Design Thinking part 1

This weekend I am participating in a National Summit called Reimagine Ed: Next Chapter. The focus of this summit is the Future of the K-12 Library. We identified challenges and then "voted" on the ones we most wanted to tackle. We were divided into groups and engaged in a 12 hour process today to determine the solutions we wanted to take to the prototype developing step. As participants of this summit, we are being immersed in Design Thinking. So far, I have a few takeaways from this experience.

1. Start with a common language - Our challenge has to do with how to create a successful "unquiet" library. I'm not sure the solutions we came up with actually answer that challenge question, rather they seem to address the future library in general. Perhaps this is because our cohort did not begin by establishing what was meant by "unquiet" library.

2. There really is such a thing as "designer's fatigue." After 8 hours today, everyone was starting to drag. People got punchy and productivity seemed to decrease.

3. Empowering individuals is messy. As we worked, we had a framework but it seemed the framework as it was no longer met the needs of the design process. There is a need for a framework that can be flexible.

I can't wait to see what the last day brings. I'm hoping for some new insights.