Design Thinking is the designer's version of Agile. It’s becoming cult like. (Bill Killam)

Robert Jay Lifton is a psychologist famous for his seminal work on brainwashing and cults. He’s known, in particular, for an eight-point definition of what actually constitutes a cult. One of those points relates to language:

Loading the Language – The group interprets or uses words and phrases in new ways so that often the outside world does not understand.

When I was initially exposed to Agile, this was one of the first things that struck me. Why call a meeting a “meeting,” when you can call it a “ceremony”? Why call a schedule a “schedule,” when you can call it a “timebox”? Why call a chart a “chart,” when you can call it an “information radiator”?

I noticed something similar with Design Thinking – “ideation,” “MVP,” “bodystorming,” “divergence/convergence,” “culture probes,” “How might we?” … 

Now, every new way of thinking really does need some new terms. Sometimes, though, these terms serve other purposes entirely. They can, for example, separate an in-crowd from everyone else. They might also be used to enforce a certain way of thinking (words can and do shape thoughts) or even stop thinking entirely.

Finally, they can also take existing ideas and make them sound fresh. You know, old wine in new bottles.

And Design Thinking is a little different from Agile in that last regard. Agile really does involve some new ideas and thinking – especially when contrasted with waterfall. Design Thinking, on the other hand, sounds a lot like good, old-fashioned user-centered design, at least to me. Yeah, there are a few different emphases – getting the whole team involved, that divergence/convergence thing – but really it should sound pretty familiar to anyone who’s been in the biz more than just overnight.

It’s actually a fairly common practice in business – take somebody else’s ideas, rebrand it, own it, market it, and cash in. If you get people to get so excited about it that it approaches cult status, well, even better!

Bill is president of User-Centered Design, an adjunct professor at George Mason, and has been in the biz for 30+ years