Friends,
A few weeks ago we began our dive into the philosophy of design by analyzing design thinking.
After publishing the last newsletter, one of my favorite things happened: feedback from others helping me to improve both my writing and accuracy.
In my opinion, this is the best part of writing in community, and more specifically writing on Substack.
So this week we will round out the previous post with a bit more information, and a few clarifications.
If you missed it, you can scan and listen to the previous post here:
I began the letter by saying,
At its most basic form, Design Thinking is a scientifically rooted process that seeks to “Co-create” solutions for people rather than solving problems.
I think there are definitely elements of that which were accurate (especially regarding co-creation) but I also led us astray.
Specially, I was mistaken regarding:
The focus on solutions vs. problems
The focus on human-centered outcomes
To be fair, I think I misled us because I was confused. And I was confused because these are the most counterintuitive yet elegant elements of design thinking.
Melanie Lewis (who I shared with you last time as someone to follow to learn more about design thinking) commented on LinkedIn to my post,
We NEED to fully understand the problem, which is where most people go wrong.
Our collective default is to jump to solutions - humans are naturally good problem solvers and often have solutions in mind. It takes a lot of unlearning to reprogram someone to not do this, and instead spend more time understanding what they’re trying to solve.
In design thinking, we use EMPATHY to do this. It’s the key capability and ability required to find the best problem-solution fit.And it is human.
There are also a number of techniques/methods/exercises to maximize how to do it - design thinking is the best I’ve come across to both contextualizes and operationalizes it.
Our collective default is to jump to solutions - humans are naturally good problem solvers and often have solutions in mind. It takes a lot of unlearning to reprogram someone to not do this, and instead spend more time understanding what they’re trying to solve. —Melanie Lewis
Simply brilliant.
I knew from my experience using design thinking that it helps us reprogram our established intuitions through empathy.
Where I was mistaken was how we get to that point, and what the point of the process is.
But I think that Melanie beautifully captures (and redirects us) to my original thesis, which is that Design Thinking is philosophy operationalized.
Design thinking is an effective way to practice:
The principle of charity (understanding before solving or engaging)
Mindfulness (observing vs reacting)
Empathy and active listening
I hope you enjoyed the extra layer, and also experiencing the joys of communal writing.
I look forward to continuing out study of design next week with a look at Feng Shui!
Until then my friends,
Matt