Innovation Through Design Thinking
Moving into the experience economy where
organizations compete on experience over singular product or service, a need
for innovation becomes apparent. However, this is much easier said than done.
Innovation has been thrown around like slang and lost significant impact in
many organizations. However, the core of innovation is highly relevant, take a
look at the below:
Innovate (verb)
- make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products
- introduce (something new, especially a product).
Design thinking is a mindset for solving complex
problems. Originally stemming from the design process, design
thinking challenges leaders, individuals, and organizations to think like a
designer---with your client at the heart and with a reiterative process of
prototyping and testing at the core. In recent years, Design Thinking has grown
to become an ambiguous term, particularly relating to its application in modern
business.
Many organizations have their own definition of the exact process of Design Thinking they are employing, but universally has an accepted set of principals that are a part of the Design Thinking process. You can see a reference in the below graphic.
Empathy: The
heart of Human-Centered Design at large, empathy drives a deeper connection
between your customer, employee, and people into process, product, and service.
Particularly important in regards to innovation, prioritizing a qualitative
relationship with the customer experience produces changes that are relevant
and drive revenue.
Ideation: This
may seem the obvious connection to Innovation, but what is unique about this
step applied in design thinking as it typically emphasizes a large degree of
co-creation across silos. It is incredibly easy to create ideas in a funnel,
however, actually ideating in a group setting of all relevant stakeholders
reduces margins of errors and creates end product/service/method with a closer
step towards the customer
Prototype: Prototyping
requires getting your said idea into some realm of reality as quickly as
possible. This requires a level of innovation in its own as oftentimes teams must push themselves to create a
low-fidelity (i.e. paper, pipe cleaners, drawings) to immediately get your
hands on the product
Test: Get it in
front of the customer, peers, anyone (within reason)! So often, the prototypes
and following products are created and the earlier you can identify potential
pain points and errors, the easier it becomes to redirect efforts and make
changes, leading to a seamless release.
Reiteration: The
job is never finished. At each step of design thinking there is an opportunity
to circle backwards to continue to refine the product at hand