‘People spend lot of time on designing the bridge but not enough time thinking about the people who will be crossing it’
Majority of organizational problems arise because the research which is carried out to develop path-breaking products and services; is not received in the same manner by end-users, as assumed.
This clearly shows that what lacks here is, Design Thinking….
What — Design Thinking
Design thinking is an ideology supported by an accompanying process. A complete definition requires an understanding of both.
Definition: The design-thinking ideology asserts that a hands-on, user-centric approach to problem solving can lead to innovation, and innovation can lead to differentiation and a competitive advantage. This hands-on, user-centric approach is defined by the design-thinking process and comprises 6 distinct phases, as defined and illustrated below.
How — The Process
The design-thinking framework follows an overall flow of 1) understand, 2) explore, and 3) materialize. Within these larger buckets fall the 6 phases: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test, and implement.
The Six Design Thinking Phases
Empathize: Conduct research in order to develop knowledge about what your users do, say, think, and feel.
Imagine your goal is to improve an onboarding experience for new joiners to the organization. In this phase, you talk to the group of people (users) who have already had that experience. Directly observe what they do, how they think, and what they want, asking yourself things like ‘what motivates or discourages them?’ or ‘are their needs getting met?’ The goal is to gather enough observations that you can truly begin to empathize with your users and their perspectives.
Define: Combine all your research and observe where your users’ problems exist. In pinpointing your users’ needs, begin to highlight opportunities for innovation/ change.
Consider the onboarding example again. In the define phase, use the data gathered in the empathize phase to glean insights. Organize all your observations and draw parallels across your users’ current experiences. Is there a common pain point across many different users? Identify unmet user needs.
Ideate: Brainstorm a range of crazy (unorthodox), creative ideas that address the unmet user needs identified in the define phase. Give yourself and your team total freedom; no idea is too farfetched and quantity supersedes quality.
At this phase, bring your team members together and sketch out many different ideas. Then, have them share ideas with one another, mixing and remixing, building on others’ ideas.
Prototype: Build real, tactile representations for a subset of your ideas. The goal of this phase is to understand what components of your ideas work, and which do not. In this phase you begin to weigh the impact vs. feasibility of your ideas through feedback on your prototypes.
Make your ideas tactile. If it is a new induction/ orientation program, draw out a mechanism to get feedback internally. Change it based on feedback, then prototype it again in basic format. Then, share it with another group of people.
Test: Return to your users for feedback. Ask yourself ‘Does this solution meet users’ needs?’ and ‘Has it improved how they feel, think, or do their tasks?’
Put your prototype in front of real customers and verify that it achieves your goals. Has the users’ perspective during onboarding improved? Does the new program fulfil the objectives? As you are executing your vision, continue to test along the way.
Implement: Put the vision into effect. Ensure that your solution is materialized and touches the lives of your end users.
As impactful as design thinking can be for an organization, it only leads to true innovation if the vision is executed. The success of design thinking lies in its ability to transform an aspect of the end user’s life. This sixth step — implement — is crucial.
Why — The Advantage
Why should you introduce a new way to think about product development? There are numerous reasons to engage in design thinking, enough to merit a standalone article, but in summary, design thinking achieves all these advantages at the same time:
- It is a user-centered process that starts with user data, creates design artifacts that address real and not imaginary user needs, and then tests those artifacts with real users.
- It leverages collective expertise and establishes a shared language and buy-in amongst your team.
- It encourages innovation by exploring multiple avenues for the same problem.
Jakob Nielsen says “a wonderful interface solving the wrong problem will fail.” Design thinking unfetters creative energies and focuses them on the right problem.
Flexibility — Adapt to Fit Your Needs
The above process will feel complex at first. Don’t think of it as if it were a proscribed step-by-step recipe for success. Instead, use it as scaffolding to support you when and where you need it. Be a master chef, not a line cook: take the recipe as a framework, then tweak as needed.
Each phase is meant to be iterative and cyclical as opposed to a strictly linear process, as depicted below. It is common to return to the two understanding phases, empathize and define, after an initial prototype is built and tested. This is because it is not until blueprints are prototyped and your ideas come to life that you are able to get a true representation of your design. For the first time, you can accurately assess if your solution really works. At this point, looping back to your user research is immensely helpful.
Scalability — Think Bigger
The packaged and accessible nature of design thinking makes it scalable. Organizations previously unable to shift their way of thinking now have a guide that can be comprehended regardless of expertise, mitigating the range of design talent while increasing the probability of success. This doesn’t just apply to traditional “designery” topics such as product design, but to a variety of societal, environmental, and economical issues. Design thinking is simple enough to be practiced at a range of scopes; even tough, undefined problems that might otherwise be overwhelming. While it can be applied over time to improve small functions like onboarding proccess, it can also be applied to design disruptive and transformative solutions, such as restructuring the career ladder for employees in order to retain more talent.
Conclusion
We live in an era of experiences, be they services or products, and we’ve come to have high expectations for these experiences. They are becoming more complex in nature as information and technology continues to evolve. With each evolution comes a new set of unmet needs. While design thinking is simply an approach to problem solving, it increases the probability of success and breakthrough innovation.