Design thinking + Lean startup + Agile : future of product development

Gartner IT research estimates by 2021, says that more than 50% of established corporations will be leveraging lean startup techniques at the business level to increase the pace and success of business transformation.

Let’s understand why?

Technologies such as mobile devices, social networking, cognitive computing, and the Internet of Things, changed the way companies design, manufacture, and deliver almost every product and service. It also significantly increased the pace of change in business as a whole, requiring organizations to become agile. However, the challenge currently faced by larger business is that they have practiced only one way of change: big bang, which involve in-depth planning before the beginning of project, while this worked for them in past due to certainty in future, but this approach is not well suited for today’s rapidly changing business environment where future is not certain.

Some of larger business understands this and adopted agile approaches based on "Agile Manifesto" published in 2001 by 17 software developers. This approach focused on iterative and incremental development instead of in-depth planning at the beginning of projects and results early customer discovery and feedback. This allows them to change or “pivot” the project more easily based on what they learn with the customer, as opposed to the traditional way that may mean the project is near completion before it is shared with customer, making changes impossible or far more costly and time-consuming, while this approach worked well in understanding and delivering solution, but it has some limitations in considering and integrating customer problem and needs.

Since, successful companies like Amazon, nowadays neither stand out because of their most efficient production, nor their best engineers, sales managers, marketing commercials or whatever. It’s more their dedication to understanding the customer as well as their strong commitment to serving customer problems and needs.

Design thinking with its 5 stages help businesses to empathize with customer, understands their challenges, define problem statement for them and ideate solutions while Lean startup’s build measure and learn cycle helps to identify best solution for identified problem.

Neither Design Thinking or Lean Startup nor Agile are new for companies. However, in silo they will not realize their true potential but when used in proper combination they will not only help companies to become more agile or flexible in their product development. It also allows to reduce waste in developing the wrong products as well as it helps to avoid investing money and resources into not required solutions.

Now the question remain is that Is interface between Design Thinking and Agile is imaginable?

To know, stay tuned for next post