General planning awareness
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If general planning
awareness is low within a business the overall
business plan should be developed before attention
is paid to design planning. This might require
training in the preparation of business plans
or assistance from an external advisor. Even when
business planning awareness is high there will
always be room for improvement, for example making
the process more dynamic, improving methods used
for analysing internal and external factors. Again
training or external advice will often be helpful
in bringing this expertise into the business. |
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General planning
communication
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Communication is
central to effective implementation of all plans.
If this area is low scoring effort must be put
into improving communication. This might be achieved
by examining the way information flows through
the organisation and then changing the style of
management or altering the frequency and participation
at meetings. Investment in the design of working
environments and internal communication routes,
such as the intranet, will all potentially improve
general planning communication. |
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Design planning awareness
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Many businesses
have not realised the role design can play in
delivering business objectives. If awareness in
this area is low a business can benefit from being
shown appropriate examples of how design could
help deliver business objectives. Useful case
studies demonstrating the impact of design investment
are available at the Design Council website.
www.designcouncil.org.uk |
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Design planning thinking
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It can be difficult
to organise and discuss design plans unless some
form of structured thinking is being used within
the business. There are many tools and techniques
that can be implemented to raise capability in
this area. Some of these are described in chapter
11 of the Design in Business book associated with
this website. These could be introduced as part
of planning procedures within the company. Alternatively
the company might choose to work with external
consultants offering design-planning expertise. |
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Design planning horizons
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In order to improve
an organisation's design planning horizons new
ways of working need to be introduced to the planning
team. Again some of the tools described in the
Design in Business textbook chapter 11 could be
accessed and implemented within the business. |
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