Strategic Design Planning

Instructor

Larry Keeley

ID514, a prerequisite for this course, was about building some planning muscles. Here we put those muscles to work to try and make you buff. Where ID514 was concerned with simple concepts (Is it growing, shrinking, or flat?) now we expect much more. Your team will need to tackle real world planning challenges while providing thoughtful answers to deceptively simple-sounding issues like: What do you believe is going on? Can you prove it? What might this mean? What bad things would occur if we just do nothing? What is likely to happen over time? What alternative actions might be warranted? How can those be defended or optimized? Will they produce breakthrough platforms? We will tackle these squishy but more important questions now because transforming ambiguity into insight is the heart of professional planning.

Format & Grading

The course is structured around teams that are expected to propose and defend valuable innovations with special attention to the methods used for team assertions. From the first session all teams will be treated as professionals. You are invited to form your own team with up to four other class members, and can even do so before our first session if you like. Familiarity with the innovation frameworks taught in ID514 is expected and assumed. Individual class sessions will concentrate on a topic and important examples and issues about the topic will be presented, but teamwork and team presentations are paramount. Relevant readings are assigned and must be read in advance. Active participation in contributing to these arguments is expected and encouraged. Attendance in all classes is important.

Your grade will be based on weekly assignments and class participation, the quality of the concept and plan your team produces, and the peer evaluation of your specific contributions as a team member. Overall, emphasis will be on demonstrated mastery of our topic, along with its effective resolution.