What is design thinking about

The first time I was introduced to this concept was with IBM. As someone who was very used to the traditional Q&A format and analytical thinking mode, this kind of process and interactive workshops brought so much more than just a set of methodology to the could-be mundane work.

The core of the approach is rather human-centred. The end result of such endeavours might be the completion of developing services, launching products, streamlining processes or even restructuring resources, but the focus is always on the people/target audience that the organisation is creating for.

Tracing back to the origin, it was firstly developed as part of the psychological studies on creativity in the 1940s. While it was IDEO, the design consultancy that transformed the concept into a wide range of applications from the 90s. Since then the majority of the business schools, UX research institutions, as well as consulting firms have been incorporating the practise into projects and client facing facilitations. It is very common to see that in a large scale system implementation or a global initiative deployment project, rounds of design thinking workshops planned to facilitate participators and, encourage users to articulate their expectations, and for practitioners to manage scope creep as well as achieve quality assurance. It's not rocket science per se, but it does require more than just product development and strategic planning skillsets.

Source: Harvard Business School Online

If we start with the original principles, that would be

a). desirability

Starting from desirability answers the question of 'what do people desire/ what makes sense for them?'. This is probably the most fundamental question before any initiatives. By understanding their requirements and points of view, the output of efforts would be well guided to mitigate risks associated with new developments.

b). feasibility

This mostly focus on technological implementations, whether the organisation has resources or planned resource to realise the solution. We often hear people in the process asking solutions requiring almost infinite resources and people in the back end support function bidding infinite time for realisation. Granted, technical constrains should never be the major hurdle at the initial stage, but during the iterative followups, adjustments towards generalisation or specialisation should be expected.

c). Viability

If the new product or service offering is a standalone offering, how to generate revenue and make it profitable? If the new development becomes part of an existing business unit, what to consider to make it a sustainable business model within the organisation?

Currently there are already many variations of organising 'design thinking' workshops in the market. One of my previous colleagues who is very experienced in running workshops told me the in early days people refer to this kind of workshops as consultants holding markers and stickers trying to reinvent the wheel.

On a first look, the design thinking process is a bit messy. For people who are more familiarised with the waterfall approach, this may be quite annoying and even disturbing.

Source: desktop research design thinking process

While on the contrary, because of its human-centred process, it actually brings more comfort to decision makers before the final product delivery and makes the work-in-progress products even more meaningful.

At the Empathise stage, by observing, engaging, watching and listening, you get to capture what the personae do, say, think and feel. Quite often there are some disconnects, and for practitioners, it doesn't matter which industry you are serving for, chances are you never get to know all the specifications beforehand or onsite. What should be revealed are thoughts, beliefs and values of the groups of participators hold. It could be the actions taken after an accident that happened during a system upgrade, during which it impacted hundreds of adjacent applications. Or a channel partner miscalculated the new product launch date that caused inventory impairment. All kinds of problems should be paid attention to, as it contributes to a solid understanding.

Next we come to the Define stage, now we are bringing clarity and focus basing on the output of previous stage. The shift is to turning problems into questions, and from here we will have the right challenges to address, or some may say, these are valid insights for an actionable problem statement.

At Ideate stage it is to generate as many ideas as possibilities. The best part of this stage is to reach a wide range of materials that may constitute solutions collectively. But not to worry, after all the potentials are presented, ask the team to vote for the ideas most likely to proceed, sometimes even the most unexpected stands out.

When it comes to Prototype stage, it is one step closer to the final solution. Yet, the aim of the build is to start a conversation with the audience and users. We have managed to break a large problem down into smaller and testable chunks by iterative processes, next is to bring out more emotions and responses from users.

Soliciting feedback is the main goal of Test stage. Linear progression is not a must for design thinking, hence refine and adjust till the proper solution given the defined time-box.

IBM has made the continuous cycle rather succinct. Other design consultancies have also contributed their variations to the framework. I found this version more user-friendly, and it has been made public available.

Source: The Loop drives us- IBM design thinking framework

From business perspective, design thinking encourages both creators and audience to challenge assumptions, and explore alternative solutions. It may not be the only way to run your workshops as a starter, but it certainly facilitates cross functional collaborations within the organisation and beyond the boundaries.