General process awareness
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If general business
awareness is low it will be very unlikely that
the business will understand processes such as
design. Time might be well spell establishing
fundamental processes within the business such
as purchasing or order processing before examining
the design process. Advice can be sought from
external advisors on how to establish these processes.
The internal team could be trained to identify,
record and improve business processes; alternatively
external consultants can be used to guide the
activity within an organisation. |
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Design
process awareness
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If a business wants
to improve its capability in the area of design
process it needs to understand what its existing
design process looks like and how it might be
improved. Bringing the design team together to
map the process used in existing or past projects
is an excellent way of starting this. The design
process mapping methodology referenced in Chapter
11 of the Design in Business describes how to
do this. Whenever the business completes a design
project it is important that the design team reflect
on the problems and successes associated with
the design process. In this way opportunities
for process improvement can be identified on a
continuous basis. |
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Design
process management
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In order to rectify
a low score for design process management a business
needs to implement some form of design project
planning and review. Appropriate software could
be introduced to the organisation for planning
and tracking the progress of design projects.
In addition the business could introduce more
systematic review meetings into future projects. |
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Design
process tools
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There are many
techniques that will enhance thinking during design
activity. It can be difficult to introduce these
effectively and raise the capability in this area
unless there is an established design process
within the business. In the Book Design in Business
a variety of these tools are either described
or referenced. Individuals from the business could
attend training courses in the use of these tools.
Alternatively learning could be experiential through
direct application on a live project. |
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