What is Design Thinking?
Design Thinking was originally developed as a process for creative designers but has wider business and social applications.
Why use it?
It is a positive, creative approach for the initial parts of solution development. It is a good way of getting fresh, new ideas into an existing organisation. Thinking outside of the box is one way of describing it.
Related Practices
It can be used as part of a Discovery Session or as part of a wider development project.
Who do you need?
- relevant business and technical stakeholders. You may want to run the Stakeholder Mapping activity beforehand.
- these should include; business owners; lead architects (development and operations); developers and operations team members, IT management
Suggested Time
- 2-3 hours
Difficulty
- Facilitator: Medium
- Participants: Easy
Facilitation Materials Needed
- Whiteboard which will hold sticky notes.
- Whiteboard markers
- Stickies
- A relatively large room, with an informal layout which allows people to access walls, flip-charts etc
Process Phase
During the early parts of the project when the wider aims and objectives are being set. It can be used for initial development or to come up with different strategies or approaches to an existing piece of work.
External References
The classic Design thinking shopping trolley video is a good place to start.
There is some excellent Stanford University Crash Course material to follow and learn how to run a design thinking session Virtual design thinking course
