What is Design Thinking?

Design Thinking means that the process of thinking itself is designed: we shape the way how we understand and solve problems by focusing on the needs and motivations of people for whom this problem exists.

This is achieved in a collaborative and iterative way: problem-solving is most effective when people from different disciplines work together in an environment that supports creativity. Iteration involves continuously refining and improving solutions based on direct user feedback and real-world testing, fostering constant learning and adaptation.

Why Design Thinking?

Discover opportunities

Usually, innovative new ideas don’t come out of the blue but are already part of something. The process of value creation does not depend on one ingenious inventor but on a structured way to fully understand a given situation. Often, this does not involve novelty but rather is a reorganization / recombination of something already existing in previously unforseeable ways.

This means we collect real-world data to put ourselves in the shoes of people who are in a certain situation (human-centered approach) to understand what will help those people in a given context and therefore bring value to them.

Overcome blockers

Design Thinking not only guides us to understand and come up with ideas on how to solve those problems but additionally help us to circumvent artificial impediments – “innovation blockers.” Often, large companies have created their own immune system such as a certain company culture of how a project must be run / owned. It can also be a given legacy IT infrastructure that determines how solutions can be build and block us from improving the obvious.

With Design Thinking we do not immediately kill ideas that don’t fit a certain company context but rather ask what if an idea or change would be brought to life? What if anything were possible?

Ideas are hypotheses

Thinking out of the box will help us to first focus on value creation, on understanding the potential of ideas before we dismiss them. Challenging assumptions early on, redefining problems will help us to identify alternative strategies and solutions that might not be instantly apparent. Design Thinking leverages imagination and rationality to explore possibilities and create outcomes that benefit the end user and hence, your business.

An idea does not live in an ivory tower but is rather a business concept that is based on certain facts and solution assumptions (hypotheses).

Collect evidence via rapid prototyping

Having identified hypotheses brings us to the question what hypotheses might bring the highest value. Therefore, we test the most promising hypotheses with people we expect to be in need of those solutions. To do so, we use prototypes. This validation is also called an experiment – we want to learn in the real world if an idea is worth to be continuing, if it needs amendments or should be dismissed.

Of course, testing also involves the company structure and impediments if a certain hypothesis is feasible or not and – looking at profit-oriented organizations – if a product / market fit can be established.

Rapid prototyping: Real-world feedback cycles help us to learn fast, adjust our assumptions and improve our hypotheses based on facts. This user-driven approach helps us to constantly shape our solutions based on the values it should bring for its users, other stakeholders and the organization providing those solutions.

Business value of human centered design / Design Thinking

Shifting our lens from the benefits of Design Thinking towards hard facts, it has to be emphasized that the value of design is well understood. You will find some links in the reference section.

To me, the interesting question is why companies and organizations still invest little in the area of fact based problem understanding compared to development and delivery. Spending less on discovery work results in building solutions and hence, investing a lot of money in implementation before understanding the product / market fit. It is also obvious that getting real user feedback with an already implemented solution is more expensive than getting rapid feedback with low fidelity prototypes.

An indicator can be how many people are employed in the different phases according to the Double Diamond model (which will be explained later in this article):

Design Thinking is a team sport

Design Thinking thrives on collaboration. It’s not a solo endeavor but one that benefits from diverse perspectives, skills, and ideas. When a team works together, they bring varied insights that can help tackle a problem from different angles, making the solution more holistic and innovative.

Like in sports, every team member has a role to play. Some might be good at empathizing with users, others at brainstorming ideas, and some at prototyping. The collective effort ensures that no stone is left unturned and that the solution is robust and user-centric.

This leads to the exchange of different perspectives and expertise and therefore, result in knowledge sharing and up skilling of all involved participants.

Core practices of Design Thinking

Jeanne Liedtka has defined the following five core practices of Design Thinking:

1. Develop a deep, empathetic understanding of the needs and context of those for whom (and with whom) we are designing
2. Form diverse teams
3. Create multiple solutions (hypotheses) and make them tangible and testable
4. Foster conversations that encourage dialogue instead of debate
5. Offer a structured and facilitated process

(Liedtka 2021:13)

Design process models

For a better understanding how Design Thinking works, it helps to apply it to a design process model.

There are many models and we will first focus on the Double Diamond model that became popular in 2011 when promoted by the British Design Council. (This model was extended in 2021 and you can find a link to the revised version in the reference section of this article.)

The Google Design Sprint builds on top of the double diamond model and tries to incorporate the whole process within one week. A lot of companies run Design Thinking Workshops which are in essence very condensed variations of a design sprint.

Another process model that grew directly out of Design Thinking is for instance the four question approach – What is? What if? What wows? What works? – by Jeanne Liedtka.

Those process models give an idea how to collaboratively and iteratively solve problems with a human-centered approach. In the context of this article, a process model expresses the structured framework to apply Design Thinking.

