Make Space For Design Thinking: Design Thinking Transformation
Part 5 of 8 on Design Transformation
There are many tools in the design thinking toolbox:
- Design sprint*
- Business model canvas*
- Customer journey mapping
- Product journey mapping
- Experience mapping*
- Empathy mapping
- Service design blueprint*
- Inversion*
- Jobs to be done*
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Choosing the most effective framework for the problem is essential
If the only tool you have is hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail
Design sprints are a very effective way to assemble a cross-functional team and focus on your guest. I've been using the following modified design sprint timeline with effective results:
The group should consist of 5 - 6 people and a facilitator. Everyone has to be in the same space for 3 days and committed to being present (not distracted) while involved. 2 days are spent distancing the group from "solutions thinking" to identifying what matters with a focus on the user.
* Tip: prior to day 01 of the design sprint meet with key stakeholders and/or executive leadership to align on the problem space to focus on.
I love the way Blair Enns words this question, it humanizes the discussion about the ideal future-state of the product/service/experience. "What's happened that's made us so happy?" will elicit emotional (qualitative) answers as well as factual (quantitative).
After about 45 minutes of mind-mapped conversation a long-term goal will materialize. I describe the long-term goal as more proverb than paragraph, think:
Where there's smoke there's fire
An effective long-term goal says a lot in a few words.
Once a long-term goal is agreed upon the group can start listing everything needed to achieve it. This typically happens linearly from current-state to future-state.
As Charlie Munger says, "invert, invert, INVERT!" Inversion is an excellent mental model to identify fail points. Start from the future-state, remember all the things you identified that made you so happy and work your way back to current-state. List anything that would cause your project to fail.
If you're lucky, what has to be true can be overlaid sequentially with what would cause you to fail and a start of a road map of things to do and watch out for is developed.
Preparation is important for a successful design sprint but having the right people committed to make the time, to engage, and be present is paramount. Here are some things that are helpful in advance of a design sprint and a few outputs you can expect:
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This series and other content is also available on Medium here: https://uxdesign.cc/the-business-of-design-thinking-2c73b388e444
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