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DESIGN THINKING
An Approach To Creative Problem Solving

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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
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Gain knowledge on the
key concepts of Design
Thinking
Identify best practices and
transforming your
organization
Understand the mindsets
and methodology of
Design Thinking
NOTE: This is a PARTIAL PREVIEW.
To download the complete presentation, please
visit: https://www.oeconsulting.com.sg

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CONTENTS
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KEY CONCEPTS OF
DESIGN THINKING
01
DESIGN THINKING
MINDSETS
02
DESIGN THINKING
METHODOLOGY
03
BEST PRACTICES &
TRANSFORMING
YOUR
ORGANIZATION
04

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WHAT IS DESIGN THINKING?
Source: IDEO
Design thinking is a human-centered
approach to innovation that draws from the
designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of
people, the possibilities of technology, and
the requirements for business success.
Tim Brown, IDEO
“
”

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DESIGN THINKING IS ‘OUTSIDE THE BOX’ THINKING
Design thinking is an
approach for creative
problem solving.

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AN EXAMPLE OF PROBLEM SOLVING:
THE ENCUMBERED VS. THE FRESH MIND
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Some years ago, an incident occurred where a truck driver tried to pass under a
low bridge. But he failed, and the truck was lodged firmly under the bridge. The
driver was unable to continue driving through or reverse out.
The story goes that as the truck became stuck, it caused massive traffic problems,
which resulted in emergency personnel, engineers, firefighters and truck drivers
gathering to devise and negotiate various solutions for dislodging the trapped
vehicle.
Emergency workers were debating whether to dismantle parts of the truck or chip
away at parts of the bridge. Each spoke of a solution which fitted within his or her
respective level of expertise.
A boy walking by and witnessing the intense debate looked at the truck, at the
bridge, then looked at the road and said nonchalantly, "Why not just let the air out
of the tires?" to the absolute amazement of all the specialists and experts trying to
unpick the problem.
When the solution was tested, the truck was able to drive free with ease, having
suffered only the damage caused by its initial attempt to pass underneath the
bridge. The story symbolizes the struggles we face where oftentimes the most
obvious solutions are the ones hardest to come by because of the self-imposed
constraints we work within.
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WHAT IS UNIQUE ABOUT DESIGN THINKING?
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Human-centered
Discover people’s real needs and wants.
Be able to gain deep insights of their
motivations and share the feelings of
others.
Hands-on
Ideas are made tangible through
prototyping. Build rough or lo-fi prototypes
to learn how to make ideas better.
z
Iterative
Repeat each phase backwards and
forwards and arrive at each decision or
desired result, after rounds of learning
and discovery.
Show, don’t tell
Enable the user to experience the story
through action, words, thoughts, senses
and feelings rather than pure description.
Highly-creative
Look at situations differently. Push past
obvious solutions and existing alternatives
to get to breakthrough ideas.
Collaborative
Work as a team to look at the problem
holistically and implement solutions to
improve people's experience.

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WHAT DESIGN THINKING IS NOT
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A “one-day” process where
problems can be solved in 24
hours
Only for the “creative” people or
product designers
Just a brainstorming session
An approach to replace
analytical problem solving
A narrow equation to
aesthetics and craft
A silver bullet for all types of
problems

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THE IMPACT OF DESIGN THINKING
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According to the Design Management
Institute’s Design Value Index, for
example, design-driven companies
have maintained a significant stock-
market advantage, outperforming the
S&P 500 by an extraordinary 219
percent over the past ten years.
Design-centric companies include:
Apple, Starbucks, Nike, Procter &
Gamble, Walt Disney, Starwood,
Whirlpool, Coca-Cola, etc.

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WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF DESIGN THINKING?
Reduce inefficiencies
Create better customer and
employee experiences
Improve customer
retention (loyalty)
Design new business
models
Deepen and widen
customer relationships
Increase value to society

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SUCCESS STORY 1 - STARBUCKS
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SOLUTION
Through observing
and engaging in
their communities,
designers
learned…
Customers dislike
the chain’s cookie-
cutter feel and lack
of local relevance.
Hyper-paced over-
expansion; “Brand-y”
image; Customers
see the same stores
everywhere they go.
Stores are designed with
a “global reach and local
relevance”, reflecting the
neighborhood and its
architectural history;
Beverages are offered
based on local
preferences.
Source: Starbucks
Localization Of Starbucks Stores

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SUCCESS STORY 2 – GE HEALTHCARE
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Source: GE Healthcare
MRI For Children
SOLUTION
By immersing in the
experience of a kid
they learned that …
… for a kid an MRI
room must be very
stressful and a
frightening
experience.
MRI scans require a
person not to move,
but little kids cry and
move around.
Kid-friendly MRI.
Simple commands to
get the scan done
accurately become
part of an adventure.

