Designing a way forward
Designing - the first word of this post's title and the overall focus of this post! Over the last couple of months I've read and re-read Hartmut Esslingers book, 'a fine line'. It's rare that I re-read a book straight after reading it, however my mind was drawn back again and again to the book. Upon each re-visit I left the book ever more certain that the design lessons contained within it were essential for successful learning design.
My recent post, Scared of first, finished with ten reasons why businesses are not fully embracing new learning technologies and approaches. In this post I was constructing my low point, how things are, but with a optimistic eye forwards to where I thought learning design may be heading. Perhaps it was this in mind that I read 'a fine line', the point being however, I am more certain now than ever before that the discipline and approaches of design thinking hold the key to businesses embracing changes in learning strategies and design.
a fine line
Hartmut Esslinger is the founder of the design company, frog design, and the design force behind Apple, Sony and many other businesses. In a fine line, he provides stories and examples to illustrate his design approach (these alone are almost worth reading the book for). When he began his business his goal for frog design was...'to redefine design as a strategic profession, and to continually promote its relevance to industry and business.' - For learning designers today this works beautifully!
I particularly like how he wanted 'all designers (including himself) to be masters of their own destiny, not just hired hands brought in to put a shiny new face on the same, tired old ideas' - it's almost like he is a learning designer today! Indeed as Hartmut puts it, 'innovation is a matter of life or death', successful businesses must innovate in order to stay in business. Our task as learning designers is to help businesses see that learning is more than an expense, in fact it is the key that has the potential to unlock innovation and provide a business with strategic reserves and competitive advantages.
The Design Process
Perhaps the book's gem begins on page 57! Here Hartmut outlines his innovation process - any learning designer could pick this up and just about use it as is when working with clients! The process is made up of three steps, very briefly (you should read the book!) they are:
Step 1: Groundwork - research the goals and challenges facing the business. Understand (learning) design's role in achieving these. It is also important to be selective, choose the right team, partners, clients and projects!
Step 2: Creative collaboration - this is where innovation begins and is a combination of brainstorming, ideation, projection and management. The inclusion of management in this step may appear counterintuitive however it is essential that there is a planning focus in place, it's where the rubber hits the road!
Step 3: Marketing - I have written previously about the links between marketing and learning design (here and here). Hartmut explains this step 'where minds meet money'! Money rules in business so it is essential that the design process prove its benefits and look to optimise (learning) design's role in business.
Finally Hartmut looks at the role of the community and social networks in enhancing and improving design outcomes. Whilst not focussing upon learning, there are clear lessons for learning and learning design in here (perhaps the topic for a future post?)
I could continue outlining innumerable points from the book, however the book is worth buying and reading!
