BECOMING A DESIGN THINKER -STEP 1
My favorite professor in graduate school told us of a story about a great leader who had a brilliant idea to liberate women. He had observed that women would walk for miles with their dirty laundry to wash them at the public lavoirs. Being rich, the leader bought washing machines for all households, piped water to the houses and made sure all the women learnt how to use the washing machines.
His subjects were happy to have a new way of quickly washing their laundry. They had more time at home with their families and would take better care of their children. After a few weeks, however, the leader found the washing machines dumped like trash and the women went back to washing at the public lavoirs miles from their homes. What could have been the problem?
What the leader did not realize is the reason why the women were doing what they were doing, all he saw was dirty laundry that needed cleaning. The women were gathering at the lavoirs to network, talk about their lives and children, make new friends, share recipes, gossip. It was more of a social place than just lavoirs. And the washing machines, however efficient they were at cleaning their laundry, had taken away a very important part of the washing process, the social aspect.
One of the most important process when developing a high tech solution for a problem is the time before the actual development. It is the time between having the light bulb moment when a brilliant idea occurs in your mind and implementation of that idea. It is during this time you imagine how you will build a solution that will save millions of people from a problem that you have seen, but there lies a bigger problem: assuming that you know what the problem is.
Let us take a step back. As an innovator, how do you approach an idea you have had( maybe it came in a dream, or a fairy whispered to you)? Typically, and correct me if I am wrong, you are tempted to document it and ideate. If it is an app idea you would quickly sketch the wireframes of what the solution of whatever problem you would be solving for would look like. What if I told you that doing so is signing up for failure?
What, then, should you do?
ASSUME A BEGINNERS MINDSET
In whatever capacity you approach an idea, as an innovator, designer or even a member of a software development team, you carry your own experiences,
understanding, and expertise which you will more often than not try to find connections with the idea at hand. Your unique perspective is an incredibly valuable asset to bring to any design challenge.
At the same time, you also carry assumptions and personal beliefs, especially when looking at the problem that the idea would be solving. Your preconceived notions may, in fact, be misconceptions or stereotypes, and can limit the amount of real empathy you can build when trying to understand the actual problem, or even when deciding if there is a problem to solve for in the first place.
Assume a beginner’s mindset in order to put aside biases and approach
a challenge with fresh eyes.
“How do I assume a beginner’s mindset?”, you may ask:
Do not judge
Observe and engage users without the influence of value judgments on their actions, circumstances and decisions. Put aside what you deem to be ideal and observe. Take notes, photos, note down the WOW! moments, anything that could be insightful, have it on record. All the while having the focus on the intended users and not your ‘amazing idea’.
Question everything.
Even (and especially) the things you think you already understand. Ask questions to learn about the world from the user’s perspective. Seek to understand why they do what they do and how they do it, putting all assumptions aside.
Be truly curious.
Strive to assume a posture of wonder and curiosity, both in circumstances that seem either familiar or uncomfortable. Remember you are a beginner. Sometimes what you may think is uncomfortable or may not make sense to you, may actually make perfect sense to someone else. Be curious to learn and understand the perspective of the user.
Listen. Really, Listen.
Ditch any agendas and let the scene soak into your psyche. Absorb what users say to you, and how they say it, without thinking about how you’re going to respond. Remember you are in a beginners mindset and your aim at this point is not to solve your users' problems but to understand their pain points.
Find patterns.
Look for interesting threads and themes that emerge across user interactions. What keeps coming up? Are your users worried about doing their laundry efficiently or do they care more about the interactions they have while washing their clothes at the lavoirs?
And when you are doing all that, put aside your ‘amazing idea’, and begin the journey of understanding the first step of design thinking.
FINDING THE PROBLEM.
