Obstacles to Transformation

January 7, 2009 in observations, people

Peter Jones makes an excellent point in the comments of the transformation design thread at Business Week.

There is a reason that most of us do not sell transformation design — consultancies need a clear client owner, and transformation design projects cross multiple boundaries and constituencies. Typically only governments will pay for such complex, large scale problem solving.

Not only that, but both service design and transformation design challenge the notion of a “project-based” design approach, in favor of longer-term collaborations. Coming up with business models to support that type of collaboration isn’t impossible; the larger issue is transforming the design community itself to recognize the value of making the attempt.