Design Thinking

© 2018 IBM CORPORATION
Human-centered
outcomes at
speed and scale
At IBM, we define design as the intent behind an outcome.
We use design thinking to form intent by developing
understanding and empathy for our users.
FROM PROBLEMS TO SOLUTIONS

Get the latest version
Enterprise Design Thinking is our approach to applying
This field guide is updated frequently. design thinking at the speed and scale the modern
Anyone can download the latest version at enterprise demands. It’s a framework for teaming and
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action. It helps
IBMers can order printed copies and leave
feedback at ibm.biz /fieldguide-ibmers
our teams not only form intent, but deliver outcomes—
outcomes that advance the state of the art and improve
the lives of the people they serve.
What’s inside?
Divided into two sections, this field guide provides a high-level
overview of Enterprise Design Thinking:
LEARNING IT LEADING IT
A summary of the A quick reference for
fundamental concepts facilitating essential
of Enterprise Design Thinking Enterprise Design Thinking
activities on your team
© 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W © 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W

LEARNING IT
Enterprise Design Thinking:

User-centered design The Principles
Design as a professional discipline has undergone a tremendous SEE PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS FROM A NEW POINT OF VIEW
evolution in the last generation from a practice focused mainly on Before you start your journey, embrace the principles of Enterprise
aesthetic style to one with a clear and explicit focus on the “user” Design Thinking: a focus on user outcomes, diverse empowered
(aka: person or group of people who use a product or service) and teams, and a spirit of restless reinvention.
their hopes, desires, challenges, and needs.
By establishing empathy with the user, designers are able to work

toward outcomes that meet those needs more successfully. A FOCUS ON USER OUTCOMES
This user-centered approach known as “design thinking” enables Our users rely on our solutions to get their jobs done
designers and others to address a wide range of complex business everyday. Success isn’t measured by the features
and social issues. and functions we ship—it’s measured by how well
we fulfill our users’ needs.
DIVERSE EMPOWERED TEAMS

“Designers don’t try Diverse teams generate more ideas than homoge-
to search for a solution until they neous ones, increasing your chance of a breakthrough.
Empower them with the expertise and authority to
have determined the real problem, and even
turn those ideas into outcomes.
then, instead of solving that problem, they stop to
consider a wide range of potential solutions. Only
then will they finally converge upon their proposal. RESTLESS REINVENTION
This process is called design thinking.” Everything is a prototype. Everything—even in-market
solutions. When you think of everything as just anoth-
—Don Norman,
er iteration, you’re empowered to bring new thinking
author, The Design of Everyday Things
to even the oldest problems.
Learn more
Learn more about the Principles at ibm.biz/ThePrinciples

2

LEARNING IT
Enterprise Design Thinking: Enterprise Design Thinking:

The Loop The Keys
UNDERSTAND USERS’ NEEDS AND DELIVER SCALE YOUR PRACTICE TO COMPLEX PROBLEMS
OUTCOMES CONTINUOUSLY AND COMPLEX TEAMS
At the heart of Enterprise Design Thinking is a behavioral model If every problem could be solved by a handful of people, the Loop
for understanding users’ needs and envisioning a better future: would be enough. But in the real world, complex problems call for
a continuous loop of observing, reflecting, and making. complex teams.
HILLS
Align complex teams around a common understanding
of the most important user outcomes to achieve.
PLAYBACKS
Bring your extended team and stakeholders into the
loop in a safe, inclusive space to reflect on the work.
OBSERVE REFLECT MAKE

Immerse yourself in Come together and Give concrete form SPONSOR USERS
the real world to get form a point of view to abstract ideas to Collaborate with real users to increase your speed
to know your users, to find common explore possibilities, and close the gap between your assumptions and
uncover needs, learn ground, align the communicate ideas, your users’ reality.
the landscape, team, uncover prototype concepts,
and test ideas. insights, and plan and drive real
ahead. outcomes.
Learn more
See the Keys in action here: ibm.biz/TheKeys

LEARNING IT
Get aligned
State your intent: Hills turn users’ needs into project goals, helping
your team align around a common understanding of the intended
outcomes to achieve.
Hills TAKE-BACK TIPS
Who, What, Wow! Hills are composed of a “Who” (a specific user

