HTML6 and CSS4 – Future of HTML

Before even briefing on design thinking or why the word thinking is associated with design,

Let me first talk on generic kind of problems. There are two kinds – There are puzzles and

then there are mysteries. Puzzles are problems where if you the perfect data set the

problem, that gives a perfect analysis of situation and hence the exact requirement than the

puzzle can be solved. E.g. if we know GPS coordinate of a particular location we can find that

particular location.

There is another kind of problem that is mysteries, where there is no single piece of data,

that will actually solve the problem, in fact there might be too much of data and it’s about

interpreting all the data that’s there, so these are more richer harder problem which requires

more systems thinking, more prototyping and that is where designers often most adapt, for

e.g., rebuilding an existing structure, so there’s not one single way, it’s trying different things

and experimenting, move forward to solution, we are never going to have enough

information, we are never going to have the right information. We just have to interpret what

we have and do the best we can, so we start to resolve this when good things happen. But

certainly it’s the mysteries that get the designers excited.

Design Thinking comes into play for the latter kind – mysteries. It is most effective when you

need something very disruptive and out of the box solution. Design thinking is usually

compared with traditional design and development strategy like requirement gathering,

prototype designing and development. While traditional strategy has given us great and

humongous data, great analytics from which one can make the most logical decisions, design

thinking gives use curiosity and power of observation. It takes all the available data and then

puts into context of situation.

What exactly is traditional strategy?

Although we say about using innovation or creating alternate solution, we are not used to

wonder over the processes we implement. I believe that most times they all feel the same

and in conventional business that is probably true. All the processes currently employed in

solving a problem using design and development is analytical, rational, prescribed and

convergent. Analytical in which we break problems up to study them. Rational in where we

take an ordered approach. Prescribed where we can describe the approach and replicate it

easily and finally convergent in where we start with available choices and work toward a

single best solution. We have been experiencing processes like this ever since studying math

or science at school.

What is design thinking?

Design Thinking is a problem solving technique. Not a process, not a phase, But a design

thinking itself acts as a complete solution provider and it works best in case of problems

which are mysteries as explained above. It acts as a solution for problems which are complex

and ill-defined. Prominent Tools used for design thinking are Observation, ethnography, and

interviews, synthesis question answer.

There are basically two major types of software solutions, one is utility solutions and

another is strategic solutions. Utility solutions are those which are necessity and aid in

existing workflows of some business domain, say finance apps, banking solutions etc… where

as strategic solutions are one where the need is created and then luxury is converted to

necessity. Considering current scenario, both utility and strategic solutions have evolved

beyond basic requirements.

In these new age solutions, a whole suite of abilities have come into picture, which are like

difficult to routinize, difficult to turn them into an algorithm, or a set of rules thus making

them hard to outsource and hard to automate therefore more valuable. For e.g. design

thinking, or a narrative or a story are tremendously overlooked and undervalued, pattern

recognition, empathy [capacity to stand in someone’s shoes see with their eyes, feel with

their hearts], giving a sense of meaning/purpose to a solution. These attributes are difficult

to routinize and that makes them more difficult to implement.

Baeck & Gremett describe more about Core attribute of design thinking along with their

description and their personal comments.

Attribute DescriptionAmbiguity Being comfortable when things are unclear or when you don’t know the answerCollaborative Working together across disciplinesConstructive Creating new ideas based on old ideas, which can also be the most successful ideasCuriosity Being interested in things you don’t understand or perceiving things with fresh eyes

Empathy Seeing and understanding things from your customers’ point of viewHolistic Looking at the bigger context for the customerIterative A cyclical process where improvements are made a solution or idea regardless

of the phaseNonjudgmental Creating ideas with no judgment toward the idea creator or the ideaOpen mindset Embracing design thinking as an approach for any problem regardless of

industry or scope

Design thinking talks of business model innovation rather than new products or ideas. It

usually relates to solve something existing and modify the existing process rather than

creating a whole new idea, and frankly speaking Frontiers of Business model innovation

hasn’t been tried as frequently as the new product innovation.

This first draft is just to create an environment for the concept of design thinking. I will

definitely relate the concept with examples [real time and proposed], but I hope I have been

able to instigate a different thought/concept in you, to be continued…