.

They are proponents of “design thinking,” which focuses on people’s actual needs rather than trying to persuade them to buy into what businesses are selling. It revolves around field research followed by freewheeling idea generation that often leads to unexpected results.

Design Is More Than Packaging

New York Times, October 5, 2008 — THE word “design” tends to conjure up images of crisp graphics, nicely arranged interiors or pleasing packaging. But a growing cadre of advocates say the world of design has much more to offer corporate America.

They are proponents of “design thinking,” which focuses on people’s actual needs rather than trying to persuade them to buy into what businesses are selling.

Properly used, design thinking can weave together elements of demographics, research, environmental factors, psychology, anthropology and sociology to generate novel solutions to some of the most puzzling problems in business.

Lines and Bubbles and Bars, Oh My! New Ways to Sift Data

New York Times, August 31, 2008 — PEOPLE share their videos on YouTube and their photos at Flickr. Now they can share more technical types of displays: graphs, charts and other visuals they create to help them analyze data buried in spreadsheets, tables or text. At an experimental Web site, Many Eyes, (www.many-eyes.com), users can upload the data they want to visualize, then try sophisticated tools to generate interactive displays.

P&G Changes Its Game

How Procter & Gamble is using design thinking to crack difficult business problems

BusinessWeek, July 28, 2008 — "Design thinking" may seem like just another new buzzword in the lexicon of innovation, but Procter & Gamble (PG) is using the approach to change its culture. Leadership is listening, learning, and deploying; cross-functional teams are cracking vexing problems across its business landscape; and visualization, prototyping, and iteration are facilitating communication internally and with customers like never before. Here's a look inside one of the most intriguing change management efforts going on in Corporate America today.

Design Thinking†

Thinking like a designer can transform the way you develop products, services, processes—and even strategy.

Harvard Business Review, June 1, 2008 — Thomas Edison created the electric lightbulb and then wrapped an entire industry around it. The lightbulb is most often thought of as his signature invention, but Edison understood that the bulb was little more than a parlor trick without a system of electric power generation and transmission to make it truly useful. So he created that, too.

Thus Edison’s genius lay in his ability to conceive of a fully developed marketplace, not simply a discrete device. He was able to envision how people would want to use what he made, and he engineered toward that insight. He wasn’t always prescient (he originally believed the phonograph would be used mainly as a business machine for recording and replaying dictation), but he invariably gave great consideration to... continue reading

At P&G, 'Product Experience' Drives Performance†

Adweek, November 5, 2007 — This September, Procter & Gamble announced that its Gain detergent had joined the sales ranks of the company's billion-dollar brands. Playing an integral part in that growth: the February 2006 launch of Gain Joyful Expressions, a line extension that has distinctly curvy shapes and an assortment of bright colors (in addition to long-lingering scents like Apple Mango Tango, Mandarin Lime Fusion and Gardenia Delight).

The Talent Hunt

Design programs are shaping a new generation of creative managers

BusinessWeek, October 4, 2007 — The Second Annual BusinessWeek survey of the best design schools highlights the growing role they play in supplying creative managers to corporate and nonprofit organizations. Our list includes joint programs among business, engineering, and design schools as well as revamped curricula within traditional design programs. The driving forces of innovation and globalization are pushing companies to revamp their managerial ranks and hire people with new skills. Surprised by the rise of consumer power, companies are seeking people who can connect with customer cultures online and overseas. And in an era of constant change, they want people who are comfortable with complexity and uncertainty. Schools that teach design thinking, with its emphasis on maximizing... continue reading

Embracing Risk to Grow and Innovate

When it comes to generating business growth by bringing new things into the world, the stakes are high, and risk is everywhere

BusinessWeek, May 16, 2007 — As an innovator, you’ve likely encountered some of the most challenging and risky problems in the world of business. Let’s grow this lagging brand. Let’s envision the future of our market. Let’s connect to a whole new set of users and customers. When it comes to generating business growth by bringing new things into the world, the stakes are high, and risk is everywhere.