Jon Kolko - The Next Step for Design: Social Entrepreneurship

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The Next Step for Design: Social Entrepreneurship Jon Kolko Director, Austin Center for Design

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1/ We’ve Arrived!

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3 | 4/22/2012 We’re in the middle of an enormous professional shift.

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4 | 4/22/2012 For years, design was about form giving.

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5 | 4/22/2012

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6 | 4/22/2012

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7 | 4/22/2012 During this period, design was a big deal – to designers.

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8 | 4/22/2012 Then, design was at the heart of the “experience” and “innovation” conversations.

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9 | 4/22/2012

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10 | 4/22/2012 That gave us a “seat at the table.”

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11 | 4/22/2012 Now, it’s beginning to gain recognition as a prime mover for the next century.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

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13 | 4/22/2012

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14 | 4/22/2012 “To win the future, we must out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world.” “To win the future, we must out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world.”

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15 | 4/22/2012

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16 | 4/22/2012 “The new breed of ‘user experience’ designers – part sketch artist, part programmer, with a dash of behavioural scientist thrown in – are some of the most sought-after employees in technology.” “The new breed of ‘user experience’ designers – part sketch artist, part programmer, with a dash of behavioural scientist thrown in – are some of the most sought-after employees in technology.”

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2/ Don’t Look Behind The Curtain.

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18 | 4/22/2012

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20 | 4/22/2012 IDSA2011 Best In Show! IDSA2011 Best In Show!

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21 | 4/22/2012 “The leading social network for people with wavy, curly, and kinky hair…” “The leading social network for people with wavy, curly, and kinky hair…”

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22 | 4/22/2012 “Kohort allows for hierarchical groups, so groups can have as many subgroups as a user would like." “Kohort allows for hierarchical groups, so groups can have as many subgroups as a user would like."

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23 | 4/22/2012 “Broadcast live from your phone to Facebook.” “Broadcast live from your phone to Facebook.”

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24 | 4/22/2012 We’re really good at designing stuff. We’re really bad at picking what to design.

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25 | 4/22/2012

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26 | 4/22/2012

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27 | 4/22/2012 Our “selection” problems may not be our fault.

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28 | 4/22/2012 Even if we don’t want to design the bathroom finder…

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29 | 4/22/2012 We still run headfirst into organizational roadblocks…

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30 | 4/22/2012 we still find ourselves embedded in a culture of consensus…

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31 | 4/22/2012 we’re still contained by billability, utilization, and quarterly dividends.

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32 | 4/22/2012 “It is the customer who determines what a business is … what the business thinks it produces is not of first importance.” Peter Drucker

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33 | 4/22/2012 “Power and machinery, money and goods, are useful only as they set us free to live.” Henry Ford

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34 | 4/22/2012 Our organizational structures should exist only to enable powerful and positive change.

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35 | 4/22/2012 Right now, our organizational structures are disabling us.

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36 | 4/22/2012 We need to get out of the organizational machine in order to work on problems worth solving.

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3/ A Way Forward

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38 | 4/22/2012 1982

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39 | 4/22/2012 1991, Nikon / Kodak DCS420 $28,000 2011, Serial CMOS Camera $22

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40 | 4/22/2012 1983, Motorola DynaTAC 8000X $3995 2010, Huawei IDEOS $100

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41 | 4/22/2012 1983, Motorola DynaTAC 8000X $3995 2010, Huawei IDEOS $100 2.8-inch (240x320) touch display, 528MHz processor, 3.2-megapixel camera, 16Gig memory with a microSD slot, HSDPA, Wi-Fi (802.11n), GPS, Bluetooth, 3G Mobile Hotspot support for up to 8 devices…

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42 | 4/22/2012 In your lifetime, the cost of producing a high-tech product – and launching it to a mass audience – has gone from exorbitantly expensive, to… 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 25 0 2011 1985

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43 | 4/22/2012 $0. 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 25 0 2011 1985

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44 | 4/22/2012

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45 | 4/22/2012 Maybe you don’t need the organizational machine after all.

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46 | 4/22/2012 “What about my mortgage?”

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47 | 4/22/2012

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“$2 Billion in Resources to Support Job-Creating Startups” “$2 Billion in Resources to Support Job-Creating Startups”

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49 | 4/22/2012 “Wait..”

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50 | 4/22/2012 “You want me to challenge all existing norms by quitting my well-paying job,

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51 | 4/22/2012 “You want me to challenge all existing norms by quitting my well-paying job, cutting my salary in half,

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52 | 4/22/2012 “You want me to challenge all existing norms by quitting my well-paying job, cutting my salary in half, working long hours,

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53 | 4/22/2012 “You want me to challenge all existing norms by quitting my well-paying job, cutting my salary in half, working long hours, and trying to take on the institutionalized organizations of the global 2000 by starting my own company?”

