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The aim of a Design Thinking workshop is to develop the various solutions imagined for a given opportunity. This means putting it in place at the right time:
Several ideation methods can be used to guide the solution development phase, capitalizing on the diversity and collective intelligence of the project team. The most important thing to remember is that creativity in Design is not based on a linear process of convergence on a single solution, but rather on sourcing several solution ideas first, to finally arrive at a moment of convergence and co-construction of a final solution by several people.
This is also the time when we seek to validate the hypotheses behind our solution ideas with users, for example by presenting the idea to them through a prototype to gather feedback on the user experience and their use of the solution.
Once the problem to be addressed has been identified and chosen, the Design Thinking methodology recommends formulating this problem as an opportunity, as this facilitates the generation of ideas.
The How Might We technique: expressing your problem as an opportunity gives you the horizon to move on to the solution-finding phase. The risk, if you don't do this, is to fall in love with your solution, and adapt your problem to it, when you should be doing the opposite.
To do this, frame the problem as a question:
How can we help _______________ [user] to __________________________ [solve a problem] with the aim of __________________________ [profit] ?
At NUMA, we like to prove ourselves by example. So let's try it out for you. First, read and carry out the 1st instruction in isolation, before discovering the 2nd:
Instruction n°1: Take a sheet of paper and a pen and draw a house. You have 10 seconds.
Instruction n°2: Turn over your paper and draw 5 different houses, you have 20 seconds.
Once you have completed your 2 drawings, look at them and you will certainly realize that your 5 houses with distinctive signs are more original than your first house, which certainly looks like this:
In project management, the same phenomenon occurs: constraint and pressure stimulate the ideas of project leaders, leading to the emergence of more original and successful solutions.
Except perhaps when it comes to artists (who are often misunderstood, by the way). In business at any rate, having a team that brings together a wide diversity of viewpoints is your best advantage for generating a wide range of original and useful ideas. The textbook case for co-created projects is Wikipedia, the best-known online encyclopedia, a collaborative platform maintained by literally any Internet user and a few thousand volunteers who regulate the published content. Several successful companies have launched Open Innovation programs that promote co-creation and crowdsourcing: IKEA, Unilever and Sodexo.
The Design Thinking methodology can be seen as a toolbox of creative techniques to be used in various scenarios:
By integrating Design Thinking, you'll be able to choose a technique easily, and come out with solutions that have been tested rather than read in a business book with a title like "How to get 1,000 ideas a second".
Despite what people say about creative talent (you either have it or you don't), Design Thinking workshops also work very well with technical profiles. Setting up a Design Thinking workshop is inexpensive, and the group dynamic makes it an exercise that often has a good impact/effort ratio.
First and foremost, despite the fact that the design process is collaborative, the workshop must be framed to maximize its impact:
Define upstream or downstream :
For effective brainstorming in the ideation phase of Design Thinking, you can choose to use drawings with the Design Studio, or prefer words by opting for the Round Robin.
The Design Studio is an iterative, collaborative activity based on several cycles of idea generation, first individual divergence, then collective convergence. The aim is to rapidly generate solutions, first by each designer individually, then as a group. It's best to do this with a team of designers from different backgrounds, to maximize idea generation. The workshop ends with a presentation of the solutions found and constructive criticism by the group.
How to organize it?
When to organize it?
❌ It's not the right choice when: you're starting from a blank sheet of paper, the subject isn't defined.
✅ It's the right choice when: you know the subject well enough and want to push it a little further. Or when you're already at the solution generation phase, and not at an "I'm generating ideas to explore the topic" phase.
Starting from your How Might We, the exercise takes place in 3 cycles and requires 1 A4 sheet and a pen per participant:
Cycle 1: Crazy 4 - 10 minutes individual and group sessions
5 minutes alone: Take your sheet of paper and divide it into 4 parts. In each part, draw what comes to mind as a solution when you think of your How Might We.
5 minutes as a group: Present your drawings in turn, no questions allowed at this stage.
Cycle 2: Crazy 2 - 10 minutes individual and group sessions
3 minutes individual: This time, divide your sheet of paper into 2. Draw 2 solutions, with or without inspiration from what was designed and presented in the previous cycle. Steal ideas, remix them - anything goes!
7 minutes as a group: Present your drawings to the group in turn and answer the questions.
Cycle 3: Voting - 8 minutes in group
1 minute in silence: everyone chooses their preferred solution from all those in rounds 1 and 2.
Then go around the table for the remaining time, the time keeper takes everyone's preferences and chooses the idea to be presented collectively.
What is Round Robin?
The Round Robin is a good technique for generating, sharing and co-constructing ideas within a group.
❌ It's not the right choice when: the project is already well advanced and an idea is emerging.
✅ It's the right choice when: you want to encourage the fluidity of thought of individuals and the group to generate a maximum of original ideas.
Sound abstract? Here's a glimpse into a workshop where we brainstormed on a mobile app for gym members.
Phase 7: Vote collectively to eliminate the least popular ideas, then discuss the remaining ideas. To guide the discussion, give yourself selection criteria for the ideas to be retained. If you're not sure you want to discard certain ideas, put them in a backlog and give yourself time: if you're still thinking about it in a month's time, it was probably a good idea.
We've already talked a little about this during the ideation phase, and the end result is the co-creation of a solution, but there comes a time when you have to converge.
These are the main ways to quickly converge on an idea:
These rather fun workshops do have one objective: to help you formulate your value proposition, i.e. the main and unique benefit of your solution for your users.
If you find the subject dense (and so do we) or don't know how to manage its implementation in your teams, NUMA organizes Design Thinking training courses.
To find out more, read L'Occitane's testimonial!
