DESIGN THINKING

MINDSETS & MANTRAS How to Be

Ways of being and speaking at all times to open the potential for human creativity.

Optimistic

Constraints drive creativity How might we...?

Collaborative

Yes & Flare, then focus

Experimental

Bias toward action Fail forward, fast

Human-Centered

Start with people People are important, not ideas

Visceral

Show, don’t tell Mindsets & Mantras drawn from Stanford d.School Public domain images courtesy of the National Park Service

DESIGN THINKING

MODES

A palette of working modes to fuel aspects of creative flow: inspiration, insight, intuition, imagination and iteration.

What to Do

HIGH-LEVEL PERSPECTIVE



frame

Form a powerful point of view on challenges/opportunities and principles for impactful ideas.

imagine Fully explore ideas. Only afterward thoughtfully select and shape them.

WHAT SHOULD BE

WHAT IS

immerse

prototype

Gather diverse, rich insight and inspiration to draw on.

Dynamically iterate, smart, safe experiments, enabling great sparks of ideas to evolve.

CONCRETE DETAILS

Public domain images courtesy of Pixabay

DESIGN THINKING

METHODS

immerse mode

What to seek

Objective observations (notes and images) and empathy about what diverse stakeholders (including you/your org.)...

THINK

expressed beliefs, understandings, etc.

SAY

verbal interactions, etc.

FEEL

values, hopes, fears, frustrations, nonverbal cues, etc.

Photos from a 1-day workshop with diverse (government, commercial, social) leaders from China

DO

habits, ‘hacks’, physical interactions, uses, patterns, inconsistencies, etc.

...including the role of their context in each.

What to do

Without judging, leading or interpreting...

LOOK Pause to soak up your usual scenes with

fresh eyes // Have people photo-document their own experience// Shadow someone // Notice nonverbal cues // Scan the environment

as , it w enges g n i K ll LOO ers’ cha e m i l’ rid ng t endi see ‘rea p s By ble to i poss

ASK Invite open conversation // Ask briefly and

listen long! // Ask in different contexts (individual or group conversations, hallway posters, etc) and ways (tell me, draw for me, etc.)

TRY Try another’s task // Take on their constraint (physical, social, etc.) // Reenact scenarios with them // Try an analogous experience

WHY? (WHY,WHY...?)

On sec e team ond m is A emb SK er i ing s T abo RYin g ut his and Follow-up what you see, exp the erie nce seek stories, emotions and

hear, and experience to reasons // Feel free to substitute synonyms (how come? tell me more?)

Mneumonics from IDEO Lots more methods! See IDEO’s Method Deck, Stanford’s Bootcamp Bootleg, IIT’s 101 Deisng Methods Book

DESIGN THINKING

METHODS

frame mode

What to SEEK

INSIGHTS about what stakeholders do/say/think/feel

today, and NEED or VALUE being able to do/say/think/ feel in the future. Patterns or conflicts within/between stakeholders are particularly revealing!

OPPORTUNITIES for greatest impact, fulfilling the most important common needs above, or resolving the most important conflicting ones.

DESIGN PRINCIPLES to help pursue any opportunity in a way that powerfully honors everyone’s values.

FRAMEWORK

the most generative and strategic way(s) to visually connect the above elements to help you strengthen them and your overall strategy/story.

What to DO ORGANIZE Cluster your images, observations, inspiration, and/or ideas in revealing ways.

VISUALIZE Sketch ways of visualizing the

challenges/opportunities that your insights or ideas represent (an experience journey, Venn diagram, 2x2 space, etc...)

VERBALIZE Frame points of view on challenges:

y, r/pa e t n e rk ( ewo m a hts y’ fr nsig i e r n r o )f jou rient ga‘ o n / i t i s U ex ide, r , t i wa

[person(s) or entities] need(s) to [verb about the future – e.g. do/say/think/feel_______] because [insight about the present]. Ask Why? and What’s stopping them/us? to continually discover and frame new challenges.

PRIORITIZE What seems most important or impactful? What’s the strongest ‘story’?

Crea ting H ow M state ight W ment e...? s for oppo enter rtunit ing & y payin g

DESIGN THINKING

METHODS

imagine mode

What to seek A clear TOPIC Remember your people,

insights and opportunities. How Might We...

INSPIRATION from the world. Look for

analogs. Ask: What would babies/ants/ Ben Franklin/ astronauts/Coke/etc. do?

LOTS of IDEAS A NAME & PICTURE for each idea

e ag m i an ith w a ide aring n a sh ing fore p o be vel De name and

What to do WARM UP PlayYes & or Pictionary ENCOURAGE WILD IDEAS DEFER JUDGMENT BUILD ON OTHERS’ IDEAS

Show ing a nd s post harin ing it g the on th idea e bo befo ard re

Brainstorm rules largely by IDEO

DESIGN THINKING

METHODS

prototype mode

What to seek

As you re-immerse with your prototype, among the things you should ASK for from people are:

I LIKE I WISH I WONDER

Sket ch focus ing out a ed on p the R rototype sce IGHT aspe nario cts

WHAT IF...?

What to do RIGHT Identify your critical questions about your idea. What’s the simplest

prototype(s) to answer your critical question(s)? To get at the value/benefit?

ROUGH Ask yourself: Where do real details matter for your prototype? Where don’t they? Should it focus on how your idea works? Looks? Feels? Can you just act it out? Sketch a scenario? Make a ‘paper prototype’?

RAPID Challenge yourself: How quickly can you make and evolve your prototype? How quickly does it elicit issues?

REPEAT Go back and immerse your prototype! LOOK/ASK/TRY/WHY???, and observe what people DO/SAY/THINK/FEEL, to elicit new insights and ideas to evolve it. Iterate, iterate, iterate!!!

fi OUGH R d n a APID ion Very R of an interact pe prototy

rst

Right, Rapid, Rough by IDEO

DESIGN THINKING

Musings & Motions

When & Why to get into each mode

Adaptive Leadership can help guide us... Get out of the weeds. Get VISIONARY.

Do I/we need to make sense of an abundance of observations or ideas? To identify and poignantly articulate our shared purpose? To create a compelling, concise context or story for our prototype? Have I/we discovered an entirely new design challenge (more adaptive or meaningful)? Would reframing yield broader, better or braver ideas?

frame

Get away from your inner critic. Get CREATIVE.

Is our intuition primed for ideation? Would getting potential ideas and interventions out of our heads help us immerse in the present? Would co-designing with a diversity of stakeholders bring more ideas and insights to work with? Do we need new ideas to address an insight/issue our prototype elicited?

imagine

interpret intervene observe

immerse

Get out of your world and into theirs. Get INSPIRED. Do I/we need to become more reconnected and aligned around our shared purpose, the people who really matter? More aware of diverse stakeholders’ underlying needs or values to discover the appropriate interpretation of their behaviors? More engaged with them below the neck, and more empathic about the losses that our ideas/prototypes might mean to them? Less afraid of reaching out to them?

prototype

Get out of chattin’ and Get CRAKIN’!

Do I/we need to get out of thought experiments and into real ones? Is the risk or cost of debating this greater than that of trying it? Would we learn more quickly about our stakeholders’ needs and values by experimenting together?

Adaptive Leadership model and terms from “The Theory Behind the Practice,” by Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky in HBR.

DESIGN THINKING

Mission How might we use these mantras and modes to

empower ourselves and others to design solutions to problems of all kinds in an optimistic, empathic, collaborative, experimental way?

individual team

family

organization

community world

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”

- Ghandi

“Please put on your oxygen mask before assisting others.”

- flight attendants everywhere

Public domain images courtesy of Pixabay