Value of Design Thinking

I was recently asked, what is the value of design thinking.  That's a tricky question to answer, because anyone who knows me can attest, I am passionate about design thinking and innovation.  

I've been a proponent of it ever since my alma mater (that phrase certainly has a ring of nostalgic pride!), the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, introduced me to it.  I grew to love it during all the time I spent learning about it and practicing it with the Business Design Club and Rotman DesignWorks.  I missed it even more when I wasn't practicing it, because you'd often find me muttering under my breath, "This would work so much better if we'd apply a user-centered approach to it!"

My time at Rotman may have come to pass, although I am still enthused about design thinking and innovation, soaking every bit of knowledge I can, about the space.  I'm often asked why design thinking, and simply put, it's a user-centric approach to solving problems, ergo, it makes sense.  I loved Tim Brown's view of design thinking in his book, 'Change by Design,' where he described it as "integrating what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable."

The part about design thinking that resonates most strongly with me is that it puts people first, not just in thinking about and solving problems, but also in everyday experiences and how might we make things better.  Design thinking prioritizes people to solve problems and delight users.  And what makes it even better is that it is iterative, with a constant cycle of curiosity, creativity and improvement.

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This may explain my passion for design thinking and innovation, although I decided to doodle it all out, and leave you with a visual of my view of the value of design thinking.  I'd love to hear what you think, about the post, the doodle, and design thinking... So, drop me a line, and let's talk! :)

Business Design Hackathon

There are many reasons why the Rotman MBA is an awesome experience, but I think one of the key reasons is because it teaches you to think and do.  It's not enough to just learn something helpful and new, if you don't know how to put it into practice. With that in mind, Rotman DesignWorks hosted its first ever Business Design Hackathon, and they got things off to a creative start with students submitting 60-second video pitches applying to be a part of this challenge.  

Kiran Sajwani - Business Design Hackathon - Video Application Music Credit: 'Modern Theme Music' by iMovie / "1901" by Phoenix Music Content used for nonprofit educational purposes (USC, Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 107).

Over the course of three days spread out over two weeks, we used design thinking principles to solve a live problem for the Rotman Marketing Team.  The overall challenge pertained to, "How might we redesign the digital student experience at Rotman?" covering three different areas - Internal Communications, Ambient Experience, and Non-Academic Student Culture.  Our team tackled the Ambient (Physical) Experience, with the more focused challenge of, "How might we help students be more informed when it comes to initiatives on the Rotman campus?"  We went out and interviewed students in the full-time and part-time programs, to gain deeper insights into their views on learning about school initiatives, good & bad experiences, and the role of different technologies in their lives.  The helpful creatives at DesignWorks helped us to synthesize our findings, journey map, ideate and prototype, although just when you think you're done, it's time to iterate!  While iterations can be mildly frustrating, they're inherent as part of the business design process, and are stepping stones on the way to helping you build better, more effective & relevant solutions.  We capped off this experience by presenting our multi-faceted proposed solution, the Rotman Huddle, to the Rotman Marketing Team and other Senior Rotman Directors.  Here's a peek at our solution's intro!  

The Business Design Hackathon was a great way to combine my passion, energy and curiosity, with a collaborative, experimental mindset, to gain practice in applying the principles of Business Design, and have some good fun along the way!