Design Thinking Handbook

Crack The Nut Series
A Handbook
DESIGN THINKING
Author
Satya Duvvuri
Trinity Consultants
Hyderabad
pg. 1 Satya Duvvuri, Founder Trinity Consultants and TAME, wrote this write-up solely to provide
material for learning of the Mentees. The purpose of this handbook is just to give a bird’s eye view of
the topic.
Copyright © 2023 Trinity Academy of Mentoring for Excellence - TAME

“to have a spot where you can go get a vibrant clean cuppa made according to
your preference with a nice cozy setting," says Nitin Saluja – the founder of
Chaayos.
The one factor common between 2012 Indian start-ups – Chaayos, OYO Rooms,
and 2006 start-up Redbus is - meet the customer expectations. The success of
these start-ups and such other organisations has come mainly because they had
“Customer Centric Approach” in their mind.
The business model of these Organizations has evolved based on extensive
debate and discussion to offer that is well thought out and meets the long term
needs and expectations of the Customer base.
The core of the business models of these successful ventures is to improve the
user experience which is ever lasting.
The model adopted is a sustained and permanent model than a onetime break-fix
model.
The road map adopted is process oriented taking the needs and aspirations of
the all the stake holders into consideration.
Over the period, many methods have been thought of and worked out to offer a
sustained and doable solution to address the challenge of Organisational growth.
Of these Design Thinking has emerged out to be the most effective tool.
the topic.

Design Thinking has been developed on premise that infeasible ideas can
generate the best solutions.
The Evolution
Design Thinking originally came about as a way of teaching engineers how to
approach problems creatively, like designers do. One of the first people to
write about Design Thinking was John E. Arnold, professor of mechanical
engineering at Stanford University. In 1959, he wrote “Creative Engineering,”
the text that established the four areas of Design Thinking. From there,
Design Thinking began to evolve as a “way of thinking” in the fields of science
and design engineering—as can be seen in Herbert A. Simon’s book “The
Sciences of the Artificial” and in Robert McKim’s “Experiences in Visual
Thinking”.
With the rise of human-cantered design in the 80s and the formation of
design consultancy IDEO in the 90s, Design Thinking became increasingly
popular. By the start of the 21st century, Design Thinking was making its way
into the world of business. In 2005, Stanford University’s b’school began
teaching Design Thinking as an approach to technical and social innovation.
Indeed, many of the methods and techniques used in Design Thinking have
been borrowed from the designer’s toolkit.
IDEO (Innovative Design Engineering Organisation) a business consulting firm
is credited with populating the concept of Design Thinking.
the topic.

As a methodology, Design Thinking is relatively young.
It has just seen less than 15 years of adoption. Now, Design Thinking has
become common parlance in many industries and disciplines. The approach is
fresh and effective, and newcomers can easily learn and engage productively
with it.
Design Thinking has gone through a long journey of evolution. The foundation of
the Design Thinking principles was laid in the pre-1960s era, and was further
reinforced during the Second World War era in the form of industrial design.
During the 80s and 90s, there took place a resurgence – with design principles
evolving and taking the shape of human-centred design
What is Design Thinking
 Design Thinking is a problem solving approach that focuses on users and
their emotional needs while experiencing products and services. It helps
identify what adds value to various internal and external stakeholders in
the organisational ecosystem.
 Design Thinking is different from other innovation and ideation processes
in that it’s solution-based and user-centric rather than problem-based.
This means it focuses on the solution to a problem instead of the problem
itself.
 Design Thinking is a structured process to find solutions to complex
human problems.
 The uniqueness of the Design Thinking process is that it helps people to
define and solve problems that are unstructured and have no historical
references.
the topic.

