THE POWER OF

DESIGN THINKING

© G2 Innovation Pty Ltd

INTRODUCTION…

Problem-solving is an inherent part of life,

both inside and outside of a business, and

businesses that truly prosper are those

who’ve learnt to tackle problems and arrive

at agile, intelligent and creative solutions.

Whilst problems can be a source of

frustration, be they small hurdles or

colossal obstructions, they also provide

critical insight and stimulus into your

business and inform the innovation process

as whole. So, imagine if there was a

protocol for uncovering and solving

problems which made discovering

opportunities and indeed innovating, much

simpler and more effective.

Well, this is where Design Thinking

emerges as a powerful process...

Design Thinking is a structured series of

steps that forces you to dig deeper, define

and refine, ask the difficult questions, and

go beyond the obvious to understand the

real challenge to be solved.

It is an approach that always puts the user

at the centre, encouraging you to get right

into the nitty gritty of ‘their’ experience and

perspective to ensure that your ultimate

solution adds value to the user.

At G2, Design Thinking is a fundamental

part of the Innovation Journey. You can

have an innovation strategy and know

exactly what your risk tolerance is, how

radical you’re willing to be or not be, and

how you plan to prioritise your projects,

but if you don’t have an effective process

for understanding problems and developing

solutions that everyone in the business

knows and understands, then your strategy

will become redundant and your culture

will suffer as a result.

Design Thinking is a concept that can form

the foundation for driving a brand or

business forward.

There are a variety of Design Thinking

methodologies being used in organisations

throughout the world. For ease of use and

to ensure results, at G2 Innovation we have

broken Design Thinking down into four

easily implementable steps: Discover,

Design, Develop, Deliver.

© G2 INNOVATION PTY LTD2

THE PROCESS…

© G2 INNOVATION PTY LTD

DISCOVER

DESIGN

DEVELOP

DELIVER

1

2

3

4

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The Discover phase is ultimately aboutreally getting to grips with the underlyingproblem or need and defining it.

This can sound simple, especially if you’vebeen given a brief from above, but DesignThinking requires you to question thebrief and the actual problem to be solved.

For example, a product developmentteam may be tasked with designing a newlight switch, but if you look more deeplyinto the problem, what may emerge isthat the real problem is actually in findinga way of communicating to an existinglight fitting.

By opening this out, you may actuallydesign a way of turning on and off lightsusing sound, a simple tap, arm movementor a phone for example, as well as thepossibility of discovering newopportunities.

The same concept exists for serviceproviders. For example, an insurancecompany may want to increase thenumber of first home buyers purchasinghome insurance, but the real challengemay actually be understanding why firsthome buyers do or don’t believe theyneed protection from loss? By openingout the question, the problem becomesless about the increase in sales and moreabout meeting the actual needs of theuser, which will ultimately achieve theformer.

To answer questions like these,observation and/or immersion is key -you need to involve yourself in theprocess, product, purchasing experienceand operation of your product or service,and observe how people interact with it.Focus groups, surveys, user heat mapsand video diaries are all useful techniqueshere, but what is crucial is that yourbusiness carefully observes your endusers, and you don’t make decisions andassumptions solely based on old reports,or what you ‘think’ your end user wantsand needs.

Experiential Design is a favourite toolamongst Design Thinkers in this Discoverphase. This follows the user’s paththrough every step of their journey with aproduct or service, from being outsidethe store to opening the door, to meetinga customer service member and so on. Itexplores what the user’s thoughts are,what their first impressions andexpectations are, how these are met andso forth. This journey is usually mappedon a board and followed up with further“why?” questions, giving the business anopportunity to synthesise and understandthe needs that are important to the enduser.

During this Discover phase your realproblem will be defined, or indeed anexisting brief will be questioned,challenged and refined.

DISCOVER

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Always ask ‘Why?’…

At this point you need to analyse andprocess the data and findings identifiedin the Discover stage to begingenerating ideas. Now it’s time to usethe stimulus and insight discovered as aspringboard to address your users’problems, needs and challenges.

Go wide and varied with the ideas,ensuring you go beyond the obvioussolutions. No idea is too ridiculous orunachievable at this stage.

If asked to create a sum that equalsfour, how would you do it? By breakingit down into its smaller parts1+1+1+1=4 or 2+1+1=4, or would youjust skip to the obvious solution,2+2=4? A 5 year-old may break it intoits smallest parts, but as adults we areprogrammed to solve problems quicklyand most often in the same way everytime. Design Thinking requires us tofind a number of ways to solve aproblem regardless of how easy thesolution appears to be. 1+1+1+1=4 maybe more long-winded, but it has itsadvantages in that it allows the readerto understand the many parts thatmake up the number four. The samegoes for business. A solution which isobvious might be cheaper and quickerto deliver but another, less obvious

solution may provide longer term orwider opportunities.

The ideation process should alsoinvolve numerous viewpoints. It isbetter to work on a problem for oneday with 5 people than one person over5 days. Whilst this may be easier forsome businesses than others, theinvolvement of multiple perspectiveshelps ensure that a variety of outlooksare considered.

