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Design Thinking |
Vladimir Lelicanin - SAE Institute |
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Design thinking is a problem-solving approach that has become increasingly popular in software development. It is centered around the user, and it involves understanding the users' needs and perspectives, and using that information to create a product that meets those needs.
Design thinking is a process that involves five stages, including empathizing, defining the problem, ideating, prototyping, and testing. In this presentation, we will explore how design thinking can be applied in software development to create innovative and user-centered products.
Empathy is the foundation of design thinking, and it involves understanding the users' needs, perspectives, and behaviors. In software development, empathy can be achieved by observing users, conducting interviews, and gathering feedback on existing software.
Exercise Activity: Pair up with a colleague and take turns interviewing each other for 10 minutes. Focus on understanding their needs and experience with a software product.
Once you have gathered data on the users' needs, the next step is to define the problem that needs to be solved in software development. This involves distilling the research into insights and identifying the user's pain points.
Exercise Activity: Create a persona of a potential user for a software product. Include their needs, motivations, and pain points.
Ideation is the stage where you generate ideas for a solution to the defined problem. Brainstorming, sketching, and other creative techniques can be used to come up with a variety of possible solutions.
Exercise Activity: Set a timer for 15 minutes and generate as many ideas as possible for solving the problem defined in the previous exercise.
Prototyping is the stage where one creates a low-fidelity version of the solution to test and improve the initial ideas. This allows for quick feedback and validation from users.
Exercise Activity: Using supplies such as paper, markers, and sticky notes, create a paper prototype of the software solution you ideated in the previous exercise.
The final stage is to test the prototype and receive feedback from users. This will inform the design and help to improve the product.
Exercise Activity: Have a colleague test your paper prototype and provide feedback on the user experience.
Once you have received feedback from users, it's time to iterate and refine the solution. This may involve going back to previous stages of the design thinking process and re-evaluating your ideas.
Exercise Activity: Based on the feedback received, go back to the ideation stage and generate additional solutions to the problem.
Design thinking is a collaborative process that involves working in a team with different perspectives and skills. Collaboration can lead to innovative solutions that can't be achieved alone.
Exercise Activity: Form teams of three and create a mind map of a new software product that addresses a common problem faced by users.
Design thinking is based on human-centered design principles. The focus is on creating products that are user-centric and that solve real problems faced by the user.
Exercise Activity: Identify a software product that you have used that you believe is not user-centric. Discuss with a colleague how the product can be improved using human-centered design principles.
Design thinking can lead to innovation in software development. By focusing on user needs and their pain points, the solutions can be creative and inventive.
Exercise Activity: Brainstorm with a colleague a unique and innovative solution to a common problem faced by users in the software development industry.
Design thinking and agile development go hand in hand. Agile development involves a process that welcomes change and iteration, which aligns with the design thinking process.
Exercise Activity: Create a list of steps to integrate design thinking into the agile development process for a new software product.
Visual thinking is a powerful tool that helps to communicate ideas and solutions in a more compelling way. Sketching, drawing, and other visual aids can be used to express ideas within the design thinking process.
Exercise Activity: Choose a feature of a popular software product and sketch out how you would improve the user experience.
User experience (UX) is a critical aspect of design thinking in software development. Understanding the user's experience can lead to more user-centric solutions that solve their pain points.
Exercise Activity: Map out a potential user's experience when using a particular software product, and identify pain points and opportunities for improvement.
Design thinking is a problem-solving approach that allows for creativity and innovation. By focusing on user needs, the solutions can be more effective in solving complex problems.
Exercise Activity: Brainstorm with a colleague a solution to a challenging software development problem using the design thinking process.
Customer feedback is an essential aspect of the design thinking process in software development. Incorporating user feedback into the product design can lead to a better understanding of user needs and preferences.
Exercise Activity: Gather feedback on an existing software product from colleagues, and brainstorm potential solutions to address the users' pain points.
A design sprint is a focused, five-day process that allows teams to solve big problems and test new ideas in a short amount of time. This approach is used by many software development teams to quickly prototype and test potential solutions.
Exercise Activity: Conduct a four-hour design sprint with a small team to solve a complex software development problem.
Communication is a critical skill in the design thinking process. Clear communication within the team and with users is essential for creating effective solutions that address user needs.
Exercise Activity: Choose a software product that you use and practice writing a concise description of the problem and how it can be solved using design thinking principles.
Design thinking is an iterative process that involves continuous improvement. By incorporating user feedback and data, the solutions can be refined and optimized over time.
Exercise Activity: Brainstorm with a colleague ways to optimize an existing software product using the design thinking process.
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- Kelley, T., & Kelley, D. (2013). Creative confidence: Unleashing the creative potential within us all. Crown Business.
- Liedtka, J., & Ogilvie, T. (2011). Design thinking for innovation. Harvard business review, 9(1), 30-37.
- Roth, K., & Wright, M. (2017). Design thinking: The new DNA of the financial sector. Journal of Financial Perspectives, 5(3), 1-19.