Strategy firm preaches design thinking for innovation
- 07 May, 2010 10:34
- Comments 2
Pensito co-founder Maree Conway
A new business strategy firm is holding a series of seminars and workshops on design thinking and how it can be used to increase innovation.
Pensito was formed in February as a joint venture between Elizabeth Rudd of FutureNous and Maree Conway of Thinking Futures and is holding two events on design thinking this month in Brisbane and Melbourne.
Conway told CIO there is much talk about design thinking – including a lot of books and press coverage – but few people know what is it and how it can help innovation.
“Design thinking is very similar to strategic foresight, hence the intersection theme of the seminars,” Conway said. “It’s kind of like the latest fad, but it is not. It surfaced in the academic journals and design companies. People are seeing it as a way to think differently about what you do and how you do it.”
Conway said people in the business community know what design thinking is, but view it as “the new kid on the block”.
“Other people will say design thinking is about art and ‘we don’t need that’, but when you get into it is quite useful,” she said.
The seminars are aimed at senior business leaders, including CIOs, who can discuss new products, new operations and new systems for their organisations.
“Rather than creating strategy on what we have today, it’s about exploring what the future may be like,” Conway said. “The GFC hit people in the face, but there were many signals it was coming. We tend to be happy and comfortable where we are so we don’t look at things that may disrupt where we are.”
“We want people to think differently about future strategies. Futurists have been around for a long time, but our work is about integrating the future into existing strategies – and not many organisations do that systematically.”
Conway worked in the higher education sector for 30 years, with recent planning management roles at Swinburne and Victoria universities.
“Technology is a major driver of a whole lot of change in organisations, but it shouldn’t be the only driver as there are a whole lot of other issues,” she said. “People in IT understand the need to look ahead, so in some ways IT understands this.”
“If you spend a bit of time thinking about changing IT in future you can link it with your strategy.”
Conway encourages CIOs to adopt more than a three or five-year timeline for strategic planning and recommends changing business today so it can prepare for new technology developments.
For an introduction to design thinking, Conway recommends the Harvard Business Review paper Design Thinking by Tim Brown, CEO of design consultancy IDEO.
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.
- Bookmark this page
- Share this article
- Got more on this story? Email CIO
- Follow CIO on twitter
-
Monday Grok: Will Siri crack the walls of GOOG?
-
Face Time - Interview with John Brennan and Robert DiStefano
-
Face Time - Interview with John Brennan and Robert DiStefano
-
Phones are distractions during catch-ups
-
Google's Sidewiki lets people post comments about Web pages
-
5 Best Practices for Achieving Peak Performance in SAP Environments
Given how deeply businesses rely on their SAP systems, it’s simple to see that maximizing performance and uptime is critical. What’s not so simple is figuring out how to understand, let alone optimize, performance in these complex, dynamic, and interrelated ecosystems. This paper offers five best practices that can help administrators more effectively measure and improve SAP performance. -
Restore control, Reinforce security & Reduce Cost
Uncontrolled print environments and practices present a serious risk to the profit and security of your organisation. IT is under pressure to protect sensitive information, secure devices, and improve the way they manage the entire fleet. To gain better control, your organisation needs to implement plans that meet industry regulations while also increasing productivity, lowering costs, and providing users with more flexible imaging and printing solutions. Read more. -
Learning To Compete: IT’s Next Transformation
CIOs must become competitive players in managing relationships between IT and the business. Megatrends like virtualization, consumerisation, cloud computing, and mobility are forcing a new model for operating IT. This interactive white paper from CIO Magazine and EMC explores this transformation as a leadership opportunity, as an opportunity to create new models for IT, and as a catalyst to fundamentally change the dynamic between IT and the business. Embedded videos feature CIOs from T-Mobile USA and Wharton School of Business and a quick survey provides benchmarking between CIO peers.
-
Photoshop Elements 4 Gone Wild
-
Excel 2002 Formulas
-
Beginning ASP.NET Databases Using Vb.net
-
Professional Java Development with the Spring Framework
-
Linux Bible 2009 Edition
-
Effective Software Test Automation
-
Mobileme for Small Business Portable Genius
-
PC Magazine Windows XP Speed Solutions
-
Mastering Lotus Notes & Domino 6
Get exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis. 
Comments
Tim
The organisation I represent has been working with a consultancy to embrace Design Thinking to help us improve the way we approach sales and service; and to help us make smarter decisions around technology selection. It's early days for us but the journey so far has been positive and already we are seeing small but significant results. We truly believe going forward design thinking mentality is going to be the only way to remain relevant to our clients. It's great to see an increase in design thinkers becoming available to organisations in Australia.
Karen Dempster
My experience of Maree Conway's thinking and strategic insight certainly makes this something to take note of if you want some straight information on how to use new skills well. Good luck with Pensito.
Post new comment