In this post, I will summarise design thinking by sharing the 7 key takeaways on Design Thinking. I learnt these from Soham Mondal, the design thinking mentor at Google for Startups.
1. Design thinking is a mindset to find practical solutions using a user-centred approach. Focus on the keywords mindset, practical solutions, and user-centred as these define design thinking further as explained in the points below.
2. You can use design thinking not just to define the product but also to solve problems you’re stuck with, as well as to inject speed into the process.
So design thinking can be used in the entire lifecycle. It doesn’t just apply to coming up with product ideas but also to solving programs throughout the lifecycle and also to accelerating the process.
3. The design thinking process has 5 steps:
Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test.
4. Empathize: Follow and observe your user, know who they are and what they say (interview) vs what they do (observe).
5. Define: the problem they face in various ways – Use this template:
User X is a (define persona) who wants to (state user need) but struggles because (state obstacle).
This template is complete once you’re able to define the persona, find the user’s need, and the obstacle they’re facing to fulfil that need.
6. Ideate: how you can solve the problems and which ones you will focus on solving!
Use how might we statements to help here.
*How might we help (user) support her (need) despite the (obstacle)
7. Prototype: Build an MVP first. Make sure it can be tested. And then Test and validate it with users.
As you can see the first 2 stages have more to do with the users, then the third stage is us ideating solutions, and finally, the last 2 stages are about prototyping and testing to validate the solution.
These were the key takeaways from Soham Mondal on Design Thinking. All the best!