A Realistic Design Thinking Experience Just under One Hour!

Last Friday (11/03/2022) at Allianz Lanka, we had the IT All Hands Gathering for the year 2022. The event was organized to increase collaboration between all the IT units at Allianz from Project Management, Business Analysis, Development, Quality Assurance, Infrastructure to Operations. The event mixed them together in 5 teams and provided with hands on activities to increase team work and collaboration. The highlight of the event was the Design Thinking activity where each team designed a solution to an existing Business Problem. As Design Thinking is a very effective activity that can be used in Solution Design of a Software project by project teams, I will have an article written solely on it for the BA's in the future.

The Design Thinking activity used at the event was on a self modelled method which is based on Design Thinking holistically. A big thank goes to Cipson Thomas who is an Agile coach from Allianz Technologies India who conducted sessions on how to model the activity beforehand with the local team according to the time frame, environment of the activity being held and people who are participating tackling many problems that can arise beforehand.

This article covers how this newly modelled method was used for Design Thinking, practically in a very short time frame at the All Hands event with a very successful execution. At least a teams takes up to one week for a full design thinking activity. Thinking on the limited time frame and setup, this was done as a rapid solution design session under an one hour period. How it was done, is elaborated in the article. You can also try the same at your organization and have a good collaboration between team members and most importantly create a fun experience for the team members while they are actively engaging.

When it comes to Design Thinking, almost all of you might have heard the word some where but haven't actually experienced it or knows how to use. The basic definition of Design Thinking can be given as a structured method of solving problems. This can be any practical problem that need to be solved, not only software. following are the main steps in Design Thinking process.

1. Empathize - Step in which the end user's needs are identified for a a given problem.
2. Define - Step where problem is defined and analyzed to find the root causes.
3. Ideate - Stage where you come up with solutions for the defined problem.
4. Prototype - Creating the explanatory model of the solution you had created for end user. Can be wireframes if it's a software solution.
5. Test - End user testing a testable version of the prototype to check whether it suits their need.

At the event the middle three sections of the Design thinking process are taken. Which are Define, Ideate and Prototype to arrive with a solution to the business problem. At the execution stage Empathy was also used with the Define stage where when going for root cause, user's needs are also considered.

The business problem is given at that moment of the event for the five teams. Final winner is decided by the judges from the best suited solution to this given problem. This is a very rapid solution design activity at a limited time frame which tests the creativity at speed.

This is how the activity was conducted,

Before hand the teams are divided. Each team, the team composition is of nine individuals out of which one person is the facilitator. There are likewise five teams facilitated by a one chief facilitator. Teams are given five areas with a table with all the utensils they need with the team logo on the wall. There activity area is the wall space below the team logo.

At first the problem statement from the judges are put on the screen. The problem statement came from a real world scenario that the company face. Then five minutes were given for the teams to ask questions. After that it is the 1st step, which is to define the problem, where team are asked to come with the root causes. For this the "1,2,4 All" of Liberating Structures was used. Apart from "1,2,4 All", there are other 34 Liberating Structures to generate ideas. At first to do 1,2,4 All every member of the team should be silent for 1 minute and think for the root cause for the problem. Which is the "1" of "1,2,4 All". This 1 minute is important as this give space for everyone to think from themselves. If not done in such a way, the most dominant persons ideas will come up and no one will give themselves to space to think. Therefore the 1 in 1,2,4 All give everyone equal opportunity. They will write down their ideas in sticky notes. And then starts the "2". At this step two persons will gather. Team members are advised to join with the person next to him/her, but not with the friends. Then these two will discuss their ideas for 2 minutes and do adjustments to their ideas, combine them or filter them within that time period.

Then it is "4". At this step 2 pairs will get together and will discuss their ideas in groups of 4. After that it is "All" where everyone of the team will get together and discuss each teams filtered or improved ideas for 4 minutes. There, they will select the best ideas, in this scenario the root cause. They will use the wall in front of them through out this process and finally all the sticky notes with ideas will be at one place and ranked accordingly. Though they filter the ideas, no one will remove the ideas from the wall. The story of how they came up with the best root cause out of all to the problem, are there for the team to narrate at the end to the judges. All the steps in 1,2,4 All are time boxed and the chief facilitator announces when the time is up. The complete time for the activity is 11 minutes.

Teams going through "1", writing down their individual ideas in 1 minute.

Teams going through "2", Coupling with the person next to discuss the ideas.

Teams going through "4", Couples getting together in 4s to discuss ideas.

All, full team coming together to discuss the filtered ideas from steps before.

As the root cause is found, next step is to come up with solutions for the cause. In the same way, teams went through 1,2,4, All to come up with solution. Another use of this activity is, it reduces the complete time as the teams are discussing ideas parallelly. Likewise it can manage time in a larger setup with higher effectiveness and precision.

After the solutions are discussed it is the main stage where 25 minutes were given for teams to depict their solution on the wall using anything in hand. They can do prototyping within this time period and elaborate and use the wall using their creativity. To make sure that creativity and originality was there, no restrictions were put at this stage. Therefore, they can express them selves in any method that suits.

Team having their Root causes aligned on the wall with the best ranked on top.

A solution by a team at the end of 25 minutes.

Finally when the time was up, the judge board went from team to team, checking their walls. The team members are given the task to explain to judges, from root cause and solution identification using "1,2,4 All" to the solution they had depicted on the wall in a limited time frame of few minutes. Questioned are then raised by the judges to see how fitting the solution given by teams suiting the problem statement. Finally choosing the best, most realistic, creative and the fitting solution as the winner.

Teams presenting the solutions to the Judges.

So, this is how the Design Thinking activity was modelled accordingly at the IT All Hands meeting in Allianz. And used to suite the situation and time frame ending the rapid solution design under 1 hour. At the activity, the solutions had came from a wide array of thinking spectrums as the team composition is of IT colleagues working in various departments. This diversity was reflected in the solutions they had depicted on the walls. But most importantly what the activity had done is team building and collaboration among various units. Which is the main intention of the full event this year.