Think & Do Workshops
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Context
Think & Do Workshops are high-speed ideation sessions. These six-hour workshops provide a formal but atypical ideation process through which people tackle provocative questions and develop new products and collaborations that extend beyond the day-long workshop.
Key Innovations & Timeline
What is a Think & Do?
AIL Research Fellow and Clinical Professor Susan Resnick West and AIL Creative/ Research Director Erin Reilly designed the Think & Do (T&D) Process to foster an open space for people of varied disciplines and backgrounds to get to know one another, learn from one another, and create together. The process is an act of “Thinkering” (4) or thinking about something by tinkering with objects relating to the innovation under consideration. Although each T&D Workshop is unique, all have two broad goals:
Each workshop is different, but all T&Ds are based on 5 design principles: Provocative questions, Phenomenal participants, Play matters, Place matters, and the view that innovation and change are a Process.
Doing
At the core of our methodology are short creative actions, which we refer to as “spark” activities, designed to springboard creativity. These often require groups to “build” something – to tell a story, create a metaphor, design a model, or prototype an actual product. While “sparking,” the tenor of the group switches; new voices are heard; new ideas are born; laughter fills the air; body language relaxes; and new patterns emerge.
Benefits & Metrics
There are two desired outcomes of a Think & Do:
1) Spawning new projects and processes
2) Developing networks of innovators
Additional Blog Posts
Learnings from Designing and Implementing Think & Do's
Think & Do Workshops are high-speed ideation sessions. These six-hour workshops provide a formal but atypical ideation process through which people tackle provocative questions and develop new products and collaborations that extend beyond the day-long workshop.
Key Innovations & Timeline
What is a Think & Do?
AIL Research Fellow and Clinical Professor Susan Resnick West and AIL Creative/ Research Director Erin Reilly designed the Think & Do (T&D) Process to foster an open space for people of varied disciplines and backgrounds to get to know one another, learn from one another, and create together. The process is an act of “Thinkering” (4) or thinking about something by tinkering with objects relating to the innovation under consideration. Although each T&D Workshop is unique, all have two broad goals:
- Create communities of interdisciplinary innovators
- Generate innovations on a specific product or process
Each workshop is different, but all T&Ds are based on 5 design principles: Provocative questions, Phenomenal participants, Play matters, Place matters, and the view that innovation and change are a Process.
Doing
At the core of our methodology are short creative actions, which we refer to as “spark” activities, designed to springboard creativity. These often require groups to “build” something – to tell a story, create a metaphor, design a model, or prototype an actual product. While “sparking,” the tenor of the group switches; new voices are heard; new ideas are born; laughter fills the air; body language relaxes; and new patterns emerge.
Benefits & Metrics
There are two desired outcomes of a Think & Do:
1) Spawning new projects and processes
2) Developing networks of innovators
Additional Blog Posts
Learnings from Designing and Implementing Think & Do's
