Design Thinking is life!

Do you know Dani Rojas from the TV series Ted Lasso? That guy who constantly yells “Football is life!”¹ and loves to live in his own world? What if we were to turn the whole thing around for once and instead of “Football is life” simply proclaim “Design Thinking is life”?

Design Thinking was established in Germany as a workshop approach. When I completed my training as a Design Thinking Coach at the Hasso Plattner Institute 12 years ago, it was all about designing great workshops. The concept was carried through in an extremely rigid way; phases were strictly followed and the stopwatch was swung as if there was no tomorrow. Even if the whole thing felt somehow awkward, the steps taken with iron discipline along the timeline produced fascinating results time and again. And especially for workshop beginners, the strongly guided approach still offers a good structure and thus security.

Sceptics of Design Thinking like to criticise the rigour of the approach, especially when it is implemented by people with limited systemic experience or limited knowledge of everyday life in companies. The practice of only occasionally working with Design Thinking in the form of workshops and then returning to traditional, directive methods can actually lead to teams ending up in dead ends.

“We tried Design Thinking, but it didn’t really work,” is unfortunately an often-heard phrase.

I have to admit, in this way Design Thinking only works to a limited extent, even in my experience. But Design Thinking wouldn’t be life if it hadn’t evolved. In the following, I would like to briefly describe the two most common forms.

Great workshops with Design Thinking

I still believe that Design Thinking can make for great workshops. However, the benefits tend to be that

• teams enter into an intensive exchange,
• get to know new perspectives and
• make fundamental alignment decisions.

This creates a “common ground” that is invaluable in daily interaction. Many of our clients appreciate this type of workshop, as it repeatedly sharpens the focus, generates ideas and at the same time helps to resolve minor conflicts.

For far-reaching realignments, the development of new product ideas or the intensive shaping of projects, however, there is no way around the second type.

Design Thinking in everyday life

In the course of my Design Thinking journey, I noticed a change in myself: I realised that the aha moments I experienced while applying the methodological elements helped me to react better to challenges in everyday life.

Today, when someone tells me about a challenge, I no longer react reflexively with a solution. Instead, I ask: What is the real problem? Is it what is visible on the surface, or are there hidden needs that cause the problem to persist despite various approaches to solving it?
the problem persists in spite of different approaches to solving it?

An example from my everyday life: I have a neighbour who works as a physiotherapist in a clinic. She told me that some patients did not get physically well although everything indicated that they should be. The reason was that the patients sought rehabilitation
The reason was that the patients sought rehabilitation in order to receive the attention they lacked in everyday life. So the real problem was not in the treatment of the sick back, but in the person’s life situation. Traditional movement therapy alone cannot offer a sustainable solution here.

And this realisation leads to the following question:

How can Design Thinking become part of life?

For many years I have been working with a marketing company that specialises in project-based work. The managing director of this company has made an interesting discovery: By using Design Thinking, she was able to use her working time at least 20% more effectively.

She used to organise a so-called “weekly meeting” with her team every Monday. In this meeting, all ongoing projects were discussed and they thought about what steps they had to take in the coming week. The manager helped the team to make important decisions.

Usually this approach worked well until the middle of the working week. But then new decision-making questions kept popping up, and the staff stood in front of their desks one by one to seek support. Thursday and Friday were marked by these challenges.

The question arose whether another “Weekly Meeting” on Thursday would make sense. The manager and her team decided to work on this question in a workshop with the help of Design Thinking.

It quickly became clear that a large part of the necessary decisions could be made by the employees themselves. However, it was the feeling of insecurity that prevented them from acting on their own responsibility. The idea emerged that in such cases employees should ask one or two colleagues for support in order to discuss the different decision options together and finally make a sensible decision together.

At the same time, the company established the approach of “design thinking in everyday life”. This approach corresponds to an attitude that attaches particular importance to the Design Thinking elements of “observing” and “defining a point of view”. Design thinking does not end after prototyping. On the contrary, it only really begins then.

The initial workshop sensitises for what is still unknown or where uncertain assumptions are in play. The prototype that emerges in this framework logically still has an unstable foundation. If the entire cycle is only run through once, failure is actually pre-programmed.² So what follows is a repeated run-through, if necessary, in which findings and results are discussed and used as input for further development.

From my perspective, this is a good example of Design Thinking in everyday life. Employees use the elements of the process, they do it unconsciously, simply because it is useful for them.

Conclusion

Design Thinking in everyday life promotes the perception of observations and validations that are made possible through prototypical trying out. It uses sensitisation for targeted collection and subsequent evaluation of information. In addition, it involves
different people on a regular basis to ensure that no one is left alone when it comes to dealing with and evaluating new findings.

In my observation, Design Thinking has developed exactly in this direction: It has become an approach that is seamlessly integrated into our daily lives.

Design thinkers are not satisfied with superficial solutions, they are always in observation mode. They gather insights and live empathy. And when necessary, they can focus and close the “bag”. If a prototype does not produce the desired results, they do not give up immediately, but iterate. They consciously reflect on findings and experiences and use them for continuous development. This is not done through chaotic trial and error, but in a structured way based on the principles of Design Thinking.

By the way: Dani Rojas had enough of his “Football is Life” slogan in between. Fortunately, he realised that Design Thinking is not only a game, but also the death of stagnation. For me, design thinking is a lifestyle!

Notes:

[1] Dani Roja’s original quote is: “…even though football is life, football is also death. And that football is football, too. But mostly that football is life!
[2] This also applies to conventional decision-making processes, only people talk about them less openly.

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