Introduction minute damage would lead to a
Introduction and Originof Design ThinkingManagingHuman Resources is the most typical task in any industry. Having right cultureis very important for a company to excel in this competitive world. Especiallyin aerospace the investments are higher than other industries. Any minutedamage would lead to a huge loss.In thetraditional practice of Lean as institutionalized at Toyota, seven types ofwaste or muda are identified.
1These are typically classified asoverproduction; inventory, waiting, motion, transportation, rework, and overprocessing. In the first chapter of the book, Lean Thinking, Womack and Jones(1996) identify an eighth waste type: goods and services that do not meet theneeds of the customer. If the value is misunderstood, then the metrics by whichthe right values are judged are not being used. The producers are measuringsuccess or failure by one set of metrics while customers or would-be customersare measuring something different. This is where Design Thinking came intoplay.
Design Thinking is helpful in solving Cultural & Operational ‘wicked’problems. History of Design ThinkingThe DesignThinking learning curriculum had its origins in a program that was started atStanford University in 1958 by engineering Professor John Arnold incollaboration with Bob McKim and Matt Kahn. It was funded in 2005 by one of theco-founders of SAP, Hasso Plattner, who named it the Hasso Plattner Instituteof Design, but it came to be known simply as the d.
school 2. Definition and Focus of Design Thinking:Inthe 1950s, Buckminster Fuller was famously credited with the followingstatement that became the rallying cry of what he called the Design Revolution:”You can never change things by fighting the existing reality. To changesomething; build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete” 3. DesignThinking synthesizes these approaches to address the intersection of the threemain innovation inquiries; what is desirable, what is feasible, and what isviable. It can be applied to daily life problems as well.
The fundamentalprinciples for designers to follow include:1.Ensure the project integrates the users’ wants or needs and the environment inwhich they work or live. 2. Ensure designers know who the users are andhow the system should fit into their lives or their work. 3.
Make the demonstration of usability the objective of the design team. 4. Form a flexible team that will understandand address all aspects of the users’ experience with the system 4.DesignThinking shifts mindsets. To address complexity of the problem, Design Thinkingemploys an alternate form of logic that augments traditional scientificreasoning. It is more dynamic and thus more applicable to our rapid andcontinuously growing knowledge base.DesignThinking involves Abductive logic by which new hypothesis can be introduced inan inquiry.
Abduction suggests that something “might be”, unlike Deductive andInductive thinking. It uses an incomplete set of observations and concludes bestpossible explanation 5.Example:The idea of Autopilot was first an imaginary concept which took shape in laterage. 6 Roger Martin,Dean of the RotmanSchool of Management at the University of Toronto since 1998, when asked aboutintegration of Design thinking with management, said, “As I watched it, I sawthat this is what great business leaders do. They enter some kind ofconstrained environment where they want to do something that is nearimpossible. They have to figure it out by thinking differently from anybodyelse.
The best of what I see in the best business people is the same as what Isee in designers at their best”. Stages of DesignThinking This paper focuseson the five-stage model proposed by the Hasso-Plattner. The five stages ofDesign Thinking are briefly explained as follows: 1.
EmpathiseThe first stage is to gain an empathic understandingof the problem. This involves consulting experts to find out more about thearea of concern through observing, engaging and empathizing with people tounderstand their experiences.2. DefineDuringthe Define stage, the information created and gathered during the Empathisestage is put together. Observations are analyzed and are synthesized in orderto define the core problems that have been identified up to this point. 3. IdeateDuringthe third stage, designers are ready to start generating ideas. It is importantto stimulate free thinking, “Thinking outside the box”, and to expand theproblem space.
It is important to get as many ideas or problem solutions aspossible.4.PrototypeThedesign team would produce a number of inexpensive, scaled down versions of theproduct or specific features found within the product, so problem solutions canbe investigated which are generated in the previous stage. By the end of thisstage, the design team will have a better idea of the constraints inherentwithin the product, the problems that are present, and have a better or moreinformed perspective of how real users would behave, think, feel and react wheninteracting with the end product.
Example: When Google launched Google-Talkback, Software for Visually Challengedpeople, it hired few visually challenged people, tested the software on them,recorded their experiences and modified the software. 5.TestDesignersor evaluators rigorously test the complete product using the best solutions. Thisis the final stage, but in an iterative process, the results generated duringthe testing phase are often used to redefine one or more problems and recordresponses as in previous phase. Even during this phase, alterations andrefinements are made.Lean and DesignThinking in BoeingTheBoeing Company utilizes both Lean and Design Thinking methodologies to maintainand strengthen competitive advantage. Lean and Design thinking arecomplimentary methodologies. Exploiting the synergy that exists between the twopractices can have a multiplying effect that can help in the development of thecompany.
Boeingconducted a pilot workshop within airplane programs where Design Thinking andLean practices are blended together for the first time. This is an innovativeapproach to solution finding. Flight Managers, Traveler Managers, GroupCoordinators, and others from airplane programs at both Everett and Charlestonhave experienced problems with the Lock Out Tag Out (LOTO) safety procedure aspart of the overarching induction processes that manages the transfer ofairplanes out of the factory. Aircraft ownership changes throughout theprocess. The aircraft takes various paths as it moves from the factory to thefield. TheWorkshop objectives were 7: •Develop a shared point of view relative to the issues and recognize the needfor change. •Understand which areas of the induction process are difficult to carry outsafely and effectively. • Understand areas of the induction processwhere LOTO-related activities need improvement.
•Define a common future state LOTO process across airplane programs.Thesummary of the workshop is Design and Lean Thinking are complementaryapproaches that result in game changing improvements. The only way to know ifyou are solving the “right” problem or delivering the “right” solution is toresearch the problem space thoroughly and from multiple and diverseperspectives. All good design starts with the why, and that is the core ofDesign Thinking. Clearly, Design Thinking does not replace Lean methods orSystems Thinking; rather it is complementary and even catalyzing. Most wellthought-out technical disciplines overlap and in many cases, different namesare created for similar if not identical concepts and tools 7 .
Thesynthesis of these two powerful methods for leadership and change will help Boeingto achieve levels of breakthrough in product innovation.ConclusionToday’sbusiness environment is about more for less. Customers reward the speed ofdevelopment for innovative new solutions only when the solution resonates withtheir perceptions of value. The companies need to upgrade themselves accordingto the requirements of customers.Example:Orders for Boeing’s new airplanes and the reception of Tesla’s electric car inthe market place validate this assumptionUltimately,the task is not simply designing something and making it work well at the leastcost.
Rather, it is to design the right something and communicate theconnection between that thing and the target customers’ or users’ activities orfeelings. Numerous psychologists have studied why focusgroups do not really represent consumers. 12One noted researcherin this space is Philip Hodgson (2004).
He observes, “It is not the voice ofthe consumer that matters. What matters is the mind of the consumer. The bigmistake is in believing that what the mind thinks, the voice speaks”.Perceptions dealing with feelings and comfort are in the more primitive areasof the brain, sometimes referred to as the limbic system. Marketing, selling,and design are psychological processes and inherently qualitative activitiesthat should be understood as such by those engaged in innovation activities. Finally,Airplanes have to be designed for people who fly in them!At the end of the day, what matters to anyindustry is Profit and Good will among its clients as well as employees.
DesignThinking helps to achieve these goals.
