Design Thinking

Knowledge Center

What is Design Thinking? Meaning.

Design Thinking is a design-centered approach to business management opposite to analytical and left-brained thinking. When the methodology of Design Thinking is applied to business management, it is also known as Management by Design.

The concept of design thinking originates from cognitive psychology and has been used in the 60’s by scientist, economist and psychology Herbert Simon. Simon has been an active promoter of interdisciplinary research in the field of artificial intelligence, decision making econometrics, mathematics and statistics applied to business and management. In his 1969 book “The Sciences of the Artificial”, he wrote:

“Engineering, medicine, business, architecture and painting are concerned not with the necessary but with the contingent - not with how things are but with how they might be - in short, with design”.

In the original conception of Simon, Design Thinking was assimilated in the concept of Synthetic Thinking: a non-analytical thinking approach that would “randomly” combine single ideas into a more complex whole. The combination of ideas is a process of convergence rather than divergence and that is why this way of thinking is basically adopted by creative and design people who don’t like to rely exclusively on analysis or scientific approaches.

Different from Inductive and Deductive reasoning, Design Thinking can be considered an Abductive Reasoning methodology, and also resembles some features of De Bono’s Lateral Thinking and Gestalt Theory. In its original acceptation, the aim of Design Thinking was to integrate analytical scientific reasoning with a more intuitive and solution-oriented methodology to avoid occurring of Paralysis by Analysis and other typical pitfalls of rational decision making (Bounded Rationality). The methodology of Design Thinking was therefore not conceived as stand alone tool for problem solving but just a side methodology that would have integrated design and analytics, just like an integration of right and left brain thinking preferences in Herrmann's Whole Brain Model.

Profile of Design Thinkers

A design thinker’s personality profile should contain the following 5 characteristics:

1. Empathy. Considering other people and relationships with them a major aspect of life allows to share their needs and visions and observe the world from multiple perspectives.
2. Integrative Thinking.
3. Optimism. Approach problem solving with the assumption that there is always a better solution than the already existing alternatives.
4. Experimentalism. The capacity of creative questioning and exploring completely new directions.
5. Collaborative Attitude. An ever increasing complexity of needs, products and services requires interdisciplinary collaboration among team members of a project. Assuming that one person alone is not anymore sufficient to solve some issues, multidisciplinary skills and experience are at least excellent features business leaders should have.

Steps in Design Thinking. Process

In its new acceptation design thinking literally means thinking like a designer would. The process of doing so requires a creative but thorough exploration of human activities and long cycles of prototyping, testing, sometimes rethinking, and refinement of ideas. It is fundamental that at any stage no member has the fear that is idea will not be valid or wrong, because any judgment is not tolerated. The process of Design Thinking involves 7 main steps:

1. Define. Decide what issues have to be solved and their targets. If the problem is not really understood it will be hard to design a solution. Establish project prioritization. Determine project CSFs. Create a glossary of terms to avoid misunderstanding from the beginning (since often Cross Functional Teams, with members holding different backgrounds, work on the same project).
2. Research. Explore the initial issue and its history. Collect analogue cases and consider how they have been solved. See: Analogical Strategic Reasoning. Get in touch with end-users to establish learning moments for later development. Take into consideration business thinkers’ and Opinion Leaders' opinions.
3. Ideate. Track end-users specific needs and generate ideas that can help to satisfy identified needs. Brainstorm freely with project team members avoiding any early judgment of ideas. Keep ask why, why, why this is a problem, is a superior solution etc.
4. Prototype. Start working on ideas presented: discuss, develop, merge and refine ideas in order to create multiple drafts. Make a selection of ideas, judgment free, and present few drafted plans to the client. Prototyping pay seem time-consuming and expensive, but a bad, premature solution is much worse.
5. Choose. Being attained to the final project goal, select the most relevant ideas. Remember to disregard emotions and conflicts that could influence the decision, avoid easy and practical win, as they are often not the best solution, prevent occurring of Groupthink. Be neutral. To choose means to decide. Every decision is limited rationale. Restrictions define the solution space. Remember there is never a perfect solution. There are only worse and better ones. It is better to provide the best solution for a clearly defined audience, than a solution that tries to make everyone happy.
6. Implement or Delivery. Define plans, resources, actions and tasks in a timeline. Assign tasks and monitor their correct execution during project delivery.
7. Learn. Collect feedbacks internally and from end-users and relevant project data. Measure success obtained. Analyze eventual project gaps from the defined objectives and suggest improvement actions.

