Today’s the first day of B Session at ID. I had six classes in A Session but with the large number of big team projects going on I decided to take five classes this session:
Design Planning
Service Design as a Model for Business Design
Decision Making
Observing Users (semester-long class)
Design Planning Workshop (semester-long class)
I just had my first class for Design Planning taught by Larry Keeley, co-founder of Doblin, the innovation strategy consultancy. I have been super excited to take this class and Day 1 was right on.
Larry covered a bunch on the first day, talking about business planning and design, the field of innovation, the importance of professionalism and more, all in three hours that flew by.
Some quotes and insights he had include:
“I expect when you leave ID that you can go toe-to-toe with any CEO in the world and be confident in what you say.”
He explained that the challenge of planning is “to understand the future a bit sooner than everyone else.” This reminds me of the William Gibson quote, “The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed yet.” I guess that then means design planners get first dibs.
That what we’re learning at ID can help us understand “what human beings are going through now, finding things that make people’s lives less rewarding in order to get some insights so that relatively soon you can produce something astonishing.”
He talked about the field of innovation and how “design is now an imperative for competitiveness.” He continued, “I would love to be coming at your career now – no one conveniently handed me a framework kit; there weren’t terminology norms; there were no metrics and diagnostic tools. You are coming at the field when some of the basic field bed has been tilled for you. It (the field of innovation) will also become more crowded, increasing the need for personal professionalism. If we are lucky, you and me, you will be the vanguard of a new profession. I think you are at a really lucky time, mastering this topic.”
Rather than limiting this class to design planning frameworks and some examples/case studies, Larry appears to be planning to teach us more broadly - a new way of thinking and approaching problems; the importance of moving beyond "winging it" and to be confident in what you know and what you don't know; how to conduct yourself with a high level of professionalism; how to better interact with corporate decision makers.
How do you not leave that class jazzed about design planning, innovation and all the possibilities in the world?!
I’ll keep you posted on all my classes.
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