24 • Rotman Magazine Spring/Summer 2006

The principles of design can be applied to generate breakthrough thinking over incremental thinking. Here’s how to get started.

by Heather Fraser

Turning

Design Thinking

into

Design Doing

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Design is one of the hottest topics in thebusiness arena today, dubbed the new driverof innovation and the new competitiveweapon. This year, it even got its due atDavos, where the World EconomicForum featured a roster of programs onnew thinking about innovation and the valueof design as a means of unlocking break-through ideas [including three sessions ledby Rotman Dean Roger Martin.]

Imagine if everyone could get in onwhat the world’s leading innovators are dis-covering; we’d see more value and lesswaste – of energy (human and otherwise),time and money. But before design canimpact human and economic value to itsfullest potential, it must be translated intoan accessible, ‘doable’ program.Those whoare intrigued by design need to be able tograsp its core notions and begin to put itsprinciples and practices into play, with along-term conviction to shifting their cul-ture by driving the philosophy throughoutthe entire organization.

Whether your goal is to develop newproducts or services, a new way of market-ing to your customer, or to reinvent yourentire business model, ‘design thinking’holds valuable clues as to how to get to big-ger ideas, faster and more efficiently. Andwhile there are many methods for fuelinginnovation, the principles and practicesbehind design are so intuitive and have sucha pedigree of success, it is hard to questiontheir value.

The purpose of this article is to trans-late inspiration into implementation byhighlighting the learning and practices ofthose who have discovered how to turndesign thinking into design doing.

Design vs. Design ThinkingMost people associate the word ‘design’with a physical manifestation of form andfunction – an aesthetic that appeals to thediscerning user, a form that creates a satis-fying user experience, a physical andemotional ‘journey’ for the user in spatialterms, or an engineering accomplishmentthat makes the concept viable, technicallyand economically. All of these are valid andvaluable interpretations of design, relatingto the craft and technical expertise of thedesign field that helps to create human andeconomic value for the world.

But beyond these dimensions, the coreprinciples and practices behind all greatdesign can be more broadly leveraged intogeneral problem-solving and, most impor-tantly, the reframing of opportunities in astrategic sense. This is what is oftenreferred to as ‘design thinking’.

Design disciplines of all kinds (engi-neering, architecture, graphics, industrialdesign and others) teach things not typi-cally taught in business and managementschools. When we study the ways the‘design world’ thinks and makes things,there are patterns that emerge in terms ofmindset and method that are just as valu-able to business and not-for profitendeavors as they are in the design realm.

In fact, any organization on a missionto create economic and human value – be ita federal government agency or a well-established commercial enterprise – canharness the power of design thinking todrive true innovations.

Is it all about creativity? No. Creativityis technically the ability to create somethingnew. Design is about the process of makingor doing something new. And that’s wheredesign is more aligned with innovation on agrand scale – it is not an attribute, it is fun-damentally about action.

Finally, the process of ‘design doing’ isnot about establishing a new set of rules –it is about a fundamental shift in culture – areframing of the collective mindset andmethods of working that infuses your cul-ture with the spirit of innovation in a waythat is consistent and sustained.

The Mindset Defines the ConditionsThe first step is to extract the ‘attitude’behind design. There have been scores ofgreat articles written about the mindset ofthose who design, all pointing to someinspiring characteristics that most of usadmire and would willingly embraceunder the right conditions. The mostnotable themes fall into three general

traits: open-minded collaboration,courage, and conviction.

Open Up: Design doing is a non-starterwithout open-minded collaboration. Thismeans everyone on the team needs to bereceptive to everyone and everything inorder to achieve something worthwhile.Openness requires not only a commitmentto ‘working together’, but also an earnestreceptiveness to new ideas (good and bad),an interest in every new insight – whetherit fits your preconceived paradigm or not,and an allowance to imagine the possibili-ties of what could be, no matter howunreasonable or infeasible ideas may seem.Designers get a charge out of new ideas,new partners and new possibilities. Theyfeed off of new insights and effectively buildoff the ideas of others, embracing both thefriction and fusion that comes with intensecollaboration.

Go out on a limb: The right emotional cir-cumstances will inspire courage toexperiment and play with new ideas. Greatdesign does not come without risk-takingand trying new things, with the very strongpossibility of failure. IDEO, one of theworld’s greatest innovation labs, has count-

less stories of where a really ‘bad’ or ‘crazy’idea became the germ of a brilliant con-cept. How often have we heard someoneask, “What if it doesn’t work?” or claim, “IfI do that I may get fired.” Creating a cultureof courage is not just about making peoplebrave enough to go out on a limb, it is aboutcreating the right conditions in which braveand intelligent people can perform – condi-tions of integrity, trust, and tolerance forrisk-taking. All of these are related back toopen-minded collaboration, as integrity isthe root of trust, which is the fuel for col-laboration. If you don’t create anopen-minded environment, even the mostcourageous individual will not succeed.

