Helping reduce ambiguity

In an uncertain world, a primary role of designers is to reduce ambiguity and increase clarity, so that clients can construct meaning about the actions and purpose of their organisation.

Designers encounter four kinds of ambiguity:

1. Ambiguity of intention results when an organisation has inconsistent or ill-defined objectives. 
2. Ambiguity of understanding exists when there is a lack of clarity about the technologies and processes of the organisation, and when the environment is difficult to interpret. 
3. Ambiguity of history exists when what has happened in the past is difficult to specify or comprehend. 
4. Ambiguity of organisation arises because participants vary the amount of attention and energy they devote to an issue, and their attention varies from issue to issue and from time to time.

Clarity, consistency, and certainty are prerequisites for collective understanding and coordinated action. However, organisations cannot, and do not attempt to eliminate ambiguity completely. To innovate, organisations must retaining a certain level of ambiguity — a white space within which members can play, experience, and improvise.

— Excerpt from my research into the value of design thinking