These are the slides from my talk at Google Firestarters on 5th September 2017 in London. It's about two tools in particular we use at Smithery (www.smithery.com) to break the patterns that we find can emerge and strangle how people approach their work. The content is a compressed version of some of the material from the Innovation & Future Thinking course I led at IED in Barcelona this summer.
20. âCompanies were
comfortable and welcoming
to Design Thinking
because it was
packaged as a process.â
Bruce Nussbaum,
âDesign Thinking is a Failed Experimentâ, 2011
38. New information
Analysis & synthesis
Previous experience
Cultural traditions
SOURCE: JOHN BOYD
PRESENT}
PATTERNS}
39. The pattern problem
An example becomes a lesson
A lesson becomes a method
A method becomes a practice
A practice becomes a doctrine
A doctrine becomes death
40. We canât get caught waiting
for things to happen again
94. All environments
now change faster
than our processes
can allow forâŠ
dynam
ic
and
robust
âŠwe canât aïŹord to
get stuck in patterns
95. How do we design tools
that break patterns?
An example becomes a lesson
A lesson becomes a method
A method becomes a practice
A practice becomes a doctrine
A doctrine becomes death
100. WHO
WHAT
Culture, Individuals, Groups
What are they part of?
How do they communicate?
What beliefs do they share?
Matter, Space, Objects
What is it made of?
How is it accessed?
What does it depend on?
101. SLO
W
ER
FASTER
WHO
WHAT
Culture, Individuals, Groups
What are they part of?
How do they communicate?
What beliefs do they share?
Matter, Space, Objects
What is it made of?
How is it accessed?
What does it depend on?
What happens in
ïŹve years time?
What have the last
24 hours been like?
In the long run,
how is this sustainable?
Step by step, how
does this work?
102. SLO
W
ER
FASTER
WHO
WHAT
Sketch the
momentary
interactionâŠ
Write the 5th
anniversary
press releaseâŠ
Map the
supply chainâŠ
Evaluate long-term
sustainabilityâŠ
Analyse population
trends by locationâŠ
Sort through user
complaintsâŠ
Empathy mappingâŠ
Prototype new
supporting serviceâŠ
103. SLO
W
ER
FASTER
WHO
WHAT
âŠusing
LEGO
bricks
âŠfor a news
organisation that
doesnât exist yet
âŠusing metaphorical
territorial features
âŠas if you are a
UN working group
âŠas if this is a long
dead civilisation at
the turning point
âŠas a card game
âŠusing LEGO miniïŹgs
âŠas if you are a
parasitic start-up
113. people
space
MATERIALISM:
âall things, including
mental things and
consciousness,
are results of material
interactions.â
IDEALISM:
âreality as we know it is
fundamentally mental,
mentally constructed,
or otherwise immaterialâ
actions,
interactions,
conversationsâŠ
objects,
environments,
systemsâŠ
114. people
space
MATERIALISM:
âall things, including
mental things and
consciousness,
are results of material
interactions.â
IDEALISM:
âreality as we know it is
fundamentally mental,
mentally constructed,
or otherwise immaterialâ
actions,
interactions,
conversationsâŠ
objects,
environments,
systemsâŠ
Sometimes itâs this.
Sometimes itâs this.
142. Make your own tools to
break the pattern problemâŠ
An example becomes a lesson
A lesson becomes a method
A method becomes a practice
A practice becomes a doctrine
A doctrine becomes death