Last week IIT ran a design strategy workshop in San Francisco featuring two of the pillars of transformation design Patrick Whitney of IIT and Peter Coughlan - practise leader of Transformation at IDEO. (Who indcidentaly is usingn the term co-creation)

If we're talking IIT it's also worth mentioning their newish master of design methods degree.

Peter Me was lucky enough to but go wasn't too impressed - but there are some good notes on Peter's talk. Read them here:

Peter Coughlan discussed his work heading up the transformation practice at IDEO, where, basically, companies come to learn how to be innovative, the IDEO way. It's all about designing business. They lead them through rapid processes, breaking down organizational silos, towards developing products, and then ask them -- okay, what will it take for you guys to get there?

Peter talked a lot about co-creation with the client... How the model has shifted away from designers being given requirements, going away for three months, and returning with The Solution, and toward having clients and designers working together to solve problems. (This was gratifying to hear, if only because this is what we've been doing at Adaptive Path for 4 years...)

Peter identified three stages in working with companies to behave innovatively:
1st Stage: Proof of process
It takes companies a while to "trust the process," particularly because IDEO's process seems so simple.
2nd Stage: Checking what worked, what didn't
Throughout the process, you take good notes, figure out where the shortcomings were, and correct from there.
3rd Stage: Figure out how to replicate
Once you're fairly confident you've figured out how to be innovative within this org, you replicate it throughout the company.

The challenges Peter outlined in getting this to work included:
. Fear of open-ended process
Clients want to KNOW what the results will be. Which, of course, goes against a truly exploratory process. Or they're afraid that the process will get them nothing.

. Coming in without answers, just a process
Typically this kind of organizational change is practiced by management consultants, who come in with answers. IDEO just comes in with process. Clients who are expecting answers right away get antsy.

. Cultural fit with clients -- creating a space for success
Designers at IDEO simply behave differently then the folks at their clients' offices, and it can take a while for everyone to come together.

Peter's group is definitely in the vanguard of what is happening in design practice, and, in contrast to Meta, IDEO is definitely maintaining, if not growing, its position in the dialogue.

Quoted from http://www.peterme.com/archives/000459.html where you can read the full notes.

CATEGORY: TRANSFORMATION DESIGN