The Combination of Systems and Design Thinking: How Can AI Enhance Human-Centric Innovation for Superior Delivery?

(Including an AI-Cheat sheet to prompt ChatGPT to engage with innovation)

At the heart of this article is a firm belief that the human mind's capability to surprise us is as relevant today as when homo sapiens emerged 300,000 years ago. Maybe the challenges were a little more local, perhaps more immediate, and less informed than now, but creativity in humans has certainly existed from the start. Man, as far as we know, started to engage with capturing images and visualisations some 70,000 years ago, so all that pedigree is not likely to be undone with the emergence of technologies like AI. In his amazing book, “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind”, Yuval Noah Harari explores this 70,000-year journey of human social, biological and creative development and projects a world where our current limitations are likely to lead to a replacement for us—a new species of half-organic/half-machine with an extended lifetime. Elon Musk’s ambitions in this field are well documented, and films that depict a dystopian finale like The Terminator may eventually become a reality, but, thankfully, we are not quite there yet.

So, humans are capable of amazing things so long as we understand that what makes us human is an ability to empathise beyond ourselves and into the ecosystem we inhabit. The big challenges of today, planetary and human health – mental and physical, will not be solved by replicating the past; they will require a broader consensus and a mind to move us from limitations and constructs that have dictated our thinking so far. In a world infatuated with fast fixes and speedy results, we must reacquaint ourselves with a slower temporal landscape for problem-solving and learning.?

We are at an intersection between the dominance of short-term immediacy and the more committed and sometimes painful long game. This requires that we do not abandon the sticking plasters; they serve as a solid basis for surviving the consequences of turbulence, but alongside this, we must keep sharpening the scalpel. The deeper cuts that remove the invasive dulling pain of inertia hold us back from doing the right thing for the future.

System and Design thinking is at an intersection.

Design thinking has its roots in the late 1950s and 1960s. Various design movements, engineering principles, and management theories influenced it. Though not directly tied to a specific catalyst, it was part of a larger systemic evolution toward interdisciplinary problem-solving. The Apollo moonshot may have inadvertently demonstrated its value whilst not specifically aligning itself to a framework. The all-encompassing vision of getting there, but more importantly, getting the astronauts safely home, placed the needs of the passengers at the forefront of the design. That objective framed every iteration of design and application and drove collaboration across agencies and organisations. From food to poop management, navigation to fuel technologies – everyone was working to achieve that aim. It was evidence of design thinking married to systems thinking, working in a way where holistic ambitions (political, economic, social and technical) drove activity that directly responded to the needs of people at an individual level.

These complementary disciplines are iterative and serve the holistic agenda at their core: problem-solving and the relationship between making change happen and maintaining purposeful change.

Why is design thinking even more vital today?

In today’s world, the concept of work, what it is, and how we want to engage with it has been revolutionised by the demands of the pandemic. It was changing before then, but working from home, remote working, and the great resignation have focused on designing what works for us and businesses that need talent.

The off-the-shelf job characteristics style model is being replaced by a more fluid, purpose-orientated redesign that aligns with the talent and passion of the individual who has recognised their value and invested in it. If that job doesn’t exist, then we design one that does by becoming the entrepreneur and founder of one’s life.

Designing a business that functions at scale is complex and expensive because humans make it so, regardless of whether we deal with another business or directly with the consumer. Each engagement brings new insights and opportunities to chew up capital; that is why, until we see real traction, we iterate our way forward as judiciously and frugally as possible.

Of course, many say business growth is no more than a matter of replication, the repeat-and-rinse success stories that we strive to emulate. If that were the case, every business with one successful customer would only have to find another identical customer and deliver the same. The problem remains – are there enough identical customers? How do we find them? Does every customer become just one interaction, or can we grow with them as they grow? Answering these questions takes many iterations and modifications to value creation and distribution, which, in essence, are our business models. It is a complex balancing act between three factors.

1.?????? Desirability, whether the existing and future customers' needs, the combination of benefits and wants, remain consistent.

2.?????? Feasibility: do we have the capital, financial, intellectual, social, reputational, and natural, available to make things happen? If not, how do we get it?

3.?????? Viability: Do the benefits of what we deliver outweigh the costs of delivery today and the development of what we deliver tomorrow? Innovation is not a zero-sum game; it is akin to a wager where the house is stacked against you. Changing the odds is about applying the tools well.

All three focal points are needed to get to that position of sustainable growth.

In 2012, I purchased a turn-key model in the form of a franchise. In a very short period, I realised that what worked in a high-density population struggles in a highly dispersed one. The product was desirable, but the model was not feasible given my existing networks, and it certainly proved unviable since raising visibility in a highly dispersed arena is both expensive and ineffectual with the tools at our disposal. The power of personal referrals at the school gates could not be replicated as easily as they could when most parents parked and drove off rather than connected and walked.?

