Engineering – “Design Thinking”

This article primarily defines what is expected of any engineer. To be an engineer is to apply knowledge to perceive certain situations and solve problems whilst considering every aspect and point of view to ensure maximum efficiency and utility through creativity and innovation. If you think of it, design thinking is just another term for the scientific method. It begins by asking a question, followed by researching and making observations, hypothesizing designs, re-framing and testing what you have.

A couple noteworthy traits of great creative thinkers are empathy and observation. I think one of the hardest tasks nowadays is being a good observer. Given that we live in a time period where we’re exposed to colossal media coverage daily (ads, articles, pictures, social media websites) that cause us to be oblivious to nature and unmindful of various problems. Hence, I think that’s a primary reason collaboration of different people is essential for a successful creative process. When I first saw the shopping cart challenge and realized that psychologists along with biologists, engineers, and economists sit together to create a product, it felt like a group of misfits together hoping to create something good out of nothing. I didn’t realize the need for diversity in order to maintain such a project. I used to view it as just an option where anyone could join if they wanted to.  Let alone that before this class I truly believed only designers designed products. The thing is you don’t have to be a divine innovator genius that makes historical breakthroughs. It could be an accumulation of multiple things that already exist and integrating them. I find the craziest ideas are actually the simplest. However, they fulfill gaps and problems that existed.

One of my favorite arabic sayings that go around in the business industry is “ريح الزبون.” It means to ensure the well-being and happiness of the customer (user centered design, basically). The saying can be applied to all sectors of the industry, and believed as the ingredient of success. IDEO aims to do just that and is quite admirable at achieving this.  What’s interesting is the diversity of cases this article proves they handle. They work with hospitals and nurses, bikers, banks…the disparity in fields is remarkable. People working in IDEO are proof that you don’t need to become an intellectual expert at a certain field in order to handle it. It’s inspiring and I’d love to be apart of something like this one day. Also, this is why I chose to be an engineer.