For a while the professional classes, educators in particular, were obsessed with a little grift called "Design Thinking.” Almost no-one could explain what it was, or why it was different or valuable, besides featuring buzzwords like “human-centered” and “iteration.” If you used those words in a complete sentence, people automatically thought you were smart. You could just say “my students are iterating through human-centered models” or “I’ll be attending a Design Thinking workshop next week” and everyone would suck your dick.
So what is this thing? Well, the basic process in a design thinking approach goes like this:
understand a problem and its context;
develop solutions;
prototype and test;
implement.
Of course, there’s already a word for this process and it’s called…wait for it… ENGINEERING
The real value of Design Thinking lies in how it turbo-charges the professional classes’ eternal mission: how to rack up a client’s billable hours. For instance, you’re supposed to “go wild” with your possible solutions. Brainstorm it, have fun with it, blue sky it! “We explored the idea of having the new gym in the shape of a banana, because kids like bananas. Just thinking outside the box!”
If project creep wasn’t enough, a whole cottage industry sprung up like mushrooms on a turd to offer training in Design Thinking—i.e., how to get your employees to use its lingo. Lots of billable hours there too. But unfortunately Design Thinking’s timing was bad. Just as it was making its move, it got swamped by the Diversity-Industrial Complex tidal wave. Alas, if only there were victims in Design Thinking!