My favorite design book — without question. The Design Way, written by Harold G. Nelson and Erik Stolterman can be summarized as dismantling problems and solutions as the primary intellectual framing of design, and software development in general.
Thirteen years after being published, our industry has yet to absorb much — if any — of its wisdom.
What is Design?
To come up with an idea of what we think would be an ideal addition to the world, and to give real existence—form, structure, and shape—to that idea, is at the core of design as a human activity.
Working out what needs to happen and then giving form, structure, and shape to the idea. I love that!
Dealing With Uncertainty
We cannot know for certain, that what we design is what ought to be designed. We cannot know what the unintended consequences of a design will be, and we cannot know, ahead of time, the full, systemic effects of a design implementation.
Admitting that the form, structure, and shape of an idea will always have unknowable and unintended consequences was a turning point in my career. I resisted — adamantly and, occasionally, dramatically — for years. I was able to shed a lot of anxiety about my role once I accepted and built alternative processes to allow for the graceful emergence of new behaviors.
Analysis Paralysis
A desire for change is often assumed to imply a need for comprehensive analysis, and rational decision making, leading to a clear choice for action. The reality is that analysis often leads to ever-greater numbers of choices, when then require more analysis. The consequence is that decisions cannot, and are not, made rationally—at least not in the rational tradition of scientific comprehensiveness. The real world is much too complex to be dealt with comprehensively.
Rigorous analysis finds enabling constraints that productively limit options, but never enough to reveal one ideal option. Further analysis may shift and refine constraints, but changing constraints will always reveal new options.
Caring as a Service
Design is ideally about service on behalf of the other—not merely about changing someone’s behavior for their own good or convincing them to buy products and services. This is not always obvious when observing the behavior of many of today’s designers; neither is it adequately dealt with in the contemporary writings on design.
I love thinking about design as providing help to a person or group that doesn’t have access to relevant human care. We’re helping them make progress with less confusion and anxiety while on their own.
Expect the Unexpected
The success of a design process can be determined when those being served experience the surprise of self-recognition … which could not have been imagined fully from the beginning by either the client or the designer, and to provide end results in the form of an expected unexpected outcome.
Volition is my favorite word to probe for deeper understanding. What might help someone choose to do something new of their own volition? For example, making a task more predictable will likely encourage people to build routines. This emergent behavior can be thematically predicted. Unfortunately, it's not possible to accurately predict a single, specific behavior. Let the expected unexpected safely occur and choose to support the new behavior after it emerges.
Reflect on Equality
It is important to understand that service is not servitude. Instead, service treats the other as equal.
If we introduce an idea that forces a new behavior, that’s behavior change on our terms. We don’t see the other as equal. The opposite isn’t blindly doing what someone requests. We can be in a reflective conversation with the situation that allows an ideal to emerge over time.
No More Problems
If an individual’s intention is to create something new in the world, not to merely describe and explain things, or predict and control things, it is essential to take a systemic approach.
Overwhelmingly, problems are framed as the lack of an addition. Why is that needed? Because we don’t have it. Round and round we go. Until we can look at environments and see emergent possibilities, we’ll be forever stuck in this exhausting loop.
Parts and Wholes
A vision is not a manifestation of a whole, that is, it is not an outcome of the process of composition. A whole can never be fully described before it is fully formed, even with the parts at hand. It is not possible to impose a predetermined vision of wholeness onto parts, in order to obtain a specific whole as an outcome.
A whole can’t be understood until it is operating in its intended environment. While in active participation with its surroundings. Thinking we can come to understand a “whole” in isolation or in simulation is pure hubris.
All Means, No Ends
Establishing a firm grasp of the adequate may be the most difficult and important judgement made in a design process. This judgement will, in turn, have impact on all other design judgements in the unfolding process.
It’s painful to see a potential future and merely take the first of many steps. When adequate is in relation to an improvement of existing behavior, it’s a step in the right direction that introduces new potential futures. From there, take the next adequate step. In other words, trust the process.
A Basket of Assumptions
Need implies that the desired situation is clearly understood, and the real state of affairs, which is also clearly understood, is an undesired one. The difference between the desired state and the actual state is framed as the problem. It is also assumed that there is no difficulty in determining the needs that must be satisfied in order to realize the desired state. It is assumed that the process of satisfying needs can be efficiently accomplished through a rational and pragmatic problem-solving approach.
There’s that word problem again. Instead of calling it a problem, let’s call it a need. We’re endlessly clever in putting new costumes on the same, tired process.
What Can You See?
Vision is the outcome of creative, design-based leadership rather than the starting point.
If you hear anyone say “let’s define our vision” you should know you have lost. Likely, a long time ago. I’d prefer a larger potential pool of likely futures. A system of learning and making better choices should be a widening activity, not a narrowing activity. Good vision is a result of an existing process that allows you to see more paths.
Dimensions of Progress
Design is intentional; therefore, design interpretations are also intentional. It is intention that predisposes or directs us toward certain data and values. This means that interpretation cannot be done without an understanding of a direction.
A coherently stated dimension of progress is more useful than any problem or solution statement. We can extrapolate from the present into many new possible futures without committing to any specific future. Without needing to reverse engineer any specific future.
Go That Way!
Navigational judgement involves making the right choices in an environment that is complex and unpredictable—the core of adaptive expertise. The outcome of navigational judgement is based on securing the desired state of affairs for any moment, in the moment, by staying on track and proceeding in the right direction—in other words, maintaining an intentional heading.
Understanding the present and how it can change for the better. Not problems and solutions. Progress.
This is the way…
Dare I say? The Design Way.
Related Links
- All Care, No Responsibility — Cameron Tonkinwise
- Thinking, Understanding, and Learning — Russel Ackoff
- A reflective conversation with a situation — Donald Schön
About this Book
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