Design thinking (DT) has been widely promoted as a powerful approach for systematically achieving innovation, particularly in the world of management. Recently, however, some critical voices from design and science & technology studies have called bullshit on DT, accusing it instead of distorting and trivialising design methods and processes to serve purely commercial goals. Through an analysis of the recent history of design research and an overview of some (philosophical) accounts on the concept of “bullshit”, this paper shows that at least some of the criticism holds. However, it argues that a truly fruitful critique of DT needs to go beyond simple derision. Ultimately, this paper suggests that perhaps we should steer away from the idea that there is a designerly way of thinking, and focus instead on showing how designers, being “doers”, create maker’s knowledge. Designers, educators, managers, and anyone interested in understanding why design goes beyond a simple methodology perhaps might be interested in this account.

中文翻译：

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论设计思维，废话与创新

设计思维（DT）已被广泛推广为系统地实现创新的有力方法，尤其是在管理领域。但是，近来，来自设计和科学技术研究的一些批评性声音将DT称为废话，指责DT而不是歪曲和琐碎设计方法和过程以纯粹用于商业目的。通过对近期设计研究的历史进行分析，并对有关“废话”概念的一些（哲学的）观点进行概述，本文表明至少有一些批评意见成立。但是，它认为，对DT进行真正富有成果的批评需要超越简单的嘲弄。最终，本文提出，也许我们应该避开一种具有设计师思维方式的想法，而应专注于展示设计师如何成为“行者”，创造制造商的知识。设计师，教育者，管理人员，以及任何对理解为什么设计超越简单方法论感兴趣的人都可能对此帐户感兴趣。