OR 58

Annual Conference
Portsmouth
September 2016

Full STEAM ahead for

Operational Research and
Design?

Geoff Royston Alexander Komashie

(Independent) (Engineering Design Centre, University of Cambridge)
 Overview
• Introduction

• What is design?
• Design in O.R. and O.R. in design

• What skills in design might be useful to operational researchers?

• Some encouraging signs of development of design skills in O.R.

• Implications for research, practice, and education & training

• STEM and STEAM

• The benefits of giving more prominence to design in O.R.

• Some concluding thoughts
Introduction
 Background

In the last two or three years there have been some

interesting developments in the area of Operational
Research and Design:
•An overview paper in JORS*
•Two seminars held jointly by the OR Society and the Design
Society
•The launch of an OR Society Special Interest Group on
Public Policy Design
•A workshop at EURO2015 in Glasgow
* O’Keefe R, Design Science, the design of systems and Operational Research: back
to the future?, J Operational Research Society, 2014, 65, 673- 684.
 Aim of this presentation

• These are all positive steps

• However, there does not yet seem to have been more general
development in the area; in particular:
– no obvious growth of research on issues of design and O.R.
– no general recognition that O.R. practice needs to highlight its
actual and potential contribution to design problems
– no obvious impact on education and training to reflect the
importance of design concepts and skills in O.R.
• This presentation therefore aims to review the position and makes
some suggestions about further steps that could be taken.
What is design?
 Design is not just about
physical objects!

• The concept of design in modern use includes

abstract artifacts such as software, systems or
strategies
• and extends from working on changes in
physical space to working on changes over
time
 Design is not decoration!

"I’ve been amazed at how often those outside

the discipline of design assume that what
designers do is decoration. Good design is
problem solving.” Jeffery Veen
 Design involves

• conceiving and assessing what can be a vast range of

alternatives
• a holistic approach (because many design problems cannot be
neatly subdivided into independent sub-problems)
• much iteration to find feasible and desirable solutions
(because design, especially when done together with clients, often
brings about changes in the perception of what needs to be
designed)
Key attributes of “design thinking”
• Expansion of boundaries of problem definition and
of solutions
• Deep observation of users to discover their needs
• Empathetic, co-creative, user-driven approach
• Commitment to prototyping and real-world
experiments

* Based on J Liedtka , A King and K Bennett, Solving Problems

with Design Thinking, Columbia Business School, 2013.
“Design thinking” and “wicked” problems
• “Design thinking” is especially useful when
addressing “wicked” problems, where not only
the solution but even the problem is initially
unclear.
• Much of the problem solving activity
comprises problem definition and problem
shaping.
 Convergent and divergent
thinking is involved

Engaging both sides of the brain!

The Double Diamond* approach to design
has two divergent/convergent stages

* Developed by the UK Design Council circa 2006

www.designcouncil.org.uk
* Developed by the UK Design Council circa 2006
Design in O.R.
 A puzzle
Why is
knowledge
and skill in
design
not regarded
as a foundation stone
for operational research?
 Two sorts of sciences
• Explanatory sciences e.g. physics, sociology-
aim at developing knowledge to understand the
world
• Improvement sciences e.g. medicine and
engineering - aim at developing knowledge to
change the world
O.R. is an improvement science

Improving systems requires

analysis and synthesis
21
 O.R. is typically characterised as about
informing management decisions

OK, but
decision analysis is
not the only fruit.
 O.R. also involves
search and synthesis
DECISION
Simple choice A or B? ANALYSIS

Might there also be a C OPTION

or D? SEARCH

How do A (or B, C, or D)
SOLUTION
and X , Y and Z fit together
SYNTHESIS
in space or time?
 Search and synthesis
are key tasks of design.
 Designing is a key part
of the work of change agents

“ Everyone designs who devises courses of action

aimed at changing existing situations into
preferred ones.” Herbert Simon

.
 Simon and
The Sciences of the Artificial

The decision scientist and Nobel

laureate Herbert Simon called for “a
science of design” focusing on topics
such as the representation of design
problems and the search for
alternatives.

His seminal book “The Sciences of the

Artificial” included many of the then
new methods of operational research
and artificial intelligence.
 Ackoff and
Idealised Design

The O.R. pioneer Russ Ackoff became

increasingly concerned about issues of
system design – and the lack of
prominence that O.R. typically gave to
them.

