Jan Schmiedgen (M.A.)

Partner, Innovation Strategist

Jan is an educator, innovation strategist and founding partner at co:dify. He loves to understand complex systems and make them manageable so that the new can enter the world without politics and productive friction only.

“Bad managers change the people. Good managers change the system.”

If we were to characterize Jan in one sentence then like this: intellectual curiosity paired with the strong need for independence. Before he co-founded co:dify in 2018, he wore several hats — all related to design, digitalization and innovation. He ran dozens of trainings on innovation and design thinking across Europe; he taught at a variety of universities; he was a research fellow at HPI Potsdam’s HPDTRP Program from 2014 to 2020 where amongst others he was the lead author of the design thinking adaptation and adoption study “Parts Without a Whole”. During this time he also created the site ThisIsDesignThinking.net, a Design Thinking case study collection, which he still helps co-curating. In the years before that, he worked with Berlin startups on topics like service design, business model innovation and strategy. And even before that, he ran a design studio in the early 2000s, which he co-founded directly after graduating from high school. There he honed his basic craft interaction design, by developing websites, applications and digital tools, amongst others with old-school authoring platforms like Adobe Flash and Director [sic].

Today, both this “having-seen-many-things” life path and his design craft background help him to better support teams and organizations meet the challenges of digitalization and innovation with real 21st-century approaches. He knows how the crunch feels of really building digital products and services. And even though he is not building much himself anymore, he now advises on how to create the right environments for builders to unleash their full potential and work close to the customer.

In his dual role as an advisor at co:dify and organizational researcher at heart, he today loves to shape but also examine large-scale ‘change-by-design-for-innovation’ transformations. Both give him first-hand insights into failed as well as successful ‘transformation programs’, which he loves to collect, systematize, and regularly share with students and industry leaders at keynotes, conferences, or university courses. Such permanent oscillation between academia and practice also significantly informs his consulting work.

Recent Publications

Schmiedgen, J., Rhinow, H., Köppen, E., & Meinel, C. (2015). Parts Without a Whole? – The Current State of Design Thinking Practice in Organizations (Study Report No. 97; Technische Berichte, p. 144). Hasso-Plattner-Institut für Softwaresystemtechnik an der Universität Potsdam. http://thisisdesignthinking.net/why-this-site/the-study/

Schmiedgen, J., Spille, L., Köppen, E., Rhinow, H., & Meinel, C. (2016). Measuring the Impact of Design Thinking. In H. Plattner, C. Meinel, & L. Leifer (Eds.), Design Thinking Research (pp. 157–170). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19641-1_11

Recent Writings

Developing Business Models, the Lean Startup Way — A Way Out of German “Happy OverEngineering”? — August 20, 2023, 4:00 pm

An introduction for tech- and engineering-driven companies residing in the D.A.CH. area [ Read more ... ]

Innovation Stickers — April 5, 2023, 1:42 pm

We have packed the best-of of our mottos, mantras, and sayings on product and innovation into a sticker set. Have fun with it! [ Read more ... ]

The Building Blocks of an Innovation System — May 10, 2022, 6:29 pm

Why I visualized the innovation vehicles and measures of world-leading pioneer companies in a set of cards for strategy work [ Read more ... ]

Measuring Design Thinking — October 22, 2021, 5:30 pm

How to evaluate design thinking activities in organizations — in a fair way [ Read more ... ]

Circular Economy Primer — June 10, 2021, 6:30 pm

An intro to Circular Economy and its relation to Service-Dominant Logic. [ Read more ... ]

The GOV.UK Innovation System at a Glance — May 27, 2021, 9:27 am

A short case study on how GDS' support structures for their digital transformation works [ Read more ... ]

Becoming the Weatherman — April 14, 2021, 2:39 pm

How to create a presentation setup for professional online-facilitation [ Read more ... ]

Innovation Stickers — April 4, 2023, 2:38 pm

Wir haben das Best-of unserer Mottos, Mantras und Sprüche zum Thema Produkt und Innovation in ein Sticker-Set gepackt. Viel Spaß damit! [ Read more ... ]

