Are Design Thinking tools new?
I had the privilege to attend a great and very engaging Design Thinking workshop facilitated by Abe Salam and it has triggered a bunch of thoughts regarding some of the tools I have been using for years. In addition to that it has given me new perspectives about these tools and when to use them.
I have discovered Mural (I have been using Whimsical), learned new facilitation tips and my super power (that's another story for another day) and... back to my article.
What is Design Thinking ?
Design thinking refers to the set of cognitive, strategic and practical procedures used by designers in the process of designing, and to the body of knowledge that has been developed about how people reason when engaging with design problems. Design thinking is also associated with prescriptions for the innovation of products and services within business and social contexts. Source Wikipedia
In a nutshell, Design Thinking is a mindset that makes you use a tool (or combine many) to think about a situation in a different way. The aim can be a problem you want to solve, a new feature you want to work on, a sprint retrospective you want to facilitate in a more engaging way, the cause of your fear to take a certification :-), etc.
What are the Design Thinking tools?
Well you may not know their names or you may know these tools under different names but trust me you have been using a bunch of them for years. Let me randomly mention some of them:
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Are Design Thinking tools new?
The answer is No (I, for example, discovered the Business Model Canvas in 2012).
Is the Design Thinking concept itself new ? The answer is No (it started around 1950s)
So why is it mentioned everywhere everyday? Well I guess it is partially related to the fast pace ecosystem we are living in. The emphasis is more and more on people (the customer), we are struggling to stay on top of the competition, etc.
My two cents...
One thing is to discover a tool, another thing is to know how to use and when to use it. The interesting part of the story is that you are free to bring a tool from the context you have been using it for years for a specific case.
Remember Design Thinking is about thinking differently :-)
What's next?
I will be discussing in details some of the tools, when to use them, some of the expect outputs, etc. So stick around, I will be back soon...
Feel free to share in your network, add in the comments your thoughts, your best tool, a specific tool you will like me to talk about, anything that comes in your mind...
