No amount of Design Thinking

Funny how that works. You put ‘Thinking’ behind it and all of a sudden there is huge amount of interest in Design. Businesses everywhere are eager to learn what Design Thinking is, how it works and how it can help them create better products for their customers. So we see people doing Design Thinking workshops and courses, hoping to reap the benefits.

But why are there no other forms of “Thinking”? What about other expertises? I haven’t heard of “Medicine Thinking” courses or “Mechanic Thinking” workshops. It would be ridiculous to think that you can do a course on how a doctor thinks and then know how to treat cancer yourself. Or learn how a mechanic thinks and then expect to be able to fix your car’s engine yourself. Somehow for other professions, we understand that’s not how it works. But when it comes to Design, people like to belief it can be learned in a few days.

Does that mean it’s useless for non-designers to learn about Design Thinking? Of course not. I highly encourage everyone interested to follow courses, read books, and learn more about Design Thinking. As long as they understand that no amount of Design Thinking can substitute actual Design.