This post is in a series of commentaries on a class running at Stanford, Winter Quarter 2010 – “Transformative Design” ENGR 231 – [Link]

Design thinking is a systematic process for generating innovation. Last week we offered a crash course – learning by doing – designing a briefcase – [Link]

Design thinking is a pragmatics, a set of algorithms, tried and tested tactics for observing, listening, engaging with people, interpreting and analyzing their circumstances, then iteratively and adaptively offering interventions in those circumstances so as to effect improvement.

Today we covered IDEO’s card deck – 51 techniques for connecting with people – learn, look, ask, try.