Lean Innovation and Design Thinking are currently hot topics. Both frameworks produce the same results – it’s only the methods that differ.
Design Thinking – what is it?
The concept of Design Thinking isn’t new. It arose from industrial design and aims to develop innovative services targeted at customer needs. It therefore focuses on the different experiences, opinions and perspectives that various individuals will have regarding a problem. The basic principle of Design Thinking is the same as that of Lean Innovation: it’s interdisciplinary teams that create real innovations, because they have a better understanding of the problem and its possible solutions.
From the end to the beginning
However, design was neglected in the business world for many years, and was applied only to a product’s aesthetic characteristics. This led to attractive products that failed to meet customer needs. It was only when individual companies began to apply design at the beginning of their processes rather than at the end that they were able to successfully distinguish their products from those of their competitors.
Today, this Design Thinking process has been standardised, and takes place over five phases:
empathise, define, ideate, prototype, test.
In the empathy phase (1), designers observe the customer in order to identify the problem. Then they define (2) the problem and begin to generate possible solutions in the ideation phase (3). These solutions take the form of prototypes (4) (known as ‘pretend prototypes’ in Lean Innovation) and are immediately tested on customers (5). The phases are iterative and are repeated with new insights and a better understanding of the problem. Over time, a minimum viable product (MVP) is created. This is a product that has the smallest possible range of functions compared to the end product but can ideally still be sold to early adopters – customers who are prepared to forgo a product or service’s full functionality if it solves their main problem.
How can we combine Lean Innovation and Design Thinking?
Lean Innovation and Design Thinking create the most value when they’re implemented together. While Lean Innovation sees the entire business model as a product, Design Thinking focuses on the actual end product. Both processes work with quick iterations, validation and a lean approach. Design Thinking can be used concretely in the product development process via Design Sprints (see slide 28 here).
Adrian von Orelli and Florian Nyffenegger (agedo.ch)
