In a city, a group of young students were interacting with women workers and sometimes sitting and observing them at their work place. When asked, they said they are working on a product which will teach conversational English to rural low-income working women in urban areas. Imagine the impact this solution would create in the women’s lives, future job prospects, etc. The students later created a solution prototype, which included low cost mobile phone, IVR, reward points, certificate of recognition to women workers and more. All this the students could complete in just three days. Thanks to the Design Thinking.
There is a misconception that Design Thinking can be applied only to certain class of problems. Honestly, the reason for this misconception comes from a lack of understanding and lack of practical experience with the Design Thinking concept.
To use Design Thinking principles, you don’t need to be a Designer. Yes. You don't need to be ! Also, Design Thinking is not any companies’ intellectual property but it is a sound principle and an empathetic problem solving technique. It is like the scientific laws and the math formulas openly available for all to apply and benefit from.
Make it a habit to use design thinking for everyday problems. It doesn’t need anything, except good understanding and imagination.
Global MNCs are educating their employees on the power of Design Thinking. A new startup can apply design thinking to develop a robust go-to-market strategy to get more and more customer opportunities. A division within an organization can improve their effectiveness by organizing a Design thinking workshop for their managers. It is only limited by the imagination of practitioners. Beware - don’t jump to a solution soon till you have defined the problem well and have gone through the process.
Next time you are confronted with a personal or professional challenge, don’t forget to apply the design thinking for yourself. Yes, why not ?
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