A B C D E F H I L M O P S T

Toolhead

/tuːl hed/

A person who prefers and practises a mechanistic application of tools (canvases!) and prescriptive processes (the ‘six stages’ of design thinking!) instead of embracing adapting systems and letting teams think for themselves.

We are not big fans of the term (originally coined by John Seddon), but we can’t deny that in practice we also encounter (often insecure) by-the-book recipe seekers he describes time and again. Recently, such needs for security have been increasingly addressed by software solutions and template libraries with step-by-step instructions. On the one hand appreciate both cleverly codified product and innovation software with a methodology behind it (e.g. SprintBase, Strategyzer, Glidr) and also online whiteboards, but on the other hand we are highly skeptical about the ever-growing checklist innovation offerings promising instant “success for everyone” without prior training or experience. Innovation capability is like a muscle: you have to train and develop it over time.