Category Archive: News

1. A deadline takes a break

   March 19, 2015 5:57 pm| Leave a Comment

   

   Sometimes, the best way to move forward is to take a break. (Photo via Flickr user Moyan Brenn)

   We all need a break every once in a while. That includes the whiteboard newsletter.

   Winter quarter has ended, and spring break is upon us. That means the campus is getting a little quieter. But the d.school is humming. There are changes to the space afoot, and the work of the media design team is beginning to ramp up.

   I am on that team.

   That’s why the whiteboard newsletter is taking a break. I need to begin carving more time into my schedule for my team and the work we seek to do. There’s a “slow to respond” message on my inbox, and I am committing to the elimination of as many deadlines as possible to which we haven’t commonly agreed.

   Now, does that mean the whiteboard is dead? Absolutely not! It remains alive and well. The only change is that the newsletter will no longer be delivered weekly. Instead, it will go out occasionally.

   Will we notify you when applications for the fellows program go out? Of course!
   Will the Twitter and Facebook accounts remain active? You bet.
   Will I stop writing about what’s happening at the d.school or my and others’ process? Nope.

   It’s just the newsletter that, like the cat above, is taking a nap. It’s getting a bit quieter, calmer and may roll over and talk in its sleep a bit to keep you up to date on the d.school and its offerings.

   Our last weekly delivery will be Friday, March 20. If you have questions please feel free to leave them in the comments.

2. ‘A problem we should all be interested in’

   October 2, 2014 11:31 am| 7 Comments

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gECAPOpKNyA

   Wired, yes that Wired, held their first Wired by Design, bringing leading designers to Sausalito and Marin to share new and interesting ideas around a variety of topics. Stanford d.school Executive Director, Sarah Stein Greenberg was among the speakers, delivering the four prompts of Stanford 2025, the byproduct of a year-long design effort conducted by students, faculty, staff and outside collaborators here at Stanford.

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3. Knight Foundation and d.school enter into new collaboration

   September 26, 2014 5:00 am| 3 Comments

   What has been will be again,
   what has been done will be done again;
   there is nothing new under the sun.

    – Ecclesiastes 1:9

   Think back to what you did with your last “ah-ha” moment. Who did you share it with, and where is the record of it now? Do you remember? Odds are, you probably don’t.

   Rarely do those breakthrough moments in the shower, over dinner or on the drive home get captured and shared. We may have a process for innovating, but we almost never maintain a process for recording what we learn as we go about that work. Journals can be unreliable and difficult to share. Social media tends to present a version of ourselves, often only what we think is our best possible face. On top of that, the individuals and teams that generate these moments — these insights — don’t think they are valuable outside of their immediate sphere (if even there).

   This especially holds true for failures. Our natural reflex is to sweep those unflattering moments under the rug. Nevermind that we stand to learn more from our failures than at any other point in our innovation process. Perfection, polished products and immaculate outcomes continue to almost always be our most sought-after goals.

   This means one of the best sources of teaching material is also among the most difficult to access: the stories of individuals in the process of their work. How do we capture that knowledge, and more importantly, how do we share it? What do the mechanisms and methods look like to gather this material, and what could the product of it be? (more…)

4. Missions over majors: What would your mission be? (#Stanford2025)

   September 8, 2014 10:00 am| Leave a Comment

   

   A display from the Stanford 2025 exhibit this past spring. (Emi Kolawole)

   The Stanford magazine has a feature in their latest issue on a year-long project conducted at the d.school to design the future of living and learning at Stanford. The project culminated in four prompts: open loop university, axis flip, paced education and purpose learning.

   You can read more about Stanford2025 on our site dedicated to the project. In the last prompt — purposed learning — students would be called on to choose a mission rather than a major. So, for example, rather than say you were majoring in international relations, you would say your mission is to improve the state of communication and collaboration across cultures.

   Stanford Magazine, along with the d.school is collecting these missions on Twitter and on Facebook via the hashtag #Stanford2025. So, let us know what your mission would be! We’re already seeing some awesome missions (yes, I submitted one of my own) on Twitter as well as some lovely feedback on prompt. We look forward to collecting more. (more…)

5. The 2014-15 d.school fellows

   August 7, 2014 8:00 am| 8 Comments

   The d.school fellowship program helps restless experts grow creative and resilient organizations, to accelerate systems-level impact in their areas of expertise. We’re thrilled to announce the upcoming arrival of eight fellows for the 2014-15 academic year. The early- to mid-career leaders come from sectors including education, health care and product design. This year’s d.school fellows are: David Clifford, Yael Cohen Braun, Jae Rhim Lee, Susan Dix Lyons, Jason Mayden, Tim Shriver, Michael Tubbs and Sam Yen.

   

   The fellows design and scale their own projects by using the resources of the d.school, Stanford and the Silicon Valley community. They participate in an immersive experience during the academic year, which includes a residency period to learn design thinking and organization design, mixed with active periods in the field to prototype new ways of working.

   Here are the 2014-15 d.school fellows:
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