Summary from The Front End of Innovation Conference, May 2006.

Business people don’t need to understand designers better, but to adopt design principles into their problem solving approach.

Design Thinking is a different method of problem solving which stems from how designers manage the world. The core principles: Every project is an opportunity for invention. Start differently to end differently. Leave the world better than you found it.

Designers at Proctor & Gamble historically were called at the end of the project for superficial decoration. Design thinking puts designers and several other critical personas together at the inception of the project. The power of design is leveraged at the beginning and all through the development.

Levels of Design Understanding:

1. Clueless – The TV remote is an example. It’s not intuitive or friendly, from packaging to end product.

2. Style – Make things look good. Communicate brand or emotional connection.

3. Function & Form – Make things work better. Examples: The entire experience from hotel reservation through check-in, stay and checkout.

4. Problem Solving/Framing – Find new business opportunities or entire new industries by asking different questions. Design for the user experience, not for competitive features and benefits.

Claudia Kotchka’s Principles of Design Thinking:

1. Make it user centric through a deep understanding of user habits, need – physical and emotional.

2. Make it collaborative. Never work alone. There is no one right answer, so it’s not cheating to share information. A mix of skills are essential. (See  Ten Faces of Innovation) 

3. Challenge Mental Models. Ask different questions. The problem will look different, requiring a different type of solution.

4. Abductive. Start with prototype solution and test it. Learn backwards and logic the way to explain the result.

5. Experimental. Designers prototype with visual and tangible models. It’s easier to discuss something you can see. Prototyping starts the dialogue. It’s not the solutions, but first of a continuous series, if possible solutions. The second version can be radically different.

Example of design thinking:

Situation: The Mr. Clean brand represents powerful cleaning products, but not often used outside the kitchen. The challenge was to get Mr. Clean into the bathroom.

The traditional analytical process explores qualitative data: How often is the bathroom is cleaned. What are specific dirt problems are encountered? Watch consumers clean. Determine their thoughts on time, effectiveness of products and define who does the task. Brainstorming solutions identifies multiple solutions. Concept test gets reactions and advances the discussion. Most popular options determine the formula for testing. Consumers test the new products and compare. A business case, packaging and launch strategies are created.

The design thinking process applied to the same problem begins with creation of an integrated team: Marketers, Human Factor Expert, Designers, Engineer - variety plus diversity. P&G partnered with IDEO, and immediately reframes the question: How do we give people Saturday morning back? How can we reinvent bathroom cleaning?

Next steps include observing extreme users – professional cleaners and bachelors. How to different groups approach the problem? This reveals a variety of new possibilities.

Ideas are quickly converted to visuals and discuss tangible images collaboratively. Next, convert several ideas to prototypes. Test these with users. Involve users in the dialogue. What do they think, like, hate? Create multiple revisions and cycle through consumer test and feedback to close in on a workable solution.

When customers don’t want to give the prototypes back, you know you’re getting close.

Example Result: The final format was Mr. Clean MagicReach, radically different from the bottled product they started with.

User centered. Extreme users for inspiration. Interate with users all the way through.

Collaborative team. Everyone contributes from different expertise.

Challenge mental models. Assume nothing. Look at the higher problem concept.

Abductive thinking. Generate solutons. What if?

Prototypes and Iterate. Experimentaton

These principles work in service industries, products,

Prototype with audio, video, dance, acting, whatever works.

Keys to success:

1. Culture fit. Can the organization with the ambiguity of a design thinking approach? Designers love ambiguity, collaborative, wall-free work space. It can be messy. Let accidents happen. Let things flow.

2. Are key stakeholders willing to engage? It’s not about the design. It’s about the process.

3. The process is not linear. Chaos generates prototypes which evolve into a design. It appears that there is no process. Be prepared.

4. It’s requires long term commitment. Resources and support are critical. Don’t constrain with demands. Let the process grow solutions.

Parting notes: Learn more

1. Help senior leaders understand design thinking. Spend a day at a design school. Understand how non-linear processes work. Get comfortable the culture of creativity. Understand how to reframe questions. It’s not engineering school.

2. Read material outside your real. Examples: The Art of Innovation, Creating Breakthrough Products, Mental floss, Print and Communication Arts magazines.

3. Practice reverse mentoring. Take a field trip with a designer. Learn to see what they see. Listen to what they observe.

4. Attend a conferences outside your field to open up a new dialogue.

5. Finally: Take the design thinking principles and just try it!

Agree? Disagree? Please add your comment below.

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