Align complex teams around a or group of users), a “What” (a specific action or enablement), and
a “Wow” (a measurable, market differentiator).
common understanding of the most
Three and only three. It’s often challenging for teams to focus on
important user outcomes to achieve. three (and only three) Hills because this might mean that very valid
ideas are not being included. It’s important to realize that additional
Hills can be addressed in future releases. Consider building them
into a roadmap.
It’s a real world out there. We know there’s a backlog to groom

A SAMPLE HILL
and technical debt to pay down. Your investment in necessary items
like these—the “technical foundation”—should be made explicit
WHO
up front while defining your Hills.
WHAT
WOW
Learn more
Learn how to write a user-centered Hill:

ibm.biz/WriteHills

LEARNING IT
Stay aligned
Not everyone has time to be in the loop on every project. Depending
on your perspective, over time, it might seem like the project is
drifting off-course, or that your stakeholders are out of touch with
Playbacks
what your team has learned.
TAKE-BACK TIPS
Reflect together in a safe space to No surprises! Leading up to milestone Playbacks, hold meetings
and working sessions with all necessary stakeholders to gain
give and receive criticism. consensus and share work-in-progress along the way.
Show before you tell. Playback decks should have a strongly visual
emphasis based on the work—not contrived synopses or feel-good
scenarios.
COMMON TYPES OF MILESTON

E PLAYBACKS Make us care. A real, human story should be at the core of every
Playback. Show how your tool or concept solves a problem in
MARKET PLAYBACK establishe
s HILLS PLAYBACK commits your user’s real world workflow.
an outside-in market point of view
your team to the mission for the
and preliminary business case
release(s) through a draft
as the basis for moving forward.
version of the Hills and the
underlying personas.
PLAYBACK ZERO aligns your team

DELIVERY PLAYBACKS of code
around a finalized version of the d
stories keep your to-be scenarios
Hills and the user experience to in
focus as implementation advances
achieve them. . Learn more
Get insights on how to conduct a great Playback:

ibm.biz/TeamPlaybacks
8

LEARNING IT
Break the empathy barrier

Sponsor Users are users or potential users that bring their lived
experience and domain expertise to your team. They aren’t just
passive subjects—they’re active participants who work alongside
Sponsor Users
your team to help you deliver an outcome that meets their needs.
While Sponsor Users won’t replace formal design research and
usability studies, every interaction you have together will close the
gap between your assumptions and their reality.
Give users a seat at the table. TAKE-BACK TIPS
Invite them to observe, reflect, Design for real target users rather than imagined needs.
Sponsor Users should be real people, not personas or “types.”
and make with you. They participate with your team during the entire development
process under Agreements.
Sponsor Users should attend Playbacks. Ideally, a Sponsor User

can actually present the product demo during your Playback Zero.
Involve your whole team. Finding Sponsor Users is not the

responsibility of a single person or discipline—everyone on your
team should be contributing ideas for Sponsor Users.
Learn more Potential users are all around us. You can find users in surprising
places like conferences, meetups, and through social media. But
Enable you and your team to work with
when engaging Sponsor Users, be sure to follow secure and ethical
Sponsor Users: ibm.biz/SponsorUsers
practices and maintain compliance with all IBM policies.
10

LEARNING IT
Experience matters. Design a vase

Whether we design for them or not, our products and services
Design a
are framed by universal experiences. Each experience offers
opportunities to solve unmet needs and emotionally bond people to
better way
our products and experiences, or offerings. When someone is “trying”
your offering, they should create value just as if they were “using” it.
for people to
Take your user to heart.
The people we serve’s, or our users’, worlds are inevitably more
enjoy flowers
complicated than what’s observable on the surface. Zoom out. Strive
to understand their end-to-end experience, what you’re asking them
to do, and the impact it will have. In enterprise business, process-
based dependencies often impact the user. We must be authentically
thoughtful in our design of an experience, and respect what a user
needs from across all experiences.
TAKE-BACK TIPS
What’s next? Someone’s ideal experience this year won’t be

their ideal experience next year. Anticipate overhaul.
Break the mold. Don’t feel confined to the structures and

processes you currently work in.
Glue it all together. Define experiences to help organize

dispersed teams (including sales, support, and marketing) Learn more
around user-focused outcomes.
There’s lots more about experiences on
the IBM Design Language website:
ibm.com/design/language
12

