Mystery Heuristic
Algorithm Binary
Code

• Figure 1. Design Thinking Continuum.

Mystery Heuristic
Algorithm Binary
Code

Valid

Intangible

Expand

Rhetoric
Reliable

Think Conceive
Draft Do

• Figure 2. Design Thinking Framework.

kept commingling references to designers with design thinking.

Perhaps Martin simply lacked having the ben-
efit of a strong co-author like Tim Brown had: “My
silent partner Barry Katz, through his skillful use
of words, made me appear more articulate than I
really am.”
an individual who may have one or both hands
busy?” If it had asked this question, it would have
invented the water bladder years earlier.

Unresolved Passages

Other critics have suggested that neither author sufficiently communicated how to apply design thinking. With a deep reliance on the context of a problem, I’m not sure that anyone can “prescribe” enough of an approach to satisfy these detractors. My guess is that people still need help figuring out how the parts and pieces apply in various situations (if anything, this was where Martin excelled, as he gave example after example as to how the validity versus reliability continuum applied).

Neither author sufficiently addressed the following:

The design question. Martin has addressed the relevance of asking “why” in past articles, and Brown mentions it briefly in his summary. “A willingness to ask ‘Why?’ will annoy your col-leagues…but…it will improve the changes of spending energy on the right problems.” But it is through repeated inquiry that the core design question is identified. In an earlier book, David Kelly gives a perfect example of not getting the question right (though his example is intended as a positive one). In the redesign of a water bottle for bikers, IDEO did not start with a non-product question, such as: “How do we deliver fluids to

Curtain Call

In the end, both books—and both authors— contribute significantly to the discipline of design thinking. My armchair recommendation for practitioners is to leverage both books. If your goal is to share the value of design thinking with others, I’d suggest Brown’s book over Martin’s.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Championing the needs
of individuals, predominantly in information tech-
nology settings, Paula Thornton fights to address
real points of interaction and truly influence design
that is often left to chance. She morphs her past
roles (technical writer, decision support analyst,
March + April 2010

DOI: 10.1145/1699775.1699778
© 2010 ACM 1072-5220/10/0300 $10.00