
Summary:
In this interactive meetup, discover the transformative power of Design Thinking, popularized by IDEO and Stanford’s d.School! This valuable approach drives breakthrough results in product development, project management, and leadership. While “design thinking” isn’t just focusing on design, it is in fact about much more. Like a “leap year” isn’t a year of leaping, Design Thinking goes beyond problem-solving to “thinking from the future.” This mindset uncovers solutions that typical, problem-centric methods often miss.
Design Thinking begins with an obsession with “the customer” and “thinking from the future” rather than getting stuck in present limitations. Instead of using the classic design thinking model Empathize–Define–Ideate–Prototype–Test model, try a simpler cycle: Why? – Who? – What? – How?
- Rather than instinctively jumping to HOW to solve a “problem”, start with WHY – Why is this project important? Dig deeply to find an inspiring purpose beyond profit.
- Next explore WHO – who cares, who’s impacted, who’s involved, and who’s judging the success of your project? The empathy map and persona are powerful tools to bring stakeholders to life.
- Then move on to WHAT – what outcomes would go beyond “solving a problem” to surprise and delight your stakeholders? Use lateral thinking to imagine the future, and then create it.
- Use the power of cross-pollination to explore and expand possibilities beyond the obvious solutions to the truly remarkable.
- Design and rapidly prototype HOW to achieve the desired outcomes and delight your stakeholders. Get feedback early and often from a wide variety of people, then iterate.
Using the WHY – WHO – WHAT – HOW cycle as a guide makes this powerful approach easy to remember and accessible to all project teams, even if you are not an expert in design thinking.
Video File / Presentation File / Article Handout 1 / Article Handout 2
Please take a minute and click here to check out Kimberly’s website for training, speaking and consulting offerings, books, articles, and other resources.
Takeaways:
- Avoid the “Rush to Solution” trap—it’s the quickest way to fail.
- Discover the Big WHY purpose for any project.
- Focus on key stakeholders who determine project “success”.
- Define “success”; and measure that success from the stakeholders’ perspective.
- Embrace necessary risk-taking, learning from mistakes, experimenting, prototyping & “failing forward”.
- Learn to apply this powerful approach to any project—even those that seem “impossible”!
About the Speaker:
Kimberly Wiefling is the founder of Wiefling Consulting, a Silicon Valley-based global consultancy. A physicist by education, she recognized long ago the crucial role of human skills – what her engineering friends sometimes call “the touchy, feely crap”. Kimberly enables managers to become leaders and groups of people to become a true team, who can achieve TOGETHER what would be impossible to achieve alone. She has worked with companies from startups in Silicon Valley to the Global 1000, including over 50 globalizing Japanese companies, some of which are household names.
Kimberly has worked with people from over 50 different countries. Her book, Scrappy Project Management, has gotten her invited to speak to audiences globally, and she has eight other books in her collection that she created with other authors who share their expertise in engaging and accessible ways. She works globally with valued colleagues at Silicon Valley Alliances**.
NEVER BORING! Her keynotes and workSHOCKs, as she calls them, move beyond “teaching”. If knowing how were enough we’d all be rich and thin! Kimberly’s events enable people to make meaningful positive changes to overcome the predictable & avoidable leadership, team & organizational culture issues that damage or destroy organizations.