Learning Experience Leader

56 // The Design Way with Dr. Harold Nelson

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Episode notes

Dr. Harold Nelson is a visiting scholar in the School of Computer Science at the University of Montana. He was the 2009-2010 Nierenberg Distinguished Professor of Design in the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University. He was an occasional Senior Lecturer in the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy, and in Defense Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Dr. Nelson was the head of the Graduate Programs in Whole Systems Design (WSD) at Antioch University and has held teaching positions in several universities. He is a licensed architect in the State of California and worked as the assistant regional architect for the U.S. Forest Service in San Francisco, California.

He is a past-president and a trustee of the International Society for Systems Science. He is the co-founding Director and President of the Advanced Design Institute and owner of Harold G. Nelson LLC. He has worked with a variety of organizations, including: non-profits and corporations, state and federal agencies, military organizations, international governments, and the United Nations. Dr. Nelson received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley graduating with ‘Distinction’ where he designed his own doctoral program in the Design of Social Systems. He received his Master of Architecture degree from U.C. Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Architecture from Montana State University.

Today we talk about a book called The Design Way, which Dr. Nelson co-authored. Some highlights of our conversation include:

👉 The ancient roots of design and the concept of Sofia and why we need to return to it

👉 What actually is Design and what does it mean to be a designer?

👉 The service-client relationship balance, including future generations of people as a stakeholders

👉 Design as a distinction from science and art in helping us shape the world we want

👉 The critical role of character and courage in taking ownership of our design judgments

Resources:

👉 The Design Way (Book) - https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/design-way-second-edition

👉 Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning (article about Wicked Problems from Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber) - https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Dilemmas-in-a-general-theory-of-planning-Rittel-Webber/3667a56bd911445a6c0fc9447771d964e6831146

👉 The Promise of Design (book chapter) - https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-3-319-17727-4_98-2

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