 Design Thinking brings in innovation/creativity and emotional touch in
understanding the problem and offering a solution.
 Design Thinking seeks to solve complex problems in a user-centric way.
It focuses on achieving practical results
 Design Thinking is all about getting hands-on; the aim is to turn ideas
into tangible, testable products or processes as quickly as possible
The Premise of Design Thinking
Design Thinking works on the basic principle of looking at the people behind
the problem or challenge than at the problem or challenge.
Design Thinking works at addressing the challenge and get a solution than
fixing the problem.
Design Thinking works at taking a holistic view of a challenge and provide a
process driven scientific human centric solution that works in all situations.
How does it happen
Design Thinking process starts with the understanding of the users' needs and
the problem statement, and to gather as much information as possible from
them. After gathering the data, the leaders of the organisation create
prototypes and test these ideas with real people. Through testing and learning,
they can then refine their concepts and move forward with the process.
The key to a successful Design Thinking is to start with low-fidelity
experiments and then increase their fidelity.
Who can be a design Thinker
A design thinker’s skill need not necessarily be technical expertise.

the topic.

However, they should be
 Good with working in teams, should be
 Empathetic towards humans and humanity, and should be
 Willing to try and ready to fail.
 Out of the box thinker
 A problem solver
 Focused on customer requirements
Design Thinking Helps in
 Understanding the Stake holders
 Challenging assumptions
 Redefining the problems
 Creating Innovative Solutions
3 Pillars of DT
 Design Thinking is Human Centric

 Design Thinking is Innovative and Novel
 Design Thinking is Iterative – Flexible but not rigid
DT Focuses on
 Gives solutions desirable for the user.

 Gives solutions viable to business
 Gives solutions that are technologically feasible.
 Solution based approach.
the topic.

How to approach Design Thinking
1. Understand by asking the user need

2. Explore by finding patterns
3. Prototype by making tangible
4. Evaluate by iterating
5. Make it workable
The Process of Design Thinking
A typical Design Thinking is a Seven stage/process method consisting of:
1. Empathy
2. Define
3. Ideate
4. Proto Type
5. Test
6. Implement
7. Feedback
Empathy
This stage is all about understanding the needs of people (or stakeholders)
through user research. To do this, designers must put themselves in the shoes
of the user and understand their challenges and pain points. This can be done
through research methods such as interviews, surveys, and observations. You
could even create a collaborative social media exercise using hashtags / polls /
brainstorming feedback activities to target users and easily collate results.
Artificial Intelligence – AI- tool can increase people’s empathetic
communication
the topic.

How to bring in Empathy
 Perform research and analyze to know the current state

 Be humane
 Eliminate Barriers
 Focus on the users
 Pay attention at micro level
 Empathy refuels our strategy, process and program with innovative
solutions
Summary of Empathy
 Understand the user needs

 Ensure the leader is non-judgmental
Empathy Mapping
Empathy Mapping means connecting the right/potential audience; it works to

understand the actions, behaviors and attitudes of the potential audience. A
right Empathy Mapping enables shift the focus from the problem to the people.
In the contest of Design Thinking Empathy Mapping plays a very crucial role.
How to create Empathy Mapping?
Set the goals
Gather maximum information from all the possible sources
Collect the research findings
Map the research findings into four quadrants
 Psychological needs
 Safety needs
 Belongingness needs
 Esteem needs
 Self-actualization needs
 Synchronize
Empathy – Compassion
the topic.

Empathy is feeling of another person’s pain by putting oneself into the other’s
shoes. However, feeling alone will not address the problem unless there is action
to the empathy. Empathy without action is infructuous. Empathy with action
would channelize the Empathy into a useful way. Understanding the need but not
addressing the need is a waste.
So, empathy should follow a planned action – to get the best.
Empathy clubbed with action leads to Compassion.
Define
The next stage is Define. Coming up with a problem statement. During this
stage, designers take the information they gathered in the empathize stage
and use it to identify the problem that needs to be solved. They also develop a
point of view that will guide them in finding a solution.
How to define
 Pay attention to asking right questions

 Take a holistic view
 Follow a well- oiled/defined problem solving process
 Build the most authentic problem statement
Summary of Define:
 Role Clarity
 Face decision challenges
 Be decisive
Ideate
In the ideate stage, the design team generates ideas for solutions to the
problem they defined in the previous stage. Ideation techniques – typically
brainstorming with team members or ideation sessions with collaborative tools,
ideas can be whittled down through discussion or scoring. Once a solution is
the topic.