The aim of a Design Thinking workshop is to develop the various solutions imagined for a given opportunity. This means putting it in place at the right time:
Several ideation methods can be used to guide the solution development phase, capitalizing on the diversity and collective intelligence of the project team. The most important thing to remember is that creativity in Design is not based on a linear process of convergence on a single solution, but rather on sourcing several solution ideas first, to finally arrive at a moment of convergence and co-construction of a final solution by several people.
This is also the time when we seek to validate the hypotheses behind our solution ideas with users, for example by presenting the idea to them through a prototype to gather feedback on the user experience and their use of the solution.
Once the problem to be addressed has been identified and chosen, the Design Thinking methodology recommends formulating this problem as an opportunity, as this facilitates the generation of ideas.
The How Might We technique: expressing your problem as an opportunity gives you the horizon to move on to the solution-finding phase. The risk, if you don't do this, is to fall in love with your solution, and adapt your problem to it, when you should be doing the opposite.
To do this, frame the problem as a question:
How can we help _______________ [user] to __________________________ [solve a problem] with the aim of __________________________ [profit] ?
At NUMA, we like to prove ourselves by example. So let's try it out for you. First, read and carry out the 1st instruction in isolation, before discovering the 2nd:
Instruction n°1: Take a sheet of paper and a pen and draw a house. You have 10 seconds.
Instruction n°2: Turn over your paper and draw 5 different houses, you have 20 seconds.
Once you have completed your 2 drawings, look at them and you will certainly realize that your 5 houses with distinctive signs are more original than your first house, which certainly looks like this:
In project management, the same phenomenon occurs: constraint and pressure stimulate the ideas of project leaders, leading to the emergence of more original and successful solutions.
Except perhaps when it comes to artists (who are often misunderstood, by the way). In business at any rate, having a team that brings together a wide diversity of viewpoints is your best advantage for generating a wide range of original and useful ideas. The textbook case for co-created projects is Wikipedia, the best-known online encyclopedia, a collaborative platform maintained by literally any Internet user and a few thousand volunteers who regulate the published content. Several successful companies have launched Open Innovation programs that promote co-creation and crowdsourcing: IKEA, Unilever and Sodexo.
The Design Thinking methodology can be seen as a toolbox of creative techniques to be used in various scenarios:
By integrating Design Thinking, you'll be able to choose a technique easily, and come out with solutions that have been tested rather than read in a business book with a title like "How to get 1,000 ideas a second".
Despite what people say about creative talent (you either have it or you don't), Design Thinking workshops also work very well with technical profiles. Setting up a Design Thinking workshop is inexpensive, and the group dynamic makes it an exercise that often has a good impact/effort ratio.
First and foremost, despite the fact that the design process is collaborative, the workshop must be framed to maximize its impact:
Define upstream or downstream :
For effective brainstorming in the ideation phase of Design Thinking, you can choose to use drawings with the Design Studio, or prefer words by opting for the Round Robin.
The Design Studio is an iterative, collaborative activity based on several cycles of idea generation, first individual divergence, then collective convergence. The aim is to rapidly generate solutions, first by each designer individually, then as a group. It's best to do this with a team of designers from different backgrounds, to maximize idea generation. The workshop ends with a presentation of the solutions found and constructive criticism by the group.
How to organize it?
When to organize it?
❌ It's not the right choice when: you're starting from a blank sheet of paper, the subject isn't defined.
✅ It's the right choice when: you know the subject well enough and want to push it a little further. Or when you're already at the solution generation phase, and not at an "I'm generating ideas to explore the topic" phase.
Starting from your How Might We, the exercise takes place in 3 cycles and requires 1 A4 sheet and a pen per participant:
Cycle 1: Crazy 4 - 10 minutes individual and group sessions
5 minutes alone: Take your sheet of paper and divide it into 4 parts. In each part, draw what comes to mind as a solution when you think of your How Might We.
5 minutes as a group: Present your drawings in turn, no questions allowed at this stage.
Cycle 2: Crazy 2 - 10 minutes individual and group sessions
3 minutes individual: This time, divide your sheet of paper into 2. Draw 2 solutions, with or without inspiration from what was designed and presented in the previous cycle. Steal ideas, remix them - anything goes!
7 minutes as a group: Present your drawings to the group in turn and answer the questions.
Cycle 3: Voting - 8 minutes in group
1 minute in silence: everyone chooses their preferred solution from all those in rounds 1 and 2.
Then go around the table for the remaining time, the time keeper takes everyone's preferences and chooses the idea to be presented collectively.
What is Round Robin?
The Round Robin is a good technique for generating, sharing and co-constructing ideas within a group.
❌ It's not the right choice when: the project is already well advanced and an idea is emerging.
✅ It's the right choice when: you want to encourage the fluidity of thought of individuals and the group to generate a maximum of original ideas.
Sound abstract? Here's a glimpse into a workshop where we brainstormed on a mobile app for gym members.
Phase 7: Vote collectively to eliminate the least popular ideas, then discuss the remaining ideas. To guide the discussion, give yourself selection criteria for the ideas to be retained. If you're not sure you want to discard certain ideas, put them in a backlog and give yourself time: if you're still thinking about it in a month's time, it was probably a good idea.
We've already talked a little about this during the ideation phase, and the end result is the co-creation of a solution, but there comes a time when you have to converge.
These are the main ways to quickly converge on an idea:
These rather fun workshops do have one objective: to help you formulate your value proposition, i.e. the main and unique benefit of your solution for your users.
If you find the subject dense (and so do we) or don't know how to manage its implementation in your teams, NUMA organizes Design Thinking training courses.
To find out more, read L'Occitane's testimonial!
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Quality certification has been awarded for the following category of actions: TRAINING INITIATIVES
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