Design thinking and design doing: Describing a process of people-centred innovation

The research forms part of the author’s long-term enquiry into the challenges of implementing Design Thinking (DT) and its relationship to Inclusive Design (ID), something that has been understudied and under-researched. Both fields advocate research with users and have a history spanning decades, but they have remained largely separate in terms of academic research and practical application. The author was approached by the series editor for his expertise at the intersection of ID and DT. “State of the art” DT ideas and approaches were evaluated through study of circa 50 recent academic publications, papers and journal articles. Field research was based on personal leadership of over 70 ID projects with government, business, and the voluntary sector leading to frontline discoveries and insights. Peer-reviewed academic publication, conference presentation, and keynote delivery helped test ideas before making the link between ID and DT and delivering the publication. This 13,000 word, sole-authored chapter outlines gaps in the long-term effectiveness of DT, outlining five principles that aim to engender a more sustainable approach by aligning it to ID. These five ideas give an overview of newly-articulated frameworks, tools and methods for academic and industry application. The chapter sets a context for 16 other chapters within the publication and establishes the need for more empirical research to link between DT and ID. The ideas in the chapter have been used to direct practice-based research projects and education programmes at the RCA as well as organisations in its network. 700 Hong Kong civil servants have been trained using these ideas, alongside numerous industry organisations including Tata Consulting Services and Panasonic

Interaction-context schema : A proposed model to support interaction analysis in small and medium enterprises

Information Systems Interactions are a pivotal point in developing an understanding of a socio-technical system. From this perspective, Information Systems could be defined as the cooperation, coexistence and integration of a socio-technical approach with the social aspect. This research investigates how people communicate in a business and how this is likely to support knowledge sharing practices. Given this, the real-work practices that drive a business emphasise the interactions. This paper proposes an “Interaction-Context” schema, which factors in the interactions sparked by several stakeholders that occurs in different areas of interest of a business. Therefore, a multi-proposal expanded analysis of interactions which seek to attends diverse purposes in different contexts. The schema envisages three categories to classify the interaction. Similarly, there are three contexts which distinguish the orientation. Hence, the interplay between interactions, technology and ICT competencies, which support or develop a business, underpin the Proposed Model “Interaction-Context” schema

Reconciling the Academic and Enterprise Perspectives of Design Thinking

Design Thinking has become popular in the management and innovation context but remains mostly misunderstood, as a result of broad interpretations and the lack of empirical research on the subject. This paper aims to reduce the gap between the academic and industrial perspectives on Design Thinking, by reviewing publications focused on three aspects: (1) studies aimed at defining the concept, (2) empirical case studies about its use or adoption, and (3) models or methods proposed to overcome its main challenges. The existing literature suggests that multiple definitions for Design Thinking coexist with some commonly understood design practices, both among designer and non-designer practitioners alike. The challenge most frequently mentioned is the clash of existing organizational structures with the flexibility and unpredictability of Design Thinking. This paper outlines two different approaches to address such challenge and proposes a definition that brings together the academic and enterprise perspectives of Design Thinking.Peer reviewe