How can you manage the scope of your design thinking projects?

1 Define the challenge

The first step is to clearly define the challenge or opportunity that you are addressing with design thinking. This should be a concise and compelling statement that summarizes the problem, the user, and the desired outcome. For example, "How might we improve the online shopping experience for busy parents who need to buy groceries?" A good challenge statement should be specific enough to guide your research and ideation, but broad enough to allow for different possibilities and perspectives.

4 Generate ideas

The fourth step is to generate ideas or possible solutions that match your opportunity statement. This should be a divergent and creative process that involves brainstorming, sketching, prototyping, or testing different concepts. The purpose of generating ideas is to explore different options, experiment with different features, and get feedback from your users and stakeholders. Generating ideas can help you expand the scope of your project by discovering new and unexpected possibilities and perspectives.

5 Select the best idea

The fifth step is to select the best idea or the most viable, feasible, and desirable solution that you want to pursue further. This should be a convergent and analytical process that involves evaluating, comparing, and prioritizing different ideas. The purpose of selecting the best idea is to focus on the most promising and impactful solution that meets your user's needs and your project's goals. Selecting the best idea can help you refine the scope of your project by eliminating the less relevant and less effective ideas.

6 Plan the implementation

The sixth step is to plan the implementation or the action steps that you need to take to bring your solution to life. This should be a realistic and detailed plan that outlines the resources, tasks, milestones, and risks involved in developing and launching your solution. The purpose of planning the implementation is to execute your solution in a timely and efficient manner, while managing the expectations and feedback of your users and stakeholders. Planning the implementation can help you control the scope of your project by setting clear and measurable objectives and deliverables.

By following these six steps, you can manage the scope of your design thinking projects effectively and successfully. Managing the scope can help you avoid scope creep, which is the tendency to add more features, requirements, or changes that are not part of the original scope. Scope creep can result in wasted time, money, and resources, as well as lower quality and user satisfaction. Managing the scope can also help you achieve scope alignment, which is the alignment of your project's scope with your user's needs, your project's goals, and your organization's strategy. Scope alignment can result in higher value, impact, and innovation.