Design Thinking as a Framework

Design is never a linear process, and we never do this once; we do it continually because life changes and is never static.

In the work of Liedtka, J. and Ogilvie, T. (2011), “Designing for Growth”, the authors define the process into four key areas.

1.?????? “What is” the current situation, the pains, the gaps, and the existing trends that will eventually eradicate these gaps in what is out there? The aim is to collect qualitative and quantitative data that reveals how things are, setting a solid foundation for ideation. We must go beyond the obvious and into the dark, even if what emerges appears less constructed and more chaotic.

2.?????? “What if” is a powerful manifestation of your commitment to exploring and understanding what is possible and what it could take to deliver a new paradigm or an incremental shift. ?Divergent thinking is at the root of new ideas, and when we change the parameters and use these insights to explore future possibilities, we make the project come alive and let others in through a design brief.

3.?????? The “What wows” phase is about narrowing down these ideas to the most promising ones based on their potential impact and feasibility. We set the parameters for evaluating the concepts regarding what is desirable to the users and the business strategy. It’s about moving from divergent to convergent thinking, selecting and refining the ideas that ‘wow’ and are worth prototyping.

4.?????? “What works” is about getting our hands dirty and adding some hard edges to the design, sharing it with the target audience in a minimally viable way to be tested and judged, then modified and enhanced. It is more than getting used to being kicked in the mouth; it fully embraces this process because what doesn’t work will ultimately lead to what does.?

What it takes

Empathy involves standing in the footsteps of those with whom we identify and standing alongside them.? It requires that we place ourselves in an emotionally vulnerable position where distress, anger, and frustration may live. This process is time-consuming and cognitively draining, and when we are close to people, it is hard to see the patterns that emerge. Also, when it is just us, it is hard to observe and experience things from the perspective of different cultures and characters.? To truly empathise, it is not always necessary to have experienced what others have, but we have to honour their experience with focus and a willingness to dedicate time to the process.

Tools

1.?????? Empathy Mapping - to chart user interactions and emotional states, ensuring the service meets or exceeds expectations.

2.?????? Community Building: Broaden the gene pool and open ourselves to facilitating a community interested in the core concepts. Make the community open, engaging, educational, and fun. That way, we neither exclude nor judge, only learn and test on a broad audience.

Ideation: Ideas are worthless, it is execution that counts. We often ascribe to these sentiments, but ideas are the foundational building blocks of design, and without them, we have no means to unearth the new. It is, therefore, less about an idea itself, no matter how outlandish or impractical; it is what that idea could deliver, what change it could instigate and ultimately, what impact it could create.

In Roberto Verganti’s book. ‘Overcrowded’, he highlights that in a world full of ideas, the real challenge is not the generation of new ideas but the creation of meaningful innovations that truly resonate with people. He suggests that companies often get caught in a trap of producing incremental innovations that don't significantly impact users' lives. Instead, he advocates for innovations that offer profound meaning and transform user experiences.

Tools

1.?????? Traditional brainstorming with a twist: Instead of simply gathering ideas around the problem, ask how not to solve it. The polarity shift opens insights into potential anchors that hold people back.

2.?????? Forced analogy – when two independent variables are linked by a story framed around a problem, the cross-pollination opens up the thinking. For example, you are presented with two photos, one of a bird and the second of a garden seat. Your challenge may be about implementing a new e-commerce facility on your website. What does the bird represent, and how could it interact with the garden seat? The bird is about speed, observation, and rapid shifting of perspectives, while the seat is a place to peruse and look around comfortably. Just a suggestion – but you get the picture.

Prototyping: taking an idea and turning it into something with edges. We have something testable when we experience the concept in a form that engages as many senses as possible. It is crucial not to fall in love with the prototype but to be willing to discard it. At The Weave, we make it a ritual when we have developed a prototype and decided that it no longer has any use; we will put it through a shredder (physical or digital), having once extracted as much from it as possible. That way, if we need to revisit the ideas, we relieve ourselves of the baggage of what did not work the last time. Like all design elements, prototyping is an iterative journey, a never-ending story.

Starting is often the hardest thing to do. The best place to start is with the customer's needs. What do they need to happen, what outcome do they want, and how can we build something to test this?

Tools

1.?????? Low— and high-fidelity wireframing—mock-ups that help us quickly turn the concept into a tangible visual. Adobe XD offers a range of wireframing tools that balance simplicity and functionality. For a more team-orientated process, try Figma, a cloud-based tool that excels in collaborative design projects.

