These are my notes on design strategy in order to clear my head of them. They are not a coherent argument, they are ideas and concepts arranged in a long list.
a) Wicked problem: Every problem we seem to face is a wicked problem.A problem is wicked in the sense that they are ill-defined or tricky, not wicked in the sense of malicious. For ill-defined problems, both the problem and the solution are unknown at the outset of the problem-solving exercise. This is as opposed to “tame” or “well-defined” problems where the problem is clear, and the solution is available through some technical knowledge. So in design thinking terms a lot of our problems seem very intangible. I often describe these projects as being like jelly.
b) Design thinking: So although the general idea of the problem may be clear a lot of time and effort will be required to gather them. and get them to make sense. Design thinking uses “abductive” reasoning, drawing on logic, as well as imagination and intuition, to explore possibilities of what could be. Design thinking is linked to creating an improved future and desired outcomes that benefit the end user.
c) Getting real: I don’t think that design thinking is advocating a research heavy theoretical approach but it may allow you to get closer to the real problem. 37 Signal’s advice is to “stop imagining what may work. Find out for real”.
“Getting Real delivers better results because it forces you to deal with the actual problems you’re trying to solve instead of your ideas about those problems. It forces you to deal with reality.
Getting Real fore goes functional specs and other transitory documentation in favour of building real screens. A functional spec is make-believe, an illusion of agreement, while an actual web page is reality. That’s what your customers are going to see and use. That’s what matters. Getting Real gets you there faster. And that means you’re making software decisions based on the real thing instead of abstract notions.”
d) Making things fast: I think this is what sketching is all about, and why it is so satisfying. Its much better than turning a computer on. You iterate (sketch) out a problem, judge it, if it doesn’t work you start again. But this talk also made the point rather well. its very satisfying. Have a great idea and try and do it really quickly. If it takes forever to achieve your motivation will fall. So just get on with it (like get real).
e) Lean UX: I think I need to do more research on this but it might be the new ‘service design’, if it isn’t already. So inspired by lean startup and Agile development theories. It is the practise of bringing the true nature of design work to light faster, with less emphasis on deliverables and greater focus on the actual experience being designed. Apparently.