In the late 1970s one of his main calls was

for O.R. to involve “designing a desirable
future” and his explicit challenge to O.R.
professionals was “to improve our
methods of design and invention”.
Prestigious O.R. achievements typically involve
system design, but this

INFORMS Edelman Award ORS President’s Medal

2010 Indeval Develops a New
Operating and Settlement
System
2012 Supply Chain Wide
Optimization at TNT Express
2015 Analytical tools to improve regulation and CO2 emission
design, development and
evaluation of soybean crops
2008 Optimising the Department for
Work and Pensions' estate
2010 A model future for the UK’s
nuclear legacy
2011 Air traffic control, business
2013 Optimising the Retail Network
for New Zealand Post
O.R. in Design?
There is an interesting reciprocal history
of O.R. in the design world

However, designers found early

(1960’s) attempts to use classical
O.R. tools – as in the book by
Jones – overly technocratic and
therefore unsuccessful. (Jones
later agreed!)
(see Jones J C (1977). How my thoughts
about design methods have changed during
the years. Design Methods and Theories:
Journal of DMG and DRS 11 (1).
 The systems spectrum of
engineering design

System Component System Design System Design –

Design - Parts and – Machines and Processes and
Products Structures Services

Increasing need for O.R.

 System
Component O.R. in design of products
Design - Parts and
Products and system components

• Designers have tools for

developing and testing parts
and products without the need
for O.R.
• These tools include models,
simulations and optimization
techniques.
 System Design –
Machines and
O.R. in design of large scale
Structures
machines and structures
• Large scale machines
and structures may also
be designed using
engineering methods for
modelling, simulating
and optimizing.
• But the operation of
such systems may
benefit from some O.R.
 System Design –
O.R. in design of complex
Processes and
Services processes and services
• Designing complex processes and services is always
a system problem – and often a “wicked” one.
• This requires significant O.R. input for exploring the
problem and evaluating alternative solutions.
What design skills might be useful
to operational researchers?
 Design thinkers employ skills of *

• Innovation/abduction
• Human focus/empathy
• Holistic/system thinking
• Visual communication
• Teamworking/generalist

*Adapted from Owen, Charles. 2007. “Design Thinking: Notes on ins

nature and Use”. Design Research Quarterly, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 16-27
Innovation/abduction
 Abduction
• Traditional analysis involves deduction and
induction
• Innovative design cannot be derived from
logical analysis of inputs alone, it involves
abduction, i.e. a creative jump, wondering
what could be
Creative thinking is needed
for design thinking !

Creativity is just
connecting things.
Steve Jobs Wired 1995
There are lots of tools and techniques for
supporting creative thinking in O.R.

See e.g. Vidal R V V (2005).

Creativity for Operational
Researchers. Investigação
Operacional (Portugal), 25, 1-24.
Scenario analysis for futures thinking
Holistic/system thinking
Systems thinking is needed for
design thinking !
Traditional thinking Systems thinking
Dynamic– focus on
Static –focus on
patterns of behaviour
particular events
over time

Tree-by-tree –focus Forest -focus on

on details context

Loop - focus on
Linear–focus on uni-
interactions between
directional causes
causes and events
Adapted from Richmond B. “The ‘thinking’ in systems thinking: seven essential skills.” Pegasus Communications 2000.
Visual communication
Edward Tufte’s seminal books
A simple graphic told the story of
Napoleon’s disastrous Russian campaign
A more modern example – simple graphics are
the best way to convey understanding of risks

From http://understandinguncertainty.org/ 49
Teamworking/generalist
Source: www.marshmallowchallenge.com
Iterative and non-iterative
approaches to design
 Some encouraging signs of
development of design skills in O.R.
“Soft O.R.” does not focus on design as such, but
does use some “design friendly “ approaches
Data visualisation – a design issue –
is receiving more attention in O.R.

DRAFTING NOTE - need

a two or three slides on
this here
There has been a major push on
O.R. and Public Policy Design

Public Policy Design

Special Interest Group
 Aim of this presentation - reminder

• These are all positive steps

• However, there does not yet seem to have been more general
development in the area; in particular:
– no obvious growth of research on issues of design and O.R.
– no general recognition that O.R. practice needs to highlight its
actual and potential contribution to design problems
– no obvious impact on education and training to reflect the
importance of design concepts and skills in O.R.
• This presentation therefore aims to review the position and makes
some suggestions about further steps that could be taken.
The implications for research
and practice
 Some possible areas for research

• Integration of O.R tools, e.g. DES, into design process

• Integration of design tools, e.g. iteration, into the O.R
process
• Comparing approaches in specific areas e.g. healthcare
• Comparing approaches on specific issues e.g. human
behaviour
• Modelling design processes
 Some possible areas for practice