Think of process models as guidelines that provide orientation. With changing problems you adjust the tools you need to solve those problems, meaning you adjust the framework to the specific problem you want to solve. Remember: Design Thinking is about designing the process of solving problems. The design evolves with the problem you need to solve.

(If you are interested in design models in general I recommend the Book “How do you design?” by Hugh Dubberly. You will find a link to the digital version of the book in the reference section.)

Double Diamond

In 1996 Béla H. Bánáthy proposed the divergence-convergence model in his book “Designing Social Systems in a Changing World”.

• Divergent thinking refers to exploring and building up a deeper understanding: create options / choices.
• Convergent thinking refers to having fully understood the options and hence, to be able to make a choice.

This design process model became popular when it was enhanced and published by the British Design Council as Double Diamond model in 2005 which follows the following phases:

• Discover: This phase involves activities aimed at gaining a deep understanding of the problem. Methods include observing and talking to users, conducting desk research, running surveys, and checking quantitative data. The key takeaway is to achieve a shared understanding of the problem space.
• Define: In this phase, the team analyzes their findings to create personas, understand user tasks using frameworks like jobs-to-be-done, and map out user journeys. The goal is to come up with a single, well-articulated problem statement that is specific, broad enough to avoid predefining solutions, and inspiring.
• Develop: This phase focuses on exploring potential solutions through ideation, creating storyboards, and rapid prototyping. Rapid prototypes are quick, low-fidelity drafts that help gather fast feedback. The key takeaway is to expand problem understanding through iterative and validated ideas.
• Deliver: The final phase involves evaluating different solution assumptions. Activities include defining criteria for option selection, checking impact objectives, conducting final validations, and creating action plans. The takeaway is to arrive at a concrete solution assumption, ready for the next best test (MVP).

Design Sprint

A Design Sprint (Jack Knapp, John Zeratsky and Braden Kowitz) is about quickly solving big problems and testing new ideas through a structured five-day process. The process is designed to help teams move from identifying a problem to testing a prototype with real users, all within a week. Collaboration, focus, and iterative development are emphasized to enable teams to make rapid, informed decisions and innovate efficiently. This process model, developed 2010, became popular when the book Sprint was published in 2016 and is also known as Google Design Sprint.

• Understand: On the first day, the team focuses on understanding the problem and setting a clear goal for the sprint.
• Sketch: On the second day, team members brainstorm and sketch out possible solutions individually.
• Decide: On the third day, the team reviews the sketches and decides on the best ideas to pursue.
• Prototype: On the fourth day, a high-fidelity prototype is created based on the selected ideas.
• Test: On the fifth day, the prototype is tested with real users to gather feedback and insights.

What is? What if? What wows? What works?

Whereas the Double Diamond model is suitable for any human centered problem solving context, the four questions approach (2011) puts business growth at its center. It builds on the iterative nature of Design Thinking, emphasizing continuous feedback and improvement to create user-centered solutions that not only solve problems but also delight and inspire.

• What is? In this first phase you delve into understanding the current state of affairs. It emphasizes the importance of gaining a clear and deep understanding of the existing problem, situation, or system before jumping into solutions. This phase involves thorough research and analysis to map out the problem space and identify the core issues that need to be addressed.
• What if? Next, you focus on exploration and discovery, encouraging the generation of multiple ideas and solutions. It’s about imagining possibilities without constraints.
• What wows? In this phase, you evaluate the generated ideas to identify those with the highest potential to create impactful solutions. It’s about identifying the “wow” factor in ideas that can truly make a difference.
• What works? The final phase involves validating and refining the best ideas through prototyping and testing. This phase ensures that the solutions are practical and effective, ready for implementation.

Iteration in Design Thinking

Iteration is the heartbeat of Design Thinking. Instead of trying to get everything perfect on the first try, you repeatedly cycle through phases of ideation, prototyping, testing, and feedback.

Think of iteration in Design Thinking as the MVP (minimum = next; viable = best; product = test) in software development: it is all about learning fast, adapt assumptions with real-world feedback, and continually improving until the best possible solution is reached.

• Continuous Improvement: Each cycle of iteration brings you closer to a solution that truly resonates with users. By constantly refining and testing, you shed what doesn’t work and build on what does.
• Risk Mitigation: Iteration allows for early failure and quick pivots. Instead of investing heavily in one direction, you test and learn cheaply and efficiently.
• User-Centric Focus: It keeps the user’s needs front and center. Every iteration involves user feedback, ensuring the end product is aligned with real needs and desires.
• Encouraging Innovation: Iteration fosters creativity. The freedom to experiment and tweak ideas leads to breakthroughs that a linear process might stifle.
• Adaptability: It allows teams to adapt to new information and changing circumstances, making solutions more resilient and relevant.

This is why Design Thinking is a crucial part of Product Thinking and is applied in the Discovery phase.

Design Thinking Toolbox

Collection of various techniques (methods) you can apply in Design Thinking: