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Summary
In the early 1990s, the U.S. Army War College created an acronym to describe the geopolitical situation after the Cold War: VUCA. It stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, four characteristics they saw as defining the multilateral post-Cold War world. The rise of information technologies — and the internet in particular — has radically transformed our political, economic, and social reality. We are all now living in a generalized state of VUCA. We see signs of it everywhere — including the enterprise. Learn from Two Waves author Jorge Arango about how design can help organizations thrive by reducing volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.
Key Insights
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Design can be a crucial tool for resilience in institutions facing VUCA conditions.
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Designers should aim to engage with and contribute to the deeper layers of organizational structures, not just the surface-level forms they create.
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Co-creation with stakeholders is vital in design processes to ensure diverse input and collaboration.
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'MacGuffins' serve as catalysts for conversations and collaborations that transcend traditional organizational silos.
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The language used within organizations can greatly influence interactions and perceptions; careful consideration of language is essential in design.
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Design as a discipline can be reframed beyond aesthetics to encompass a profound means of understanding and addressing complex challenges.
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Institutions need to adapt from industrial age structures to modern networked realities, where design thinking is central to their strategies.
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Abductive reasoning in design allows practitioners to navigate uncertainty and ambiguity effectively.
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Successful design thinking workshops involve sustained practice rather than one-off sessions to ensure real impact on organizational practices.
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Through strategic design, organizations can respond thoughtfully to the challenges posed by changing societal contexts.
Notable Quotes
"Design can be much more than making things; it's about making systems that last."
"Our appliances are attacking us and bringing down major parts of our infrastructure."
"Volatility means the challenges we're facing are unexpected and unstable."
"Designers set out to resolve ill-defined problems through abductive thinking."
"The ability to plan ahead falls apart under VUCA conditions."
"Design needs to be viewed as a means for making things better overall, not just better products."
"Language can redefine the boundaries of how we think about the work that we do."
"The faster changing layers of society are where experimentation occurs, while slower layers preserve valuable ideas."
"We need to think of design governance as part of the governance of the organization as a whole."
"Designers must engage in deep systemic thinking to influence organizational outcomes."
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