LEARNING IT
Radical collaboration
Radical collaboration
“Radical collaboration” means that all key stakeholders are part of
co-creating great user experiences from the beginning. For your
USER EXPERIENCE TECHNOLOGY
team to take full advantage of Enterprise Design Thinking, you need
to commit to a cross-discipline way of working throughout Design Engineering
the entirety of a release. Organization Organization
Keep in mind: when teams fail, it’s not usually because they didn’t
have great ideas. It’s probably because they didn’t include the people
who had them. Radical collaboration is about proactively including
diverse perspectives and disciplines in our conversations—see the
principle of “diverse empowered teams” on page 3. When you’re not
sure who to invite to a conversation, err on the side of inclusivity.
BUSINESS
TAKE-BACK TIPS
Offering Management
Organization
Good collaboration needs good communication. As your team
starts to work together, come to agreement on a set of expectations
and a system for communicating with each other. Create a “tool chain”
of collaboration tools that lets stakeholders share their work-in-
progress while they work day-to-day in the tools that best fit their role.
Don’t slip back into the waterfall. If you start to find your team
simply reviewing artifacts after-the-fact with stakeholders from
other disciplines: STOP AND START OVER with broad, up-front, and
active participation in their creation.
N-in-a-box. Whenever possible, go beyond “3-in-box” (design,
engineering, and offering management) to include other disciplines
such as content design, sales, marketing, and support in design thinking
activities, key decisions, workshops, and milestone Playbacks.
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LEARNING IT
IBM Offering Management Strategic

Planning
IBM Offering Management is IBM’s point-of-view on markets, users, and Portfolio
Management
products, and services. Offering managers decide in which markets
Market Opportunity
IBM will play and how we will differentiate in those markets via and Approach
unique functionality, great user experiences, digital engagement,
and ecosystem partnering.
Define and
Offering managers are empowered to act as entrepreneurs to
Prove
explore new markets of users with new user experiences. They are
responsible for leading the co-creation of “whole” offerings that
deliver value across all of the six universal experiences.
Measure and
Evaluate
TAKE-BACK TIPS
Get outside. Great offering managers “get out of the building” to Build and
Deliver
discover real user experiences to improve upon. User, market, and
competitive research provide the fact base for all offering decisions.
Look across offerings. Given IBM’s comprehensive portfolios,

offering managers should look at how individual offerings work
together to address users in a market. Most of our offerings will be
part of larger solutions.
Lead your offering. Offering managers are being empowered to lead

their offerings, but no one is going to clear the path for you. It’s up
to each offering manager to act as an internal entrepreneur for their
Ch-ch-changes. At IBM, the practice of Product Management
offering—their key “superpower” will be persuasion, not command.
is evolving into Offering Management to ensure that IBM wins in
markets with iconic user experiences and an integrated point-of-
view that is differentiated from competitors.
16

LEARNING IT
Learn more
IBMers can learn more

at Agile Academy:
ibm.biz/AgileAcademy
Agile and
Enterprise Design Thinking
There’s a great deal of shared “DNA” between Agile and Enterprise
Design Thinking: individuals and interactions over processes and IBM Agile Academy
principles Iteration &
tools, working prototypes over comprehensive artifacts, customer learning
collaboration over contract negotiation, and pivoting for change Restless
over sticking to the original plan. Enterprise Design Thinking helps reinvention
you discover what problem to solve, while Agile helps you plan how
to solve it. What links them most closely is the continuous cycle of
Self-directed
experience maps and Playbacks. whole teams
Diverse
empowered
teams
TAKE-BACK TIPS
Clarity of
Hypothesis-driven design and development. Create measurable outcomes
hypotheses describing what you think success looks like and then Enterprise Design
Focus on
investigate and possibly pivot when reality doesn’t meet your user outcomes Thinking
principles
expectation—positively or negatively.
Everyone grooms the backlog. Leaders from each discipline

regularly meet to groom the backlog, updating the priority as
necessary and ensuring that the top of the backlog represents current
priorities and stays true to the “minimum delightful experience.”
Double-vision. When people across disciplines see the backlog

