 Jeremy Alexis, Assistant Dean and Professor, IIT Institute of Design
New for 2010
September 16-17, 2010, Redmond, Washington, USA
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Jeremy Alexis
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It is an accepted fact that when someone notes, “he or she is a great leader” what they really mean is that “he or she has a clear point of view and makes good decisions.” As important as decision-making is to the success of design projects, there is little formal training in design schools, and managers often rely only on intuition when making critical, strategic decisions about projects and even their own firm.
The first day of this seminar will teach an overall approach as well as specific methods and tools for improving decision making in all phases of the design process, with particular attention being paid to leading a group decision process. The final half-day of he seminar will focus on a specific type of decision, concept evaluation. In this section, participants will learn methods and tools for prioritizing and evaluating design alternatives, guiding the most important decision of the design process: which one of the ideas is best for the organization and the customer.
What you will learn:
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Useful tools for improving decision-making
A process for making logical, data driven strategic decisions during the design process An understanding of the biases and failure modes of poor decision-making How to lead group decisions in order to increase buy-in and follow through of your team A process for evaluating past decisions in order to improve future results A structured process for identifying the most valuable concepts and design alternatives A range of tools for concept evaluation, including stakeholder engagement, prototyping, and business model impact analysis.
How you will benefit:
This seminar will teach easy to use and implement tools for improving the quality of your decisions. Participants will leave the seminar with ideas and methods that can be applied as soon as they get back to work. In addition, participants will leave with a framework for classifying and prioritizing decisions, helping to better focus their time and resources on truly important decisions.
Who should attend and why:
This class is for design professionals that make strategic decisions about projects and their firms. It is especially useful for anyone that is currently involved in a firm in transition, since change forces many decisions.
Comment from recent seminar attendee:
“The emphasis on core principles made this seminar incredibly useful. It fed my understanding and set me up for informed and effective action.”
Philip Hartley, Senior Design Strategist, Smart Design
Dates and locations:
September 16-17, 2010, Redmond, Washington, USA
The seminar will be from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on Thursday and from 9:00 a.m. until 12:30 on Friday. This seminar will be held on the Microsoft campus in Building 92, Room 1051 (also called Memphis), 15010 NE 36th Street, Redmond, WA 98052, phone: 425-486-4855. This venue does not include guest rooms. We recommend staying at The Westin Bellevue, 600 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, WA 98004, 425-638-1000, www.starwoodhotels.com. A Microsoft shuttle is available to take you from the hotel to the seminar. Exit the Westin on the NE 7th Street side. Cross NE 7th. Find the sign "Microsoft Shuttle Pickup." Directions to the parking garage will be provided shortly for those staying elsewhere.
We strongly encourage registering at least two weeks prior to the actual seminar date.
Register Now
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