SDDP in Southeastern Massachusetts
Tom Flanagan 1/27/08
SDDP is being introduced as a boundary-spanning design tool in the South Coast of Massachusetts through community engagements and academic courses.
Community engagements have been designed through collaboration of the Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts and leaders of community service organizations in the region. The lead project was a collaborative design of key barriers to address in efforts for a city to support integration of the creative economy into the city's economic development planning process. These activities are part of a pilot project of the Foundation which is called the South Coast Community Collaborative Design Studio, or more simply, SoCo Design Studio.
In parallel with efforts based on community-based programs and projects, SDDP is being introduced into graduate and undergraduate management courses at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. Within one graduate MBA course SDDP is presented both as an option for engaging diverse stakeholders in stakeholder management initiatives, and within a second graduate MBA course SDDP is the central design methodology examined for complex systems design. Undergraduates experience SDDP now as an approach for information systems design at the launch of a required core business management course. The exposure that is being created positions SDDP as an option within the business and the information systems management communities of the future.
Because 70% of the graduates from the University of Massachusetts System find or make careers within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, it is expected that within a reasonable incubation period, industries of the Commonwealth will be seeking support for expanded use of SDDP methodologies. To meet this anticipated demand, discussions are in progress to cultivate support for a collaborative design center based somewhere within the campus of the University. One milestone in cultivating this internal support for a collaborative design
studio is a recent agreement to seek a Chancellor's Colloquium on
Collaborative Design of Complex Systems which will feature world class experts in the practice. Enhanced collaborative design capacity is recognized as a regional, if not global, priority.
