My First Week of Design Thinking for Entrepreneurship was an Enjoyable One
Reflecting on the beginning of an awesome course!
So … am I going to become a designer?
When I initially heard about this program I assumed that I would learn the theory behind design and learn how to use design software that would help me improve my design skills. This is one of my goals for the year so of course I was interested in it! Whereas before Robleh, founder of Tiny Hearts (the company where I work) used to ask me about my interest in the program, to gauge whether it was an investment worth making, it wasn’t long before I was the one who was reminding him that it would soon start!
Time and time again I’ve found that expectations and reality can be quite different, and that’s what I discovered in the first week of DC Edu. After reading the syllabus and going through the first week of this class it’s clear that the program has a broader and deeper goal to teach us important principles that will help us build the frameworks to help us solve real world business problems. Business problems that entrepreneurs and startups face on a daily basis. Being involved in a few startups there’s not a doubt in my mind that I’m going to learn some knowledge in this course. I’m excited.
Introductions and assumptions
The first week was an introductory week. The same way in your first university class, or two, you would get to know the professor, meet your classmates and know exactly what you’ll be studying during the year, and it was the same for us. In our first class of the program I met the classmates who I will be spending the next 6–12 weeks with and got a better understanding of DC Edu by answering the question:“What is Design Thinking?”
There are many definitions, but to sum them up, “Design thinking is a structured way of approaching a problem”, and design thinking for entrepreneurs is basically having a structured way to approach the problems that entrepreneurs face, which are many.
Affinity Diagrams, Mind Maps, and OKRs.
In our second class we learnt about affinity diagramming and mind mapping. Affinity mapping is used to understand large amounts of data and helps identify contextual relationships between data as well as “unseen issues”.
What was really beneficial was the exercise that we did to apply this concept. After making my own mind map and relating it to the different stakeholders essential to my success, I aligned the result to my goals and got a clearer picture of how I can achieve my goals and objectives.
Through the workshop, we established identified the different levels of relationships we have with our stakeholders, and I was able to see who I should reach out to to help me accomplish my own goals.
I admit it, this class is awesome!
I enjoy Mustafa’s teaching style and the way he uses examples from his experience to help us understand the content and how we as a class are helping each other learn. Since we have different industry backgrounds and various skills we all have something valuable to bring to our discussions which will give us different ways of thinking and approaching problems and solutions. Tyler and Janakan are designers, so they’re going to bring examples that relate to their work with clients and their design practice. Lailee however has a Masters in Architecture so I’m curious to see how the theories we learn correlate to the architectural theory she learned. Raphael is an entrepreneur so he will benefit from this course as he applies the learnings to his start-up, while Ruslan can apply what he’s learning to managing projects and finding solutions for his clients.
Looking to the next 3 months
Steve Jobs is quoted as saying:
“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it’s this veneer — that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
It’s a quote we here often. The first module of this program isn’t going to make me a designer in the sense that I’ll be proficient with using design software and learn how to make the most visually appealing interfaces. Rather, it’s going to help me design the way I think to help solve the business challenges that I face on a daily basis. From what I’ve learned so far, I’m really looking forward to the remaining 5 weeks because there’s not a doubt in my mind that the frameworks and mental models I build will give me the tools I need to tackle problems head on and find practical solutions.
Quadri O.
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I hope you enjoy reading about my journey as a student of Design Thinking for Entrepreneurship & Product Design for Business Growth. If you liked this piece please click recommend, share and feel free to reach out.
