Design Thinking: What (and Who) Is It All About?

Have you come across the term (or hashtag) Human-Centered Design -- or its action-oriented cousin, Design Thinking -- and wondered... what is is that all about? I'm here to answer that question and offer another phrasing of it: who is that all about?

Design Thinking: A Primer

As its name suggests, Human-Centered Design (HCD) is an approach for solving problems or developing solutions that revolves around people. If you do a Google search for either HCD or Design Thinking, among the first page of results is this company called IDEO, a global design organization that has established itself as a leader in the space.

I first encountered IDEO, and by extension Design Thinking, in a March 2019 issue of Fortune Magazine. In the Foreword, Clifton Leaf, who is the editor of Fortune Magazine, digs into IDEO's approach to Design Thinking. Leaf referenced a line from IDEO CEO, Tim Brown, that has since become my unofficial motto: "We are learning to think not about nouns ('How might we design a better voting machine?') but of verbs: 'What would be a better way to enhance the democratic experience?'"

(I wish I had the page number for a proper citation, but if you're reading this, Mr. Leaf, just know that I'm a big fan. Also thanks for reading, Clif!)

The line came from an essay written by Tim Brown that was adapted from his book Change by Design. The beauty of the book is that it takes the concept of Design Thinking, which has been around for decades, and breaks it out of the purely tangible product design mold it is often placed. The example presented in the Fortune Magazine Foreword was about redesigning LA County's electoral system. Seeing that a relatively simple problem solving approach that's part methodology and part mindset can be applied at such scale was eye-opening and almost jarring. The possibilities are endless.

But how many of you have ever redesigned the electoral system of one of America's largest metropolitan areas? I definitely haven't. I found it a little difficult to relate, so I came up with my own (slightly embarrassing but poignant) example.

Hitting Close to Home

I was having issues with water pooling on the floor of the bathroom after taking a shower. Using my acute skills for troubleshooting, I diagnosed that the issue was caused by a draft blowing the shower curtain up, creating a gap that allowed water to escape. I knew the solution required some way to keep the curtain from moving. After some light research, I found an inexpensive fix: shower curtain clips (pictured below).

I learned from the reviews that some customers complained that the shower curtain didn't fit the clip, so the first thing I did when the clips were delivered was walk up to the side of my tub and test them on my curtain. It fit, check!

I also knew that adhesive strips sometimes only stick to clean surfaces, so I took care to clean the tile thoroughly. Then I measured out where I wanted to stick them to ensure optimal effectiveness. After methodically testing and measuring, ensuring that I had found the optimal solution, I peeled the cover off and stuck them to my tile. I tested them once again for good measure, and to my delight the curtain popped in with minimal effort and stayed secured. I had successfully implemented a solution to my problem.

But there was one problem . . . all of this was done while I was standing outside of my tub.

(When I share this story in presentations, I always pause and ask for a show of hands of how many people take a shower standing outside of their tub. It usually gets a chuckle, but consistently no one raises their hands, because duh.)

Unfortunately, I didn't realize the error of my ways until the next day when I was actually taking a shower (you know, inside the tub) and I couldn't use the clips. They were facing the opposite direction making clipping the curtain nearly impossible.

Moral of the Story

I had designed and implemented a solution from the perspective of a designer/developer/engineer, NOT of the user. The most ironic part, and why it's a funny story to tell, is that I was the user. I bought the clips for me to use in my shower. The only variable was my perspective.

IDEO's approach to HCD revolves around empathy for the end-user. IDEO designers identify what a user really wants by doing two things:

• Observing user behavior
• Putting yourself in the situation of the end-user

And the designers trust that by revolving around the needs of end-users, the right solution will always emerge. So, if I had put myself in the situation of the end-user (that is, a person taking a shower) I wouldn't still have water pooled on my bathroom floor.

What this Means for You

If you still have the Google search for Design Thinking up, you'll be able to find a treasure trove of techniques. IDEO maintains their tools, resources and courses on their website at https://www.ideo.org/tools. They even have a three-step process, which is also conveniently an alliteration: Inspiration, Ideation, Implementation. And, of course, there's the entire Agile methodology, which revolves around users, customers and the Agile team to develop valuable products.

Be forewarned, many HCD techniques involve lots of sticky notes, so start stocking up now.

As you can see, there's no lack of how-tos or tips-and-tricks. But what do they all have in common? If we simmered all these on low heat for 12 hours, what would it consist of in its most concentrated form?

Start with the Who, What and Why

When I facilitate a Design Thinking workshop (or just want to keep overly-eager clients from getting ahead of themselves), I start with the who, the what and the why. Phrased as questions:

• Who are the people involved or affected (i.e., users, stakeholders)?
• What is the problem we're solving or outcome we're trying to achieve, overall and for each of those stakeholders?
• And, why? In my experience, why questions are better when phrased as what questions, so more specifically: What's the source of the problem? What's the purpose of this particular outcome?

After you've collected all of this, you validate. It's possible that by going through this process, you've jostled something loose in your client's brain and they only realize what's missing after the fact. Or, perhaps, they've come to realize that their initial goal or problem isn't the root, and you might have to go through another round to discover what the true driver is. If you're pairing this with an Agile framework, you can repeat this process at every Sprint Review or after the delivery of an MVP/MMF to gain feedback and elicit additional requirements.

Bonus: Get that ROI

When designing solutions or carrying out a change program for organizations, one of the first (and oft-dreaded) questions is, "What's the ROI?" The good news is that if you follow the who, what, why process, then you already know. You've identified the stakeholders. You've inventoried their needs, and you know what returning value actually looks like. And that's all before you start building the darn thing.

And then Focus on the How

Only after you've fully contemplated who, what, and why of the design or solution, are you ready to get to the how. The how is the implementation, whether that's building a new feature for an app or re-engineering business processes for an organization. (Or redesigning the LA electoral system!)

The implementation becomes very context-specific very quickly, so my general recommendation is to take advantage of an Agile approach to deliver to solutions to the right people at the right time.

Read my article demystifying Agile techniques here.

In Conclusion

I hope I've demonstrated the power of Design Thinking as a set of principles and that these principles aren't prescriptive. By centering solutions around (and being empathetic for) the people they're meant to help, I can guarantee that the solution will be far superior to any other approach (re: the puddles on my bathroom floor).

References

I include inline links to all of my resources, but for additional convenience, the full list is provided below in the order they were referenced:

"What’s the difference between human-centered design and user experience design?" Francesca Elisia, 20 August 2017, https://blog.prototypr.io/whats-the-difference-between-human-centred-design-and-user-experience-design-2f48e5c9be25.

IDEO Design Thinking History, https://designthinking.ideo.com/history.

Change by Design book synopsis, https://www.ideo.com/post/change-by-design.

“IDEO's Human Centered Design Process.” UserTesting Blog, 9 May 2019, www.usertesting.com/blog/how-ideo-uses-customer-insights-to-design-innovative-products-users-love/.

“Using Human-Centered Design to Create Better Products (with Examples).” Caroline Forsey,.blog.hubspot.com/marketing/human-centered-design.

"What is a Sprint Review?", Scrum.org, https://www.scrum.org/resources/what-is-a-sprint-review

"MVP vs. MMF – What’s the Difference?" Excella / Fadi Stephan, https://www.excella.com/insights/mvp-vs-mmf-whats-the-difference.