CTO Straight Talk - Issue 1 - 45

What's the best way to explain design
thinking to non-designers like us?
Design thinking is the set of tools and
methodologies that designers use to tackle
problems. The question design thinking
asks is, "How do you take a people-focused
approach to problem solving, particularly
around the role of technology and the
tools and the environment we create for
ourselves?" The approach depends on a
pretty deep understanding of what people
really do and what they really want. It
includes being able to take a disparate set of
needs and results and synthesize those into
solutions that are often dramatically different
from the solutions that might emerge from a
traditional product development process.The
tools and methodologies of design thinking,
which have evolved over decades, include
live prototyping, exploration, and improving
ideas through iteration in the real
world.
Design thinking is a methodology that imbues
the full spectrum of innovation activities with
a human- centered design ethos.

How might the principles of design
thinking be applied to the Internet of
Things?
In a number of ways. One aspect of the
Internet of Things is connecting the physical
elements of our world much more directly
to the digital elements. Essentially, we are
augmenting experiences that we already have
today. In that situation, the challenges have
to do with pulling that off without making
life more complex for users, allowing them
to gain the benefits without too great a cost.
If you have to pull your phone out every time
you need to walk into a room, that could be
great or it could be really annoying. Instead
of grabbing for a door handle and opening it,
now I have to pull my phone out and program
a code so that the door will open? Is that
easier or more difficult? If we aren't careful,
we could make things less great for people,
rather than more great.
The Internet of Things is also about
connecting the physical and the digital worlds

What is the downside of approaching
problems with a more traditional
approach?
Very often you end up with too much
complexity. You get a focus on features and
functions rather than on benefits. We've
all experienced it, haven't we?
We've
seen technologies that aren't based on an
understanding of people's modes of behavior,
how they use things, and what confounds
them. A classic example is the VCR.
Theoretically, the device was useful, but it was
developed from a technological perspective
rather than from a design perspective. And so
a lot of people had trouble using it.

The challenge is to
pull that off without
making life more
complex, allowing
users to gain the
benefits without too
great a cost.
CTO Straight Talk - Issue 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CTO Straight Talk - Issue 1
