I Centered Design Thinking

This is a very light weight introduction to a book by Shankar Thayumanavan.

I owe a thank you to Shankar Thayumanavan. Three things that came my way without asking for it because of Shankar:

• an opportunity to air my views on importance of self-awareness in the process of design thinking,
• an esteemed mention in Shankar's book - Making of a Level 5 Design Thinker, and
• more importantly a bound copy of recently published book.

Before this book, i was introducing myself as - 'i am a designer'. Many in my profession thought i am involved only in the piece that gets done just before software code construction and testing. In some circles, it did not give myself an esteemed or powerful position in the professional hierarchy. On deep analysis, i realized i will need to elevate my articulation to introduce myself as a product designer. The book from Shankar now has got me thinking whether i should introduce myself as 'i am a Design Thinker'.

An important contribution from Shankar is the construct 'i am' from the original 'who am i' within the scope of Design Thinking. i should admit here that i am still a beginner in understanding of 'who am i'. Shankar's proposition is about bringing self-awareness through 'i am' and 'who am i', elevating the outcomes of the process of design thinking. Apart from 'i am a design thinker', Shankar goads the reader to contemplate on thinking multiple forms of 'i am' with respect to the designer in you,

It is about 'who am i' in the process of design itself. Bringing 'i am', allows a designer to remove impact of self from influencing the innovation process. Shankar explains that continuous practicing of 'i am' will sooner than later result in improved impact of the attempted design work. The ideas you generate will all the more be beautiful.

There are fifteen competencies attributed for a good design thinker. The fifteen are slotted in 5 tiers of a pyramid. Empathy, for example is a basic competency, finding itself in the first level. On the top, Level 5, is the competency of self-awareness. Much of the reading time is devoted to explaining what it means to be a self aware design thinker.

The book traces its roots to multiple reservoirs of knowledge. One such root is traced to the book, Good to Great by Jim Collins. Jim had researched on companies and their returns - over a long period of time, primarily to understand what makes good companies great. Unlike the good companies, great ones gave cumulative stock returns three times the market, continuously and consistently over fifteen years. Jim attributes a company's greatness to the quality of its leader. Jim also uses the term Level 5 Leader to describe leaders who make companies great.

Shankar's book spends most of its reading time on using 'i am' for design thinking effectiveness. Interestingly and personally for me, the concept of 'who am i' is a construct i had picked up from a different workshop that i had attended almost 8 years ago.

In a leadership workshop, Raghu Ananthanarayanan had nudged participants to learn asking 'who am i', in every situation where we are in. To be an effective leader, Raghu had taught us that it is important to be clear about 'who am i', 'why am i here' and 'why am i doing what am i doing'. Jim and Raghu had a common ground!! Now Shankar is nudging me there from a design perspective.

In both leadership and design, you are doing something. Whatever you do, it impacts someone else. You are just an enabler, a catalyst, a conductor orchestrating to achieve a significant outcome. This is where, i think being self-aware, using 'i am' to remove self from the outcome or impact makes the endeavor sweet. One manifestation of being self-aware is removal of personal gain from the outcome of design thinking or leading. Steve Jobs designed iPhone for delighting its customer. Profits, to Steve, was only a side effect.

With 'i am', Shankar reshapes design thinking to I_Centered_Design_Thinking.

Possibility of wow effect is enhanced through removal of self, for example benefits to self, from the results. Unlike mindfulness, I centered design thinking allows you to respond positively to situations. The I centered design thinking enables innovative product or service - delivering eventually on jobs to be done.

Shankar attributes his insights to learning from Ramana Maharshi. It must have taken a good amount of time for Shankar to distill all the thoughts before incorporating into his professional practice and consolidating the essence into a book. 

There is a chapter devoted to use of I centered design thinking in addressing the water problem at Bellandur, Bengaluru, a place that i stay very close to. There is a good explanation of how the design thinking workshops were done. It should give the reader an idea of implementing the I centered design thinking process.

Water problem in Bellandur is now a wicked problem. There are no easy solutions to the situation (mindfulness can help oneself keep resulting stress under control). Foundations of water scarcity lie in lack of systems thinking during planning phase. Lack of selfless design is another cause. As an example, the builder of apartment where i stay today near Bellandur had used up almost all the ground water for construction purpose drying up the underground aquifer beyond replenishment. As residents we are now dependent on erratic external water supply.

Local government in Bengaluru has now mandated all construction work to consume only recycled water supplied by the government. Not sure whether Shankar had a say in this, but it is a step in the right direction. Whether the powerful builder's lobby will heed to the law is something we need to wait and watch.

Coming back to the book, as a design professional, i would have recommended negotiation as a competency that should have made its way into Shankar's list of fifteen competencies. Another suggested addition would be understanding culture of people who will be impacted from your design. The book however does not claim to have an exhaustive list, but only a compilation of ones identified by many design thinkers that were interviewed for the book.

I wish great success for Ash-Hubs (a venture founded by Shankar) in using I_Centered_Design_Thinking to create great ecosystems and better environment for the future.

The book is sure to enlighten many a design thinking mind. It is an important addition to the mysterious art of design.