Design Thinking: A creative approach to problem solving.

The next time you encounter an obstacle, give the design thinking method a try. I have found it really helpful.

Inthe world of startup incubation, Design Thinking is compared and contrasted with the Lean Startup approach. Lean Startup approaches product development from an engineering mindset. It is more quantitative where Design Thinking is more intuitive and creative.

The process and steps have been systematized by great designers like Tim Brown of IDEO and Stanford’s design faculty.

Design thinking is an approach to solving problems and developing products. It has grown out of the Silicon Valley startup culture as a competitive advantage in creating products and branding companies.

The Lean Startup methodology came out of business and engineering thinking about creating a standardized process for developing startups that manage risk and ups the odds of success. Design Thinking is a methodology that evolved out of the design field. It is more creative and aesthetic in its approach and concept, and entrepreneurs have adopted it.

Like Lean Startup, Design Thinking is also an iterative process that focuses on understanding potential customers’ needs, testing ideas, and searching for product/market fit. It is a user-centered way to conceive and create successful products.

Designers use this approach to solve complex problems and find optimal solutions. A design mindset is solution-focused and action-oriented. Design Thinking incorporates imagination, intuition, and logical reasoning to explore possibilities and shape them into outcomes that benefit the end-user.

Design thinking is an inquisitive open-ended process. It looks at issues from the customer’s perspective. It is initially about generating empathy with customers and their needs and wants.

The necessary steps in the Design Thinking process are:

· Empathy

· Define

· Ideate

· Prototype

· Test

“Design thinking can be described as a discipline that uses the designer’s sensibility and methods to match people’s needs with what is technologically feasible and what a viable business strategy can convert into customer value and market opportunity.”

Tim Brown CEO, IDEO

Like Lean Startup, Design Thinking is based on building a Minimal Viable Product, a product with enough features to gather meaningful feedback to see what’s working and double down on those features that moved the needle.

Design Thinking is a systematic innovation process for gaining deep customer understanding and deciding which features and which products to design and launch.

The next time you encounter an obstacle, give the design thinking method a try. I have found it really helpful.

Design thinking is an alternative to Lean Startup as a methodology.

Both methods are not mutually exclusive. They both strive to serve customers’ needs through a systematic, low-risk path to innovating in the face of uncertainty.

Good design can be a game-changer.

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