Making Sense of Change and Innovation
Censemaking helps you to learn how to change and innovate by design.
Framework Errors In Design and Action
The finger-pointing to the moon is a model, not a truth. What happens when our models and frameworks become held as truths instead of guides? There’s an often rephrased Zen quote attributed to the Buddha that says: Do not confuse the finger pointing to the moon for the moon itself. Zen Phrase Often our models, …
When Did Complexity Change Its Meaning?
Saying something is complex was once an admission we didn’t have expertise, now it’s a cover for not committing to something. What does it mean when we undermine the meaningfulness of the term complexity? If you were involved in business operations or social innovation 15 years ago, you might remember when people rarely used “complex” …
Putting Designer In Front of Words
Two simple words can make the difference between seeing something that just “is” to something that could be almost anything we want. Noema Magazine recently published an article from Yakov Feygin and Nils Gilman entitled The Designer Economy. Feygin and Gilman are not traditional designers looking at products and services, they are business writers and …
Are We About To Experience AI-Powered Vertigo?
The AI Revolution is here. How we can adapt our nervous systems to deal with the pace and scope of the changes around us? Charlie Warzel’s Galaxy Brain newsletter from The Atlantic is among the best venues for insights into the cultural issues associated with technology. Warzel’s astute observations and commentary on not just what …
Leadership Lessons For 3-D Times
There is no shortage of advice on how to lead. Most leadership lessons are designed for 2-D times when we are living in more than three dimensions. I used to love reading about leadership. I thought leadership was the key to successful organizations during my studies, and I was partly right. What I got wrong …
Designing for Unhealthy Time Horizons
The coming years will test our ability to design for the unseen, familiar, and pervasive issues tied to mental health and well-being. Are we up to the challenge? I recently attended my first public event where I felt I had been transported to 2019 – the year before the pandemic (“Beforetimes”). It was a small …
An AI Innovation Case Study You Didn’t Expect
Meta’s Chief Scientist has provided us with a case study that both perpetuates and exposes many myths about innovation. It was the headline that grabbed me: “ChatGPT is ‘not particularly innovative,’ and ‘nothing revolutionary’, says Meta’s chief AI scientist” It came through Refind (a great service if you’ve never heard of it), which recommends articles …
Using Strategic Design for Change
Strategic Design is about applying design principles, methods, tools, and approaches to shaping an enterprise. How might we use this to connect our purpose with our actions? Strategic Design is a newer area of practice within the field of design. It’s basically taking what we know about Design and applying it to ourselves: our organizations, …
When Beauty and Great Design Went Jumbo
Today marks the last delivery of the Boeing 747. The first true ‘Jumbo Jet’ was also an example of when great service design and product design came together. It is the end of an era for travellers today as the last of the Boeing 747’s takes to the skies for delivery to Atlas Air, a …