This is a must-read piece by a colleague — Jeanne Olson — just published by the Design Management Institute (DMI): Come Bearing Gifts: Practical Advice for Designers Working on Organizational Change.

There is a lot of interesting activity going on in this space — especially interesting to those of us who believe that design process and methodologies provide a rich tool set to deal with the organic, ambiguous, complex nature of organizations. I’m not the only one who routinely uses a phase like “assume that you are always in prototype” or “live your life in beta.” It’s a mindset that is helpful in learning how to disengage from the idea that you can actually have a “solution” and reframe the challenge by learning how to be smart about experimenting, probing and adjusting.

Jeanne’s piece is a must-read because — professionally and academically — she bridges both worlds (design and organizational change). It is written for designers  but equally valuable in my mind to anyone interested in applying design methods to organizational change.