selected the Designer should adopt BATNA (Best Alternative to Negotiated
Agreement) and WATNA (Worst Alternative to Negotiated Agreement)
How to ideate
 Address divergent styles of thinking

 Accept maximum and varied ideas
 Encourage out of the box thinking
 Isolate the Solution streams – BATNA/WATNA
 Merge and refine insights
Summary of Ideate
 Gather maximum ideas from every source

 Prioritize the ideas based on requirements
Prototype
In this prototype stage, designers create a prototype of their solution or
versions of the product. A prototype is a scaled-down version of the final
product that can be used to test how well the solution works in practice.
After testing the prototype and getting feedback from users, it’s time to
move on to the final stage.
How to develop Prototype
 Prototype shows how something works

 Depicts functionality
 Useful for user testing
 Ideal for client feedback
Summary of Prototype
 Enables user testing

 Gives chance for quick iterations
the topic.

Test
In the final testing phase, designers test their potential solution with real
users in order to get feedback and make refinements before launching the
product or service. After testing is complete and any necessary refinements
have been made, the product or service is ready for launch!
Implement
The Tested idea/product goes for implementation – under the careful and
watchful eyes of the designer. Even in its final stages, a design idea must be
tested so that the implementation is hassle-free.
How to test and Implement
 Tested prototype is deployed in Live environment

 Performance is tested in each stage
Summary of Test/Implement
 Understand impediments
 Validate and correct efforts
Feedback
 Feedback is a golden opportunity to gain trust and build credibility.
 Feedback helps in fine tuning the solution and get wider acceptance.
 Feedback opens the doors for all the stake holders to review and analyse
the ideas.
 Feedback helps to know what’s working and what’s not working and how
things/process can be improved
the topic.

How to implement Feedback mechanism?
 Feedback should be a continuous process and not a onetime process
 Feedback should be taken without ambiguity
 Feedback form should be crisp, clear and handy
 Feedback should be analysed without any pre-conceived
notions/judgement
 Feedback analysis should be done by third party than internal team to
the transaction.
How can Design Thinking be implemented?
Believe and have a conviction that Design Thinking help the team personally
and the Organization immensely.
Educate the team that with a design thinking mind-set, each member can
spend time effectively solving the right problems and building processes that
will impact his personal and the Organization’s success.
The first and foremost step towards implementing Design Thinking in an
organization is to sensitize the team and establish the culture of Team work.
Accept that the goal of design thinking isn’t perfection but finding the best
answer possible
Cultivate and encourage the teams to
1. See everything objectively
2. Make Teams feel – everything is doable
3. Out-of-the-box thinking and getting out of comfort zone is the key
factor
the topic.

4. Encourage teams taking initiatives without fear of failure
5. Encourage experimentation
6. Debriefing should be a continuous process
7. Teams should feel free to be open to express when things went
wrong
8. Teams should learn to view failures as learning
Design Thinkers’ Club
 Design Thinkers’ Club is an innovative approach to implement and
propagate the concept of Design Thinking across an Organization.
 Design Thinkers’ Club aims at hand-holding all the stake holders in an
organisation to bring in the culture of Design Thinking in the
Organization.
 Design Thinkers’ Club makes the process of Design Thinking a habit
among the stake-holders than a forced activity in an Organization.
Design Thinking and AI
The full potential of Design Thinking can be harnessed using AI effectively.
AI can become an effective component in Ideation, proto-typing, user-testing
and even implementation.
As AI Continues to advance, it is even likely to have more impact on Design
Thinking.
AI Can generate entire Design Thinking concepts based on specific user inputs
and preferences, effectively automating entire Design Thinking Process.
the topic.