Die Bausteine eines Innovationssystems — May 10, 2022, 4:45 pm

Warum ich die Innovationsvehikel und -Maßnahmen weltweit führender Vorreiterunternehmen in einem Kartenset für Strategiearbeit visualisiert habe [ Read more ... ]

Geschäftsmodelle entwickeln mit der Lean Startup Denkweise — January 12, 2022, 4:38 pm

Eine deutschsprachige Einführung für Technologie- und Ingenieurs-getriebene Unternehmen [ Read more ... ]

Innovationsprojekte mit Leuchtturmcharakter tageweise neben Kerngeschäft vorantreiben? — January 4, 2022, 7:51 am

Per se nicht die beste aller Ideen. Aber schier unmöglich, wenn Linienmanager Ihren ins Innovationsteam entsandten Leuten nicht den Rücken freihalten ... [ Read more ... ]

Wider der babylonischen Sprachverwirrung rund um das Thema Innovation — April 9, 2021, 10:40 am

Das co:dify Innovationsglossar fasst unsere Sichtweise auf häufig verwendete Begriffe im Bereich Innovations- und Change-Management kurz und knackig zusammen [ Read more ... ]

Es gibt keine »Produkte«, es gibt nur »Service«. — October 25, 2017, 5:56 pm

Unternehmensstrategie neu denken mit Service-dominanter Logik [ Read more ... ]

Von Dingen und Diensten — Warum „Qualitätsprodukte“ keinen Wert kreieren — September 17, 2015, 5:57 pm

Eine Keynote über die deutsche Fixierung auf's Dinge verbessern, anstatt die Erfahrungen und das Leben von Kunden [ Read more ... ]

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Annual Review 2017 — January 2, 2018, 7:31 pm

Phew! What. a. crazy. year. I never did that before but here it is: My recap of personal highlights in business of this year. I learned a big deal and feel grateful for many things that happened. On that score, I somehow felt the need to...

[ Read more ... ]

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Strategizing with Service as Business Logic — March 18, 2016, 8:39 am

I just gave a brief glimpse into S-D logic at the recent Service Design Drinks, Berlin. Below you can find the slides and a record of the video stream (quality isn’t the best unfortunately).

http://www.slideshare.net/ServiceDesignBerlin/...

[ Read more ... ]

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Our Design Thinking Research Report Got Published — October 27, 2015, 6:04 pm

It’s done! It took us a while but we just published our study on design thinking adoption in organizations. It’s called “Parts Without A Whole – The Current State of Design Thinking Adoption in Organizations.” Having been the main author...

[ Read more ... ]

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News from our Design Thinking Research Program — September 3, 2014, 2:37 pm

The last two days I had the pleasure of getting updated again what has happened in 2014 within our research program. The range of topics, which are examined within this small community is very broad – as is design thinking. All of them a...

[ Read more ... ]

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Disclosing Shared Value in Business Ecosystems — October 17, 2013, 7:47 am

Any holistic user experience – especially when designing for ‘transformation’ – should create shared value. That means: Solutions for users do not only have to be aligned and negotiated with the economic realities of the service provider...

[ Read more ... ]

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Disclosing Shared Value in Business Ecosystems — December 10, 2012, 2:31 pm

Any holistic user experience - especially when designing for ‘transformation’ - should create shared value. That means: Solutions for users do not only have to be aligned and negotiated with the economic realities of the service provide...

[ Read more ... ]

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Innovation and Fear: Continuum's Lara Lee "makes design thinking look sexy" - BIF-8 Summit — October 20, 2012, 10:40 am

Lara Lee, Chief Innovation Officer at Continuum makes design thinking look sexy. Her passion for human centered design has helped companies like Pampers and Harley Davidson redesign the ways they deliver value. Always accepting failure a...

[ Read more ... ]

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Jan Schmiedgen (M.A.)

Partner, Innovation Strategist

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