Sustainable Communities

I'm a bit late on this week's entry as the writing task had consumed most of the time I spend on work, outside of work. I have just done a quick map tonight, which has not only included events from my week at work, but also my weekend, which was full of reconnecting with friends again.

There is part of my map where branches extend out from a bubble labeled "emotional." From my week and weekend of conversing and seeing friends I have seen and felt a range of emotions from greatly missing people and then experiencing the happiness of seeing them again, to helping find relief and peace, to hearing of uncertainty, to feeling another person's disappointment. All serving as a reminder that life is about lessons and learning.

I spent yesterday at the beach, experiencing the open sea. It reminds me of how big our world is, that there is a lot to explore and learn out there, and that we should never forget that, sitting at our desk indoors in the office. Cities appeal to me in very much the same way. I love seeing the tall buildings and thinking of all the great ideas being generated inside them. We are never to forget that we have a lot to learn from each and every person.

But the focus of my map was really around the word sustainable. I finished reading Anita Roddick's autobiography this week and was really struck by the idea of hers called 'Trade Not Aid', a big project she pushed through the Body Shop. The concept behind it was about initiating trade between the developing countries and the Body Shop.

Roddick detailed her many adventures in her book. She described how she would take some Body Shop soaps to show communities in developing countries what she was doing. She'd then ask them if they had anything to offer. During her travels she would discover secrets of nature which provided highly sought after remedies for the body. She would place an order with the community, and they would set to work on creating things in exchange for finance. The finance gave them opportunities to increase their standard of living and build sustainability in their communities. Some communities really flourished, starting out as backyard family businesses to growing to two factories with many employees.

I find Roddick's work very inspirational. When I was mapping, I was also discovering that I could draw on some similarities between live projects at my own work. Right now, we are helping a retail bank provide better experiences for their small business banking customers. We are helping them do more than just cut banking fees, they have a bigger picture in mind and in their vision is woven building sustainability not only within their organisation but also among and with small businesses.

Another project I had the privilege to be involved in, was work with a very visionary Aboriginal organisation. Their vision includes building sustainable communities, having learnt from past occupations of the Government to provide "hand outs" to Aboriginal people. This has done little for their communities, accelerating issues such as alcoholism and de-motivating Aboriginal people to go out and create things and lives for themselves. The group we work with are inspirational thought leaders, working on many levels to pursue sustainability from land and water management to our national identity.

So, as you can see in the past week, I have read, observed and been involved with building sustainability on an organisational level, a national level and world level. I love being made aware that there is a big world out there. I hope I never forget it.

Opposites

This task was set by Tony. We were to reflect on something we had done recently. Our process was to mind map our thoughts and produce a piece of writing.

This piece is the product of several mind maps on my summer holiday, road tripping with Geoff, through country and coastal Victoria.

Luggage stowed, snacks in the back, we pour into the bucket seats. The sun beats down on the bonnet, air-conditioning is on high, a long road stretches ahead. Ten days separated from Sydney. What is in store? What will we see? Will we survive? We’re total opposites and we’ve never been away for so long. We ask the questions but anticipate nothing.

We arrive at Marysville, greeted by a humble sign. One tiny street, washed under leafy trees that rustle in the wind. The air is cool. We can’t see mountains, but strangely we can feel them. Water gushes down the falls. Glistening over rocks and jumping between them.

The green signs shout at me. Too late, I missed the exit. Again. When will I learn? The streets are congested. Red lights flash on and off in anger. The air fills with smoke. I am grateful for the windows that encase me. As I drive along, the high rises close in on me. Will there ever be a break so I can see the blue sky? I drive past water which streams down the gutter. I feel angry about the pipe which has burst. Don’t they know we’re in a drought?

We reach the cornflower blue and white guesthouse. Perched high in the grassy hill, the black tar of the Great Ocean Road hugs the rugged coast. Far below, the rough seas silently pound the cliffs. The scene is straight from a postcard. We feel we’re not on the ground anymore. The mist from the ocean spray lays a blanket of haze over the land and sea. It gives us the sense that we’re dreaming.

My feet pound the grey concrete. I fly past shops, cafes and people. From the corner of my eye, colours and shapes blur into one. There’s no time or space to stop and look. I hear sounds. A lot and loud. It never stops. I see and hear things, but they mean nothing.

