The Strategic Importance of Reframing

Abstract

Software industry has been expanding and spreading its influence over a huge number of products and services. Parallel to that, the industry as a whole has been more exposed to challenges complicated enough to be faced with simple solutions. Due to its very dynamic nature, based on technological advances, software companies are perhaps one of the most exposed group, creating issues, internal and external, that were not present some time ago. Meanwhile, design has been more recognized as strategic, and for possessing sets of tools and methods to deal differently with problems in comparison to, for example, traditional managers. One of these practices is ‘reframing’. Hence, this study aimed to investigate how strategic design may contribute with organizational challenges faced by software companies through the use of reframing. Based on an initial challenge received, a qualitative study inspired by ethnographic methods was conducted, and then Kees Dorst’ Frame Creation Model was applied over the findings. The initial challenge was then reframed into a process that should be embraced by the company, instead of generating a single solution. It was concluded that reframing and the Frame Creation Model can be valuable for solving organizational challenge, as much as it is for social challenges, the main area of application of the model. Also, some insights about how designers can act strategically within software companies are revealed (for instance, being a ‘bridge’ between businesspeople and developers), together with findings about the behavior of the organization. This can serve as inspiration for other companies with similar issues, spreading the possibilities for designers to perform in this field, both as practitioners and as researchers.