Back in October 2016, I wrote an article titled "The real reason why many Singaporeans work so hard". In that particular post, I posit that most Singaporeans are likely to be happier if only if they had taken more time to design their own lives, instead of blindly succumbing to the "let's work harder" rhetoric. The corollary to this is to wisely pick the battles you fight.

So today, I will just take some time to pen my thoughts about the three things Singaporeans can learn about Finnish Design Thinking. These are thoughts inspired by our Design Finland 100 team working hard to put beautiful finishing touches on materials for the Nordic Design and Business Case Competition in our Helsinki Office yesterday. If you don't already know, the Nordic Design and Business Case Competition 2017 is the world's first Nordic Case Competition focused on design thinking targetted at students enrolled in Southeast Asian universities.

The founder of Design Finland 100--Professor Kirsti Lindberg-Repo-- is also the CEO of Brand Audit Group, a prestigious branding consulting firm based in Helsinki. She is also the first and only Finnish visiting professor who has been invited to lecture at the Singapore Management University. And just this Monday, she was invited as the first Finnish professor ever to give a lecture on Nordic Design Thinking at Raffles Design Institute, Singapore.

Impressive lady, yea? :) She's also nice.





Learning Point #1: What separates the women from the girls is the articulation of actionable points.

You know, just one or two years ago when I was doing my Masters at Aalto University, Finland, I was easily impressed by people who preach grand visions. I had even wanted to be like them because I was so easily impressed!

I had felt strongly that it was a great privilege to be able to listen to and be moved by people who preach a bigger cause. And then...nothing. Grand words were nice to hear, I forget, and it all went back to ground zero.

You see, great visions will motivate you for a while. If there are no actionable points or system to follow after you hear the painting of a better future, everything goes back to zero. In fact, you might even end up blaming yourself for the inaction in spite of knowing the possibilities because you simply don't know what to do, or exactly how get to the end-goal.

Has it ever occured to you that there is a possibility that these "motivational speakers" might not even respect their time with you, because they talk in such vague terms?

What I learnt from the Design Finland 100 team is the importance of actionable points. If we want quality results, then it is important to communicate expectations in as clear a manner as possible as to what constitutes as "quality", since that is a subjective variable. One excellent method to communicate such expectations is through actionable points.

The articulation of actionable plans is precisely the differentiating factor between real professionals and the "in-progress".





Learning Point #2: Design Thinking = Design + Business Model.

Designers are trained to think from the perspective of the customers. They have very high levels of empathy and a keen sense of how to beautify things.

Businessmen are trained to think in terms of revenue and how to drive sales. They are streetwise, resourceful and systematic.

Imagine designers and businessmen sitting down at the same table to work together. This fusion of ideas and the resulting actionable points is known as design thinking.

Now let's push this thought experiment one step further: Imagine excellent designers and businessmen working together. Two matrix they will be maximising are likely to be consumer's satisfaction and revenue.

Doesn't this lead to higher performance on both criteria?

Won't you want design thinking to be part of your business, then?





Learning Point #3: Excellent design is simple and elegant.

Do you know why I am personally convinced that Professor Kirsti is a branding expert who can teach design-thinking really well?

This is because I can remember almost every point in the mini-branding classes she gave, even on casual settings. It is almost as if she did various memory-hacks into my consciousness.

I later took time to think about exactly how she does it, and personally concluded that it is via the design of her lesson plans, or the frameworks by which she communicates theory.

Like mathematical solutions, good design is simple and elegant. And to get to the stage of "simple and elegant" takes a lot of time or smarts. Anything that looks brief can be a result of "simple and nonsense", "simple and haphazard", or "simple and disrespectful".

To get to "simple and elegant" takes a lot of expertise, wisdom, thinking and experience.

Likewise, "complicated" things when they could have been made simple are usually the products of screwed-up designs.

Constantly overworked and burnt-out? That's a product of a screwed-up company culture;

That's a product of a screwed-up company culture; Have a messy house? That's the outcome of not having a good design of where each material thing belongs.

That's the outcome of not having a good design of where each material thing belongs. Have a nonsense startup that is dying? That's the outcome of not having a sound business model design.

To be honest, I am not sure whether some "kiasu" (= "scared of losing") Singaporeans can accept the idea of 'screwed-up designs'.

This is logical-- If you are constantly working hard, then does it not mean that the design in certain areas of your life are sort of screwed-up? That could also mean no design in those areas ("leaving to chance"), or living a life not designed on your terms.

After this dawns upon you, there is no way you will place working hard as first priority anymore. Instead, you will place priority on design thinking and subsequently working smart.

Personally, I think that if the Singaporean government wants Singaporeans to be more entrepreneurial and innovative, design thinking is an essential skill to learn. The ideology of "always working hard as first priority" helps build a competitive advantage if and only if you are an employee. Then sure, by all means work hard at what your boss tells you to do, and be handsomely rewarded. You don't even need to think, if the company structure is already so clearly defined.

If you want to create something that you can call your own, would it not pay off in the longer term to take some time to design and position this entity properly?

Someone once told me-- "what emerges from shit positioning and design is bigger shit. That's only natural and expected". This certainly sounds crude.

Yet it is the truth. Imagine working hard on "shitty foundation". You'll just end up with a badly-built house that can collapse anytime and incur a high level of opportunity cost while building the house. Opportunity cost is time that can be alternatively better spent on more productive and value-adding activities elsewhere.

And guess what, time lost is lost forever.

Learn from good Finnish design-thinkers. Work hard to enter into simple and elegant solutions. =)





On a Parting Note: What's there to fear?

Nothing.

There's nothing to fear.

Learn design thinking today and appeal to more hearts!

For more details, visit Design Finland 100. =) Well, you don't expect me to write something on a beautiful Saturday morning without a call-to-action, do you? ;)