We are seeing an exciting trend in recent months as more client organisations structure their people vision alongside innovative and practical deployment plans that are very specifically matched to their business goals.
Over recent years, businesses have been focused on cost utilisation and spend, understandably given the economic environment we've been in.
As a start-up you can do two things. Create a digital service which falls in the wow category of social mobile app, cool gadget, another cryptocurrency, or similar. Nothing that will make this world a better place. Alternatively, you can try to solve a really hard problem with some really clever technology and try to sell your new product or service.
Design Thinking is currently enjoying a surge in popularity and not without good reason. Processes for creation and innovation are worth their salt and are indeed integral to Digital Transformation. Having said that, one is not a substitute for the other. Here is my take on Design Thinking and where it fits with Digital Transformation.
In my opinion, most enter the room of Design Thinking assuming they’re bringing the right diagnosed challenge to the table to be fixed.
I’ve used Uber a few times, but have to say I’ve been a Black Cab kind of girl for years and there is something familiar about them that makes me stick with them.
Yesterday though I started to think differently. My last few trips to London have involved a Cab ride, none of the drivers have known where to go and the cost, compared to what an Uber would have been almost double the cost and the card machines haven’t been working so cash has been paid, one driver even dropping me at a cash machine.
Strategy creates competitive advantage,
People and a culture of innovation sustains it and
Technology and communications are the means by which it is delivered.
Over the past decade or so, the concept of Design Thinking has become a popular approach to problem-solving. In some circles, Design Thinking is viewed as a methodology with several different process models (see IDEO, Hasso Plattner Institut, as examples) that provide guidance on how to engage in this process. In other circles, Design Thinking is viewed as a philosophy or a mindset that guides problem-solving.
Digital is all the buzz today. You need to have a mobile app, be agile, invest in startups, move to Office360 & Yammer, do sprints, have scrum masters, use AI, build IoT, add BlockChain, ... BUT the dirty little secret of the innovators is that you will not be one. You might actually be putting lipstick on a pig!
What is Design Thinking? One of the challenges with introducing the concept of design thinking is that this concept does not have one agreed upon definition. Depending on the source you consult the definition defers slightly and the concept can be a bit elusive to understand. In an attempt to address this, I consulted 164 pieces of scholarly and popular literature on the topic to arrive at a short description of the concept. Below is how I answer the question, what is design thinking?
As a follow-up from my last article - where I shared thoughts on one of the key differentiators for the businesses of tomorrow being the ability for people to make data-driven decisions within an environment of emerging, fast-paced transformation - this month I dig a little deeper into how sensing your market and making sense of your data are crucial in remaining a competitive and viable business, enabling you to continuously change faster than the competition.
