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    Arne van Oosterom's Posts - WENOVSKI design thinkers network

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    Thursday, November 27, 2008

    Service Design Theory Weary

    The last three days I have been attending the Service Design Conference in Amsterdam. All in all, it has been a great experience and I met a lot of inspiring and inspired people.

    I liked seeing all the faces that belonged to the names I already new. I enjoyed the presentations the second day. Although I did dose off from time to time... but that's me. And I thought the workshop by Carnegie Mellon University and Engine was inspiring. I believe Alex Nisbett (Engine) is just brilliant.

    But after three day's of listening and talking and listening and talking about what service design is or could be I am theory weary.

    I have a restless and insubordinate brain and after a while it starts rejecting everything that has to do with rules and methods thought up by others. Especially academics... with all due respect. Please forgive me but it's just that I am tired of people creating there own little reality and talking in circles. We seem to put so much effort in explaining what service design is... to ourselves. I can't take it anymore. This morning I even started explaining service design to myself in the mirror... I didn't get it.

    I think it's about time we stop talking and go out there, get our hands dirty, do something and deliver. And my bet is that consultancies/ agencies are going to do just that. I'm sure that next year we will see lots of presentations (mainly from consultancies) about clever life-altering solutions with real results. Big and small. And I promise that I will make a worth to watch contribution. If not, I will delete the word service from our website and change it for communication.

    (Alex Nisbett at the Service Design Conference Amsterdam 2008)

    Monday, November 17, 2008

    Tim Brown on design thinking in Dubai

    Read Tim Brown's post and join the interesting discussion that follows on his blog.

    "While I can be legitimately criticized for seeing every conversation as an opportunity for design thinking, I came away from Dubai with a strong feeling that design can make a contribution to improving the way we tackle the deep systemic issues the world now faces."

    Friday, November 14, 2008

    New Zealand Engaging Everywhere



    Laura Sommer, Acting Manager, E-government Strategy and Policy, State Services Commission, New Zealand, speaks on New Zealand Government insights from online engagement to enhance policy and service design and delivery.