It’s New Year’s Eve in Port Fairy. A town as charming as its name. A quiet promenade is lined with fishing boats. The river’s water is calm, but on the other side, the ocean crashes onto the beach. We have our tartan picnic blanket and a soft cooler bag of food. The grass if thick and soft. People are scattered far and wide. The temperature cools as the sun dips below the horizon. Hours pass, we anticipate fireworks. We wait on the bridge and colours begin to explode far away in the sky. We quietly enter the new year.

It’s the place to be, but is it really where we want to be? The grass is sparse and dry, the ground is exposed, dust is kicked up and settles on our things. The sun’s rays stretch towards us for the last time this year. The heat is suffocating and so are the people. So close, we can hear their every word. The harbour water is constantly disturbed by the boats. They draw near the bridge. The wait is long and when midnight strikes, the sound is deafening. The fireworks are dazzling and I sigh relief as they fizzle out in the air above me. When it’s all over, a strange quietness falls on the night. Every year it’s the same. It’s not special anymore.

We walk out to the deck. Dusk is settling over the port town. People talk in hushed voices even though it’s not necessary. Out eyes straining and searching for the first sign of mutton birds coming home. Night falls, what remains of the sun is like glowing embers in the sky. Silhouettes of the birds begin to appear. They swoop around and down in silence to feed their young. More and more arrive home. Still not a sound. Everyone is quiet now. Are we meant to be here? The birds behave like we’re not anyway.

We walk down beneath the bridge. The concrete and steel heavy and creaking. We settle down to eat lunch. Seagulls being to approach. First one, out of curiosity. Daringly close, its eyes fix on our food. I swot it away, but it’s hardly scared. It comes back, prompting more to join. They swark and swarm around us, circling and eyeing us eating our food. All we want is peace.

The car rolls into Beechworth. Our last stop before home. Old buildings line the wide street with drains of orange cobblestones. A proud bakery stands on the corner. It smells of home-made cooking. We’ve stepped back in time into a sunburnt outback town. It’s Ned Kelly country.

Buildings of grey concrete and glass replace the old. History is lost, no story for today. Coffee shops squeeze themselves between buildings and spill out onto paths. Grinders chomp and machines squeal. The rest of it is fast food and take away. It’s Sydney city and I know I am home, but I wish I were far away.

Creative Thinking

My week begun Monday morning with a WIP (Work In Progress) meeting. We hold these every two weeks to discuss our live projects. The value we gain primarily rests in the ability to learn from past projects and use these learnings for live and/or future ones.

This happened at the end of last year. We had two projects running concurrently, and in one, we'd been struggling to design a journey to take our client down to immerse them into their customer's world. In one impromtu WIP meeting, we discovered another project team had already done this and quite successfully. Our WIP was led down one of those long paths of discussion, but we got a lot of inspiration, confidence and value from it to go forward with some fresh ideas.

This particular project of ours was challenging. We were deliberately not giving our client answers, but getting them to experience our process for inventing things themselves. We more had to be more facilitators for creative thinking, rather than do it ourselves. Being facilitators is challenging, because we are not only putting faith in our process, but in other people's enthusiasm and ability.

I have a lot of faith in people. I believe everyone is creative. When people say they aren't creative I reply, "Everyone puts together an outfit in the morning with matching colours and styles. That's creative." I remember once reading a management writer in Harvard Business Review write, "when we get to the office, creativity is left at the door." How true this is of most organisations.

Creativity allows you to express the messages and ideas you want to send out to the world. It can be very personal and very valuable. I have always seen fostering creativity in individuals in organisations as valuable for two main reasons:

1. It can create new products, services and processes
2. It is hugely satisfying for individuals

I couldn't imagine not being allowed to be creative in my life and work. I love colour, vibrancy, freedom, being allowed to imagine possibilities. Call me an optimist, but what I have learnt over recent years is that I am more a pragmatist. I think this comes from my practice as a designer where my job has always been to turn ideas and concepts into a reality.

But back to the facilitation of building creativity in people and cultures… Over the long weekend I had the pleasure of spending time with friends from a diverse range of backgrounds. At a dinner party on Friday night I was sitting next to a young doctor who was giving us some insights into her everyday job. She didn’t speak much of the technical, but spoke more of how she deals with the emotional side of her patients, and if those patients are kids, then she has to also deal with the emotional side of the parents. I got thinking the next day about the human and emotional sides to our jobs. Everyone’s job, because there is always a human and emotional side. This makes empathy very important.

