designthinkinginstitute.com

While the recent article by Dipayan Baishya in the “Economic Times India” is not digging too deep into the operational issues of design thinking it provides a good overview what the business side might expect and benefit from “Design Thinking”. >>> Found via PPP and read the full article here.

It seems that the closer we come to Christmas posting frequency goes down not only at Vol.2: design-management.de. Therefore I’ve decided to take a short, intended “hiatus” and concentrate on some urgent work to be completed before Christmas as well as on recharging my batteries ;-) Consequently expect new, fresh postings in January 2006. However I still might do some sporadic del.icio.us postings.

Ever since I’ve started this blog in mid 2003, 2005 has been the year where both visitors numbers and posting frequency lifted-off. In particular site visits boosted since I’ve invested in a major redesign of the blog (follow this link for a sample of Vol.1 of the blog) in combination with a switch from MovableType to WordPress. Credits for triggering the back end system switch go to an Ex-MA Design Management student of mine, Eric Roscam Abbing who started blogging about his dissertation project this year (Eric recently promised to update his blog about the outcome of his dissertation ;-). Eric will also be a guest blogger on this blog in the near future (hopefully) reporting about brand driven innovation.

Furthermore credits also go to Oliver Thylmann (also an Ex-MBA student of mine from 2003 who completed his Open University MBA this year as well) who’s been one of the first bloggers I’ve met. Even though we’re not communicating on a regular basis we exchange emails from time to time and Oliver has always encouraged me to continue this blog! Needless to say that I highly recommend reading his blog on daily issues around blogging and the web.

This year has also been the year where I’ve made lots of real and virtual blog friends. I’d like to name just a few here in chronological order (regular blog readers know these names already). All of them have contributed to the blog either by guest posting or providing feedback. My special thanks go to all of you! And in case I should have missed someone please drop me a note immediately and I will add you to this list ;-)

• Hans-Henrik H. Heming and his cabin crew from “CPH127.com”
• Niti Bhan from “Perspective”
• Chris Gee from “ThePreparedMind.com”
• Steve Portigal from “All this chittah-chattah”
• Mike Wagner from “White Rabbit Group”
• Jörg Walters from “Jörg Walters Design Management”
• Sabine Junginger, from the US and a Guest Blogger on Vol. 2
• Jens Hilgenstock from “Sachlichkeit”
• Traci Fenton from “WorldBlu”
• Toby Coop from “WildWildBusiness.com”
• Dominic Basulto from FORTUNE “BusinessInnovation2005”

Personally this Blog has also opened new business opportunities while some of them are not be ready for release yet. However one client who has demonstrated a visionary understanding of the value of blogs is the Zollverein School of management & design in Essen/Germany. Their president, Prof. Bruder invited me to set-up and write a blog on their remarkable SummerSchool 2005. Currently I’m also working on their “regular” blog to be released in January 2006. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to start such an unusual and exciting project where I’ve met so many skilled people!

In October I’ve started this project which has opened doors as well (and which I’ve neglected for some weeks): The designthinkinginstitute.com. Getting back in touch with those of you who have already registered for a free membership at the institute is on the top of my priority list for 2006!

In the context of the designthinkinginstitute.com blog special credits go to Traci Fenton (and Mike Wagner who’s introduced me to her) for inviting me to talk on “Design Thinking and Collaborative Creation” at the WorldBlu Forum 2005 in Washington, D.C. This conference has been an incredible experience also because I’ve spoken to a “non design related” audience who are somehow far more open for an unbiased dialogue on terms and definitions than the core experts circles. Beside this the diversity of speakers and participants has been impressive ranging from political leaders like the representative of the Iraqi Prime Minister, Dr. Bashar Al-Naher over the guru of right-brain thinking, Dan Pink to all the skilled volunteers Traci has been able to attract. I would wish I could have framed all the (also emotionally touching) impressions in words …

Furthermore, my last trip for this year brought me to Paris where I’ve been invited to join Toby Coop (at that time member of Krauthammer International) and his peers. Toby Coop is a regular reader of Vol.2: design-management.de and by late October he’s thought that time has come to meet in person. Together with a group of people like Marijn Gijsbers and Eric Hooftman among others Toby arranged an executive kick-off meeting for their project “University of the Mind”. Toby writes about the idea of the “University of the Mind” on the blog which I’ve helped them to set up on the very afternoon prior to the event and which will move to its own platform soon next year. I feel proud to be part of this endeavour for three reasons: a) I love the idea to think of education in terms of body & mind which form an indivisible unit; b) The whole project is business not esoteric oriented c) All people involved are experts in their field while being completely open to exploring new roads. After all these have been two exciting days on a boat on the Seine river which will definitively have a lasting impact on the things to come in 2006. I wish Toby and his group all the best with their upcoming trip to the Kalachakra 2006 where they will inform HH, the Dalai Lama about the plans of the “University of the Mind”.

Finally and certainly due to the experiences I’ve been able to make with this blog for the last 2,5 years DMI has accepted my proposal for conducting a Leadership Forum at the 10th European Conference on Design Management. In particular special thanks go to the Earl Powell, President of DMI who resigns from this post in 2006 after being with the DMI for 20 years. Earl has supported me in many ways throughout the years ever since I’ve entered the Design Management community in 1997. I wish him well for the remaining projects he has identified for himself.

Last but not least I’d like to thank you, all the regular readers (numbers vary from 3.500 to 25.000 per month depending on the metrics you use ;-) of this blog for your attention and sometimes feedback you provide via the comments function. I hope you will stay loyal readers in 2006 as well (either by subscribing via FeedBlitz [right hand section on top of this blog] or via Bloglines) and I appreciate any note/feedback/request you drop to my email account at: blog@design-management.de

Happy Holidays and all the best to you all for the upcoming year 2006!