Tips for Design Thinking: How your company can benefit

A typical part of everyday business life is the need to solve problems. It is important here that problems are not evaluated as something negative per se. Thus, an innovative approach to problem-solving focuses on the development of new products and services. The focus is on a solution that is advantageous from the user’s point of view and at the same time does not lose sight of economic aspects. A classic example of such an approach is Design Thinking.

In the following, we as an Agile Certification Institute will give you some Tips for Design Thinking in your company. Before we go into detail, one Tip for Design Thinking in advance: Design Thinking is less to be understood as a method or process, but rather as an approach that focuses on the artefacts “team, space and process”.

Tips for Design Thinking: advancing innovation

Companies of all sizes and in almost every industry face a never-ending challenge. Competition and technical development lead to changing customer needs and require a constant adaptation of one’s own product range or the services offered. However, a good idea is by no means as easy to implement as is generally assumed. For example, although customer wishes are in the foreground, many restrictions must be considered in the provision and development of new products and services. The know-how of the departments involved also plays a role.

To counter these problems, there are Tips for Design Thinking that has adopted, involving people from all relevant disciplines in the problem-solving process. What sounds simple is in practice quite complex. The implementing Tips for Design Thinking are difficult to implement without some basic knowledge:

Successful Design Thinking requires not only the involvement of people from numerous departments, but also the creation of an innovation-friendly environment. Only then can a common formulation of goals take place and the different needs and motivations of all participants be equally considered. Because of that, we will give you Tips for Design Thinking.
If you and your staff do not have the same level of knowledge, you should take our Tips for Design Thinking to heart. In short intensive courses, training institutes provide people with everything they need for successful application in practice.

Another tip for Design Thinking in your company is that perhaps people should dedicate themselves to the topic who generally have an affinity for new ways of working. Designers and IT professionals, for example, are familiar with many innovative ways of working and can apply them to projects beyond software development.

More Tips for Design Thinking

The most important Tip for Design Thinking we see, is the need for a project team to be open to innovative ways of working and further training. If there is a uniform level of knowledge and project members have been carefully selected, nothing stands in the way of a profitable use of Design Thinking.

A real Tip for Design Thinking is not to see the different models and perspectives on this way of working as unchangeable. Various models offer a good orientation but can also be adapted to individual circumstances if necessary. Ultimately, the basic principles of Design Thinking can of course also be used to improve cooperation and the functionality of internal systems.

If you and your employees are familiar with Design Thinking, this often has a positive effect in the long term. The changed communication culture ensures that employees are fundamentally more open to innovations. They are also more willing to communicate their own ideas and suggestions and to push for their implementation. Here is another Tip for Design Thinking practice:
If it is not a matter of time-critical and particularly success-critical projects, then a new feedback culture should be created analogous to Design Thinking. Ideas that lead to prototypes do not necessarily have to be successful. Ultimately, “trial and error” often leads to success – and failure is part of it! Keep these Tips for Design Thinking in mind.

In order for you and your staff to be able to objectively demonstrate your knowledge of Design Thinking, it is advisable to take part in certificate examinations. These are often offered in cooperation with training companies and IFAAI and are held regularly. If you need more Tips for Design Thinking, you can ask us whenever you want.