Recently I’ve been running into a bunch of things that say what I want to say so clearly themselves that I don’t really need to add much. The most recent is this essay by Don Norman on systems thinking in product/service design, which includes:

No product is an island. A product is more than the product. It is a cohesive, integrated set of experiences. Think through all of the stages of a product or service – from initial intentions through final reflections, from first usage to help, service, and maintenance. Make them all work together seamlessly. That’s systems thinking.

The article is excellent from start to finish, and well worth your time. All I can really say is that I think he is exactly correct. I do have some thoughts to add, but I’ll develop them over the next few posts. In the meantime, I think it’s sufficient for us to start thinking about our innovations as systems – what do they depend on to work, and what do they actually deliver to people?

(image from an apparently dead link at strategicpathfinder.com)