As we proceed through the term in the d.studio, I continue to think about the added value of design thinking to business. One of the recurring themes is how visual design thinking techniques can be. Or at least how I think about pretty well everything in visual terms. Even if I am working in words, I like seeing them (usually on a white board) large as life in front of me.
So this week, we asked our d.studio-ites to map some of the processes that they are trying to understand in their projects. We heard from the Emergency Department group and they showed us maps of the context of the supply chain to the supply room at the hospital. They showed varying scales from the region (the warehouse from whence come the supplies) right to the up-close spaghetti diagrams expressing the movement of the nurses within the Emergency Department.
Another group on the Concert Properties project used a mind-note map to diagram the food system from source to the apartment building in Collingwood.
Ron showed some great examples of maps — most recently one from a report called: “Achieving Water Independence in Buildings”, Central City Concern, Oregon, March 2009.
It is fun to now be in “studio mode” — meaning that each 3h Wednesday is about working, sharing and advancing the projects.
Have been doing some reflection on how to move the studio forward. We have to take this “pilot” through the Faculty and Senate process. The students have been wondering about whether it would be better as a 6-credit course; they are finding the major project time frame quite challenging. And I don’t blame them. Another option is to have the studio run through 2 terms — 3 credits per term. This would allow for gearing up with understanding design thinking in business during the first term — and then tackling the major project in the second term.