Design Challenge Introduction

Have you ever started a project with your team asking the question: “Why are we doing this?” More often than not, the real motive behind their question is not why but rather “Are we solving the right problem?” Success in any endeavor requires a confident answer to this question. Whether your endeavor is a new “green field” initiative or the evolution of an existing product or service, the team needs to agree that the problem being solved is the right problem for them to address.



Simply asking this question at the beginning of a project is not enough. Successful teams ask this question of themselves everyday; throughout the course of the effort they continually check their bearings relative to the changing course of their organization. Teams need to know the energy and resources they invest will not be misplaced in creating a solution which is not aligned with the organization’s strategy. Used in conjunction with a comprehensive project plan, teams using Design Thinking are able to deliver successful projects often in less time and lower costs than traditional development teams.

The key to identifying and successful Design Challenge is to keep an open mind. This can be especially challenging for evolutionary efforts. In the case of products or services which have a long history and are able to offer rich customer feedback for past releases it be especially challenging to start with an open mind. It will be tempting to assume the past knowledge is both complete and understood by all the team members. If one or two of the team members are seen as experts on the current and past solutions it will be important for the entire project team to objectively assess if the current understanding of the innovation opportunities are comprehensive and if they accurately reflect the needs of the consumers. At the same time this will allow the experts within the team to share responsibility with the entire team, making the team accountable for understanding the opportunity and defining the problem to be solved.

But what does keeping an Open Mind really mean? It is important to treat the stakeholder’s perspective on the problem as a hypothesis rather than a statement of fact. In the Design Thinking, keeping an Open Mind it is about creating a team environment with stakeholders where assumptions are transparent and acknowledged, where team members are encouraged to probe and push the boundaries of the problem space, where the team looks at the problem/challenge as part of a greater system of issues (Macro), while simultaneously investigating the problem/challenge in great detail (Micro).

In some respects, this first phase of the project is like running a small version of the project; the team can use tools such as Pre-Mortems, etc. to discussion potential challenges the team may experience on the project. The activities undertaken in this phase are about getting the project team “Smart Fast” on the topic space, understanding and becoming comfortable with the degree of ambiguity in and around the problem space and finally preparing a plan of action for the project.


Indentify the Problem Context

In today’s rapidly changing market with emerging technologies, business models and consumers, it is easy for projects—even if they are delivered on time and on budget—to find they have missed their target. This is especially true for larger projects requiring month or years of development, or which require support from cross organizational or geographically distributed teams. Success is determined not by timelines or resources, but rather whether or not the solution delivered addresses the real needs of the users.

Given the number of stakeholders, related projects and interdependencies cross-organizational coordination can be overwhelming within larger companies. Gaining consensus on the definition of the Design Challenge can itself be a challenge. Design Thinking provides frameworks for giving transparency to critical influencers and stakeholders as well as the means for aligning the team’s deliverables to the organizational and market. Design Thinking proactively ensures your project’s final result supports the larger strategic objectives—even if these change midstream


Solutions must be Viable, Feasible and Desirable

Often the criteria used by organizations to identify a project’s objectives are not based on their customer’s needs but rather on previously created solutions. Leveraging previous investments is good business practices, but doing so without understanding the changes in your customers’ needs and expectations is at best risky. As customers integrate tools and services from the consumer world their business to business solutions are expected to offer the same ease of use, simple integration and delight.

Design Thinking advocates balancing the business viability (is this good for business?) with human desirability (is this something people actually want?) and technical feasibility (is this something we can build and deliver successfully?). Taking all three factors into account throughout the project is critical to the success of the solution. Projects that focus more energy on one of these three areas at the expense of the other two may show short-term success but for sustainable solutions to be achieved all three must be balanced.

The Problem definition phase of Design Thinking provides tools and activities to:

• Assist teams in dealing with problems that may have a high degree of ambiguity in their definition
• Assist teams in addressing changes in the marketplace that are not clear
• Assist teams to Identify, Refine and potentially Reframe the Problem Statement
• Enable teams to ascertain what Design Thinking Phases, Objectives and Activities to pursue in the project based on the problem space , resources and time
• Define the Operational Model for the team that fits the problem space
• Define an agreed upon and understood Project Plan
• Communicate the project plan effectively to all stakeholders

• Organize the Team for success
• Understand the Problem Context
• Set the Project Expectations
• Set the Project Plan
• Communicate Successfully the Projects Charter