By Lisa Carlgren, Maria Elmquist, Ingo Rauth

Design Thinking

Design Thinking

"Business schools tend to focus on inductive thinking (based on directly observable facts) and deductive thinking (logic and analysis, typically based on past evidence)," he writes.

"Design schools emphasize abductive thinking—imagining what could be possible. This new thinking approach helps us challenge assumed constraints and add to ideas, versus discouraging them.”

What is Design Thinking?

A.G. Lafley, Former P&G CEO

A. G. Lafley, former CEO of P&G

What is Design Thinking?Design thinking is “a discipline that uses the designer’s sensibility and methods to match people’s needs with what is technologically feasible and what a viable business strategy can convert into customer value and market opportunity.”

Tim Brown, "Design Thinking. " Harvard Business Review, June 2008. p. 86.

What is Design Thinking?

Tim Brown, "Design Thinking. " Harvard Business Review, June 2008. p. 86.

Elements of Design Thinking?

D.School Bootcamp Bootleg,Dec. 2010. p. 1.

Design Thinking practice

Reflections

Ongoing study:

Implementation of Design Thinking (DT) in large firms

ExploratoryInterview study with 18 companies in Germany and theUSInterviewees: People central for the implementation of DT Collaboration with D.School Potsdam

Design Thinking practice

Picture of D-school process

Perceptions of the meaning of “design thinking”

• Process

• Design Methodologies

• Mindset(s)

• Principles

• Mindset and Methods

… and problems with the notion

Implementation of design thinking• Top-down or bottom up initiative

• Various sources of knowledge about DT

• Implementation set-up• Support Team• Facilitating team• Education

• Strategic use of projects for biggest impact

How design thinking is used

Strategic issues- Developing Strategies for going green- Redesigning HR policies

Projects- Development projects

- New products, new software applications

- Process improvement- solving complex problems

Individual level- As a different way to think about everyday

problems

Cherry picking

Perceived benefits of design thinking

Value on both organizational & project level

Expected benefits:

• Increased user focus

• More innovative outputs – better concepts

Perceived benefits of design thinking

Unexpected benefits:

• Improved communication

• Bridging of boundaries

• Increased speed of the development process

• Uncovering structural problems

• Culture change

Critique

• Less value created than expected, difficult to

measure

• Not addressing the business side

Implementation challenges Proving the value of design thinking• Showing proof of success early on• Traceability of impact on final product

Adaptation of the concept• IDEO concept too focused on products –

not software/services• Company context & culture• Time and cost constraints

Implementation challenges Organizational issues• Integration with existing processes and

structures • Tiredness of managerial concepts• Political barriers • Middle management not as convinced as

top management• Short term results vs. long term

perspective

Getting the right resources• Problem to get access to customers• Difficult finding the right people for teams

Next steps• Workshops with the participating

companies in the US/Germany

• Refining research purpose

• Deeper case studies in some of the companies during 2012

Next steps

Gift-Giving Brief: Redesign the gift-giving experience for your tablemate.

Build Customer Understanding

• The most important part of designing for someone is to gain empathy for that person.

• One way to do this is to have a good conversation. (interview)

• Partner A will have 3 minutes to interview Partner B, and then we will tell you when to switch.

Build Customer Understanding

As a starting point, ask your partner to tell you aboutthe last time they gave a gift.

Additional questions:• To whom did they give it? • Why was it meaningful? • How did they come up with the idea for the gift?• What was difficult about finding and giving this gift?

2x3min

Defining the InsightsTry to synthesize your learning into a few ‘needs’ that you have discovered, and a few ‘insights’ that you find interesting.

• “Needs” should be verbs – things they are trying to do.

• “Insights” new learning's about your partner’s feelings/worldview to leverage in your design (make inferences).

3min

Defining the problem statement

It should feel like a problem worth tackling!

Lisa, needs a way to give a gift to her son, because she doesn’t want to support consumerism but still wants to give him a present.

Defining the problem statement

It should feel like a problem worth tackling!

Lisa the responsible mother, needs a way to give a sustainable gift to her 5 year old son, because she doesn’t want to support consumerism but still wants to give him a joyful present.

3min

Generate new ideas• Idea generation, not evaluation —

you can evaluate your ideas later• GO FOR VOLUME!• Be Visual – words just when necessary

5min

Collect user feedback• This is not just about testing your ideas. This is another

opportunity to learn more about your partner’s feelings and worldview.

• Spend the time listening to your tablemate’s reactions and questions.

• Fight the urge to explain and defend your ideas—see what they make of them!

2x3min

REFLECTIONS