What is design thinking? An agile method for innovation

Design thinking eschews traditional development processes in favor of an agile, flexible method for developing products and services with a unique focus on the customer.

Design thinking definition

Design thinking is an agile, iterative process for approaching design and innovation that centers on users’ desires and needs, and enables your company to pivot as the industry changes and technology evolves. Design thinking acknowledges that there isn’t one way to solve a problem. As such, the design thinking methodology encourages questioning, experimenting, observing and innovating in an environment that embraces diverse opinions and ideas.

With design thinking, you won’t rely on traditional corporate hierarchy for ideas and approval. Instead, you’ll create an environment that encourages employees to challenge corporate traditions and facilitates smart, calculated risks.

Design thinking benefits

One of the biggest draws for design thinking is that it can spur innovative ideas as your team cycles through the inspiration, ideation and implementation phases, oftentimes hitting each cycle more than once as you develop new ideas and explore new solutions. Whereas most frameworks and ideologies are broken down into steps, design thinking isn’t meant to be approached in a rigid, orderly fashion. You can bounce between cycles and processes as you see fit, until the right solution and design are achieved.

As new technologies emerge, design thinking becomes an important means for turning these technologies into user-friendly services and products. Design thinking embraces the fast-paced change of technology with a positive outlook that considers every possibility, no matter how “out there” or creative it is. That attitude will be increasingly important as companies find new and exciting ways to make use of emerging technology.

Design thinking principles

In technology, design thinking is used to create human-centered designs that are user-friendly, and to deliver the technology to users in a way that is intuitive and natural. There are a number of core principles that define design thinking. These aren’t meant to be step-by-step instructions for introducing design thinking to your company, but they are the principles on which your design thinking strategy should be founded.

Design thinking process

There are four main phases of design thinking that your team will cycle through while developing solutions and products. Rather than a detailed prescription to follow, design thinking offers a loose structure that you can interpret as needed for your business needs.

Empathy in design thinking

Empathy is an important aspect of design thinking. By considering the wants and needs of clients, users and customers, you can develop the best product, software or service possible. You’ll need to approach the process by trying to understand how you can make the client’s life easier, or how the final product can be more enjoyable, practical, efficient or easy-to-use. It’s more than considering the aesthetic of the interface or physical product, and more about understanding how people use technology, what they want to gain from the experience and how you can create a more meaningful experience for the user.

Design thinking jobs

Design thinking can be a part of nearly any job, especially in the technology industry, but there are a few specific roles that call for design thinkers, architects and managers. Technology jobs that require design thinking skills will typically include:

Design thinking workshops and training

If you want to brush up on the principles of design thinking with a certification or course, you can choose from a number of available programs. These courses are designed to teach you the basics of design thinking and how to apply it within your own organization.