Design Thinking Works!

Design Thinking alone might not be able to tackle the world's most important issues, such as war, poverty and hunger. It can, however, aid the human race in better understanding one another and embracing indifferences. If everyone could just cultivate empathy and the discipline of building on each other's ideas rather than dismissing them, the world would be a much better place. I believe that the fundamental ideas of design thinking might assist us in forging a meaningful path into the future; a future in which people truly listen to one another and collaborate with a "Yes, and" attitude!

It has been an eventful semester and I can recall three major ‘ah ha’ moments during this time that I owe to this course:

First, when my girlfriend told me that I have become a good listener. Yes, this course taught me to listen. This feeling got reinforced after our presentation when Pete (our client) commented that he believed we truly listened to the folks we spoke to. I was more of a speaker than a listener at the time. After having practiced design thinking principles, I have not only improved my capability of understanding the users, but also to understand my family and friends better. Coming from a consulting background, I'm used to making recommendations before even understanding the real jobs to be done. This course assisted me in transitioning from a consultant to a Product Manager mindset. I've learned from this new experience that listening to someone's concerns might make them feel more comfortable around you than actually solving the problem.

Second, when I understood that influencers too can be introverts and can be depressed with their lives despite of how rosy it looks on the screen. This was really a moment that made the invisible visible to me. I was fortunate enough to be assigned to a project that closely resembles my goals of developing my personal brand. Throughout the semester, I spoke with a wide range of influencers and content creators, learning about their backgrounds and problems. I incorporated these learnings and built a few interesting connections that helped me to successfully monetize my LinkedIn reach.

Third, when I realized that progress beats perfection. I fear failures and hence I take a lot of time before I decide to do something to make sure whatever I do is perfect. This was very evident in the food truck simulation when we ran into ‘analysis paralysis’. It was the best way to learn the real essence of “fail fast and succeed faster”. Agility is a critical competitive advantage in today’s world. McKinsey recently reported that “time to market” has been the secret behind the success of unicorns. Having an agile environment within my team saved us a lot of time and have helped us to be productive in coming up with some great solutions in just 10 weeks. However, I think I still need to get better at it and learn to fail fast. I plan to apply these learnings in my job hunt by iterating resume versions early in the process to enhance response rates rather than waiting until it's flawless.

Design thinking, in my opinion, is indispensable. Almost every client learnt something new about their customers, their wants, and the real jobs to be done. Imagine if they hadn’t recruited us to uncover these insights, they would have eventually gone to market with a solution that no one actually wants. Hence, the current emphasis on design thinking is not only important for the individuals learning it, but also for the organizations that we work for.

To sum it all, I’d like to quote: “Design thinking is a fundamental approach to life that helps you better understand your life and the people in it.”

- Shikhaj