2.?????? Scenario-building and storytelling can turn the conceptual into the experiential. Building a good story, either by accentuating a user experience or from a manufacturer’s perspective like Patagonia or Coca-Cola, stories create moments that are often memorable. They turn the present into the future, often inspiring advocacy and buy-in.

Testing: The vital next stage is to discover what works. Each Apollo mission built on the experiences and lessons of the previous flights and contributed to the cumulative knowledge needed to advance human spaceflight. So, our pursuit of refinement can only come through delivery and testing. We are not building manned flights to the moon but creating moonshots as we develop our service, product, and experience. We must give it the same degree of attention and love that NASA gave to the Apollo missions. Testing is about putting the prototype into the hands of the user and creating the means for valuable feedback.

Tools

1.?????? User Testing: While not a prototyping tool per se, UserTesting.com allows you to gather real-time feedback on your prototypes from targeted users. This can be invaluable in iterating and refining your designs.

2.?????? Lookback.io : Provides tools for user testing with live video feedback, screen recording, and more. Integrating Lookback into your prototyping process can help you understand user reactions and improve usability.

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That is why we argue that understanding the business as a system helps us identify leverage points and consider those unintended consequences that can, at worse, blow us up or at least make it uncomfortable.

The role of AI in all of this

Design thinking, which prioritises people's needs at the forefront of innovation, is being augmented as a discipline by AI. Data allows us a deeper appreciation of how humans respond to their world. The synergy between human-centred design and AI can lead to superior products, services, and experiences by making the process more efficient, effective, and scalable. At every stage of the design journey, from empathy to realisation to adoption, AI can help us broaden our thinking, focus our work and measure our results. There are challenges in all of this since going deeper based on what was will still require a reimagining of what might be; taking the results of analysis without an appreciation of the human conditions could lead to incremental change and not a response that turns the tables on today and leads to a better tomorrow. Humans still need to be involved in taking the big steps required for today’s challenges. We are just restacking the odds a little with a big pool of insights behind us.

The framework aims to provide designers with insights, guidance, and support in integrating systems thinking into their design approach, making informed decisions, promoting thoughtful exploration, and increasing their competency and effectiveness in addressing complex problems.

How can AI and Human-centred design work together?

Throughout this blog, we have referred to design thinking as a process and a state of mind. Design must be human-centred (HCD), focusing on understanding and meeting users' needs throughout the design process. It is hard to understand people holistically, as that involves us engaging with users throughout the design process. Therefore, AI has a role if we create usable and desirable designs that work for customers and the business.

1. Enhanced Empathy through Data

AI can process and analyse vast amounts of data about user behaviours, preferences, and needs at a scale unattainable by humans alone. This capability allows designers to gain deeper insights into the user experience, more efficiently identifying patterns and pain points. HCD can leverage these insights to create more finely tuned solutions to user needs.

2. Augmented Creativity and Innovation

AI tools can aid the creative process by generating ideas, concepts, and design elements which human designers can refine. This symbiotic relationship can lead to more innovative solutions and expedite the design process. Human designers will still be crucial in guiding this process, ensuring that the output aligns with human values and aesthetics.

3. Personalisation at Scale

AI's ability to tailor interactions and interfaces to individual users can help HCD principles be applied more effectively across diverse user bases. Designers can create adaptive systems that modify themselves in real time to suit individual user preferences, enhancing accessibility and usability.

4. Ethical and Responsible Design

As AI systems increasingly affect every aspect of our lives, ethical considerations in design become more critical. Human-centred designers must ensure that AI systems are developed fairly, transparent, and accountable, protecting user privacy and ensuring technology serves the public good.

5. New Domains of Application

AI opens new domains for design, such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and other digital environments, where human-centred principles will be crucial to creating meaningful and engaging user experiences. Additionally, as AI becomes integral in healthcare, finance, and education, HCD will play a key role in making these technologies accessible and beneficial to all segments of society.

6. Educational and Training Reforms

Integrating AI into design processes will require designers to acquire new skills and knowledge bases. Educational institutions and professional training programs will need to adapt, teaching designers about traditional design principles and data science, machine learning, and the ethical use of AI.

7. Collaboration Between AI Developers and Designers

There will be an increased need for collaboration between AI developers and human-centred designers. This collaboration will ensure that applications of AI technology adhere to human-centric values, enhancing the user experience while harnessing the power of AI.

Conclusion

In an AI-dominated world, human-centred design will not become obsolete but more essential. AI can provide tools and capabilities that extend human capacities in understanding and designing for human needs. However, the core principles of empathy, ethics, and user focus in HCD will guide the development and application of these technologies to ensure they enhance human life. The future of HCD will involve more collaboration, creativity, and a continuous focus on ethics and user empowerment, ensuring that as our tools become more powerful, they remain aligned with human values and needs.

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Appendix AI ChatGPT Prompt for Innovation