Empathy is a ‘big word’ for me (I have many ‘big words’). As a designer, we start with our process with empathy ie. Some customer research to decipher the ‘wicked problem’ which lies ahead of us. We have conversations with our customers (who end up as the users of our designed products) and discover their world in hope to find a small nugget which will burst into a fabulous idea to solve the problem.

It’s a great process and one which I love because I am naturally curious about things, especially people and the way they live (a good test is if you are ever walking past someone’s house and the front door is open, do you peek in to see what the inside is like? I do. I am curious to know how people arrange and design their space which gives me insight into how they live). So being curious is a great start to being a creative person.

The second part is about identifying and noticing connections. Someone once said innovation can be about connecting two previously unconnected things to make something new (thanks Phil for jogging my memory on this). I love doing this too. I love mind mapping, because you easily make connections to things that you miss if you were writing chronologically (I have a good test for this too. Are you a good networker? When a friend tells you something they need, do you often connect them up with someone or something you know who can help with that need?).

So, to reference my favourite university lecturer Paul (ex-advertising agency owner and now Sydney Uni lecturer) creativity is all about “curiosity and connections.” So start being curious about things. Research, observe, talk, discover. And then work on it, to find connections.

Misconceptions of the Definition of Design

This is my first week's mind map. It's pretty simple, but led me straight into my first topic.

We had an overseas client come and visit our offices in the middle of the week. They were curious about where and how we work and also wanted to discuss further collaboration with 2nd Road in 2007. They brought a recently recruited employee who is going to be actively involved in our program of work. Tony gave a ten minute overview of "Why Design?" and in the middle of it all stated, "Design is philopshy." I thought then he couldn't have been more on the mark.

I have been flitting between various books this week, one called 'How Designers Think' by Bryan Lawson. Lawson open his book by saying that the very first problem we have with design is that "it is given quite specific and different meanings by particular groups of people. Design is both a noun and a verb. It can refer either to the end product or to the process." Lawson provides us with such great insight into why 'Design' is so heavily misunderstood. In a way, maybe we shouldn't be using the word 'Design', and renaming our philosophy as something else.

But 'Design' is such a great word. All encompassing of a philopshy, a process, a doing-thing, such as Lawson defined it. Using it is a double-edged sword, but I believe if we have our own robust definition of design, then the word can be shared among its many definitions and groups of people. So how can we define 'Design' in the context of organisational life?

Broadly, it's a new way of thinking and a new way of doing things. Changing paradigms isn't easy. The sheer effort, commitment, passion, ability to get that reach poses a daunting, but wonderfully challenging task for those who can see it.

Pursuing and seeing this is what Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, would call a "vision." She says in her book, 'Body and Soul' , that "a vision is something you can see and others can't." She as spot on with that, because that's how you feel when you find 'it'- your purpose, passion and meaning to life. That's how I feel about being here, at 2nd Road, helping bridge the two disciplines of Design and Business.

A Sense of Purpose

I have spent months agonising on something called purpose for this blog, and I have finally extracted a purpose and meaning for its existence (in addition to "freeing up brain space" As my colleague Natalie encourages me to do).

So without further a due, the purpose of this blog is to bring to life my thoughts and ideas of applying design thinking and processes to business and organisational life.

From where I sit, I don't see these two disciplines as being mutually exclusive, rather when we attempt to bring them together, they can create valuable and powerful new ways of doing things that lead us to great outcomes.

I am very fortunate to find my passion, and just as fortunate to be working for 2nd Road, a company who's vision is so well aligned with mine, I sometimes think I am dreaming to have found them.

When I begun, at 2nd Road , my boss (and long time mentor) Tony asked me to keep a journal of my experience. But as time has gone on, with the increase in workloads etc, this ritual slowly diminished to almost nothing come the end of 2006.

This year, I look to resuscitate my writing and what better way to capture and share my experience, thoughts and learnings at work than through a platform such as a blog. As this platform is public, it forces me to not just do a 'brain dump', but to carefully choose a theme and (attempt to) write articulately about it.

I think it is important to note that I have a bit of a process behind choosing themes for my posts. At the end of each week (or two, because let's see how disciplined I can be!), I will reflect and mind map my experience at work. From my spider map, a main theme will emerge which will be the main focus for each post.

I invite you to read and reflect on my writing. Comment on it too. But please keep in mind that the ideas that I share maybe in early/formative stages. I would really appreciate if you could help me build on these ideas. It would demonstrate that you are not only observing this journey, but being an active participant in it too.

Design of the Times

The potential for design
is that there is so much more to design