Intentionally Untitled or “my thoughts about design thinking”
Gladly reflections like this one are forcing me to pick apart and set in line the random notes I wrote down at various points of the semester and force me to structure the mess of thoughts in my head. What have I meant when I wrote “design thinking = normal thinking for moments when you don’t know where to start thinking” or “human centered design sounds like the UX department in a market research institute” which sounds provocative but is just a simplification of a thought, also the cryptic formula “management + design thinking = entrepreneurship” could use a deeper analysis and interpretation from my side. So now is the time to take a detailed look at those thoughts and generally, taking a look back at my design thinking journey over the last 3 months (is a semester only 3 months? that doesn’t seem to be right).
Lets start at the beginning, this procedure has proven itself over time. I have chosen this course with the expectation to find more creative and light weighted problem solving approaches in comparison to the usual management subjects. I was under the opinion that I am already quit free in my thinking and creative power, but when sketching other people without looking at the paper in the first class, I realized how my categorical thinking is upset about not being allowed to look. I really like this exercise and tried it a few times in other occasions. It continued like that and I never doubted the decision of taking the course, although I was doubting the relevance of design thinking as a separat discipline. I felt it was difficult for me to explain other people what design thinking is, especially when I was talking with friends who are not pursuing academic studies or are not working in the management sector. What is special about the double diamond process in design thinking? Where does it distinguish itself from any other way of creating something or solving a problem? How can you deliver a product/idea without discovering, defining and developing it at first? Are there any alternatives to design thinking or would that just mean to do something without thinking about its cause and benefit? Don’t get me wrong, I often see stuff where I am certain that nobody thought about it longer than it took them to create it!
Is this toilete the reason we need design thinking as a separate module? When I wrote “design thinking = normal thinking for moments when you don’t know where to start thinking” I was relating to the process and guideline we got over the course. It does help to structure your thoughts and makes collaborating with other people more smooth and easy. Also it sets a frame on the tasks you have to do, step by step to get closer to the essence of what you are actually doing. It noticeable helped not getting lost in the process and the team was always on the same page on what we are trying to do at the moment and it prevented uncontrolled dreaming, which I am often a victim of. Solely this process oriented approach gives design thinking raison d’être. What stays for me is the question what all the other people are doing who did not took this course? Is there anything similar to design thinking when you are studying e.g., international business? As I did a business oriented undergraduate study myself (Psychology & Management), I do have some insights in that. From my perspective it takes multiple subjects to create the same outcome than doing design thinking, but they are available, more in depth and just need to be combined. If you assemble the thought knowledge of market research, consumer behavior and product management, you get very close to the design thinking diamond process, in my opinion. If you are then a process controlled person with enough self discipline to follow along a systemic path without getting lost and distracted (surely not me), you are good to go without engaging to much with design thinking books.
As I am enrolled in the Entrepreneurship program at Nova, I also need to do a reflecting observation from this angle. It seems like design thinking has a lot to do with entrepreneurial thought processes and courses of action: Finding a problem, defining and validating the problem, finding solutions, looking for proof of concept and finally checking the market fit and customer acceptance of your idea. This journey of developing a Start-Up reminds me very much of the already mentioned diamond process. This is the initial though of the formula in the beginning which stated that entrepreneurship is the sum of management and design thinking. For me, it feels like the analytic approaches of managing a business and the curiosity driven design thinking methods are leading into entrepreneurial thinking. What I really don’t want to do here is to create new terms and categories for ways of thinking! All I am trying to do is to compare it with entrepreneurship and point out the similarities.
In this reflection I tried to express my own thought process regarding design thinking as its own discipline. For some, my style of reflection may seems provocative and offensive towards the subject, but I do see it as a honest illustration of my questions and thoughts. I believe the design thinking process leads to good outcomes, although the distinction to any other research method is not clear for me. There was one line that stick to me in one of the podcasts, which stated “design thinking is common sense”.
Learning how to think and define problems to find the right solutions is crucial for us. It should be taught at both schools and universities. The only thing I am questioning is the reason why it has to be taught. It seems like we have been trained to think in categories for so long that we now need a new discipline that frees us from these closed patterns and allows us to see the whole process.
Additional Learning:
Let go of ideas | ask the stupid questions | don’t take every thought serious but speak it out | listen | move fast and forget about perfection | an ugly prototype is better than no insights | humiliate yourself — it’s great fun! | reflections are serving you more than your teacher so use it for your own clarity | if you don’t write it down you will forget it | you are the most critical judge of your own project | Post-Its are overrated | You can get emotional attached to a sumo dog | never stop playing
Tipp: If you use Netflix check out the contribution of Cas Holman in a series called Abstract (Season 2, Episode 4 — Cas Holman: design to play)
Thank you Anne-Laure and Beatriz for your efforts and guidance through this semester. Special thanks for the ice cream 🫶
