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Hi, hope I'm in the right forum here?

Anyway, being a management consultant specialising in change and organisation design, I was very interested to see that the OU has launched a course entitled Design thinking: creativity for the 21st century. This has set me on an investigative path through the learned writings of people like IDEO's Tim Brown, Roger L Martin and others. It seems that design thinking is being promoted in some quarters as the panacea for business success (and recovery) in the next decade.

I cannot make my mind up as to whether this is an attempt by the design industry to sell itself as being more commercial or a genuine view that design thinking is indeed a way of looking at businesses in a more holistic manner. For my part (having spent a couple of years with the Michael Peters Design Group) I can see how the approach that designers take could be of value to consultants and business in general, particularly in taking a more customer centric view - in fact, I would say that the more enlightened already approach projects in this way. I can also see the relevance in that innovation and sustainability will be key words in business during this coming decade.

I may have missed the point entirely and would welcome views from inside the design industry, as views from the business world in general are conspicuous by their absence.

Hi there and thanks for stopping by.

You raise some interesting points and touch on themes that have been ever-present since we set up DesignTalks. The first content we produced was based around a debate about quantifying the return on investment in design. A general consensus at this debate was the importance (not least for justifying their wages) of involving designers in strategic business decisions that extended beyond their traditional remit of form and function. The commercial success of a product may depend on the customer experience, the cost of manufacture, its green credentials (perceived or otherwise) and any number of other factors where a designer's input may be crucial.

I haven't looked into this idea of "Design thinking" as much as you but it strikes me that this is a natural extension of this business-oriented role for designers into organisations and/or projects not necessarily focused on manufacturing products: a slightly more formal recognition of the importance creative thinking can bring to almost any business situation. This is an interesting deveiopment and there will no doubt be many who argue that designers (or design thinkers) won't bring anything new to the table for those smart/enlightened companies who are already embracing creativity in their business strategies. But I'm inclined to stick up for the role of design here: any new insights to be gleaned from an increasing business-savvy design communitity should be embraced by a business community who must recognise that design is not just about one-off iconic products.