Kill It with Fire

The US Army/ Marine CorpsCounterinsurgency Field Manual1 put it best when it advised soldiers: “Planning is problem solving, while design is problem setting.” Problem-solving versus problem-setting is the difference between being reactive and being responsive. Reactive teams jump around aimlessly. Setbacks whittle away their confidence and their ability to coordinate. Momentum is hard to maintain. Responsive teams, on the other hand, are calmer and more thoughtful. They’re able to sort new information as it becomes available into different scopes and contexts. They’re able to change approaches without affecting their confidence, because design thinking gives them insight into why the change happened in the first place.