d.school bootcamp experience: finding the next breakthrough product

The Design Thinking Bootcamp that I attended Stanford d.school in September was a unique and challenging experience that I'd recommend for anyone focused on developing the next breakthrough product. The 4 day bootcamp at was a whirlwind, covering human-centered innovation methods from defining a "problem that you can fall in love with" to prototyping and testing ideas in low resolution with minimum development.

The quest to find the next breakthrough product is a humbling one, but rewarding. Our d.school faculty shared research that a pipeline of 4,000 ideas is needed to discover 2-3 successful products (Bob Sutton). Beyond a robust pipeline, the bootcamp shared the latest thinking to increase the odds of landing on a breakthrough product, and how to put empathy- based practices, techniques and tools to work. It was exciting to see how a diverse, talented set of bootcamp teams built an innovation pipeline and portfolio around the future of communication in just days.

Thank you to our d.school bootcamp faculty and all the coaches for leading us through this journey in using the latest in design thinking & strategy - Jeremy Utley , Perry Klebahn and Kathryn Velcich and Jess Kessin .

Now it's time for the fun part: the doing. I'm excited to put my new design skills into practice to develop a new data for good product within a social impact venture.