Design Thinking is like Japanese; it is not enough on its own.
Robert Fransgaard
Product & Design Executive. Previously H&M Group, Pleo, Salesforce, Sage, Burberry. I help companies deliver great product / experiences customers love by optimizing design capacity from innovation to delivery.
A few years back I saw Danny Choo talk about how to make a long-term successful move to Japan. One of his points was: "Speaking Japanese is not a selling point on its own. You need to be able to offer appealing professional skills".
His point was that in Japan, most people speak Japanese so the ability to speak it, is a commodity, in fact, in most cases it is an expectation.
Design Thinking has been the buzz word for years. It is often presented as the answer and sometimes even confused with the end goal. We do Design Thinking. Great!
Everybody has, if not talked about it, at least heard of it. Many say they can do it. Some can.
Design Thinking on its own is not enough. Think about these three professional scenarios.
1. As a Workshop Facilitator, relying only on Design Thinking means your tool box is very limited. You carry a hammer and everything looks like a nail.
An effective Workshop Facilitator understands the problem and has an extensive toolbox of methods to draw from like classic deBono methods, Google Design Sprints, more niche methods like Universal Travelers Guide and Lego Serious Play, tactical workshop tricks like found in Thinker Toys, etc.
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The more methods you are familiar with, the more you can tailor your approach to the problem rather than shoe horning the problem into a specific method.
2. As a Product Professional, starting with Design Thinking is likely not going to deliver value. Start with understanding what you want to achieve at the end of the whole plan.
Understand if Design Thinking fits in that plan and if so, where does it fit. What comes before, what comes after and what live product should the overall plan deliver and how do you measure if it was delivered successfully and whether it fits the intended audiences needs.
3. As a Job Applicant, Design Thinking is not a stand alone selling point.
How have you applied Design Thinking with your other professional skills to deliver a result? What result did you deliver, by including Design Thinking in the process, that could not have been delivered without?
A final thought, I am a big fan of Design Thinking as much as any method that structures work and enables speed with quality. When applying Design Thinking remember that it requires your colleagues' time and commitment. It is as such a resource cost, so what results do you need out of it, to justify the investment in applying it?
My hope, Design Thinking in companies becomes like Japanese in Japan: Everybody speaks it.
Senior Principal Solution Architect
2 年Japanese rocks.
Lead Product Designer (consultant) at Abundo
2 年Word
UX/CX. UI. Grafisk design. Grafisk facilitering. Design Management. Master i Design (MD). mDd.
2 年Uuuh, Robert Fransgaard I don't quite agree. Or perhaps I totally agree! But as I understand your article, you consider design thinking a method that cannot stand alone. Design thinking is rather a mindset. When someone says "we do design thinking" one should ask "how?" Design thinking is not the method to achieve a result, it is a mindset that can start methods to create a result. E.g Google Design Sprints and Lego Serious Play as you mention. The less we consider design thinking a method the closer we get to everyone "talking it". Like Japanese. Instead of considering design thinking standing alone or among others, it is the umbrella above the methods.