Information managing as designing

8/7/2019 Information managing as designing

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Information managing as designing

photo: michiel hendryckx

inspiring innovatinginforming

presentation: rik maes EMIM, February 2011


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Business Technology

Strategy

Structure

Operations

Information /

communication


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structures

processes

functionssystems

data

involvementemotions

relations

ideas

intentionsinformation


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Why IM instruments dont come up

to the mark

Claudio Ciborra

1. Reality is complex and messy

2. Every model is less than reality

3. The technical bias

4. Carbon copy approaches

5. The diarrhoea of projects

6. Narcissism of the management involved

7. Exagerrated expectations


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inbalans

?

i n f o rm i n g

inspiring


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Informing Inspiring

structure meaning

prescribing, standardizing interpreting, exploring

norms values

binding, materializing innovating, disruptive

identity confirming identity questioning

organizations, systems ideas, brands

univocal, unambiguous multivocal, ambiguous

controling the unexpected welcoming the unexpected

excess: standstill excess: chaos

ideal: inspiring through ordering ideal: forming through ideas


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A lot of people see

what is happening

and ask why?

Some people see

what could happen

and ask why not?


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Herbert A. Simon

The Sciences of the Artificial, 1996

Engineering, medecine, business, architecture,

and painting are concerned not with the necessary

but with the contingent not how things are

but how they might be in short, with design

Our professional responsibility is not

to discover the laws of the universe,

but to act responsibly in the world by

transforming existing situations into

more preferred ones

Intelligence

Design

Choice

We should leave more possibilities open to future generations than we ourselves inherited


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The dominant mindset of managing

decision making designing

Choice between alternatives

Assumptions:

generating alternatives iseasy

choosing betweenalternatives is all-important

Generate alternatives

Assumption:

the more complex theworld is, the more importantit becomes to generate validalternatives

Problem: transforming decisions

into actions

Information systems:

management reporting systems

looking backwards

Designing = specifying an

outline for action (Webster)

Information systems:

implementing a vision

proactive


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practical scientist

reflective practitioner business designer practical author

Visions on management


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What now matters is thedesign and delivery of value.

That needs design thinking.That needs creative thinking.

Judgment thinking alone isnot going to be enough. Mostpeople, in business and

elsewhere, have done verywell on judgment thinking.

Such people are rarely awareof the need for 'designthinking'. They find it difficult

to conceive that there is awhole other aspect of thinking

that is different from judgmentthinking. It is not that suchpeople are complacent. It is

simply that they do not knowthat there is another aspect to

thinking.Edward de Bono, Why SoStupid? How the Human Race

has Never Really Learned toThink, 2003

In the end, design is about shaping a context, ratherthan taking it as it is. When it comes to design,

success arises not by emulating others, but by usingorganizational assets and integrative thinking to

identify, build on, and leverage asymmetries, evolvingunique models, products and experiences -- in short,creative business solutions.

Roger Martin, The Design of Business, 2004

Really, what we're doing asdesigners is, ultimately, and

inevitably, designing the businessof the companies that we're

working for. Whether you like it ornot, the more innovative you tryto be, the more you are going to

affect the business and thebusiness model.

Tim Brown, speech at theRotman Business DesignConference, 2005

We believe having designers in the mix is key to success in multidisciplinary

collaboration and critical to uncovering unexplored areas of innovation.Designers provide a methodology that all parties can embrace and a designenvironment conducive to innovation. In our experience, design thinking is the

glue that holds these kinds of communities together and makes themsuccessful.David Kelley, Dave Beach, George Kembel, Larry Leifer, Jim Patell, Bernie

Roth, Bob Sutton, and Terry Winograd, founders of the Stanford UniversityInstitute of Design, 2005

This role of manager as designeris hardlymentioned in the literature, and barely

acknowledged in businesspractice. ...Managers practice "silent

design"...the many decisions taken by non-designers who enter directly into the design

process, no matter how unaware they orothers may be of their impact.Angela Dumas and Henry Mintzberg,

Managing the Form, Function, and Fit ofDesign, 1991

Companies that are successful exploit-ing the full potential of design do so

because it's present in all of the deci-sions the company makes. These

companies aren't choosing to applydesign to their respective businessstrategies, but have chosen design as

the fundamental strategy itself. Designis the philosophical core of the compa-

ny. Everyone in the company becomesinvolved in designing, whether thatmeans creating financial plans or se-

lecting casing materials for an industrialproduct. Design isn't something that the

design department does. It's a way ofoperating the company. It's an ongoingset of choices about how the company

is going to exist, to compete, to grow.John Zapolski, Design as a Core

Strategy, 2005


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Video: Timothy Brown urges designers to think big


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What I learned from Friso Kramer

Models are not pre-representations of the end result, but

sources of inspiration: tools for thinking and feeling

Designing is an open mind activity: If I would know in

advance how it will turn out, I wouldnt even start

A designer must clear his mind in order to approach a

problem innocently

Designing is leaving out the unnecessary

Whatever you design, it should never hinder

A designer must constantly train his empathy

The most difficult customer is the best one, provided she is

competent and inspired

A good designer goes beyond his customers belief in whatis necessary


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What I learned from Dana Ponec

1. Your person

You have to take a personal stance (what do you

really want to achieve?)

You should believe in yourself, but not become

overconfident (you are not the most important person!)

You are a craftsman, hence choose deliberately from

whom you want to learn the craft

2. Your method of working

Thinking according to models only never leads to a

viable solution; worrying and try-outs are quite normal

Accept uncertainty, there is no best solution

You design for more people than the customer only

Live with your customer and his situation-at-hand

Show possibilities, even if unachievable

Make it your customers design

Imagine you use your own end product


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desirable (people)

viable (business)

feasible (technology)

You cannot have brilliant ideas in the abstract

Learning from analogous situations

Learning from extreme cases


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Use of model:

representation of end product

authorization by customer= learning about your ideas

Storytelling (in feasibility phase)

Result without story is worthless

Engagement with a better world is

part of your business strategy

Encourage experimenting beyond the

assignment and working according to plan

Visualize, create a working space where you can live

together with your design


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Video Timothy Brown on creativity and play


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bricolageimprovisation

caring

drift

hospitality

tinkering


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Our preliminary conclusions

1. Start from real-life

experience, not from

abstract models

2. Imagination doesntaccept limits

3. Continuous dialoguewith all parties involved

4. The importance ofpassion, engagementand creativity


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Associating

Q

uestio

ning

Observing

Experimenting

Networking


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Observing

Associating Experimenting

Networking

Realworl

d

Idea

lworld

Denkbaar

Voelbaar

Maakbaar

Haalbaar


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The Christmas tree approach

observing

experimenting

associating

network-

ing

Information managing as designing

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