Designing for Growth

Design thinking has emerged as one of the dominant business paradigms of our times, and anyone looking for a practical guide for applying design thinking principles would do well to check out Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Ogilvie's forthcoming book, Design Thinking for Growth: A Design Toolkit for Managers.

Liedtka and Ogilvie make the case for design thinking by pointing out the inherent limitations of traditional management training. The logic of business, they argue, is rooted in objectivity: the emphasis on numbers-based management as exemplified by financial statements, marketing reports, and business models. As a consequence, traditional managers have a tendency to see only the logical, rational and quantifiable. In contrast, design thinking gives importance to subjectivity, emotion and experimentation as decision-drivers, for which reason it has plenty to contribute to the business of business.

When done right, that is; this is at the heart of what Designing for Growth has to offer. Liedtka and Ogilvie identify and elaborate upon ten tools that constitute a design thinking-oriented approach to products or services. Visualization. Journey mapping. Value chain analysis. Mind mapping. Brainstorming. Concept development. Assumption testing. Rapid prototyping. Customer co-creation. And learning (beta) launches. These tools are also brought to life with brief case studies and profiles of professionals who have successfully put them into practice, leaving no doubt that this is a playbook meant to be put to use in the real world.

Criticisms notwithstanding, it's plain to see that design thinking can be useful for different organizations, the yin to the traditional manager's yang. As Liedtka and Ogilvie rightly point out, design thinking is ultimately all about empathy, innovation and ideation and thereby complements the underlying logic of business. Fortunately for us, they have written a book to help show us the way.

[Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Toolkit for Managers, from Columbia University Press, will be published on 6 June 2011. A review copy was obtained through NetGalley.]