Understanding authentic ID practice on its own terms instead of through academically reified notions of practice may be required if our conceptual tools (theories, models and guidelines) are to be used in practice (Rowland, 1992; Stolterman et al. 2008). To do this, we discuss definitions of design theory in IDT and contrast them to the larger design community, suggesting future research on ID practice framed by a heightened notion of design theory and method.