Paper on the descriptive quality of the 11 design principles

Do the eleven design principles for knowledge productivity work as descriptive principles? That's what the paper I've written with my colleague Joseph Kessels is about. One of the conclusions is that the design principles do not help you in designing the process in your innovation project just like a map helps you to design a route from Amsterdam to Lille. We found that the design principles do not work as prescriptive rules that in a specific combination, applied to a predefined situation, will result in certain effects. However, the design principles each offer a new perspective on the innovation practice you are working on. This new perspective helps to get new ideas for interventions. After the design of these interventions it is mainly the facilitator who has an important role in making it a success. If he sees opportunities and is capable, then he can use the interventions to create breakthroughs in the innovation practice.

We've submitted the paper for the 9th HRD conference in Lille. The conference takes place 21-23 May. We'll be there!