through the dual lenses of functionality and experience, then Agile
and Enterprise Design Thinking are truly one.
Together forever. The principles of Agile and Enterprise Design Thinking
are very closely aligned. Together, they offer an opportunity to solve
complex problems for our users with creativity and empirical adaptation.
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LEARNING IT
In addition to this field guide, you can sign up for access to more
online learning and resources at ibm.com/design/thinking. There,
you will find comprehensive courses designed to help you take the
next step in your design thinking journey and work toward your
Enterprise Design Thinking certification. With an account, you will
also gain access to a full, digital library of the activities in this guide.
DIGITAL EXPERIENCE
Expert training from experienced design thinkers. Dive into

the framework and uncover the value of design thinking through a
Enterprise
comprehensive online training program, and unlock the tools that
you need to practice it in your day-to-day.
A guided journey with intentional milestones. Track individual
Design Thinking
and team progress through the official Enterprise Design Thinking
badging program.
Education
Access online educational resources
Learn more
designed to help you practice design
Individuals and teams can begin a free trial of the
thinking today. online learning by visiting: ibm.com/design/thinking
20
© 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W

LEADING IT
Mantras Activities
of the
This section of the field guide contains activities for your team to use
Master Facilitator every day to help you practice radical collaboration and put the user
at the center of your project. Each activity can be used in isolation
or as part of a broader set of activities with your team and Sponsor
LESS TALKING, MORE WRITING Users. Think of each activity as a tool that helps you establish the
Everyone should capture lots of ideas onto sticky notes Enterprise Design Thinking framework, understand your user’s
and post them on the wall before discussing them. problems and motivations, explore new concepts, prototype
designs, and evaluate with stakeholders.
LESS WRITING, MORE DRAWING
Different words mean different things to different people. Instead, Remember, this is not a cookbook or a set of recipes. Nor is it a
try making a quick or crude sketch to communicate your idea. process or methodology. It’s a set of recommended practices that will
help you think orthogonally and move beyond feature-centric delivery.
QUANTITY OVER QUALITY
Ideas with big potential can be killed easily by TAKE-BACK TIPS
negative attitudes, so first get lots of ideas posted
to the wall and then discuss and distill.
Space and supplies. Prepare your workspace with pads of sticky
notes of various colors, some Sharpie® markers, and a drawing
MAKE EVERY VOICE HEARD surface—a whiteboard or large pad will do. These tools encourage
Everyone has a Sharpie®. Everyone has a pad of sticky notes.
every team member to engage in the thinking behind the design.
Everyone contributes ideas. Everyone’s ideas are valid.
If your team is distributed, there are plenty of virtual substitutes—
see page 20.
INCLUSIVE, WHOLE-TEAM APPROACH
Don’t make decisions without involving people that
Conversations and collective decisions. The activities
will act on them. Everyone pitches in to fill the gaps!
contained here are intended to encourage focused and productive
conversations between multiple disciplines on your team. The
YES, AND… value isn’t in having a completed artifact—it’s in doing the activities
It’s easy to play the devil’s advocate. Instead,
together so that you can agree on the right course of action together.
push yourself to build on your teammates’ ideas
by saying, “Yes, and…” while iterating.
If you’re sitting down, you’re having a meeting. Get everyone up
and active—it’s difficult to include many voices when one person is
BE HONEST ABOUT WHAT YOU (DON’T) KNOW
Sometimes you won’t have all of the answers—that’s
standing at the front of the room. If you have lots of participants,
okay! Actively work to admit and resolve uncertainty, break them up into working groups of 5–8 people and frequently
especially on topics that put your project most at risk. playback to each other.

