5 Reasons Design Thinking is Good for the Defense Domain

Design & Innovation Series

The word design evokes creation and creativity. How Might We include it in the engineering of complex mission critical systems.

What comes to mind when you hear the word “Design”? How about Design Thinking (DT)? I never really considered it until I was thrust into the world of Design Thinking a couple of years ago.

I had joined an innovation strategy firm focused on accelerating innovation in the national security space. It is a world that routinely used Design Thinking [and other] methodologies to help teams unpack a problem domain, in order to seek, find, and create a way forward. Now, over more than 40 engagements later, where we worked with more than 500 participants across the naval warfare development community, I have not only come to appreciate DT’s principles, but have become an amateur researcher attempting to codify what makes it work in the recalcitrant national security environment, where creativity and risk do not seem to be a part of the lexicon. I’m especially intrigued by how to leverage it for the complex engineering environment I work in.

Design Thinking is a methodology that provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It’s extremely useful in tackling complex problems that are ill-defined or unknown. If there is one industry sector that is constrained by thinking, it’s Defense. They are stymied by the Red Queen Effect—where the commercial world is racing forward posing greater and…