個案總覽

In recent years, designers have been applying their skills to a host of problems that were once the territory of business strategists and approached through analysis. With this shift has come the realization that a design-based approach, or 'design thinking', is well suited to tackling some of the most complex challenges organizations face. The authors, both of whom work for renowned design firm IDEO, argue that the first step is for managers to understand the differences in the ways that they and designers go about solving problems. Managers, they say, tend to follow a very analytical process, making decisions by understanding all of the available options and rigorously determining the best path forward. In contrast, designers prototype and iterate ideas, learning as they go and often developing new ideas and understanding of the problem along the way. They detail the designer's approach - which includes embracing constraints and 'building to decide', showing how this leads to 'evolution through design'.

When it comes time to generating business growth by bringing new products and services into the world, the stakes are high, and risk is everywhere. Risk, in the traditional business sense, is an assessment of the downside that might result from taking a particular action. If the perceived level of risk is too high, people working within a business-as-usual paradigm look for a less-risky alternative, or even forego action altogether. This negative definition of risk simply doesn't exist in the lexicon of most designers. The authors, from leading design firm IDEO, show that for designers, risk isn't a measure of 'the downside', but instead, it is a measure of upside and opportunity. If the risk isn't great enough, they might well ask themselves, "why bother?" The authors provide seven initial steps that managers can take to embrace the designer's approach to risk.