Reflection 1: Thinking about Thinking

It is quite an odd question to ask oneself: how do I think? This is not something I usually think about. However, when I took the time and started reading about design thinking, I started to find it interesting and eye opening to think about how I think.

For the most part my thinking depends on the situation that I am in. If I am trying to solve a problem I enjoy writing down my ideas on paper and then analyzing them at a later time. This allows me to get rid of all the emotion I may be feeling at the time and gets rid of me acting on impulse. After reading an excerpt from Martin’s book on “The Design of Business: why design thinking is the next competitive advantage”, when I try to solve a problem I use the funnel approach.  I start by thinking about all solutions to my problems allowing for all possibilities to be thought about without bias. This is the first stage: exploration of a mystery.  Next, I will write my ideas down on paper. This is the next stage of the funnel: heuristic. This narrows down my ideas to the ones I believe are possible solutions and as a result they are important enough to be written on paper. I now am able to work with a manageable size of solutions. From there, I will come back to this manageable size and try certain solutions until there is one that fits my problem and then implement it. This is the final and third stage of the funnel approach: algorithm. I only use this method when I have a problem that needs a well thought out solution.

In my everyday thinking, the process I use is a lot quicker and does not go through the same stages as I described above. For example, when someone asks me a question, my thoughts jump right to what should the answer be. If I know the answer I say it without much thinking. If I do not know the answer, I think of what I know that is relevant to the question and try to piece all of those ideas together to come up with an answer. In my everyday life when I am working or talking with family members or friends, my thinking turns into an oral regurgitation. My ideas flow without much thought and I look for feedback from the people around me.  Once I receive feedback, I reconsider whether what I said was a good or bad idea. Using multiple opinions and developing my own, I will come to a resolution on that thought and either put it to rest or continue thinking and asking other’s opinions on the subject matter.

When it comes to writing an essay my approach is to jump into it, just like when I am talking to people I trust. I start by writing my thoughts down on paper, anything and everything that I know and want to talk about on the subject at hand. I don’t care if it sounds good or if there are spelling errors, I just want my thoughts on the page. Once everything is out, I will start researching the topic and add in these points to my essay. Once this is done, I will revise my ideas. Sometimes these readings will have changed my opinion on the subject matter that I am suppose to talk about. I will then start to edit and make sure that my points are clear and flow logically. I will also check spelling and sentence structure. When all that is done, which may occur over several days, I will leave the essay for a few days and come back later. I find I usually come back with a new perspective and I may have thought of another idea in those few days and want to make changes, but I find that I catch many things that I may have thought sounded good before but really don’t.

This is very different than how I approach an assignment, as many of my assignments are analytical. For such assignments, I like to review my notes and make sure I understand the material; this occurs after I have previewed the assignment questions. Then I will attempt to answer each question. If I do not get one, I move on and come back later. If when I come back later, I still don’t understand I will call a friend in my class or email the professor to ask for help.

Looking at all the different processes that I use, I find that many of my processes work because I tailor my thinking to different circumstances. As I outlined above, each situation is different and I never use exactly the same approach for each task that I need to think about. Different assignments may require a different way of thinking. Only after being in design studio for two weeks, I can already see that this approach to thinking is crucial. Being able to change your approach to even the same situation is needed in order to be creative and successful in the business world.  I think flexibility is the key to being able to work efficiently and effectively. Just like Lockwood says in “Design Thinking: Integrating Innovation, Customer Experience, and Brand Value”, you need to be open-minded. I also find that when solving a problem I put my inner critique to rest until I have had time to understand my situation and learn more. I am always trying to find more knowledge from outside sources before I make any sort of decision.  This always leads me to make a well informed decision and a decision that I am content with.

I find my approach breaks down when I over analyze a situation. I think too much about the issue or task. For example when I get stuck answering a question in class that I may not know the answer to, my mind will go through my approach and when I am finished and don’t have an answer, my mind will keep repeating the process even though it knows it didn’t work the first time. As a result, I am unable to come up with an answer. I find that I need to train my brain to use multiple approaches for the same situation. From Lockwood’s book on Design Thinking, he states that design thinking “emphasizes observation, collaboration, fast learning, visualization of ideas, rapid concept prototyping, and concurrent business analysis, which ultimately influences innovation and business strategy”. I hope that by training my brain to undertake all these tasks, I will be able to approach thinking in a new way. Specifically, I would like to be able to apply different thinking strategies to the same situation, so that when one does not work I have another approach to fall back on.