We also encourage businesses to inviteexternal participants into the process -whether that is people from anotherdepartment, trusted clients or someonefrom your target audience - althoughyou do need to take care to have thecorrect legal frameworks in place.

Don’t solve a problem the same way every time…

DESIGN

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DEVELOP The development stage has three mainelements: selection, experimentationand repetition.

Once you have a range of potentialsolutions, the next step is choosingwhich one(s) to take forward. As in theDesign stage, the selection processshouldn’t focus on the obvious, it needsto make sure that the solutions areaddressing what the real problem is, aswell as aligning with your strategicaims.

On the face of it, this can appear totake the fun out of the innovationprocess, especially if people areemotionally invested in a particular ideathat isn’t taken forward. However,many of our clients actually find thisstage one of the most cathartic, as itreduces the uncertainty of innovationand removes the ‘I’ from the idea,which will now have become ‘personal’to those involved - placing the valueback on the problem, rather than thesolution.

Then it’s time for experimentation. Thisshould be done cheaply, quickly andefficiently. Low-fidelity prototyping andtesting will give you quick results

without risking your entire budget, andyou can easily go back and refine thesolutions again and again and again...

Remember to keep that end userinvolved. Don’t focus solely on whetherwidget A is a perfect fit with widget Bfor example, without first testingwhether the concept as a whole islikely to solve the problem for the enduser.

Likewise, don’t make the mistake ofrejecting the feedback, or even the lackof feedback you receive from endusers. If you don’t like the answers theygive, don’t dismiss them or keep tryinguntil someone says what you want. Thisis a trap that many hopeful innovatorsfall into.

And finally - repeat! So the solutionsyou selected aren’t what you hadhoped? That’s fine. Design Thinkingisn’t a linear process, it encourages youto go back to the Design stage andeither review those ideas you didn’tselect, or endeavour to uncover newideas. Eventually the right answers willsurface.

Keep the end user in the frame throughout the testing process…

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So you’ve got to the stage where yourprototype is ticking the majority of theboxes for your strategy, your problemand your end user.

You should now be looking at themarketing messaging around it, thebusiness model, price points, andwidening your testing of it with moreend users - perhaps in differentgeographical locations or a broaderrange of demographics. This is whereyou might want to run a soft launch,for example, as a preview for thegeneral public.

This is the time to fine tune yoursolution. It’s important here tocontinue asking ‘Why’ and keep theend-user at the centre of yourattention.

Similar to the Develop stage - wherean idea might not be taken forward inthe selection process - you might feela bit protective of your nearly-finishedproduct and therefore anxious orreluctant to ask for more feedback incase it means having to make changes.

Yes, changes aren’t always convenientbut remember who is going to beusing the product or service at the endof the day. It’s important to take noteof their comments and present themwith an intuitive final solution. Committo the task at hand and invest thoseresources in getting it right.

By the end of the Deliver stage, youshould have addressed a specific needand can therefore be very confident inthe opportunity that has now been

created.

This is the time to commit resources and focus on the opportunities…

DELIVER

© G2 INNOVATION PTY LTD

How we can help?

Whilst understanding the 4 stages of DesignThinking is a great step forward, we knowthat implementing a new innovation processcan be tricky, especially if you havecompeting priorities, dynamic personalitiesand other organisational constraints workingagainst you.

Finding the time to commit, action andintegrate Design Thinking may feel moreaspirational than implementable. That’s whyour clients turn to us and our specialisedinnovation training programs: Inspire,Develop and Embed.

Inspire: ½ to 1 day workshopsThese are fast, fun and informativeworkshops that engage your team in theprinciples of Design Thinking and user-centric innovation and provide new tools toinspire creative thinking.

Ideal for teams looking for an introduction toinnovation and Design Thinking or for thoselooking to refresh their approach toinnovation and encourage greater impactfrom idea generation.

Develop: 1 – 3 daysPerfect for teams looking to encourage adeeper understanding of innovationmethodologies and to genuinely improvetheir innovation skills. Areas of focus in this

program include Insight and Stimulustraining, Future Forecasting, Ideation andSelection, Design Thinking and theInnovation Process.

Embed: 6+ weeksThe Embed programs are all about creatinglong term change and driving future growth.We'll help your organisation Accelerate,Master and Maintain innovation. Perfect forthose looking to build a Culture ofInnovation, embed an effective innovationstrategy, portfolio and process, and whowant a guiding hand to ensure that the rightinsights and new ideas consistently developinto commercial success and disruptiveinnovation.

These programs aim to turn you and yourteam into innovation specialists withtangible grounding in the principles ofDesign Thinking, as well as other keyinnovation skills that support businessgrowth and development. You can be restassured that you and your team will begaining the future proof skills to move yourbusiness forward and compete both withexisting competitors and new marketentries.

We are here to help you reap the rewards ofmoving ‘innovation’ from your ‘to do’ list, toyour ‘doing everyday’ list…

Just ask us how!

© G2 INNOVATION PTY LTD8

03 9005 6432

info@g2innovation.com.au

@G2Aus

17/31 Queen St, Melbourne, 3000

Level 2, Suite 13, 10 Moorabool Street,

Geelong, 3220

g2innovation.com.au

© G2 INNOVATION PTY LTD