Clarification of how I will approach the topic

211 days, 17 hours, 50 minutes and 44 seconds
until my Churchill Trip - 11th May - 13th July 2012
Perth>SF>Seattle>Austin>NY>Boston>London> Heidelberg >Salzburg>Vienna>Singapore>Perth

The more I think of my topic the more I spend considering how I should approach the topic and get the most of the trip. In my previous blog I considered the questions I am looking to address, but as I read more I am starting to realise the approach and thought process will have a bearing on the outcomes.

The thinker

I have been reading an article which was written by Tim Brown of IDEO. The article itself can be found at Design Thinking . 


One of the key pieces of information I got from this article was the definition of design think that was put simply, 


"It is a discipline that uses the designer's sensibility and methods to match people's needs with what is technologically feasible and what a viable business strategy can convert into customer value and market opportunity."


But the main idea behind design thinking is that it is a "methodology that imbues the full spectrum of innovation activities with a human-centred design ethos."  I really believe that we have to focus on the human-centred aspect but to do that there is an engagement process that has to be addressed. 


Technology has to accept that whatever is designed it needs to be human-centred, but the other side of the debate is how do we engage the human side to own and get involved. Life was to become easier with all the new technology but it has not. It has become more complex and to many people frustrating. As Steve Jobs once quoted: "Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."


I believe many forget that and that is one of the main points I am hoping to better understand. How do we go about better design with the respect to the use of this technology. How can we design to empower rather than dis-empower the end user. 


Business and users know what works for them, they have been trailing and testing it for years. So how do we design those proven and tested processes so that we can get the efficiencies of the technology without reinventing proven processes which only need to be more efficiently expressed in the technology so that the technology becomes transparent.


The best example of transparent technology is watching owners of iPad's and a lot of apple products. If you engage them in a conversation about what they are doing you will hear about all the creative products that they produce and the enjoyment they get at producing it. Very rarely if ever with they talk about the technology.