If you asked any of the designers at my office, “How many designers does it take to change a light bulb?”, I already know that one of them would pipe up with this answer: “Does it have to be a light bulb?”
Har, har, har!
But seriously, they would challenge the very essence of my question because designers, or rather people engaged in design thinking, tend to ask a lot of questions—especially ones that challenge existing assumptions.
And yes, maybe these questions would be dubbed pure foolishness by those married to a certain process or strategy of doing things, but as author, Warren Berger, points out, questions are “the starting point in the design process, and [they] have a profound influence on everything that follows.”
He’s correct you know. Just think of how many times you sat deliberating about the same old issue at your office. It’s kind of like the vintage FedEx commercial, that shows how corporate insiders can get so stuck in a rut that they no longer think for themselves. It takes an outsider to see the situation clearly and state the obvious.
Berger knows what I’m getting at. The Glimmer author spent much time studying the likes of Bruce Mau, Richard Saul Wurman and Paula Scher, the most respected designers in the biz, who constantly talk about the importance of asking those so-called “stupid questions”.
In an article this morning from the Harvard Business Review, Berger outlines specific ways that people in business can learn from studying design thinking to achieve significant eureka moments by learning to question, care, connect and commit to a final solution. Read on for Berger’s full article and find out why you should pay more attention to the way designers think.