Design is about the process of making ordoing something new. It is not an attribute,it is fundamentally about action.

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Don’t give up: No great design is realizedwithout conviction. Conviction is theabsolute unwillingness to give into con-straints and obstacles. Dean RogerMartin states that the single biggest attitu-dinal driver in breakthrough success is a“no trade-offs” mindset – the attitude ofthose who dive into ‘wicked problems’ andsee constraints as a juicy challenge ratherthan a reason to give in and settle for less.

While there are many important emo-tional conditions under which designthinking can flourish, without those out-lined above, innovation through the practiceof design will never get off the ground.Thepsychology of the individual and collectiveis the foundation for success.

The Methodology – Gearing UpWith the right emotional conditions inplace, the next step is to DO somethingtogether, focusing on a few core compo-nents rather than a litany of rules, processmaps and formulas. There are many toolsand techniques in design, but for it tobecome culturally embedded in an organi-zation, three ‘forces’ have to converge: adeep user understanding; multiple proto-typing; and strategic business design. Indesignworks™, we call these forces ‘thethree gears of design’.

Figure One: The Three Gears of Design

What most well-established companiesdo as a matter of practice is begin by exam-ining their ‘big gear’ – the existing businessmodel.This tried-and-true exercise focuseslargely on how to make the most of theircurrent capabilities and capacity – natu-rally, as this is where their capital and

salaries are invested. Most ‘growth initia-tives’ take the form of line extensions andexpansions; concepts are developed, andthen tested with the consumer they knowin a certain way for specific products or cat-

egories. If research suggests incrementalsales with minimal investment risk, it’s ‘allsystems go’. This is a very responsible wayto stretch more out of your current activitysystem, with largely incremental results.

Then there’s the ‘breakthrough route’,where innovation really thrives. If youbegin with the user and set out on a path tolook at the broader context of their livesand activities, you will suddenly see awhole new set of opportunities to betapped. The Illinois Institute of Technol-ogy’s Institute of Design has developed anethnographic methodology for understand-ing the user’s ‘activity’ (versus productusage) that reveals a whole new set ofopportunities and helps set new criteria forinnovation. If you develop a deeper under-standing with a broader lens, you openyourself up to new possibilities. Witnessathletic performance brands like Adidasmoving into the fashion arena, and iPOD’sredefinition of mobile entertainment.

The next round is to build on those newinsights and criteria to develop ‘outside thedots’ concepts – exploring many new andeven seemingly crazy ways to deliver bigger,broader user value. The ‘design key’ in theconcept development process is to createand consider a variety of ways to deliveragainst your criteria through multiple-pro-totype exploration, with an open mind tofeedback and reconfiguration along the way.With user feedback, you can continue tonarrow your options and create the conceptthat is most distinctive and creates the mostvalue for your user, perhaps tapping into aneed or opportunity that no one (includingthe user) had even recognized or articu-lated: that’s breakthrough. The computer

mouse for Apple was perfected by IDEOfollowing extensive prototyping and itera-tion in order to meet the seeminglyimpossible requirement of increased relia-bility at 10 per cent of the original cost of its

Xerox version. Similarly, concept cars areunveiled at auto shows to generate customerfeedback and further refine the design.

With the ‘big idea’ in hand, you thentake on lever three, strategic businessdesign, to model a unique system of ‘strate-gic hubs’ and ‘supporting activities’ that willnot only deliver value to the user, but alsocompetitive advantage and profit to you.Pushing the concept through to a point thatit is viable and profitable is not easy – this iswhere the ‘no trade-offs’ attitude pays off. Itrequires a lot of hard work and many itera-tions, but every team behind a greatbreakthrough will tell you that their convic-tion and collaboration pushed the projectthrough to fruition. Southwest Airlines’activity system has allowed it to becomeone of the most innovative providers of con-sumer value in a highly-competitiveindustry, creating a sustainable competitiveadvantage that other airlines have attempted(in vain) to mimic.