AI can help the designers – the Team Leaders – focus on more strategic and
creative aspects of their work, while ensuring that solutions are user-centric
and personalized.
The future of design thinking may lie in the collaboration between AI and
human designers, with each contributing their unique strengths to the process.
This partnership could result in more innovative, effective, and efficient
design solutions.
By embracing AI and effectively integrating it into the design process, we can
harness its power to create more targeted, data-driven, and agile design
solutions, ultimately leading to better outcomes for users and businesses alike.
The Future of Design Thinking:
The journey of design principles has been fascinating from being applied as a
method to design products through industrial design to now re-designing the
organisational mind-set and the very weave of its culture.
The future of design looks bright and it is here to stay. Some data
substantiating the potential it carries: While Design Thinking as of now is being
applied to solving complex business problems across sectors and domains,
designers and design thinkers across the globe are working towards writing the
future story of Design Thinking. It is possible that Design Thinking principles
will be applied to even more complex areas like human behaviour design, space
ecosystem design, humanity design or even nature design.
The use of Design Thinking is no longer limited to the completion of design
projects, but begins to provide solutions to more realistic problems.
the topic.

Now Design Thinking is being considered as an effective tool to address any
challenges in any domain – even in education.
With fast advent of AI in every sphere of life it is for sure that Design
Thinking becomes more and more relevant.
The Design Thinking mind-set is bound to enhance the Productivity – the most
sought after need of every organization.
Design Thinking become a part of work culture – both in private sector and well
as government sector.
With its people centric approach Design Thinking would get adoption and
acceptance irrespective of the size of the organizations.
FAQs about Design Thinking
What is Design Thinking: It is a Human Centric approach to Problem Solving.
Design Thinking differentiates by offering an ever-lasting problem solving
solution with a Bottom to Top approach as against a Break-Fix which is more of
a Top to Bottom approach.
How to find time in present day busy schedules to use Design Thinking: Till
the time Design Thinking becomes a practice – yes – it needs extended time. But
once it becomes a habit and culture it needs no specific time. So, initially Design
Thinking should be brought in with baby steps.
What do I do if I don’t have the technology? New Technology and AI are

quite useful for implementing successful Design Thinking. But it is not a must.
The Design mind-set and attitude are more important than Technology.
the topic.

Is design thinking something you use all the time? Yes. Over a period, Design
Thinking becomes a culture and practice. It gets used in all the spheres of the
business at all times.
Are there short term benefits from Design Thinking: Yes? Design Thinking
brings short Term benefits as we as long term benefits. The immediate short
term visible benefit would be a cohesion and synergy among the team.
Conclusion:
The requirements of the consumer are changing rapidly and they are now looking
at not a product or service in isolation, but to the entire experience as a whole.
It is more and more important for companies to break old assumptive models
and reimagine products, services, and business models to deliver experiences
beyond consumer expectations. Design Thinking could play a key role in helping
companies identify the complex latent needs of consumers. It can also help
design solutions to deliver experiences that can help them traverse the journey
from customer satisfaction to customer WOW!
the topic.

Classic Examples of use the Design Thinking for Success
Heinz Ketchup bottle
Heinz introduced Ketchup in 1876. For next hundred years their packing was in
glass bottle. When Heinz commissioned a survey they had realised that 60% of
the consumers are kids of 5 years age. So, Heinz change packaging of the
ketchup from century old glass bottle to safer plastic bottle. A later
research/consumer survey found that the consumers are storing the ketchup
bottle upside down for an easy flow of ketchup from the bottle. Based on this
survey Heinz came out with an idea of upside down bottle. And this has
increased the sales of Heinz by more than 12%
Netflix
Netflix is a classic example of success achieved using Design Thinking in the
recent past. Through extensive viewer surveys, Netflix understood the needs
and expectations of its customers and transformed its business model.
Making the customer a top priority and continually thinking about what would be
better for them helped Netflix to not only reshape the video rental industry
but also let Netflix become an essential part of how to relax correctly.
In its early days, Netflix delivered movies directly to customer’s doorsteps via
the mail. Initially, that was an innovative model — until cable companies started
offering movies on-demand.
Leaders at Netflix recognized the value of design thinking for what it is: a
method to consistently hone their business offerings. Teams were encouraged
to look for new opportunities to delight customers, drive engagement and
the topic.

