Design facilitation

This is exactly what I’ve learnt/observed/reflected upon over the last couple of years. It’s cool when you learn that others are thinking along the same lines …

“Being an expert designer does not necessarily translate to being a great design facilitator, and ultimately, companies need to hire both experts in design, and experts in design facilitation. It’s a different skill set that few designers (formally trained or otherwise) have practiced.”

https://medium.com/wharton-innovation-design/what-about-the-design-facilitator-3b9900be250a#.1ow5so9rz

I recently saw a job advertisement here in Melbourne for a design facilitator. I think it is a sign of a maturing understanding that ‘designers’ and design facilitators/strategic designers/ (and possibly, in some cases) design researchers etc are different. Complementary and both important but different.

For my money, if I was a CEO leading a effort to move toward a more design centric culture the second last thing I’d do would be to hire a bunch of designers who design pixels and mock-ups and user flows.