Design + Lean = Thinking Startup
Three experts sat down to chat about Lean Startup and Design Thinking…Here their thoughts.
Here is an overview of what the conversation was about and how these two processes can converge into great outcomes.
By the way, these are the guys that I’m talking about:
-Eric Ries (Author “The Lean Startup”)
-Tim Brown (CEO, IDEO — Author “Change by Design” )
-Jake Knapp (Design Partner, Google Venture)
Here interview
Let’s do a little introduction about what these two concepts are, by what these experts have established.
Design Thinking
[…] design thinking is neither art nor science nor religion. It is the capacity, ultimately, for integrative thinking. 85
Design is about delivering a satisfying experience. Design thinking is about creating a multipolar experience in which everyone has the opportunity to participate in the conversation. 192
Tim Brown — “Change by Design”
In other words
Lean Startup
“Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop is at the core of the Lean Startup model.”
“We must learn what customers really want, not what they say they want or what we think they should want.”
Eric Ries — “The Lean Startup”
In a simple way
A common Denominator
From a first glance, we might realize that these two concepts expose different ideas on how the innovative process must be approached and where it is applied.
While the Design Thinking is commonly used as a process to find creative solutions to complex and specific problems inside organizations, the Lean Startup framework is mostly used to develop a business idea from the ground.
But besides these differences, these concepts are intertwined in a common basis; both are sustained under a “Customer Centric” approach.
Lean Startup and Design Thinking start by defining a problem, who are those dealing with the issue and how to create a valuable solution to solve it.
Many of these concepts fail, because the developed products do not solve an actual problem for the user. Those products are not desirable—nobody really needs or wants them, and hence nobody is going to buy them. -DESIGN THINKING VS. LEAN STARTUP: A COMPARISON OF TWO USER-DRIVEN INNOVATION STRATEGIES (Roland M. MUELLER and Katja THORING)
This two processes are sustained on the idea of “Fail fast, succeed faster”
The crossroads of Design and Lean
Given this fundamental similarity, both concepts should be complementary to maximize the positive outcomes from our daily work. Something that Jake Knapp goes into great depth over, during the conversation.
With Google Ventures, they have created a particular methodology of work for their funded startups. A framework that combines the best of the Design Thinking and Lean Startup, called “Design Sprint.”
“Since we want to move fast and they want to move fast, we’ve optimized a process that gets us predictably good results in five days or less. We call it a product design sprint, and it’s great for getting unstuck or accelerating projects that are already in motion.” — Jake Knapp
Design Sprint is born from the Lean Startup fast iteration processes and learning loops based on quantitative evaluations, adding the qualitative research methods used in Design Thinking to evaluate problems and potential solutions.
Basically;
Design Thinking + Lean Startup = “Thinking Startup”
WARNING! THIS IS NOT A SILVER BULLET FOR SUCCESS
Don’t waste your time looking for the “Secret Formula to Success,” it doesn’t exist.
“Those who look to adopt the lean start-up as a defined set of steps or tactics will not succeed”. He goes on to say that “ultimately, the lean start-up is a framework, not a blueprint of steps to follow. It is designed to be adapted to the conditions of each specific company” [emphasis added]. -Eric Ries (By Richard Hughes-Jones Medium post)
Combining both processes we can find incredible tools and frameworks to develop our strategies and potential business ideas.
The beauty about this is that we still need to depend on other invaluable strengths — resilience, execution, hard work, etc — in order to succeed.
P.S. If you found value in this article, it would mean a lot to me if you hit the recommend button, I would love to hear your comments! Let’s connect at @mati_honorato
Any grammar, spelling or punctuation mistake, please let me know. So I can keep improving my english…my best to all of you!