LEADING IT
Design thinking facilitation FACILITATION IS AN EVERY DAY PRACTICE.
Do you find yourself doing these things on a regular

Design thinking facilitators initiate and lead design thinking activities basis? If so, you’re a natural facilitator!
on their team to reach great outcomes for their users. With time and
practice, anyone can become an effective and credible facilitator.
GREAT FACILITATORS…
Whether facilitating an ad hoc activity to help your team work

through an immediate decision or planning a lengthier and more Plan, communicate, and lead design thinking
activities, whether formal or informal.
formal workshop, use what works for you. Enterprise Design
Thinking is designed as a framework for you and your team to use
bits and pieces of as it makes sense.
Have a passion and enthusiasm for getting the
whole team involved.
As a design thinking facilitator, you help ensure that conversations
and activities are centered on the user, how they work, and what
market they occupy. And you can serve as the driving force for Guide coworkers in understanding and
inclusion and collaboration so the voices of people from all areas productively engaging in design thinking activities.
of your business are heard and understood.
Drive the process and guide to the goal, but don’t

TAKE-BACK TIPS define the details of the end result.
Practice makes perfect. Much like practicing Enterprise Design

Thinking in general, we find that the best facilitators learn to be better Ensure shared understanding and have everyone’s
voice heard.
facilitators by doing facilitation. Continued weekly practice over time,
matched with coaching or apprenticeship, will prepare you to lead
more advanced design thinking engagements like workshops.
Know what their limits are and can say, “That’s
a great question! I don’t know the answer but
Use what works for you. Concentrate your facilitation efforts on I know someone who does.”
initiating design thinking activities that make sense for the work your
team is doing right now and guiding those teammates who aren’t
familiar with design thinking by actively engaging them in the practices.
Learn more
IBMers can learn much more about facilitation and

workshop planning in the Enterprise Design Thinking
Facilitator Handbook: ibm.biz/facilitator-handbook
24

LEADING IT
Hopes and Fears

WHEN YOU MIGHT USE THIS TIME
If you’re starting a project, kicking-off a workshop, 15–30

or bringing in new team members, this activity helps minutes
you get to know each other, expose aspirations and
concerns, and prepare everyone to start.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Label one area for Hopes and another for Fears.
2. Ask team members, “What about this project are you really
excited about? What has potential? And what are you concerned
about? What do you think won’t work?”
3. Diverge, with each team member writing one “hope” or “fear” per
sticky note and applying it to the appropriate area on the map.
4. Playback, discuss, and synthesize. What themes emerge?
TAKE-BACK TIPS
Warm up and take the temperature. This activity is an effective

way to gauge participants’ attitudes about a workshop. “Hopes”
usually reveal their expectations about what can be accomplished
and “fears” may reveal their doubts about making an investment to
work together.
Let it persist. Keep the artifact posted where team members can
see it and refer back frequently to track progress. Place stars on
“hopes” notes that become realized and remove “fears” notes that
melt away. “Fears” that persist should be directly addressed.
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LEADING IT
Stakeholder Map
If you’re integrating new team members, starting a 30–60

new project, exploring a new market, or expanding minutes
an offering, this activity helps you identify project
stakeholders, their expectations, and relationships.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Diverge on identifying stakeholders, one per sticky note.

“Stakeholders” can include teams, team roles, project leads,
executives, partners, customers, and end users.
2. For each stakeholder, add a second sticky note with a quote

expressing their thoughts, opinions, or expectations.
3. In parallel, cluster stakeholders and label the groups.
4. Draw and label lines among groups representing relationships

such as influence, process, or dependencies.
TAKE-BACK TIPS
Don’t delay. Take an inventory of a project’s stakeholders as soon

as possible in the development cycle. It’s difficult to circle back with
those who have been forgotten, so it’s better to get a jump start than
to play catch-up.
Assumptions aren’t always bad. Assume that everyone is involved

or impacted until proven otherwise. This might seem hard to do, but
it’s actually easier than trying to guess who’s impacted and risking
an accidental oversight.
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LEADING IT
Empathy Map
Empathy Maps help to rapidly put your team in the 30–60

user’s shoes and align on pains and gains—whether minutes
at the beginning of a project or mid-stream when
you need to re-focus on your user.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Draw the map and its four quadrants: Says, Does, Thinks, and Feels.
2. Sketch your user in the center and give them a name and a bit of
description about who they are or what they do.
3. Diverge, with each team member writing one observation per

sticky note and applying it to the appropriate quadrant of the map.
4. Annotate unknowns (assumptions and questions) for later

inquiry or validation.
5. Discuss observations and fill in gaps collaboratively.
TAKE-BACK TIPS
Don’t go it alone. Empathy for users arises from sharing in

