Playtix.com | Did the idea originate from Design Thinking application?

Plytix is an interesting company that is targeting the ability of brands to track their product performance above and beyond google analytics.

The question is what informal or formal did Design Thinking play in the founders discovery of the target customer and their idea?

Their press coverage is here

Company site

Hackathons Lack Design Thinking

The following article from FastCompany articulates some of the shortcomings of hackathons disguised as real innovation.

One added dimension is the lack of original Design Thinking application during the hackathons. Because there is not enough time to develop empathy with target customers.

I never saw any useful innovation come out of hackathons while driving internal innovation efforts for a large payments company.

In fact, saw many ideas that have been tried and discarded already because they did not resonate with the target customers.

Seems the real goal of hackathons within companies is to inject temporary excitement within the workforce that rapidly vanishes.

Continuous innovation culture requires company leadership commitment and resources.

FastCompany Article Here

Apply design thinking to your 2-5 year old's future

Most parents start fiscal planning for their child's future education by setting up college tuition savings fund.......Before you do that......listen to this interesting TED talk: