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Design Thinking Books (2024)

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Re: Design Thinking Books (2024)

#131
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been very interested in cybernetics and systems thinking lately — would you be able to recommend some good books? I'm not afraid of difficult academic or philosophical reading, but I'm looking for stuff that's large in scope, applies to general fields, etc.

There are so many subsets of the theory and I have no idea what would interest you and what you already know. Have you seen this paper? https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220231906_The_Origi... It leans a bit more on the cybernetic side but gives an overview and has what is possibly equally important as the text itself: some 7 pages of references. I started with openly accessible academic papers instead of book…

Thanks for that paper! It looks like a good jumping off point. I am primarily interested in the cybernetics side (feedback loops, etc) but applied to social or economic systems, as well as the intersections with Deleuze and Guattari style process philosophy (looking at how every level of the social system, including individuals, is composed of nodes in a network of flows (of desire/memesis, knowledge, material resources, ideas) that the nodes are both somewhat composed by and also transform/switch/break)

Re: Design Thinking Books (2024)

#132
post #127
post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No, not against. One is a subset of the other. but you are free to prove me wrong. So what do you mean by "Design Thinking does with its sole existence what Systems Thinking tried to avoid"? > Are you sure about the meaning of epistemological? Yes, but I'm not sure why you think it's relevant here.

> So what do you mean by "Design Thinking does with its sole existence what Systems Thinking tried to avoid"? It’s its approach to Systems. Take the 5 stages. Why 5, not 10 or 3? Why stages at all? Who’s to say? Why not enable people to create stages themselves and run from there? Or whatever fits their business. Why not teach methodology instead of method? >I'm not sure why you think it's relevant here. I can only r…

So your argument is don't use an off the shelf tool (5 stages) that gets the job done, build your own tool (10 or 3 or none) every time which likely doesn't offer any advantage over the standard tool?

I don't think you really get either Design Thinking or Systems Thinking.

What you are talking about here is not Systems Thinking, which is a particular approach to understanding complex problems by viewing everything as systems of systems. Design Thinking is a methodology for approaching the design process, which is quite orthogonal to whether or not you employ Systems Thinking. The more general field of trying to understand how we determine whether something is true and what it means for it to be true is the field of epistemology; "epistemological based theory" is a meaningless description, like "philosophical based worldview".

Re: Design Thinking Books (2024)

#133
post #132
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So what do you mean by "Design Thinking does with its sole existence what Systems Thinking tried to avoid"? It’s its approach to Systems. Take the 5 stages. Why 5, not 10 or 3? Why stages at all? Who’s to say? Why not enable people to create stages themselves and run from there? Or whatever fits their business. Why not teach methodology instead of method? >I'm not sure why you think it's relevant here. I can only r…

So your argument is don't use an off the shelf tool (5 stages) that gets the job done, build your own tool (10 or 3 or none) every time which likely doesn't offer any advantage over the standard tool? I don't think you really get either Design Thinking or Systems Thinking. What you are talking about here is not Systems Thinking, which is a particular approach to understanding complex problems by viewing everything as…

Let me summarize your chain of arguments up to this point:

“I don't think you really get either Design Thinking or Systems Thinking”

1. In the strict sense of science, Design Thinking is not a methodology, whether you like it or not. Look it up.

2. If you have no more arguments to offer besides falling back to accusations again and again, then I'm afraid I can't take you seriously.

Re: Design Thinking Books (2024)

#134
post #73
post #60

Design Thinking is the Data Science of UX: an attempt to gain influence in fields that you don't have expertise in. Even though there might be universal design principle that can be applied in many fields, the Design Thinking people think that they can just come in and design user interfaces, etc. without really having an expertise in the particular field. Design Thinking works for selling consulting and not much els…

Isn't design thinking just... thinking ? There may be different design methodologies you apply in different domains (e.g. civil, aeronautics, automotive, electronics, software), but once you abstract that away, what you get is thinking. I once attended a design thinking workshop many years ago, and no one there was able to adequately explain what design thinking was, except by means of jargon, metaphor, or example. M…

Design thinking is a collection of techniques that have been professional-ized into a consulting practice. Hence the mystique.

What I appreciate about a good design thinking session is:

- It externalises the insides of peoples heads in a way that allows other participants to share that knowledge. Individual tacit knowledge becomes shared general knowledge.

- Knowledge elicited during the session is presented in a way that makes it actionable

A design thinking session is doomed to failure if it isn't comprised of:

- Domain experts

- Decision makers

- A facilitator who actually knows what they're doing

Re: Design Thinking Books (2024)

#135

I'm a dev and recently picked up "The Design of Everyday Things" as an attempt to become more design-oriented. Everyone raves about this being like the bible of design. So far I'm about 80 pages in and have found it extremely academic and not very practical, sometimes deriving conclusions that are so far from reality that they are a bit concerning, like how a strong password does not matter because once they inevitab…

For me the real capability unlock from The Design of Everyday Things was that it made me start noticing and thinking deliberately about design decisions, which pushed me to begin evaluating everything through that lens. In general it comes down to looking at something and asking "what is good / effective and what is bad / annoying about this". If you keep doing that enough you develop your own taste and a greater app…

Yes - notice, observe, focus, consider, judge, refine ... repeat ...

