Sheryl Cababa
Chief Design Officer at SubstantialSheryl is the Chief Design Officer at Substantial, a design and technology consultancy in Seattle.
With a background in design research and strategy, she drives a human-centered design practice that is focused on systems thinking and evidence-based design, working on everything from robotic surgery experience design to reimagining K-12 education through service design.
She has worked with a diverse base of clients including the Gates Foundation, Microsoft, IHME, and IKEA. Previously, she worked at companies such as frog, Adaptive Path, and Philips, conducting qualitative design research and leading user experience design projects. She holds a B.A. in journalism and political science from Syracuse University.
Her forthcoming book, Closing the Loop: Systems Thinking for Designers, will be released in February 2023.
Sheryl Cababa from Substantial will arm attendees with practical tools for how to use systems thinking concepts to strategically shape their design approach. Through a series of hands-on activities facilitated across break-out groups, Sheryl will introduce system thinking concepts about how to unpack the status quo, identify the root-cause of systems at play, and create a dialogue around how to apply these frameworks across scenarios. The outcome of this workshop will enable attendees with how to reach and respond to uncertainty in ways that they did not anticipate.
The workshop will cover the following topics:
- Intersection of systems thinking and design thinking;
- Structure of engaging in systems thinking, systems thinking and design frameworks;
- Use cases for engaging in systems thinking through design.
What kind of exercises will be done
Using case studies, participants will be broken out into groups to work through a series of scenarios within two parts of the workshop:
- Unpacking the status quo and root cause
- Imagining futures. Through a series of prompts, each group will work together using the system thinking framework they’ve been introduced to, to address the problems within the scenarios provided.
To wrap the session, all groups will come together to discuss their learnings and create a dialogue around how they imagine using these frameworks within their own organization or team.
What will the audience take away at the end
The audience will leave the workshop with a series of tools and frameworks that help them tangibly engage in systems thinking in their design work.
Any requirements for attending
Familiarity with design thinking concepts is recommended but not required.
Designers have been sensing a mismatch between their tools and methods and the needs of a world that operates at scale. This mismatch often results in unintended consequences, as well as potentially harmful outcomes. To mitigate, designers need to take on a systems thinking mindset. I'll introduce you to why this is important, and how design thinking and systems thinking can work hand in hand.