3 keys to design thinking as we all become more connected
The companies surviving (or even thriving) during the pandemic are the ones that understood how to efficiently and remotely serve their customers.
Example: curbside pick up or connected products that provide remote access for customer service teams. These are companies that invested in innovation and product design. A methodology for innovating and addressing customer needs that sets you up for future success (or unexpected market changes) is through Design Thinking.
In essence, design thinking is an iterative process that allows you to gauge customer insight and evolve your product or service to meet the needs of a changing market. Think of it in terms of the great Wayne Gretsky quote, “Skate to where the puck is going to be.”
Let’s look at those two words more closely. When we think about design, consider it within the context of active and purposeful planning. Thinking, in this case, should be thoughtful theory and outlooks.
Design thinking is essentially Intentional Innovation.
There are three key ways to make design thinking not only work flawlessly, but also become a part of your leadership culture.
1. Empathy over opinion
There is an old adage that says, “Brand is not what you say it is. It’s what ‘they’ say it is.” Getting a real sense of what customer groups think and feel is a vital first step in the design thinking process. There are many traps in this process though. It is very easy to grab opinions of the sales force or subjective research and make snap decisions from there.
Resist this temptation. Truly practice empathy. What does your audience feel? This might be a humbling experience. You’ll likely learn things that you did not know. The information may, or may not, be news you expect to hear.
The deeper you embrace empathy, the closer you will get to resonating with what might create customer delight. Lean into this process. Hold off on your opinion and let your audience speak.
2. Challenge everything
As you go through the process of design thinking, you will uncover insights that will be ‘Aha moments.’ These might tempt you to speed up the process and draw conclusions. Get used to saying things like, “Are we sure?” Or, “How might we confirm this?” Give reasonable challenge to every idea along the way. Why?
First off, you never want to rush to conclusions. You always benefit from taking time to add context and story behind your findings. Most importantly, as you challenge ideas, you will learn new things that reside just below the surface. Challenge does not not imply battle or debate. Actually, it is just the opposite. Challenge in order to go deeper and learn things you can use today and tomorrow.
3. Small steps
Likely, you have heard of an MVP (Minimum Viable Product). As you go through design thinking, an important final step is getting something out to the market to test and iterate. I emphasize a small step here. Try to resist the temptation to build in every feature you can think of. Boil the MVP down to its most basic components and test those. You can add in more brilliant ideas later.
Think of it as if you are setting a firm foundation upon which you can build. You are placing the foundational elements first upon which others will stand. Why is this important? First, small steps are faster and less expensive to try. You get valuable insight and you won’t spend as much time or money. Second, you will make it much easier to get feedback on the basic elements of your idea. The more complicated the MVP, the harder it will be to sort through what you find out.
Remember, design thinking is the intentional process of innovation.
It benefits from taking corporate opinion out of the equation, bringing in deep customer understanding, then learning from small steps taken. We have all been thrust into accepting technological change. We are connected despite distancing. Technology can bridge any gaps between you and your customer.
Embrace design thinking as a step along this journey. Bring along an outside perspective.