Here is my original query, along with replies:

Hi Folks-

I was giving an internal presentation at InVision yesterday about design thinking (history & current context), and I got a question at the end about what large companies these days are really embracing design thinking (and for the sake of argument, I'd define large as any company that is a household name, or even just well known amongst tech-savvy folks).

IBM came to mind pretty immediately, and Kaiser Permanente, but other than that I was having a hard time coming up with some good examples (I know other companies like GE Healthcare have dabbled in it, via Doug Dietz's MRI story, but I wasn't sure how widespread it was).

I thought that a lot of you might have some good ideas or stories, or maybe in your own work you're trying to make the design thinking toolkit available to teams in your company, which would also be great to hear about.

Cheers,

Eli

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Elijah S. Woolery

elijah.woolery@gmail.com | @ewoolery

Phone: +1-415-236-0329
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Doug T <doug.tarlow@gmail.com> wrote:

Deutsche Telekom is one of the world's largest telecommunications company (~250 million users). They run The Creation Center in Seattle and Berlin which is essentially an internal facing design thinking consultancy. (I started an internship program with the Creation Center in Berlin for Stanford Students and was their first intern). 

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Tom Maiorana <maiorana.tom@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey Elijah,

From first hand experience I know certainly Capital One and Intuit have full on teams (I've been a part of them). I also know Citrix has made a huge push.

In terms of the folks I've worked with at the d.school, JetBlue, GM, and Fidelity are just a few that come to mind. 

I hope that's helpful.

Take care,
Tom

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David Ngo <davidngo@gmail.com> wrote:

Don't have any direct experience with these companies, but I know P&G and Pfizer value Design-Thinking internally

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Rogers, Mark (V3A) <Mark.Rogers@fmr.com> wrote:

Big names are currently:

SAP, IBM, Fidelity Investments, Kaiser, JetBlue, Capital One, Target.

Others who are just starting include CVS, BlueCross

Mark

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Tiffany Lau <tiffany.c.lau@gmail.com> wrote:

I can say that Intuit has embraced design thinking (and I'd argue design in general) from the top down and from the grassroots up. A few stories:

1. Hiring and positions: design moved from under Product to its own chain of command and went from no VPs to a design VP as part of every business unit
2. Innovation Catalyst program: grassroots program to teach individuals design thinking so that they can spread it to their teams. Innovation Catalysts also help 2-3 other teams each quarter with brainstorming and researching to spark innovation in other groups.
3. Design thinking (and design in general) to set company vision: for TurboTax and for QuickBooks right now, design is at the forefront and leads a small group of cross functional partners to come up with the strategy for where the product should go in the next 3-5 years. They present these ideas (usually prototypes) to the GMs and executives. These ideas and prototypes are grounded in user research with some user validation.

 

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Isabel O'Meara <isabel.omeara@gmail.com> wrote:

Eli-

Three more that are in it:

Intuit has been hiring "Design Strategists" for at least 10 years. I know there have been some reorgs, I'm not sure the current status of the initiative, at one point it was "Design to Delight."

Capital One Financial has invested heavily in Design Thinking. D.school Alum Evelyn Huang is the VP there, there are a lot of Stanford people, both doing and training.

General Mills has a more grassroots "Consumer First Design" program that borrows from Stanford and IDEO design thinking work.

-Isabel

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Barry M Katz <bkatz@stanford.edu> wrote:

Elijah — I have ben talking about this a lot lately, mainly in China and Japan; here’s a recent slide indicating organizations, most of which have no particular focus on consumer product, that are investing heavily in Design Thinking. 

Barry

Barry Katz

Consulting Professor, Design Group

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Stanford University

m: 650.644-8697

bkatz@stanford.edu

 

---> here is a link to Barry's slide:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/dkyjcmzwzml1362/PastedGraphic-1.pdf?dl=0

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Gabrielle Guthrie <gabrielle@moxxly.com> wrote:

Hey Elijah,

Here’s an answer from Quora:

Bryce DelGrande, Director of Design and Innovation for the United WayWritten Mar 6

The list continues to grow, so this will be far from comprehensive (I'll leave out the consulting firms and stick to the bigger companies) but here it goes:

IBM

Capital one

Marriott

Fidelity

Liberty mutual

Mass mutual

Blue cross blue shield

Intuit

SAP 

Philips

Lego

Lowes hardware

Infosys

General electric

Con Agra

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Thomas Howell <tomh444@yahoo.com> wrote:

hello elijah,

at 3M, all employees are allowed to work on a little side-project of their own choosing.

they can use company tools and materials.

and can spend up to 4 hours a week of prime work time.

the only reservation is that if the idea turns into a business,

3M is allowed to be the venture capitalist if they want.

a good example of one of these ventures is post-it-notes.

tom howell

MS '82

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Julie Shryne <jshryne@alumni.stanford.edu> wrote:

Elijah,  

I am in the midst of job hunting and would love to see the results on your research.  My short list of big companies who have embraced design thinking includes:  P&G, 3M, IBM, Pepsi, J&J, Salesforce (via acquisition of Gravity Tank), Accenture (via acquisition of Fjord).  

A couple of interesting articles on the emergence of CDO role within large companies.  

• http://www.wired.co.uk/article/the-rise-of-the-chief-designer
• http://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2014/11/11/what-is-behind-the-rise-of-the-chief-design-officer/#5a71d4d12af4

And big companies taking on design via acquisition.  

• https://www.wired.com/2013/05/accenture-fjord/

I look forward to seeing you list.  

Julie

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