Forum Forum about Design Thinking. Below you can ask a question about this topic, share your experiences, report a new development, or explain something. Start a new topic about Design Thinking Share your knowledge here (or ask a question)   Design Thinking Spaces; Not Steps According to Brown and Wyatt (2010), design thinking is not a process of orderly steps. Rather, design thinking contains three so-called "spaces" that are overlapping. The authors describe the followi... 8   Book Review: Design of Business. Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage? Book: Design of Thinking. Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage? Author: Roger Martin Publisher: Harvard Business Press - 2009 Book reviewer: Maryam Saadat Master in Imagineering ... 5   🔥 NEW How to Lead Design Thinking Projects Design Thinking efforts typically are human-centered and require a deep, personal understanding of users' conditions, situations and needs. To gather such deep understanding, they Focus on connect... 3

Expert Tips Advanced insights about Design Thinking. Here you will find professional advices by experts. Tips to Develop your Design-thinking Skills Design Thinking, Value Creation, Innovation, Product Development, R&D Martin Roger (2009) argues that although chief executives probably have the highest control over a company’s directions,... Integrating Design Thinking Into your Organizational Culture Design Thinking, Design-centric Organizational Culture, Innovation Culture Where design thinking in organizations was previously related mainly to the design of products and services, it is nowad... Designing Complex Products or Systems Through Iterative Rapid-cycle Prototyping Design Thinking, Disruptive Innovation, Blue Ocean Strategy, Introducing Complex Systems, Co-Creation Today, organizations are increasingly developing and designing new and complex products or systems. In other words, the ... Why Design Thinking also Requires Business Thinking Design Thinking, Value Creation, Innovation, Product Development, R&D Design thinking can be an important way to create value, but it cannot go without business thinking. In the book “Design...

Information Sources Various sources of information regarding Design Thinking. Here you will find powerpoints, videos, news, etc. to use in your own lectures and workshops. How to Manage Creativity in Organizations Innovation Management, Managing Creativity, Managing Creative People, Fostering Creativity in Organizations, Creativity This presentation elaborates on the management of creativity in organizations, and includes the following sections: 1. ... Steps in the Design Thinking Process Design Thinking Process, Design Thinking Steps This presentation is about design thinking and focuses on its process steps. It also provides good examples. The present... Design Thinking for Innovation Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Design Thinking, CSR, Social Entrepreneurship, Social Innovation This presentation is about design thinking and the connection to social entrepreneurship. The presentation includes the ... Creative Thinking Techniques and Creative Problem Solving Methodologies Creativity, Innovation Management This presentation elaborates on the concept of creative thinking. It pays particular attention to the multiple methodolo... Introduction to Managing Creativity and Innovation Innovation Management, Managing Innovation, Managing Innovative Employees, Managing Creative Employees Presentation about Innovation and Creativity, thereby mainly focusing on creativity in organizations. The presentation i... Critical Thinking in Decision Making Critical Thinking, Testing Assumptions, Avoiding Fallacies, Avoiding Biases, Dealing with Emotions Presentation about critical thinking for decision making, including the following sections: 1. Failure of Imagination ... Design Thinking Case: Apple Design Thinking, Innovation This presentation explains Design Thinking thereby clarifying the concept with using Apple as an example. The following ... Introduction to Design Thinking Design Thinking Examples, Design Thinking Process, Innovation Brief introduction to Design thinking by Dr. N.Ramani, Emeritus Head (Technology), NTTF, India. At the end of this prese... The Seven Steps of Design Thinking Design Thinking Presentation that clearly describes the concept of Design Thinking and the processes in Design Thinking. The presentatio... Knowledge Funnel as the Starting Point for Design Thinking Design Thinking, Innovation, Business Management R. Martin argues that design-thinking companies are better able to find a balance between the examination and exploitati...

Research Links Jump to further research sources regarding Design Thinking. News Videos Presentations   Books Academic More

Compare with: Stage-Gate  |  Mind Mapping  |  System Thinking  |  Soft Systems Methodology  |  Thinkers’ Keys  |  Lateral Thinking  |  Gestalt Theory  |  Pyramid Principle  |  Bounded Rationality  |  Integrative Thinking  |  Abductive Reasoning  |  Cross-Functional Team

Return to Management Hub: Change & Organization  |  Communication & Skills  |  Decision-making & Valuation  |  Ethics & Responsibility  |  Knowledge & Intangibles  |  Leadership  |  Marketing & Sales  |  Program & Project Management

More on Management  |  Return to Management Dictionary

This ends our Design Thinking summary and forum.