- Photography, not to take better photos, but to see the world more continuously and deeply.

- Architecture, not to build anything, but to be more aware of urban context, visual design, practical use and emotional response in the built environment.

- Music, not to read a score or play an instrument, but to really hear the structure of music, appreciate melody, pattern, balance, pace, production, individual virtuosity and harmonious combination.

Re: Design Thinking Books (2024)

#136
post #43

I'm a dev and recently picked up "The Design of Everyday Things" as an attempt to become more design-oriented. Everyone raves about this being like the bible of design. So far I'm about 80 pages in and have found it extremely academic and not very practical, sometimes deriving conclusions that are so far from reality that they are a bit concerning, like how a strong password does not matter because once they inevitab…

Like you say, it's old and I'm nostalgic for the time that I associate reading it with. I think that explains some of the love folks (or at least me) have for it. I've never revisited the book and thanks to your comment I might not ever now ha

Tangentially, happens to me with music. Some songs aren't _great_, but I still like listening to them for the associations it has.

Re: Design Thinking Books (2024)

#137
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't design thinking just... thinking ? There may be different design methodologies you apply in different domains (e.g. civil, aeronautics, automotive, electronics, software), but once you abstract that away, what you get is thinking. I once attended a design thinking workshop many years ago, and no one there was able to adequately explain what design thinking was, except by means of jargon, metaphor, or example. M…

I got the same reaction from that “how intelligence agencies think” YouTube video. Come now, “situational awareness”? Who needs a conspiracy to pay attention to their environment? And other mental tricks that people who must be told what to do may not come up with for themselves. Design however is a highly praiseworthy contemplation. There are those who do it well, and those who best learn to rip off what works as fa…

I think you’re doing situational awareness a disservice, and I’m guessing you’ve never worked in a field where it is a trained discipline.

It is not just paying attention to your surroundings, it is actively scanning and evaluating to anticipate changes to your situation. Big difference between standing on a hill taking in the view versus keeping your head on a swivel, identify avenues of approach and egress, all while looking, listening, and smelling for anything out of place.

It is more applicable to the physical world than any software domain.

Re: Design Thinking Books (2024)

#138
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those experts and stakeholders have a day job (i.e. don't have time to do this) and are usually in silos. They are not experts in workshop facilitation, user testing, usability, rapid prototyping to iterate on ideas and to think more broadly. It helps to avoid parts of the innovator's dilemma and to break out of siloed thinking, i.e. involve stakeholders from other functions of the org. Not sure what you've been sold…

> Not sure what you've been sold, but there are no special rules or rigid methods. I am not intentionally trying to be argumentative, but - I have seen UX designers refer to a team of developers as "my developers" and I take it negatively. - I have been into countless design sessions where the UX designers conducted a weird formalized session with cards, sorting, voting with colored stickers, and assigning equal vote…

Sounds like your ego was hurt by a process that's designed to expose ideas from a group on a level playing field. The process was working as intended. If it upset you, it might be worth reflecting on what you can do to be more flexible and open minded, which is hard to do as we gain more experience in life.

Re: Design Thinking Books (2024)

#139
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got the same reaction from that “how intelligence agencies think” YouTube video. Come now, “situational awareness”? Who needs a conspiracy to pay attention to their environment? And other mental tricks that people who must be told what to do may not come up with for themselves. Design however is a highly praiseworthy contemplation. There are those who do it well, and those who best learn to rip off what works as fa…

I think you’re doing situational awareness a disservice, and I’m guessing you’ve never worked in a field where it is a trained discipline. It is not just paying attention to your surroundings, it is actively scanning and evaluating to anticipate changes to your situation. Big difference between standing on a hill taking in the view versus keeping your head on a swivel, identify avenues of approach and egress, all whi…

Okay soldier, can you tell you are not alone in your own mind, and that American Thought Control is running an extortion racket on the United States Military?

Can you tell Bannon looted the intelligence community and exposed the envelope of every clandestine military secret by getting Trump to gather all of those commanders into one room?

You’re screwed and you don’t even know it.

Re: Design Thinking Books (2024)

#140
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you’re doing situational awareness a disservice, and I’m guessing you’ve never worked in a field where it is a trained discipline. It is not just paying attention to your surroundings, it is actively scanning and evaluating to anticipate changes to your situation. Big difference between standing on a hill taking in the view versus keeping your head on a swivel, identify avenues of approach and egress, all whi…

Okay soldier, can you tell you are not alone in your own mind, and that American Thought Control is running an extortion racket on the United States Military? Can you tell Bannon looted the intelligence community and exposed the envelope of every clandestine military secret by getting Trump to gather all of those commanders into one room? You’re screwed and you don’t even know it.

there's always [1]

[1] http://war.monster

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