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54 | 4/22/2012

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59 | 4/22/2012

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60 | 4/22/2012 “In seven decades, there appears to be little more technological improvement to the flagship Honeywell thermostat than the replacement of a mechanical display with an LCD.” Tony Fadell, Nest CEO http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/12/2942861/nest-answers-patent-lawsuit-honeywell-troll

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61 | 4/22/2012 A tiny company, has a giant company, that made 2 billion in profit, running scared.

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62 | 4/22/2012 And it’s just a thermostat.

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64 | 4/22/2012

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65 | 4/22/2012 They have 12 employees.

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66 | 4/22/2012 Maybe you don’t need the organizational machine after all.

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67 | 4/22/2012 But if you are going to challenge all existing norms by quitting your well-paying job, cutting your salary in half, working long hours, and taking on the institutionalized organizations of the global 2000 by starting your own company,

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68 | 4/22/2012 there’s one additional norm to question, too.

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69 | 4/22/2012 We all believe it’s acceptable to judge the quality of a design.

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70 | 4/22/2012 What if we start judging the content of the design, too?

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4/ Problems Worth Solving

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72 | 4/22/2012 Meet Alex Pappas and Ruby Ku, two of my students. They conducted months of immersive, ethnographic research with the homeless in Austin.

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73 | 4/22/2012

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74 | 4/22/2012

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75 | 4/22/2012

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76 | 4/22/2012 “We feel that self actualization is at the core of what makes us human, and we observed people’s enhanced self-esteem when they share their knowledge. For homeless people to feel empowered to change their situation, we began to look at what they could teach.” Alex Pappas & Ruby Ku 2011

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77 | 4/22/2012

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78 | 4/22/2012 HourSchool makes money by taking a small percentage of class fees. They drive impact and change by empowering everyone to become teachers, irrespective of socioeconomic background.

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79 | 4/22/2012 Meet Chap Ambrose and Scott Magee, two of my students. They also conducted months of immersive, ethnographic research with the homeless in Austin.

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80 | 4/22/2012

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81 | 4/22/2012 “Organized chaos”

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82 | 4/22/2012 “We believe that by connecting people in need to the larger community, cultural change can happen. We’re building a platform that directly connects the community to those in need.” Chap Ambrose & Scott Magee 2011

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83 | 4/22/2012

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84 | 4/22/2012 Pocket Hotline makes money by charging for talk-time minutes on each hotline. They drive impact and change by providing a human voice during an emotionally difficult situation.

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85 | 4/22/2012 “We feel that self actualization is at the core of what makes us human, and we observed people’s enhanced self- esteem when they share their knowledge. For homeless people to feel empowered to change their situation, we began to look at what they could teach.” Alex Pappas & Ruby Ku 2011 “We believe that by connecting people in need to the larger community, cultural change can happen. We’re building a platform that directly connects the community to those in need.” Chap Ambrose & Scott Magee 2011

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86 | 4/22/2012 “We believe that by connecting people in need to the larger community, cultural change can happen. We’re building a platform that directly connects the community to those in need.” Chap Ambrose & Scott Magee 2011 “We feel that self actualization is at the core of what makes us human, and we observed people’s enhanced self- esteem when they share their knowledge. For homeless people to feel empowered to change their situation, we began to look at what they could teach.” Alex Pappas & Ruby Ku 2011

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87 | 4/22/2012 Ruby, Alex, Chap and Scott leveraged insights in order to address symptoms of a wicked problem.

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88 | 4/22/2012 Ruby, Alex, Chap and Scott leveraged insights in order to address symptoms of a wicked problem.

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“The abductive suggestion comes to us like a flash. It is an act of insight, although extremely fallible insight... it is the idea of putting together what we had never before dreamed of putting together which flashes the new suggestion before our contemplation.” Charles Peirce 1903

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The insight isn’t “in the data” – it comes from inside of you. That means you need to have a point of view.

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91 | 4/22/2012 Ruby, Alex, Chap and Scott leveraged insights in order to address symptoms of a wicked problem.

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Well- Structured Problems Ill- Structured Problems Wicked Problems

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Well- Structured Problems Ill- Structured Problems Wicked Problems In a well structured problem, all of these are true: We can test our solution. We can identify problem, goal, and interim states. We can identify solution steps. We can identify domain knowledge. We can solve the problem while obeying the laws of nature. We can solve the problem using only practical levels of effort. Herb Simon, 1973

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94 | 4/22/2012

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Well- Structured Problems Ill- Structured Problems Wicked Problems In an ill-structured problem, some of these are true: We cannot test our solution, or cannot test it easily. We cannot easily identify problem, goal, or interim states. We cannot identify all of the solution steps. We cannot identify domain knowledge (it may be tacit). We may be constrained by the laws of nature. Solutioning may outweigh practical efforts. Herb Simon, 1973

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Well- Structured Problems Ill- Structured Problems Wicked Problems In a wicked problem, the following are true: Wicked problems have no definitive formulation. Wicked problems have no criteria upon which to determine “solving”. Solutions to wicked problems can only be good or bad. There are no complete list of applicable "moves" for a solution. There are always more than one explanation for a wicked problem. Every wicked problem is a symptom of another problem. No solution of a wicked problem has a definitive, scientific test. Every wicked problem is unique. Horst Rittel, 1973

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98 | 4/22/2012 Kibera – Nairobi, Kenya Photo by Michael Cetaruk

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Well- Structured Problems Ill- Structured Problems Wicked Problems

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100 | 4/22/2012 What if we start judging the content of the design, too?