the collaborative making of the Empathy Map. Everyone knows
something about your user, so use the activity as a means to gather,
socialize, and synthesize that information together.
Involve your users. Share your Empathy Maps with your Sponsor
Users to validate or invalidate your observations and assumptions.
Better yet, invite them to co-create the artifact with your team.
Go beyond the job title. Rather than focusing on your user’s “job
title,” consider their actual tasks, motivations, goals, and obstacles.
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LEADING IT
Scenario Map (As-is / To-be)
As-is Scenario Maps help to document collective 60–90

understanding of user workflows and are best minutes
used as precursors to exploring new ideas. To-be
Scenario Maps tell the story of a better experience
for your user.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Draw four rows and label each: Phases, Doing, Thinking, and Feeling.
2. Fill in the phases, one per sticky note. Don’t worry about what
the “next phase” is; iterate through the scenario at increasing
resolution until you are comfortable with the level of detail.
3. In parallel, team members should begin annotating each column

with what the user is doing, thinking, and feeling.
4. Label unknowns (assumptions and questions) for later inquiry

or validation.
TAKE-BACK TIPS
It’s not about the interface. Rather than focusing on the user’s
pathway through a product’s user interface, pay close attention to the
job tasks they actually perform in order to accomplish their goals.
Warts and all. When creating the As-is Scenario Map, it’s important to
articulate your user’s actual current experience—don’t neglect tasks or
qualities that are not ideal or positive. Be honest and thorough.
Check your math. The solutions presented in a To-be Scenario

Map should ideally be correlated to the “pain points” identified
in the As-is.
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LEADING IT
Big Idea Vignettes

WHEN YOU MIGHT USE THIS
TIME
Once your team has a clear and validated
understanding of your user’s problems and 30–60
challenges, this activity is a great way for minutes
many people to rapidly brainstorm a breadth
of possible ideas.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. On one sticky note, write a brief overview of an idea or solution.

Try labeling it with a one- or two-word headline.
2. On a second sticky note, sketch a visual depiction. Think of this

as a single frame of a storyboard—for example, a rough prototype
of a user interface or depiction of a user.
3. Diverge on many of these pairs of sticky notes (called

“vignettes”) and quickly share them with your teammates.
4. Cluster similar ideas and converge on a set that you would like to
take deeper using Scenario Maps or Storyboarding.
TAKE-BACK TIPS
Say yes to the mess. Avoid evaluating or dismissing ideas

while you’re generating them—dedicate a period of time to get
everyone’s thoughts onto the wall and only then begin to discuss
what’s been shared.
Everyone has ideas. Don’t make the mistake of leaving idea

generation only to the designers, the engineers, the offering managers,
or the executives. Everyone has a unique perspective on the user and
the problem, so everyone should contribute ideas for solutions!
Stay out of the weeds. Evaluate which ideas are important and
feasible (using a Prioritization Grid) before deep-diving into the details.
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LEADING IT
Prioritization Grid
When many items (such as ideas, Hills, scenarios, 30–90
or user stories) are being considered, this activity minutes
helps your team evaluate and prioritize them by
focusing discussions on importance and feasibility.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Draw two axes: Importance to the user (low to high) and
Feasibility for us (difficult to easy).
2. Evaluate each item quickly and on your own—roughly plot them

on the grid where they make most sense.
3. Once many items are on the grid, begin to discuss with your
teammates and reposition them in relation to each other—do
certain ideas seem more important or less feasible than others?
4. Avoid spending too much time discussing items that fall into the
“unwise” zone unless you believe they have been mis-categorized.
TAKE-BACK TIPS
Importance is important. Avoid considering only what is feasible,

rather than what is feasible and what will have an important and
market-differentiating impact for the user.
Feasibility is more than the tech. In addition to the technical

perspective, feasibility also includes elements such as your
go-to-market strategy and your head-count capacity to deliver.
No-brainers are everywhere. Your competitors will also be focused on

the things that are highly important and feasible. (Why wouldn’t they?
They’re impactful and easy.) Instead, focus your discussion on making
“utilities” more impactful and on making “big bets” more feasible.
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LEADING IT
Needs Statements
This is a very effective activity to use with your 30–60

team when you feel that you’re drifting away from minutes
the actual needs, desires, and goals of your user. It
helps reorient or reframe the work around your user.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Write the statement: The user needs a way to do something that

addresses their need so that they benefit directly .
2. Focus on your user’s pain points—this helps get at what the

underlying problems are. More than one Needs Statement can
come from a single pain point.
3. Stay away from listing individual features. Instead, ask yourself,

