Design Thinking – The way of Leaders

Design thinking has quickly become a norm in the world. Much is being said and talked about. I came across the term “Design Thinking” about 6 months ago when Santhan spoke about how the Patanjali Yoga Sutras are structured. Been exploring the term and its meaning since then.

As I understand it, Design Thinking is a process of problem solving that enables efficient and effective solutioning. I cannot but agree with different thought leaders that a Design Thinking approach to problem solving is perhaps the most efficient method. I also totally agree that design thinking is an attitude, the attitude that produces the leaders who are capable of transforming the world.

Design thinking is not just for designers. Its for all leaders, managers and people who are faced with complex challenges and want to solve them. Its unfortunately not taught at school though I wish it was, but its perhaps the most important tool in the arsenal of a transformational leader.

From reading and my own experience I think that Design Thinking can be divided in to a 3 step process. The three steps are not linear but an iterative cycle.

• Articulating the challenge
• Understanding the constraints
• Creating a solution

This is obviously not as simplistic as it sounds. There is much texture to each stage of the process and as I apply it more, I’m able to understand the process that better. Also like I said earlier, its an attitude to apply the process/principle to all situations, including understanding design thinking.

Each step of the process is paramount. Without definitive clarity on the challenge, it is very difficult to conceive a good solution. There are several ways to go about articulating the problem. One of the methods to arrive at a good problem statement is empathy. Its my personal favourite. The more we can listen deeply to those connected with the problem, the better we are able to articulate the problem statement.

When I talk of understanding constraints, it refers to those parameters related to the problem that cannot be overlooked during design. Brainstorming is a very effective tool in being able to populate the constraints involved. More often than not there are several unstated constraints in the problem statement. The more exhaustive the understanding of constraints, the more effective the solution. I’ve seen that it also helps in prioritizing the constraints.

The final stage is to create the solution. This is the answer to the problem statement, based on the constraints pertaining to the problem. Prototyping is often discussed as a very effective tool. A friend once said “Fail.Fast.Forward” Creating quick and dirty prototypes ready for deployment is a good approach in creating the solution. I’ve personally not been able to make much progress in prototyping, but try to make it one of the constraints of my design process. It has worked particularly well when the solution is only for private consumption.

Each stage thus is important, there is no by-passing, and each stage is complex yet simple. Over the years I’ve come to believe much in experiential learning. The best way to learn and cultivate design thinking is to consciously apply it. It will soon become a way of life.

I’ve collected some good resources to understand Design Thinking http://bit.ly/hLd9qQ These resources have helped me shape my understanding of design thinking and have given me the vocabulary to get deeper into my practice. It gets me to believe, one doesn’t necessarily need to go to design school to learn design thinking!

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