For each of the three gears, there aremany tools and techniques that are used bygreat design teams, but the depth andrigour behind each gear cannot be compro-mised. Moreover, it is never a clean andlinear pass-through process; it is extremelyiterative. It’s not about using a restrictiveset of rules – but instead creating the rightconditions under which some core pillars(user – idea – business model) serve as thetouch points throughout an iterative devel-opment process. It is about liberatingoneself and the team from the constraintsof early perfection and not being preoccu-pied with getting it right too early, so thatyou limit your possibilities. What compa-nies find when they practice iterative

If you begin with the user and look at the broader context of their lives, youwill suddenly see a whole new set ofopportunities to be tapped.

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prototyping – be it a product concept or abusiness model – is that they work theirideas through earlier and faster, leveragingthe experience and perspective of seniormanagement – rather than waiting until allof the I’s are dotted and T’s crossed to gettheir approval.

Design Principles Pay Off When the conditions are ripe for innova-tion and the general principles andmethodology of design are put into play, itis remarkable how big and broad theimpact can be.

Following are some wide-rangingexamples that demonstrate how ‘designdoing’ can deliver breakthrough results inany field, on every level. The methodsbehind these successes are reflective of theprinciples of design and showcase the wide-spread impact of design in diverse fields.

1. Life-Saving Packaging: Target’s New Prescription Bottle In 2004, insightful designer DeborahAdler [see coverage of her talk at Rotmanon page 87] set out to completely overhaulthe standard decades-old prescription bot-tle which created no end of problems withpatient compliance and health risks due tomedication mistakes. With a deep under-standing of who took medications and how,she designed a remarkable new package totake the anxiety and risks out of medicat-ing. Target Pharmacies embraced herdesign and took on the challenge of work-ing to refine the concept into a viablereality. The U.S. Surgeon General wrotethat this may very well be the single biggestbreakthrough in prescription care indecades.This is a fantastic example of howsomething ‘generic’ and functional can cre-ate both competitive advantage and offer

immeasurable user value – from holdingpills to saving lives.

2. Operational Transformation: BoeingFraught with operational issues and theneed to build a new manufacturing plantwith an eye to improving the operationaland organizational challenges of its past,Boeing and its architectural firm NBBJdecided to put design thinking to work inits broadest sense and create a ‘democratic’workplace where blue-collar workers andwhite-collar engineers, sales, and corpo-rate people work side by side, with theproduct (Boeing 737) at the core.The newworkplace, opened in 2004, was infusedwith the design message of collaborationand the idea that every individual wasimportant, with the focus on the productrather than the process. Real and quantifi-able improvements were noted: plane unit

Karen Christensen: What is the RotmanBusiness Design Initiative?Heather Fraser: The Business Design Ini-tiative is an important component of theresearch and development program of theDesautels Centre for Integrative Thinking.Whereas the broader notion of integrativethinking includes all aspects of the cogni-tive development relating to holistic,‘connective’ thinking, the design initiativespecifically applies principles and practicesfrom the discipline of design to producetangible outputs and solutions.

KC: Talk a bit about the School’s partnerson this initiative.HF: The relationship Rotman has with theInstitute of Design at Stanford [headed up byIDEO founder David Kelley] and the Illi-nois Institute of Technology’s Institute ofDesign [headed by Patrick Whitney] isbest described as a collaboration – a work-ing relationship that is not one of a formal or

Introducing: the Rotman Business Design Initiative

exclusive nature, but represents an openexchange of thinking that brings togethercomplimentary areas of expertise in designand business.The collaboration has emergedout of a shared interest in fusing the bestpractices of design and business to fosterinnovation. The goal of this collaboration isto link ‘design methodologies’ aroundhuman insight, physical invention and busi-ness design in a way which will complete theinnovation cycle, from inspiration throughto the creation of a viable concept and sup-porting business model. Our firstcollaboration, designworksTM, fuses thelearning of all three academic institutionsinto a working model for inspiring innova-tion across all functional disciplines. Ourpilot sponsor is Procter & Gamble, aleader in design thinking in industry. Beyondthis workshop initiative, we have also sharedresearch interests relating to the impact ofdesign methodologies on the innovationprocess and cultural transformation.

HF: What are you hoping to achieve overthe next five years?KC:The overall goal is to develop a learningstream for both the MBA program andindustry that will integrate the best prac-tices from a wide range of design-relateddisciplines. This will include the develop-ment of the following elements:• a working methodology for applying

design principles and practices to createeconomic and human value, with outputsto include both research and learningprograms;

• a curriculum stream that will offer MBAstudents the opportunity to develop adeeper set of skills and methodologiesrelating to ‘design doing’, culminating ina design major;

• a design module integrated into the Exec-utive MBA program;

• a customized education program for cor-porations and industry at large which canenhance the innovation capabilities andculture of a wide range of organizations.