“What does my user really seek? What does she really want?”
4. Cluster similar ideas and discuss.
TAKE-BACK TIPS
Über Needs Statements. After clustering several ideas together, try

writing one big (“über”) Needs Statement that represents the entire
group. Use the same “need/benefit” format.
People aren’t machines. If an idea is expressed in terms of the

machine (“dashboard,” “click,” “log in,” “export,” and so on), that’s a
clue it’s actually a feature. Re-cast the idea in human terms of what
the technology allows your user to accomplish.
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LEADING IT
Storyboarding
Storyboarding is a way to iterate and communicate 20–60

ideas and scenarios visually by telling user-centric minutes
stories. If you’re having a difficult time just talking
about an idea, try some storyboarding.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Imagine your scenario as a story with characters, a plot, conflict,

and resolution.
2. Place six sticky notes (“frames”) on a piece of paper. For each

frame, draw a quick sketch and annotate with a brief caption.
3. Make the story seamless with a beginning, middle, and end.
4. Share your stories and get feedback.
5. To converge, choose the best parts of each teammate’s story and

weave them into one refined “master” story that’s representative
of the entire team’s thinking.
TAKE-BACK TIPS
Comics aren’t just for kids. Try thinking of your storyboard like
a comic strip. Combine quick sketches with speech and thought
bubbles, action bursts, captions, and narration.
This isn’t wire-framing. Avoid drawing too many screens. Instead,

create a narrative that focuses on people and their actions,
thoughts, goals, emotions, and relationships.
Use Sharpies®. Using a pen or a sharp pencil makes it too easy to

include unnecessary high-fidelity details. Stay out of the weeds!
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LEADING IT
Assumptions and Questions

Any time you feel that your team’s work needs a 30–90
“reality check,” use this activity to identify and minutes
prioritize what assumptions are being made, what
you’ve been guessing about, and what your team
still doesn’t know.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Draw a two-by-two grid with High-risk on the top, Low-risk on the

bottom, Certain on the left, and Uncertain on the right.
2. Diverge, with each team member writing one assumption or

question per sticky note.
3. Evaluate each item quickly and on your own—roughly plot them

on the grid where they make most sense.
4. Once many items are on the grid, begin to discuss and reposition
them in relation to each other—how certain are you in knowing the
correct answer to the question, and how risky is it if you’re wrong?
5. Focus the discussion on the items in the upper-right quadrant.

These are the assumptions and questions that most urgently
need further validation and inquiry.
TAKE-BACK TIPS
Do this early and often. Risk will never disappear, but the sooner
you recognize and evaluate your team’s assumptions and questions,
the more quickly you can act to reduce the risk they pose.
Don’t hold back. Be honest about the questions you have and the
assumptions you’re making—even if you’re afraid of appearing naïve.
An unasked question will forever go unanswered.
42

LEADING IT
Feedback Grid
This activity helps to gather and organize any sort 30–60

of feedback and to then unpack questions and minutes
ideas—either in real time or after-the-fact—as an
efficient means of determining next steps.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Draw the grid and its four quadrants: Things that worked, Things
to change, New ideas to try, and Questions we still have.
2. Fill in each quadrant with sticky notes. Be specific and give

constructive criticism.
3. Cluster similar ideas and discuss. Search for patterns and themes.
TAKE-BACK TIPS
The sooner, the better. Use the Feedback Grid to capture ideas in
real-time during a meeting or workshop. Or do the activity immediately
following a Playback or a cognitive walk-through with a user.
Take the next step. Once you’ve developed and discussed a

Feedback Grid, it’s time to take action: Use the “Questions we
still have” from the Feedback Grid to inform an Assumptions
and Questions activity. Use the “New ideas to try” to begin
Storyboarding. Or use the “Things to change” as the basis for a to-
do list of action items for different team members.
44