generate new revenue. The approach? Empathize with customers, unearth pain
points and find their unaddressed needs. Beginning in 2011, Netflix began
producing their own original movies and streaming series.
In 2016, Netflix adapted to the market again, rebuilding their main landing page
to capture user’s attention the moment they logged in. Instead of offering still
images or series posters, they added auto-play trailers that launched on mouse
hover.
Netflix leveraged artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to create a
unique experience for each viewer based on their own viewing habits.
Netflix discovered all of these innovations by using Design Thinking to
empathize again and again with their customers. Netflix knew their survival
depended on knowing exactly what each and every customer wanted to
experience when using their service, and consistently working to meet
customers where they were at. By identifying customer needs and adapting,
Netflix Succeeded – a classic case of adopting Design Thinking.
Classic Cases of failure – for ignoring the customers
While Netflix zoomed in the entertainment industry by empathizing the
customer needs, Blockbuster LLC and DVD Rental business in general failed to
stand in the market as they did not adopt the customer centric approach.
Blockbuster llc grew from a single store in Dallas to a chain of 9000 locations
over two decades. But Blockbuster faded away as they did not offer the
flexibility, convenience, extensive selection option and lower costs. Blockbuster
did not consider the mood of their extensive clientele. Blockbuster did not
adopt the new technology to match the needs of their customers

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Crack The Nut Series

Copyright © 2023 Trinity Academy of Mentoring for Excellence - TAME

“Customer Centric Approach” in their mind.

The business model of these Organizations has evolved based on extensive

needs and expectations of the Customer base.

user experience which is ever lasting.

the all the stake holders into consideration.

sustained and doable solution to address the challenge of Organisational growth.

Copyright © 2023 Trinity Academy of Mentoring for Excellence - TAME

generate the best solutions.

Design Thinking originally came about as a way of teaching engineers how to

write about Design Thinking was John E. Arnold, professor of mechanical

engineering at Stanford University. In 1959, he wrote “Creative Engineering,”

Design Thinking began to evolve as a “way of thinking” in the fields of science

and design engineering—as can be seen in Herbert A. Simon’s book “The

Sciences of the Artificial” and in Robert McKim’s “Experiences in Visual

design consultancy IDEO in the 90s, Design Thinking became increasingly

into the world of business. In 2005, Stanford University’s b’school began

teaching Design Thinking as an approach to technical and social innovation.

been borrowed from the designer’s toolkit.

IDEO (Innovative Design Engineering Organisation) a business consulting firm

is credited with populating the concept of Design Thinking.

Copyright © 2023 Trinity Academy of Mentoring for Excellence - TAME

become common parlance in many industries and disciplines. The approach is

evolving and taking the shape of human-centred design

What is Design Thinking

 Design Thinking is a problem solving approach that focuses on users and

their emotional needs while experiencing products and services. It helps

identify what adds value to various internal and external stakeholders in

the organisational ecosystem.

 Design Thinking is different from other innovation and ideation processes

in that it’s solution-based and user-centric rather than problem-based.

This means it focuses on the solution to a problem instead of the problem

 Design Thinking is a structured process to find solutions to complex

 The uniqueness of the Design Thinking process is that it helps people to

Copyright © 2023 Trinity Academy of Mentoring for Excellence - TAME

understanding the problem and offering a solution.

 Design Thinking seeks to solve complex problems in a user-centric way.

It focuses on achieving practical results

into tangible, testable products or processes as quickly as possible

The Premise of Design Thinking

the problem or challenge than at the problem or challenge.

fixing the problem.

Design Thinking works at taking a holistic view of a challenge and provide a

How does it happen

the problem statement, and to gather as much information as possible from

The key to a successful Design Thinking is to start with low-fidelity

experiments and then increase their fidelity.

Who can be a design Thinker

A design thinker’s skill need not necessarily be technical expertise.

Copyright © 2023 Trinity Academy of Mentoring for Excellence - TAME

 Good with working in teams, should be

 Empathetic towards humans and humanity, and should be

 Willing to try and ready to fail.

 Out of the box thinker

 Focused on customer requirements

Design Thinking Helps in

 Understanding the Stake holders

 Redefining the problems

 Creating Innovative Solutions