And Now for ... Design Thinking

Design thinking is a method used for solving complex problems - and it is rapidly becoming an essential tool for simplifying and ‘humanising’ the way we experience technology today.

First used in the process of making physical objects, it is now increasingly being applied to more complex, intangible issues, such as how a customer experiences a service.

As leadership expert Jon Kolko explains in a recent article for the Harvard Business Review, the crux of design thinking is using a physical model or ‘design artifact’ to explore, define and communicate something to the customer.

These models, which are often in the form of diagrams and sketches, take the place of the traditional spreadsheets, specifications or other documents, and explain in a ‘non-linear’ (or less technical) way, exactly what the product or service is all about.

For example, at the US Department of Veteran Affairs they use a design artifact called a ‘customer journey map’ to understand veterans’ emotional highs and lows in their interactions with the VA.

This provides an alternative way for the veterans to understand what the department does - while also allowing the department to develop new and strategic ways to change and improve.

User experience is at the heart of design thinking, so it is not surprising huge companies such as GE and IBM are currently harnessing it to create new design studios that will assist in explaining and modernising enterprise software for today’s users.

This type of expansion and thinking can of course, be applied to any established company that wishes to globalise its business.

A good example might be inventing processes that can adjust to different cultural contexts.

In fact, every company wishing to compete globally on innovation rather than just efficiency should consider adopting design thinking as a core competency.

On another front, design-centric organisations are also using prototypes as part of their design thinking to help develop solutions for existing problems.

These prototypes - often in the form of new ideas, products or services – are usually digital, physical or diagrammatic.

Indeed, the most innovative and design-centric companies are using prototyping on a regular basis - as it can help them convert basic ideas into breakthroughs.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab in the US has a motto, “Demo or die,” which recognises that only the act of prototyping can transform an idea into something truly valuable.

Of course, ‘transformative’ innovation will always have its risks, especially if it is something that has never been done before; and there is no way to guarantee its outcome.

It is also important to remember design thinking can’t solve all of an organisation’s problems.

While it can help cut through complexity and is great for innovation and forward planning, it should not be regarded as a formula for business success.

It does however; create a dynamic workplace; one where people want to work; and one that responds quickly to changing business dynamics by empowering individual contributors.

As US management expert Michael Graber explains in a recent article on US management website Inc.com, design thinking can transform employees - as it exposes them to empathy and storytelling - and uses the process to define, prototype, test and co-create.

At his Memphis-based innovation and strategy studio, Graber works with many different organisations on design solutions that help create empathy for both employees and customers.

Graber says working on design thinking in small to medium groups can achieve spectacular results - often causing an amazing ‘co-creation’ of ideas between them.

And this in turn can lead to some amazing breakthroughs; something we can all appreciate, whatever line of work we are in.