Now, I have no hard evidence to prove or disprove my hypothesis, but I get the feeling that there’s a Design tradition brewing in the Chicagoland area. Heck, it may precede my days here. Still, before I came to Chicago, if you were to ask me (and most of my design-minded friends, I’m sure) where the hotbeds of Design are, cities such as New York and San Francisco would probably be the first American cities to be named. After that there are a handful of other cities worldwide that come to mind, but Chicago? No way. No how.

That may all be changing. In the past few months it’s been hard to miss some exciting, new companies with brilliant, forward thinking ideas. It also just so happens that these companies are based in my new hometown.

37signals and Humanized seem to be thinking about both technical and real-life* issues with healthy doses of (big D) Design thinking. Creative, agile thinking has and will keep these companies ahead of the curve. If I have anything to say about it, ThoughtWorks will learn from the Design field as well. We’re great at what we do, but we’re also really good at learning new things. I hope TW will be part of the technology-based paradigm shift that I see happening around me in Chicago. I have no doubt we can make it happen.

* Real-life issues = stuff that matters to everyday, normal, honest-to-goodness, down home, “just like your momma, poppa, grandma, and uncle” people.