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101 | 4/22/2012

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102 | 4/22/2012 These problems are not equally worth your time.

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5/ Social Entrepreneurship

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104 | 4/22/2012 Corporate, or consultancy?

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105 | 4/22/2012 Corporate, or consultancy? What if you started your own company?

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106 | 4/22/2012 Corporate, or consultancy? What if you started your own company? And what if you used inexpensive technology to provide a service?

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107 | 4/22/2012 Corporate, or consultancy? What if you started your own company? And what if you used inexpensive technology to provide a service? And what if you did it in the context of social and humanitarian problems?

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108 | 4/22/2012 “That sounds hard. How do I start?”

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109 | 4/22/2012 You already know how.

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110 | 4/22/2012 Ethnography Synthesis Prototyping

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111 | 4/22/2012 Ethnography Synthesis Prototyping We usually focus our efforts here.

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112 | 4/22/2012 Ethnography Synthesis Prototyping When you are engaged with wicked problems, these are more important.

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113 | 4/22/2012 Ethnography requires leaving the safety of the studio and going out into “real life”; it’s about observing “real people” – and designing with them! Ethnography Synthesis Prototyping

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114 | 4/22/2012 The goal of ethnography is to gain empathy and identify an opportunity space. Ethnography Synthesis Prototyping

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Left: Patricia Moore, ~1984 Above: Patricia Moore, ~2000

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116 | 4/22/2012 Synthesis is the process of making meaning through inference and sensemaking. Ethnography Synthesis Prototyping

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117 | 4/22/2012 Synthesis is the process of making meaning through inference and sensemaking. Ethnography Synthesis Prototyping

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abductive deductive inductive

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abductive deductive inductive The output is guaranteed to be true, if the premise is true. Jon is a Designer. All Designers are Arrogant Bastards. Therefore, Jon is an Arrogant Bastard.

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abductive deductive inductive The output is guaranteed to be true, if the premise is true. Jon is a Designer. All Designers are Arrogant Bastards. Therefore, Jon is an Arrogant Bastard. Gives good evidence that a conclusion is true. All of the designers I’ve ever seen wear black t-shirts. Therefore, the next designer I will see will be wearing a black t-shirt. The argument from best explanation, depending on circumstances and experience: an inference. When a designer works on a project, they often draw diagrams of things. It seems to help them learn about a new topic. I’ve seen grade school students struggle to learn complex topics of math or science. I can abduct that students might be able to learn better by drawing diagrams in a classroom setting.

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122 | 4/22/2012 Synthesis is the process of making meaning through inference and sensemaking. Ethnography Synthesis Prototyping

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123 | 4/22/2012 Synthesis is the process of making meaning through inference and sensemaking. Ethnography Synthesis Prototyping

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“By sensemaking, modern researchers seem to mean something different from creativity, comprehension, curiosity, mental modeling, explanation, or situational awareness... Sensemaking is a motivated, continuous effort to understand connections (which can be among people, places, and events) in order to anticipate their trajectories and act effectively.” Robert Hoffman

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125 | 4/22/2012 Synthesis is the process of making meaning through abductive sensemaking and reframing. Ethnography Synthesis Prototyping

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126 | 4/22/2012 This is a process for humanizing technology. Ethnography Synthesis Prototyping

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127 | 4/22/2012 This is a process for humanizing technology. Ethnography Synthesis Prototyping It’s the process of social entrepreneurship.

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128 | 4/22/2012 This is a process for humanizing technology. Ethnography Synthesis Prototyping You already know how to do it, because it’s also the process of design.

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129 | 4/22/2012 This is a process for humanizing technology. Ethnography Synthesis Prototyping And if you start with meaningful insights into social problems, your solution can likely be of use to everyone.

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130 | 4/22/2012

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131 | 4/22/2012

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132 | 4/22/2012 Leave the organizational machine behind.

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133 | 4/22/2012 Realize the disruptive power of design.

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134 | 4/22/2012 Give yourself permission to start your own thing, and tackle problems worth solving.

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Jon Kolko Director, Austin Center for Design jkolko@ac4d.com Download our free book, Wicked Problems: Problems Worth Solving, at http://www.wickedproblems.com