Design Thinking Boot Camp

Course Overview

Part 1: Introduction – What do we mean by design…and what are we thinking?

1. Design thinking overview
2. How structure and process apply to creativity
3. The need to solve problems
4. Types of problems, types of solutions
5. Components of design thinking
6. Human centrism: The importance of your users, customers, & consumers

Exercise: Who has the problem? Defining the user or customer

Part 2: Framing Problems

1. What’s the problem, really?
2. Discovering problems
3. Technology problems and products
4. OODA loops and backlogs
5. Distinguishing symptoms, problems, and root causes
6. Refining problem definition
7. Repeatably finding “a-ha” moments

Exercise: Select a problem candidate

Exercise: Root cause analysis for isolating and defining a specific problem

Part 3: Divergent Ideation

1. What is divergent thinking?
2. Generating raw material
3. Iterating on divergence
4. Your north star: Human-centric solutions
5. Using divergence to refine the problem space

Group exercise: Rapid ideation

Part 4: Convergent Ideation

1. What is convergent thinking?
2. Refinement and synthesis
3. Defining a future state for solution paths
4. Selecting solution candidates

Exercise: Revisiting your user persona and choosing the solution

Part 5: Testing Solution Candidates

1. Agility overview
2. Advice on prototyping
3. How to prototype rapidly
4. Collecting data
5. Variables
6. Rapid testing
7. Iterating on tests

Exercise: Modeling a testing cycle and group critique

Part 6: Iterating on Solutions

1. The feedback cycle
2. Agile practices for iteration
3. Measuring value
4. OODA loops again
5. Evolving solutions

Exercise: Walking through the iteration

Part 7: Teaming for Design and Solution Building

1. Applying design thinking in the typical enterprise
2. Product, service, system, or solution?
3. Teams in the problem space
4. Design collaboration
5. Prioritizing the design portfolio

Part 8: Obstacles to Design Thinking in Organizations

1. Cultural obstacles
2. Overcoming silos
3. Defining value correctly
4. Keeping human qualities at the center of the design
5. Applying design thinking to non-traditional roles
6. Engineering hurdles
7. The challenge of scale

Exercise: Preparing for scalability challenges and transitioning from discovery to delivery

Part 9: Class Conclusion – Charting Your Course

1. Expert Q&A
2. Discussion: Is your solution useful?
3. Your action items when the class is over

Prerequisites

Agile Project Managment expereince is recommended, but not mandatory.