A presentation of how the now popular version of design thinking was invented based on quotes from Tim Brown & David Kalley (IDEO), Roger Martin (Rotman School of Business), Claudia Kotchka & A.G. Lafley (P&G). If you ever wondered what is behind design thinking and how it all came together, this on is for you. Given that "design thinking" is used as a label for a series of practices here, it is not referencing the scholarly literature discourse which some argue exists since the 1960ies (e.g. Rowe 1991). However, as practices as well as label overlap, this is surely a topic of debate to which extend the recent and scholarly discourse of design thinking are (dis-) similar.

1. A short story based on quotes from publications,
interviews and presentations.
For suggestions or comments, please contact: mail@ingorauth.com
how it all started
design thinking

2. 2001
A.G. Lafley became CEO of P&G
“I learned a lot while I was in Japan.
When I returned to the United States, I
was passionate about making design an
important new innovation strength for
P&G.” (ca. 2001)
Source: A. G. Lafley, Ray Charman (2004) The game changer:
How every leader can drive everyday innovation.

3. 2002
He appointed Claudia Kotchka as VP Design
and Innovation who:
“start[ed] an external design board [incl.
Tim Brown and Roger Martin]... bring them
in 3 times a year for a whole day and we
would give them problems ... everyone would
come in to hear them... A.G. would come to
every [meeting]” ...” we ”use them to
convince our business leaders that they make
the wrong decisions”
Source: Claudia Kotchka on innovaiton at P&G, May
2008 http://vimeo.com/5203345 (min. 21:00-23:00)

4. ca. 2002
Roger Martin (former Dean, Rotman School
of Management) and P&G advisor on his
influence on design at P&G:
“I discussed this with A. G. Lafley, CEO of
Procter and Gamble, who believes that P&G
needs to be more design intensive. ...
So he was thinking in terms of product
design; I was in love with this design mind-
set that doesn’t worry about constraints
because there is always a way to figure your
way around them.”
Source: Dunne & Martin (2006) Design Thinking and how it will
change management education. Academy of Management
Learning and Education, Vol. 5, No.4 , p.513

5. 2002
Roger Martin (former Dean, Rotman School
of Management) and P&G advisor:
“Design thinking is about applying the
principles of design to solutions for business.
The phrase came out of a conversation that
Tim Brown, the CEO of IDEO and I [Roger
Martin] had in 2002 on the transformation of
IDEO's business.” ...
Source: Roger Martin (2010) Why business leaders need to think
like designers.

6. 2002
Roger Martin (former Dean, Rotman School
of Management) and P&G advisor:
...“What we discovered is that the design
community is ... really good at deep holistic,
ethnographic user understanding and
they're obviously very good at visualising,
imagining and prototyping. The third part is
actually tying this to business strategy.”
Source: Roger Martin (2010) Why business leaders need to think
like designers.

7. 2003
David Kelley (founder IDEO, Prof. Stanford
University) reflecting on a conversation with
IDEO’s CEO Tim Brown in 2003:
“They would stop calling Ideo's approach
"design" and start calling it "design
thinking." "I'm not a words person," Kelley
says, "but in my life, it's the most powerful
moment that words or labeling ever made.
Because then it all made sense. Now I'm an
expert at methodology rather than a guy who
designs a new chair or car."
Source: Linda Tischler (2009) IDEO’s David Kelley on “Design
Thinking”, Fastcompany

8. References
Claudia Kotchka on innovation at P&G, May 2008 (min. 21:00-23:00)
http://vimeo.com/5203345
Dunne & Martin (2006) Design Thinking and how it will change management education.
Academy of Management Learning and Education, Vol. 5, No.4 , p.513
Linda Tischler (2009) IDEO’s David Kelley on “Design Thinking”
http://www.fastcompany.com/1139331/ideos-david-kelley-design-thinking
Roger Martin (2010) Why business leaders need to think like designers.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2010-12-24/news/27627350_1_design-
ideo-business-strategy

9. Licence info
Design Thinking, how it all started by Ingo Rauth is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0
International License.
Based on work at http://www.ingorauth.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at
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If you reference this work, please use the following attribution:
“Design thinking - How it all Started" by Ingo Rauth is licensed
under CC BY NC ND 4.0