Design Thinking & Critical Thinking Essentials

Design Thinking Overview

  • Human-centred, solution-based methodology to create innovative products/services.
  • Core reference model: Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design (Stanford d.school).
  • Process is iterative & non-linear; teams move back & forth between stages.

Five Key Stages (5)

  • Empathise
    • Study users via observation, engagement, immersion.
    • Goal: uncover real needs & motivations; suspend own assumptions.
  • Define
    • Synthesize findings into a clear, human-centred problem statement.
    • Frame as user need, not business metric (e.g. “Teenage girls need nutritious food to thrive”).
  • Ideate
    • Generate wide solution space (divergent ➜ convergent thinking).
    • Common techniques: Brainstorm, Brainwrite, SCAMPER, Worst-Possible-Idea.
  • Prototype
    • Build inexpensive, scaled-down artefacts (paper, cardboard, wireframes).
    • Purpose: learn, compare alternatives, spark new ideas.
  • Test
    • Evaluate prototypes with real users; collect feedback to refine problem, design, or assumptions.
    • Usability tools: System Usability Scale (SUS), task observations, SUS score interpretation.

Supporting Concepts & Tools

  • Empathy & User Insight: User journeys, empathy maps, diverse user groups, user feedback loops.
  • Ideation Aids
    • SCAMPER: Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify/Magnify, Put to other uses, Eliminate, Rearrange.
    • QaDIM™ operators for incremental product innovation (add, embed, combine, separate, etc.).
  • Prototyping Fidelity: Low-fi (paper, cardboard) vs high-fi; choose lowest level that answers the question.
  • Testing Metrics: SUS provides quick 10-item usability score; ext{Score} \ge 80 ⇒ “excellent”.

Reactive vs Proactive Problem Solving

  • Reactive: fixes issues post-incident; quick, incident-driven, limited root-cause depth.
  • Proactive: anticipates & prevents issues; early intervention, risk reduction, higher efficiency.

Critical Thinking Tools for IT

  • User Research: interviews (open & probing questions, 5W1H), observation (controlled, naturalistic, participant).
  • Frameworks: Empathy Map, AEIOU, User Story, Personas, Fishbone (root-cause), Affinity Diagram (clustering), Flowchart, Mental Map.
  • Evaluation Methods: surveys, focus groups, tests, case studies, social-network analysis.

Core Critical Thinking Standards

Clarity · Accuracy · Precision · Relevance · Depth · Breadth · Logic · Fairness.

Invention vs Innovation

  • Invention: creation of something entirely new; mainly R&D, patentable.
  • Innovation: practical implementation & value addition; combines tech, process, design, investment.

Ethical Framework for Innovation

  • Humanistic, non-hierarchical, participatory, sustainable.
  • Nine guiding principles: design with user, understand ecosystem, design for scale, build for sustainability, be data-driven, use & contribute to open standards/data/source, reuse & improve, do no harm, collaborate.