Agile, Lean and Design Thinking

These terms often spark debates and raise various questions such as: Is Design Thinking considered an agile methodology? Is Lean Startup merely a simplified version of Scrum? Are these concepts or methodologies? And, are they complementary or conflicting?

Agile

Agile is a methodology that provides a framework for approaching complex situations and working on tasks. Its foundation is an iterative, empirical process that aims to deliver products incrementally. Although Agile has recently expanded into other fields, it's primarily used in software product development.

The Agile culture is centered around delivering product features that offer the highest business value, with a clear focus on tangible outcomes. The Agile Manifesto emphasizes the importance of delivering functional software in each iteration as the only true measure of progress.

Lean Startup

The Lean Startup methodology is focused on the development of companies and products, with a goal of shortening development cycles in order to determine early on whether the product and/or business model are viable.

This is achieved by using a rapid cycle of building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), testing it, gathering information related to the testing process, and validating the learning to apply to the next cycle. This process continues until the hypothesis is either validated or discarded.

According to Forbes, 90% of initial attempts to create a product or a company fail, with the number one reason being market failure due to "products being made that nobody wants," as reported by Fortune.

Lean Startup methodology is primarily oriented towards startups or intra-organizational entrepreneurship. Its origins in the 1990s and its emergence in Silicon Valley share a foundational base with Agile in Toyota's production system and Lean Manufacturing.

The main difference between Lean Manufacturing and Lean Startup is that the former focuses on building as efficiently as possible without dictating what to build, while the latter tries to confirm the viability of what is being built, both from the product and business model perspectives, as early as possible.

In the words of Eric Ries, the creator of Lean Startup: "Lean manufacturing startup provides a scientific approach to creating and managing startups and getting a desired product into the hands of customers faster. The Lean Startup method teaches how to run a startup - how to lead, when to pivot and when to persevere - and is about growing a business with maximum acceleration."

Design Thinking

This methodology is centered around an iterative process that aims to comprehend user pain points, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems in order to create new strategies and solutions.

In contrast to brainstorming, Design Thinking encourages the use of a "Pain Rain" technique to fully understand where user pain points exist.

The typical phases of Design Thinking are:

- Empathize with users

- Define users' needs, problems, and perceptions

- Ideate to challenge assumptions and generate ideas for innovative solutions

- Prototype solutions

- Test solutions

- Iterate

In summary, Design Thinking is a user-centered approach to the creative and innovative process, utilizing a set of tools to identify and resolve points of conflict as detected by the user. It takes into account the user's needs, available technological tools, and requirements necessary for the success of the product.

A way to get the best of each

While there are certainly areas of overlap among Agile, Lean Startup, and Design Thinking methodologies, it is possible to combine them as they address distinct moments and objectives within the process of creating a product and building a business.

Together, they provide a business-oriented perspective with a focus on customer needs, infused with an agile culture that enables rapid iteration aimed at the development of a specific product.

In a nutshell, to emphasize, define, and ideate, we rely on Design Thinking. Once the ideas are solidified, we utilize Lean Startup to establish business models that support our products. Finally, in combination with Agile, we build and validate the product. The Agile methodology that best fits the product is employed for final product development.

Using these combined methodologies can help reduce the risk of failure, as well as identify it early, if we consider the fact that 90% of startups fail due to generating unwanted products or services.

All three methodologies prioritize the user and rely on direct user feedback to develop, validate, and cycle appropriately. This information should enable us to construct products with high levels of customer acceptance and satisfaction, thereby minimizing the risk of failure.

The most crucial aspect of all three methods, whether employed individually or in combination and regardless of the order, is to remain Lean.

Does it guarantee success? No, it does not, but it makes it a lot more possible to occur.

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