LEADING IT
Experience-Based Roadmap
This activity helps you define a “minimum delightful 60–90

experience” by scoping big, visionary ideas into minutes
more achievable near-term outcomes—while still
focusing on the user experience.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Label three columns: Near-Term, Mid-Term, Long-Term. Write the

statement: Our user can / Our user will be able to…
2. Begin writing ideas directly related to your vision and plotting them
in the Long-Term column. Starting each idea with “Our user can…”
or “Our user will be able to…” helps keep the ideas user-focused.
3. Scope down the long-term ideas by asking, “What is the most

essential part of this experience?” Plot those ideas in the Mid-
Term and Near-Term columns.
4. Once many ideas are on the grid, begin to discuss with your
teammates and reposition them in relation to each other—do
certain ideas need to be implemented in the near-term, or can
they wait until a future release?
TAKE-BACK TIPS
Let them eat cake. Many IBM teams use the metaphors of “Cupcake,”
“Birthday Cake,” and “Wedding Cake” to describe the ideas on their
roadmap, respectively, as being near-term, mid-term, and long-term.
What will you learn? The best roadmaps explicitly describe what
you expect to learn at each stage. Once you deliver to market, what
will you learn about your users, domain, product, capabilities, and
competition? Use these learnings to further define your roadmap
the next time around.
46

48

50

52
© 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5pod 0705

This field guide is updated frequently.

Anyone can download the latest version at
ibm.biz/fieldguide-public
feedback at ibm.biz/fieldguide-ibmers
This field guide is updated frequently.
Anyone can download the latest version at
ibm.biz/fieldguide-public
feedback at ibm.biz/fieldguide-ibmers
Created with love by IBM Studios

Cover Illustration: Stephanie Hagadorn
Created with love by IBM Studios

Cover Illustration: Stephanie Hagadorn
© 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5


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Design Thinking

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© 2018 IBM CORPORATION

FROM PROBLEMS TO SOLUTIONS

© 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W © 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W

Enterprise Design Thinking:

By establishing empathy with the user, designers are able to work

DIVERSE EMPOWERED TEAMS

Learn more about the Principles at ibm.biz/ThePrinciples

© 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W © 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W

Enterprise Design Thinking: Enterprise Design Thinking:

OBSERVE REFLECT MAKE

See the Keys in action here: ibm.biz/TheKeys

© 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W © 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W

Hills TAKE-BACK TIPS

Who, What, Wow! Hills are composed of a “Who” (a speciﬁc user

It’s a real world out there. We know there’s a backlog to groom

Learn how to write a user-centered Hill:

© 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W © 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W

COMMON TYPES OF MILESTON

PLAYBACK ZERO aligns your team

Get insights on how to conduct a great Playback:

© 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W © 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W

Break the empathy barrier

Give users a seat at the table. TAKE-BACK TIPS

Sponsor Users should attend Playbacks. Ideally, a Sponsor User

Involve your whole team. Finding Sponsor Users is not the

© 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W © 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W

Experience matters. Design a vase

What’s next? Someone’s ideal experience this year won’t be

Break the mold. Don’t feel conﬁned to the structures and

Glue it all together. Deﬁne experiences to help organize

© 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W © 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W

© 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W © 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W

IBM Offering Management Strategic

Look across offerings. Given IBM’s comprehensive portfolios,

Lead your offering. Offering managers are being empowered to lead

© 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W © 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W

IBMers can learn more

Everyone grooms the backlog. Leaders from each discipline

Double-vision. When people across disciplines see the backlog

© 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W © 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W

Expert training from experienced design thinkers. Dive into

A guided journey with intentional milestones. Track individual

© 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W

© 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W

Design thinking facilitation FACILITATION IS AN EVERY DAY PRACTICE.

Do you ﬁnd yourself doing these things on a regular

Whether facilitating an ad hoc activity to help your team work

Drive the process and guide to the goal, but don’t

Practice makes perfect. Much like practicing Enterprise Design

IBMers can learn much more about facilitation and

© 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W © 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W

Hopes and Fears

If you’re starting a project, kicking-off a workshop, 15–30

1. Label one area for Hopes and another for Fears.

4. Playback, discuss, and synthesize. What themes emerge?

Warm up and take the temperature. This activity is an effective

© 2018 IBM CORPORATION v3.5W

If you’re integrating new team members, starting a 30–60

1. Diverge on identifying stakeholders, one per sticky note.