Integrative thinking is a crucial design mindset. It’s the ability to balance two seemingly opposed possibilities to find a solution that incorporates both.
Example: “we could be the cheapest, or we could be the highest quality.” Integrative thinking would say, how might we be both the cheapest and the highest quality?
What I realized in the past few days is that integrative thinking can be visualized as a venn diagram.
This may seem like a very basic and inconsequential realization, but it’s been important to me. I strongly believe in the power of integrative thinking, but I always lacked a way to explain it that was concrete.
As someone who is always trying to teach others, lacking a concrete model is a deal breaker. It’s hard to make an important point about integrative thinking without providing a simple framework for people to use it. A simple venn diagram is all it takes.