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HISTORY OF DESIGN THINKING
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Design Thinking
movement rapidly gaining
ground in the public and
private sectors
1980’s 2000’s 2010’s 2020’s
1960’s
Initial efforts to
define a standard
for creative and
design work
Stanford D.School
started teaching Design
Thinking to students
Hasso Plattner Institute
for IT Engineering
founded in Germany
IDEO formed;
modelled a version of
Design Thinking from
Stanford D.School
First Design Thinking
book published by a
Harvard Professor
IIT Institute of Design
launches Design Camp
Increasing interest and
adoption of Design
Thinking in industries
“Wicked
problems” term
coined by Horst
Rittel

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● The answer won’t be clear from
the start and even though this is
not comfortable it allows for
unexpected solutions
● It is okay to fail - failure is an
incredibly powerful tool when it
comes to learning
DESIGN THINKING REQUIRES A CERTAIN MINDSET TO ENSURE
SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION
● Stop talking and start making -
Design Thinking relies on the
power of tangibility
● Human Focus - the people you are
looking to design for are ultimately
your path to innovative solutions
● By learning and iterating, there is a
greater chance of generating
successful solutions
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TRADITIONAL THINKING vs. DESIGN THINKING
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Lots of reports and documentation Show don’t tell
Scared of failing Learn from failure
Certainty is key Embrace ambiguity
Focus on solution Focus on human values
Get it perfect the first time Iterate
TRADITIONAL THINKING DESIGN THINKING
VS
Talk about your idea Make your idea

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THE DESIGN THINKING ATTITUDE
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UNCERTAINTY CLARITY / FOCUS
Research &
understand
Design prototypes Implement design
Source: Adapted from Damien Newman

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● Gaining empathy of customers
requires a deep understanding of:
○ Customer’s jobs-to-be-done
○ Customer’s pains
○ Customer’s gains
● Popular design thinking tools for
gaining empathy include the
Persona and Empathy Map
(we will cover these tools in Section 3)
DESIGNERS USE EMPATHY TOOLS TO GAIN DEEP INSIGHTS INTO
CUSTOMER’S NEEDS
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LEFT BRAIN vs. RIGHT BRAIN
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RIGHT BRAIN
Intuition, Emotion
LEFT BRAIN
Rationality, Logic
Source: Adapted from Strategyzer, 2010
Design Thinking uses both sides of the brain to solve problems.

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DIVERGENT & CONVERGENT THINKING
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Source: Adapted from Lewrick et al., 2018
PROBLEM SPACE
DIVERG
E
CO
NVERG
E
SOLUTION SPACE
DIVERG
E
CO
NVERG
E
MAKE SURE
YOU SOLVE
THE RIGHT
PROBLEM
Diverge to create choices, converge to make choices.

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THE FIVE PHASES OF DESIGN THINKING
Empathize
with your users
Define your
users’ needs,
their problem,
and your
insights
Ideate by
challenging
assumptions
and creating
ideas for
innovative
solutions
Prototype to
start creating
solutions
Test solutions
Empathize
Define
Ideate
Prototype
Test
Source: Based on Stanford d.school

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THE DESIGN THINKING PROCESS CONTAIN BOTH DIVERGENT &
CONVERGENT THINKING
EMPATHIZE DEFINE IDEATE PROTOTYPE TEST
Divergent Convergent Divergent Convergent
PROBLEM SPACE SOLUTION SPACE

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TWO APPROACHES TO PROBLEM SOLVING
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PROBLEM
SOLUTION
PROBLEM
SOLUTION
RIGHT BRAIN
Intuition, Emotion
LEFT BRAIN
Rationality, Logic
Understand & observe
Define point of view
(POV)
Ideate
Develop & test
prototypes
Perform situation
analysis
Find & define goals
Develop solution
variants
Assess & select
Solution Space
Problem Space
FEEDBACK
LOOPS
ITERATIONS
Source: Adapted from Lewrick et al., 2018

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THE THREE LENSES OF HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN PROVIDES A
HOLISTIC APPROACH FOR EXPERIENCE INNOVATION
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People
(Desirability)
Business
(Viability)
Technology
(Feasibility)
EXPERIENCE
INNOVATION
Source: IDEO

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“
Business people don’t just
need to understand
designers better; they need
to become designers.”
ROGER MARTIN
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Dean, Rotman School of Management

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© Operational Excellence Consulting
Operational Excellence Consulting is a management
training and consulting firm that assists organizations
in improving business performance and effectiveness.
Based in Singapore, the firm’s mission is to create
business value for organizations through innovative
design and operational excellence management
training and consulting solutions. For more
information, please visit www.oeconsulting.com.sg
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