MIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar Series
Matthew S. Kressy, Director and Senior Lecturer, Integrated Design & Management, MIT
Date: November 3, 2014
About the Presentation
Excellence in product design is at the heart of success, yet more products fail than succeed. Integrating a balance of design, engineering, and business is critical, but challenging. Getting it right in the midst of uncertainty can be messy, complex, and daunting.
In this webinar, Matthew S. Kressy, director of MIT’s newly established Integrated Design & Management master’s degree track, will discuss why product designs can succeed or fail. He will provide a high-level overview of strengths and weaknesses in currently popular design approaches. Then he will discuss:
- Characteristics of good design approaches that are interdisciplinary and user-centered, yet also maximize creativity and embrace failure as a stepping stone;
- Characteristics of weak design approaches, such as siloed thinking and fear of failure;
- The importance of early integration of all product development disciplines;
- A new model for educating design, engineering, and management professionals to be “tri-lingual” in these disciplines and work together more effectively;
- General guidelines and a checklist to help organizations accurately assess their resources; and
- Next steps to consider.
A Q&A will follow the presentation.
We invite you to join us!
About the Speaker
Matthew S. Kressy, director of MIT SDM’s newly established Integrated Design & Management (IDM) master’s degree track, currently co-teaches product design and development classes at MIT and the Rhode Island School of Design. He has also co-taught at Harvard, Babson College, and Olin School of Engineering.
Kressy has extensive expertise in globally distributed, interdisciplinary, design-driven product development, from deep user research and concept generation to prototype iteration, risk reduction, and volume manufacturing. An entrepreneur and founder of Designturn, he has designed, invented, engineered, and manufactured more than 100 products for Fortune 500 clients and others, including Kronos, Massachusetts General Hospital, APC, the US Army, and Teradyne Corporation.
He holds a B.F.A. in industrial design from the Rhode Island School of Design.
About MIT Integrated Design & Management
Formally launched in 2014 as a new track within the MIT System Design and Management (SDM) program, Integrated Design & Management (IDM) integrates industrial design, engineering design, and other design disciplines with management. Offered jointly by the MIT School of Engineering and Sloan School of Management, IDM is targeted at early to mid-career professionals and will be taught in an innovative design studio format. Graduates will be awarded a master of science degree in engineering and management.
Potential students and industry partners can learn more about IDM by contacting idm@mit.edu. Please visit the IDM website for further information.
About the Series
The MIT System Design and Management Program Systems Thinking Webinar Series features research conducted by SDM faculty, alumni, students, and industry partners. The series is designed to disseminate information on how to employ systems thinking to address engineering, management, and socio-political components of complex challenges.