• Using design concepts and approaches to improve

implementation of O.R. work
• Promoting design capabilities of O.R. practitioners
(where justified!)
• Highlighting design elements of O.R. work (where
relevant)
• Including professional designers in analytical project
teams
• Including professional analysts in design project teams
The implications for education
and training (in O.R.)
 “Design is the core of
all professional
training”

In the 1960s Simon bemoaned the increasing

exclusion of design teaching from schools of
engineering, medicine and business.
 Articulating
the“science of better”
requires O.R. to be:
not just about a bag of
tools and techniques

but to be rigorously and

systematically based on the
theory and practice of
system improvement.
The Johari Window of O.R. links system design
to classical and behavioural O.R.
Recognised by Under-recognised
us? by us?

Recognised by
clients?

Under-recognised
by clients?
So O.R. training should be based on a problem
solving cycle in which design is a key element
Discovery Design
–understanding
–identifying
situations
options
– diagnosing
–developing
problems
solutions
–defining goals

Evaluation
and
learning
Delivery Decision
–Implementation
–understanding
–collaboration
likely results
–project
–choosing options
management
This fits well with iterative approaches such as the
“inclusive design process” developed by the EDC
Some possible design topics for O.R. courses
• Problem exploration – e.g. stakeholder mapping
• Creative search for options – e.g. scenario
approaches
• Taking a holistic perspective - systems thinking
• Exploratory problem solving – iterative and team-
based prototyping methods
• Empathetic approach to people’s needs –
approaches for co-production with clients
• Communicating with stakeholders – e.g. data
visualisation
STEM and STEAM
 A smoke signal for O.R.
education and training?

• STEAM is a movement championed by Rhode Island School of

Design (RISD) and widely adopted by institutions, corporations
and individuals.
• The goal is to foster the true innovation that comes with
combining the mind of a scientist or technologist with that of
an artist or designer.
Rethinking Science
Through Art
Learning by doing
Experimentation
 The benefits of giving more
prominence to design in O.R.
Low explicit recognition of design
issues in O.R. has adverse effects

• A tendency to over-focus on tools rather than

problems
• An emphasis on analysis over synthesis
• Insufficient attention to innovation and
implementation challenges
 A greater recognition of design issues
in O.R should bring valuable benefits
• we should be better-equipped for doing work
involving design
• problems should be better appreciated by both
O.R. workers and stakeholders
• solutions should be better attuned to the “real
world” and hence more enduring
• clients will be more likely to seek our help with
innovative, design-related, work
 “Design thinking” is penetrating
business management

Source: Google Trends June 2015

O.R. and business should both benefit from a

clearer understanding that O.R. can
contribute to business design challenges
“Silicon Beach” firms gain from fusing
arts and science skills

“While Brighton’s creative, design and IT firms grew more than 10

times faster than the British economy as a whole, ‘fused’ business
grew at more than twice that speed”
( Brighton Fuse Study, University of Brighton and Sussex)
A recent national study claims similar benefits
from combining STEM with design

“What is driving success

in businesses is a
combination of design
with STEM”.
Frank Boyd, Director,
Knowledge Transfer Network
Creative Industries, Design and
Digital Economy programmes
Some concluding thoughts
Giving design thinking a firmer, more visible
place in our work will promote O.R. as an
integrated “systems improvement science”

Maths, stats O.R. as a coherent

& Behavioural science of systems
computing Science improvement

Problem Design
Structuring Thinking
The O.R. and the Design communities
have much to learn from each other
 Further reading
Books
•Simon HA (1969) The Sciences of the Artificial. MIT Press. (3rd edition 1996) .
•Ackoff R, Magidson J and Addison HJ (2006), Idealised Design. Wharton School
Publishing
•Lawson B (1990) How Designers Think (2nd edn) Butterworth Architecture
•Martin R (2009) The Design of Business. Harvard Business Press.
•Liedtka J, King A and Bennett K (2013) Solving Problems with Design Thinking.
Columbia Business School.
•Mootee I (2013) Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation. Wiley.
Journal articles
•O’Keefe R, MS/OR Enabled Systems Design, Operations Research, 1995, 43(2) 199-207
•O’Keefe R, Design Science, the design of systems and Operational Research: back to
the future?, J Operational Research Society, 2014, 65, 673- 684.
•Viljoen NM and Van Zyl R; Design Thinking – Crossing Disciplinary Borders; Image and
Text 15, 66-79
•Owen C . Design Thinking: Notes on its nature and use. Design Research Quarterly,
2007, 2(1) 16-27