Design Thinking in Action: Building a Scalable Learning Approach for Development Teams
Design Thinking first caught my attention a few years ago when I transitioned into my current role, focusing on the development of the R&D department at Valtech Ukraine. It became clear to me that this methodology wasn’t just a theoretical framework, but a practical approach embraced by top-tier industry leaders such as Apple, Google, Airbnb, Uber, and Netflix. These companies have consistently applied Design Thinking to foster user loyalty and drive innovation.?
In this article, I will showcase how Design Thinking came to life through a seemingly straightforward task—designing a training program for our development teams—and the significant outcomes we achieved by applying this user-centered methodology.?
Wrestling with Unreal Problems in Real-World Projects?
In my 15 years in IT, I’ve seen businesses lose customers after rejecting solutions teams spent months creating. For example, in 2015, my team undertook a comprehensive redesign of an e-commerce platform for a prominent retail brand. The client aimed to boost conversion rate by introducing a new UX and unconventional e-commerce solutions. To accomplish this, they brought in an expert with extensive experience in creating digital versions of renowned fashion magazines. The team was confident that his fresh, innovative perspective would reshape the e-commerce design and help us achieve the desired results. The result? Conversion rate dropped sharply, as users couldn’t navigate the changes and turned to competitors. We spent two more months fixing the issues, realizing our initial approach had failed to connect with real users.?
Learning more about Design Thinking made the cause of our failure clear: we were solving problems for imaginary users. The innovative design didn’t reflect the actual needs of the store’s customers. Instead of building based on real user feedback, we pursued an idea that felt creative but wasn’t practical. Design Thinking, with its focus on empathy and user understanding, taught me that innovation must be driven by real user needs, not assumptions. This experience highlighted the importance of staying connected to the end-user throughout the development process.?
Fostering a Collaborative Learning Approach?
In 2021, our R&D department was tasked with creating a curriculum to prepare our development teams for MACH-based projects [https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/machalliance]. The first thought was: "Everything is obvious, we need to make a selection of high-quality content, write a step-by-step action plan with a practical task and a test of the knowledge gained. Throw all the materials into Confluence, and that's it!". However, remembering the principles of Design Thinking, we took a different path.??
The first step was to define the real problem (DEFINE), which required understanding the true needs of our users (EMPATHIZE). We interviewed developers, managers, and mentors, uncovering insights that shifted our approach. For example, we discovered several key insights:?
These and other insights were invaluable and fundamentally changed our future decisions. Design Thinking offers a whole set of methods to identify the true needs of users. The main rule is to learn how to ask open-ended questions and listen carefully, putting aside your own experience and beliefs.?
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Having realized the needs of our colleagues, we moved on to discuss ideas - IDEATION. This was the most fun stage, as everyone had the opportunity to express any idea they had, no matter how crazy it might seem. It was important to foster a creative atmosphere and ensure that no idea was ignored or judged.?
Through our brainstorming sessions, we developed a concept centered on creating a community where individuals learn together, exchange knowledge, and collaboratively solve problems. This community-driven approach allows new solutions, ideas, and insights to continuously feed into and shape an evolving curriculum. We named this model "Collaborative Learning" to highlight its core principle: "cooperation is key to effective learning." This approach was a far cry from our original plan, and the shift occurred because we gained a deeper understanding of our colleagues’ real needs through the Design Thinking process.?
In Design Thinking, it’s crucial to test ideas (TEST) with future users before full-scale implementation. Leveraging Miro, we swiftly created a visual diagram outlining the entire process and presented it to a focus group of colleagues. We closely observed their reactions, carefully listening to their thoughts, feelings, and the challenges they encountered. This feedback provided invaluable insights, helping us refine the solution before moving forward with development.??
The most effective way to validate your final hypotheses is by creating a simple, low-cost prototype (PROTOTYPE) and allowing real users to interact with it. Since we couldn't easily customize our corporate Learning Management System (LMS) to support our idea, we decided to take a different approach.??
?With community at the core of our idea, we chose to leverage MS Teams, our primary communication tool, to build the solution. Using MS Forms, we created questionnaires to gather data on developers’ experience, test their knowledge, and collect feedback on each task in the curriculum. Power Automate allowed us to implement automation, such as creating individualized learning paths based on responses, with MS Planner enabling mentors to track mentee progress. Automating the collection of feedback and test results proved especially valuable, allowing us to quickly adapt the training content and tailor learning plans. We stored all materials within MS Teams, ensuring the entire onboarding process was contained within a single environment. By utilizing the tools already available in the company, we were able to implement our idea without significant costs. The outcome exceeded expectations and was well-received by our development teams.?
Results and Final Reflections?
Since the prototype’s launch in 2021, the Collaborative Learning community has thrived, successfully onboarding dozens of teams and hundreds of developers across the organization This initiative has since evolved into more structured training programs, which we now call “MACH Academy”. Our greatest achievement has been fostering a culture where participants eagerly share their knowledge, continuously enhancing the curriculum. The tools we developed have not only saved mentors valuable time but have also enabled precise tracking of each mentee's progress, allowing for tailored learning paths. Thanks to Design Thinking, our training program didn't fade into obscurity within a Confluence archive. Instead, it continues to grow and improve with every new participant.??
Design Thinking isn’t just for tech giants or groundbreaking products like the iPhone - it’s equally effective for developing internal solutions, such as training programs. This methodology improves project efficiency by keeping the focus on the real needs of users, ensuring that the final product resonates with its intended audience. While many factors can impact the success of a project, I’ve found that Design Thinking significantly increases the likelihood of creating solutions that users genuinely appreciate. By fostering empathy, encouraging collaboration, and incorporating iterative testing, this approach leads to more impactful, user-centered outcomes.?