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costs were decreased, resolution timesshortened, and the number of ‘flow days’ inthe factory for final assembly was reducedby 50 per cent. Results demonstrate thatyou can improve operational effectivenessby understanding your employees as cus-tomers and designing space for bothoperational and cultural transformation.

3. Communications Design: ViagraIn 2001,Viagra held the leadership share inits category.The challenge was that the mar-ket was ‘contained’, for the simple reasonthat men were not consulting their doctorsabout their condition. By understanding theholistic experience of the sufferer from thestage of ‘denial through to revival’, Pfizer

implemented a program that connected toand guided the sufferer through every stageof their journey, using a multitude of chan-nels and tactics to empathetically transforma passive patient into an active patient. Theresults – an unleashing of patient/doctordialogue and a surge in prescriptions –demonstrate that these same principles canalso be applied to breakthrough marketdevelopment and communications planning.

Seven Steps to Successful Design-Doing Following are some tips to consider uponcommitting to ‘design’ as a means of dialingup innovation and increasing the odds ofsustained success:

1. Make a long-term commitment.Design is not a one-shot vaccine; it’s an‘innovation fitness program’ that puts anorganization on top of its game. It is not an‘event’, it is a way of thinking, communicat-ing and doing every day. GE’s strong trackrecord of investing in management practicesthat push for continuous product and busi-ness model improvement have made thisorganization an innovation behemoth.

2. Build it into your corporate/organiza-tional strategy. Design is not just a ‘tactic’;in order to succeed, it needs to be part ofyour organizational strategy – from top tobottom, across all areas of expertise. Sam-sung’s embrace of design at allorganizational levels has allowed it to movefrom a commodity producer to a brandleader: in the U.S., it now regularlytrounces Sony and Panasonic in sales.

3. Assign a leader, but don’t limit it to afunction. Innovation through ‘design doing’involves everyone. It is not just the ‘designdepartment’ or the ‘innovation team’ or the‘marketing function’ – it should inspire andimpact every corner of the organization.

Teams need to be singing from the samesong sheet. Claudia Kotchka’s appoint-ment as head of design strategy at Procter& Gamble has served to inspire and institu-tionalize design across the 100,000-strongorganization, making it one of the mostinnovative and consumer-centric corpora-tions in the world.

4. Collaborate and internalize it. Don’thire someone to do it for you, collaboratewith experts who will do it with you andinspire/teach you along the way. As withphysical training, consider hiring a ‘designtrainer’ or ‘coach’. Witness Monitor Uni-versity, IDEO’s relationship with itsclients, and Rotman’s designworks™ ini-tiative [see sidebar for details].

5. Inspire, don’t legislate. It’s not aboutestablishing a new set of rules. It’s about acultural shift toward fewer rules, deepervalues, and stronger principles. It’s a newway to think, not just about projects but theway you work together day-to- day to solveproblems and create breakthrough oppor-tunities. One only has to see the power of

inspiration in fueling corporate ‘brand’ cul-tures like Clearnet (now Telus), Appleand Medtronic. Design thinking caninspire in much the same way.

6. Feed it and reward it. Once all of theabove conditions are met and ‘design doing’is set in motion, the organization will makedesign a way of life and build its ownmomentum. Much as design is part of anorganization’s innovation strategy, it alsoneeds to be part of an its cultural develop-ment program and reward system in orderto be validated. 3M’s strong ‘culture ofinnovation’ that rewards creativity at everyorganizational level has made the companya leader in delivering breakthrough solu-tions throughout much of its history.

7. The future starts today. While a sus-tained shift in culture takes time to gaintraction, it is important to get started,think big about the future, and implementwhat you can today.

In ClosingOrganizations can no longer count on qual-ity, performance or price alone to sustainleadership in the global marketplace. Designhas clearly emerged as a new competitiveweapon and key driver of innovation. Lever-aging the power of design across all aspectsof a business can establish and sustain anorganization’s unique competitive advantage.

By consciously fostering the right kindof emotional environment and followingthe seven guidelines outlined here, yourorganization will be well equipped to trans-late inspiration into implementation.

Heather Fraser is director of Business Design Initiatives in theDesautels Centre for Integrative Thinking at the RotmanSchool. She is the creator of Rotman designworks™, a pilotprogram currently being tested in organizations that willbecome part of the Rotman curriculum in the near future.

Design is not a one-shot vaccine; it’s an‘innovation fitness program’ that puts anorganization on top of its game.

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