Getting Started in Design Thinking for a corporate context - Part 1
In the corporate workplace, designing solutions to our daily- work challenges is necessary in a fast changing marketplace, but is not an easy feat. Either building a new software, making a faster process, or buying a new solution, we do need to understand properly the gap we are trying to solve, to be able to bridge it properly.
The Practitioner course in IBM Enterprise Design Thinking provides an free interactive track to get started in Design Thinking in 2 hours, for free, for anyone, where you will be able to apply design thinking with your team, and bring a user-centered mindset to everyday work. Which will enable you to take part of the workshops and federate the approach in your corporate environement. Moreover, it will help you get started in the actual practical course, the Design Thinking Co-Creator
Design Thinking refers the set of practices that try to tackle this kind of problems, in an efficient, strategic, and a cognitive approach. These problems are usually known as "weakly defined problems" (Wicked Problems). Figuring out the problem definition and solution is not easy in an enterprise setting, as it requires many verification efforts from information gathering to deploying experts.
Design Thinking is not just brain storming ideas, or gathering need, it is getting everybody's voice in the organization, to design a solution, prototype it, test it, and evangelize its adoption in the organization, in a light and engaging manner. Which makes is it key in change management, engineering solutions, and organizational behavior.
There are many Design Thinking guidelines that have been introduced in the market place, since the 90s, such as the Human Centered Design Kit by IDEO, the Design Thinking Bootleg by Stanford d.school, alongside IBM's Enterprise Design Thinking Field Guide, These methodologies are all rich and would require hours of reading, but the IBM Enterprise Design Thinking is fastest to get kick-started with in an enterprise setting, thanks to its open learning platform, available to everyone.
From left to right, major guidelines for Design Thinking in practice.
- Design Thinking Bootleg by Stanford d.school
- Human Centered Design - Field Guide , Design Kit by IDEO
- Enterprise Design Thinking Field Guide by IBM
Enter the Enterprise Design Thinking Path
In 2 hours, with a series of short videos, posters, and questions, you can grasp the principles, the practices, and the vocabulary, to be able to lead a workshop, or participate in it properly, through the Practitioner Course.
Through the course, you will be introduced to the history of design thinking, the loop of restless reinvention, and the need of diverse multi-disciplinary teams to get strong outcomes.
Through the LOOP, you will be able to learn each phase needed in Observing the situation, Reflecting about it, and Making the prototypes and solutions to solve it.
Through the 2 hour course, you will be able to grasp the jargon, through interactive practice exercises used in Enterprise Design Thinking, what are Hills, what are Playbacks and where to use them? who are Sponsor Users? Through audio, to videos, to drawing exercises, you will explore these concepts in practice.
For example in this exercise, you will immerse yourself in the daily work of a Booking agents at the airport, to see different perspective of different actors, passenger and agents, during rush hours.
Some sections in the course do provide Desktop Wall Papers, and memorization exercises, that you can access to increase the memorization of the key concepts.
By completing the Practitioner Course, you will be able to participate in apply design thinking with your team, and bring a user-centered mindset to everyday work. Which will enable you to take part of the workshops, introduce innovative solutions, and step-up to become a Co-Creator.
By completing the course you will earn the Practitioner standing, which will qualify you to the Co-Creator track, in Enterprise Design Thinking. In the Co-Creator track you will discover the details of the different practices of design thinking through different scenarios, and the track comes with a set of templates, presentations, and prints to use to make your team and your client successful.
