What is Design Thinking? How does it work? How can it make your project better?

These are the basics, but let's review what Design Thinking is and how it can be used on your Project.

What is Design Thinking?

Developed in the 1960s to address the human side of innovation, Design Thinking caught on when the need to improve the technology-driven user experience in the 2000s.  

It became clear that technology adoption was lower than desired. Many companies adopted Design Thinking to address this adoption gap. In doing so, this new approach spread to other areas of business.

The Experience Economy has shown the importance of the product brand, user connection, social impact. Product users are savvier. They understand the importance of product design on their user experience and have higher expectations.

• Desirability: What makes sense to people and for people?

• Feasibility: What is technically possible within the foreseeable future?

• Viability: What is likely to become part of a sustainable business model?

Now the adoption of Design Thinking is widespread to improve products, services, ideas, and projects. 

Why use Design Thinking on your Project?

Project Managers have found that project success is improved by increasing focus on stakeholder empathy and solution sustainability. Design Thinking is a methodology for creative problem-solving. It can be used to addresses several areas of a project:

• Projects organization

• Project Team dynamics

• The impact of projects work on the users

• The impact of the product created by the Project.

Project's that have some process flexibility might choose traditional Waterfall, agile approach, or something hybrid. Most online project applications assume a KanBan or Scrum approach, but all require configuration or decisions on use. These are decisions that Design Thinking can help to improve.  

Reviewing and agreeing on the best approach can help the team create. A fit-for-purpose approach can provide a project with maximum results and minimal waste of time or resources. This allows the team to : 

• detail their project approach and processes

• configure project systems

• adoption of the process by the team

• agree on information sharing (meetings, workflow, training, etc.).

Project Managers also can use Design Thinking to build team empathy for the user experience. This approach applies to any project outcome which requires the User to adopt a new tool, process, or role.

Sharing my Story: Building Team Empathy for the User Experience

Using Design Thinking was helpful on a large, multi-year project to improve the project teams understand of the impact of the project work on the local business environment.

We added team training using gaming (An end-to-end mock Project implementation). Each year, we ask a country department head involved in the Project the prior year to join us as the client for the training. This client was able to add real-world issues into our training and share the user's experience with the team. These insights helped the team better appreciate the business disruption and change process for each country.

The outcome? The team was challenged to better understand and appreciate the user experience. Our local stakeholders felt we were working to improve relationships throughout the project and that we understood the importance of the solution we were leaving with the new operational ‘owners’ .

The newest aspect of Design Thinking includes sustainability and iterative assessments. These adaptions to Design Thinking can ensure that project services are evergreen. 

Project Managers can include milestones as the Project and product mature to ensure the initial design still meets current goals, and the product realizes the ambitions initially set out.

How to use Design Thinking on your Project?

The steps may seem simple. And they are. The power of design-based thinking is the human factor, understanding people, their needs, wants, and how products meet the needs. However, the concept may seem strange until you stand up and work on a problem on a whiteboard or with post-it notes.

Design Thinking can be used to test the Project or product. And it can be an approach to everyday problem solving and team innovation.

Design Thinking is also a way to engage users in a more meaningful way. Instead of being told about the Project and Product, users can experience it. They can define and refine it working with the team. Creating a solution together ensures both the team and the users are more likely to understand the designed product.  

When multi-disciplined teams work through details of an idea (including a mockup), the team can better assess data usage, user roles, screen design, and the kind of details that get missed during traditional requirements gathering. 

Prototyping develops the mockup, which helps users see the design come to life. This does not need to be expensive and complex: (famously, the first Apple mouse design was based on a butter dish.) But an iterative approach to design with continuous user feedback often makes the difference in product (and project) success.

When to use Design Thinking on your Project?

At Product Inception.

• to define who the user is,

• why they need something new,

• what that new thing is

• how it will impact the users, their processes, and the user's customers

• what information, assumptions, and data are needed to realize the product

• to ensure the business case is correctly documenting the ROI

At the Project Launch. 

• To focus on the Project internal processes

• To focus on Product detailed design

At Project Milestones.

• If Agile or Scrum: you may go through a Design cycle every two weeks when the review and assessment process begins again.

• If Waterfall: you can review the design at the end and start of each milestone to ensure your Project stays on track. This is a vital step to include at design, build, and test phases.

How to Keep the Design work Alive?

Throughout the Project, refer back to the design principles. The 'maps' or posters made to document users' needs, desired outcomes, issues to resolve, and the example prototype make excellent 'wall art' in the team's workspace.

Using workshop output as 'wall art' allows it to be inspirational and practical. It can be used as a reference when addressing questions with team members and users.  

And don't forget, designs are living things - they may change as functionality and technology issues explore constraints and opportunities to do more than initially understood. Using change control for project scope management must be balanced with the end-users change journey of understanding the new product, accepting it, and learning the power of the new change to their jobs. Embrace this process dynamically and allow for changes for the best outcome.

How to keep the inspiration going?

Stories are the process of making a product more relatable to users and customers. Keep a poster of the project story—the hero journey and the new future the Project's product will offer. See my blog on the Project Story to see how to create this. Poster size art does a great job of making this clear to all involved.

If the team is virtual, a short video or 2D animation is useful. If the design is digital, the prototype demo can also be on all key designers, managers, and stakeholders' devices to showcase the idea.

Need more Storytelling inspiration? Get the free downloadable workbook here.

How to start today?

Design thinking has a low bar to entry. Any project can use these tools and the best way to get started is in a team working session or workshop. The next blog will address Workshops using Design Thinking.

Do you use Design Thinking today? Do you plan to in the future? Or do you have another approach?

Please let me know in the comments below.