Comment on Node ant

Fred Collopy — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:06:35 -0500

Nancy, your approach to drawing attention to the problem is very nice; clever and interesting. And I agree with most of what you offer. But I think there is one small issue I would take issue with and an a piece of advice I would add to yours.

I think the quest for numbers can easily become a distraction, so the quantifiable goal is the thing I take issue with. Sometimes, what you want to achieve will be quantifiable and of course, then you might as well put it into the statement. But often it will not be.

Comment on Node ant

Fred Collopy — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:49:08 -0400

Jonathan,

Thanks for your considered questions. I'd like to respond.

I am not against clarity in definitions, just rigidity. Peter put it nicely when he noted that we need definitions that are fit for purpose. The goal is understanding, not fixedness.

Comment on Node ant

Fred Collopy — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 09:57:53 -0400

Gadi, here's a piece that I wrote addressing some of your questions: http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/fred-collopy/manage-designing/so-you-say...

Thinking about "Design Thinking"

Fred Collopy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:23:47 -0400

Design Thinking sits squarely in a Cartesian world of divided minds and bodies in spite of the fact that recent advances in evolutionary theory and cognitive science point to the inseparability of what is called the "hand-brain complex."

Anne Burdick, Design Without Designers

Comment on Node ant

Fred Collopy — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:57:55 -0400

Robert, first I want to acknowledge along with others what a thoughtful post I think this is.

Next, I want to encourage all of the designers, and thoughtful students of design, here to read and start discussing Anne Burdick's excellent essay on Design Without Designers.

Twitter per the McLuhans' Laws of Media

Fred Collopy — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:35:52 -0400

Marshall and Eric McLuhan argued that an emerging medium is best understood by considering four questions or probes. They called these four questions the Laws of Media. Every new medium extends some capability, turns into its opposite if it grows too much, pushes aside other media, and retrieves some long lost activity from humanity's past.

Lessons Learned -- Why the Failure of Systems Thinking Should Inform the Future of Design Thinking

Fred Collopy — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 03:16:21 -0400

"You never learn by doing something right ‘cause you already know how to do it. You only learn from making mistakes and correcting them."
Russell Ackoff
read more

Comment on Node ant

Fred Collopy — Wed, 27 May 2009 22:20:40 -0400

Point six could suggest that there is something special about the designer as team member, and there may well be. But I think a more useful metaphor than orchestra conductor is accomplished improvisor. In an effective team leadership moves from member to member more like it does among the members of an accomplished jazz ensemble than in a hierarchically tuned performance group like an orchestra.

So You Say You Want a Definition — What is Designing?

Fred Collopy — Sun, 03 May 2009 10:12:39 -0400

I have found it is useful to think of definitions of design, designing, design thinking as "stepping stones" that help us move the conversation along, rather than straight jackets defining what is in and what is out. In that sense, they are perhaps not really definitions at all. But then language is like that, always begging to be more than it is at the moment.

As Designers and Managers Think About Each Other — A Provocation

Fred Collopy — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:27:43 -0400

I wrote this as a provocation for a workshop that will take place this week-end at the Weatherhead School.

To what extent do fourth order design, design thinking, integrative thinking, and similar extensions of the notion of designing represent conceptual mechanisms for managers, management educators, and business consultants to co-opt the design community’s unique position as an innovative force, perhaps the innovative force in businesses?