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Design Thinking and People Powered
Problem Solving
Ben Weinlick, MA
www.thinkjarcollective.com
Twitter: @thinkjar_
email: bweinlick@gmail.com
780-918-5608
©

2.
Senior Leader of Research and Social Innovation
17 years muckin’ around
striving to
lead systems change in
human services
Consultant
Explorer
Ben Weinlick
thinkjarcollective.com skillssociety.ca

3.
Big questions I’m interested in
How do we problem solve better?
How do we get to root causes and
design around that?
Fixed
it

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It’s not all about the new!

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Douglas Adams- Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy
Rules that describe our biases and reactions to the new…
1. Anything that exists when
you’re born is part of the
natural order
2. Anything invented from
when you are 15-35 is new
and exciting and you can
probably get a career in it
3. Anything invented after you
are 35 is against the natural
order of things

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Hopes for this session
•What the heck is Human
Centered Design Thinking?
•Why is this beast emerging?
•Share some stories and
examples
•Solve World Peace!…No
probably not
•But we’re gonna stretch our
minds

7.
The tricky thing with most systems today
Innovation is
Emergence
Orientated
Performance
Outcome
Orientated
Mark Cabaj
Radical Middle

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$13.5 Billion in one year just on R&D
of one car company
Getting real about Social R&D

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Here’s the thing…
What happens when we
have to “know” results and outcomes
before
we even start exploring deeper
challenges around a complex problem?

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We create solutions, services, systems,
products, based mostly
on deep biased assumptions

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If stewarded well, the Design Thinking Process
helps tame our biases and assumptions
Assumption

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Looking
outside our silos in Community
and strengthening creative collaborations to
tackle big social challenges
Strengthening
Organizational capacity
through learning
Culture and Tools
Developing
Team creative
collaboration
We start with mental models…
Our own first
People’s
views,
patterns of
problem
solving

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“Think Differently?”
Much of the work
is around
defeating status
quo assumptions
and stiff mental
habits...

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Becoming friends with uncertainty

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The 20/80

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The 5 whys
They want money - Why?
For their community projects- why?
So they can support their people - why?
So they can feel that people matter - why?
Because people are isolated without much support…
Community will still need money…And How might we
create a service innovation that supports and launches
connections between people and strengthens community ?
What do we think people really need from engaging with our Grants?

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Design is usually misunderstood
• Everything man made is
Designed
• When you try to solve a
problem you are
designing solutions
• Design is problem
solving
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History of Design Thinking
Old Design Ethos Design Thinking Ethos
Human-Centered

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Why I’m hopeful about Design Thinking
- People at the center
- Guided by empathy
- Disciplined collaborative
process
- True co-design
- Intersects disciplines
- Bias towards action…not
just talk

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What is Human Centered-
Design Thinking Really?
…But usually not this linear in practice

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The usual way of leading change
People First!
The people that
need and use a
service
What could
trigger change?
What do people
really want?
Prototype and
Test programs
and new
services
Policy change/
champions at the
top support
Human Centered Design Thinking
Convene executives and
policy makers
Unleash on people
that use a service
Make new programs
interventions

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Why engage with Design
Thinking?
• Making and prototyping =
better learning and
solutions
• Makes risk taking more
manageable
• Structured problem solving
process
• Brings diverse stakeholders
together to work on a
shared problem or
challenge

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Discovery
• Shadowing
• Empathy Mapping
• Service Safaris- examples of
good and bad services in
other domains
• Hanging out with people in
context
• Goes deeper than
SURVEYS!

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Light Ethnographic
Research
• Attempts to get to know people
as they "naturally act"
• Thoughtful noticing, up close,
personal experience, and
possible participation alongside
• Often captures: quotes,
descriptions, pictures, stories
• This allows one to develop a
narrative description

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How might we…?
• We firm up a question and check our
assumptions as best we can
• What are “problems” we want to help with?
• What are the deeper needs of people?

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turn off your filters
Whatever idea comes to mind go with it.
Don’t evaluate at this stage. Ideas will be
evaluated later.
go for quantity
Seems weird, but the more ideas the better.
Go for lots of ideas. The more ideas you have
the greater chance of having a good one.
build and combine ideas
The most innovative ideas have come about
through mixing things together that seem crazy
at first. Let one idea spark another idea.
Build on each others ideas.
embrace the weird and wild!
The wilder the ideas the better. It’s easier to
tame a wild idea than to invigorate a weak one.
Stretch your thinking. It’s the crazy ones that
make real positive change in the world.
→
→
→
→
Divergent Thinking Guidelines
The brainstorming and thinking of new
possibilities phase of our creative process

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Build/make

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Try out
prototyped
service and get
feedback
Fail cheaply
Refine
Test again

30.
Phases of Service Design
Thinking

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System
change attempt to humanize
service
Capacity building
to use design thinking to
problem solve better and co-design with citizens
Keepin’ It Real
Gonna look at Design Thinking examples at
three levels
Individual service
level

32.
Example of a service and system innova7on
guided by Design Thinking Principles
35

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Big Systemic Challenge
De-humanizing service experience of Case files and Service
planning

34.
No Yes!

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Invited to the Pixar Intersec7on event
38
www.thinkjarcollective.com

36.
Which took me to a weird aha moment...
Not objects
Design behaviours

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Testing early!

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Really rough prototype testing

39.
App question test

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• Test early while still rough prototype
• My slang doesn’t land with everyone!
• Include diverse group in the design process
• Hitchhike on “log notes” to design behaviour
that focuses on strengths and humanizes case
management
• Idea > test > iteration > idea > test > iteration >
building something that matters
Learned so far through Design
Thinking leading development

41.
Examples of scaling capacity to learn Design
Thinking as tool for beLer problem solving
45

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Key ques(ons
• How might we enhance the
ci7zenship experience of
people with disabili7es?
• How might we help case
workers to think differently
and see new possibili7es that
could launch people they
support to beLer quality of
life?
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Lab featured in the Feb 2014
Stanford Social Innovation Review
Magazine

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Our Ci7zen Ac7on Lab
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Ci7zen Ac7on Lab
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Ci7zen Ac7on Lab growing internal capacity for
problem solving and increasing quality of life

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On the iBooks store for free

47.
Citizen centered Think Tank Lab

48.
Skills Society Ac7on Lab in Edmonton!
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www.skillssociety.ca

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Working with an innova7ve leadership team
in Government of Alberta Ministry of Culture
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“How might we tailor our services and programs to
help ethno-cultural groups realize their hopes and
visions for their community/ies?”

56.
AB Culture
Design Thinking Capacity Building in
Community Development Unit (CDU)
Rough prototype exploration

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Example of Design Thinking used in tailored
disability service design
61

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Design Thinking and Individualized
Service Outcome

59.
Are we designing for meaning?
Is a service or program innovation of real value for people’s lives?
Have we developed the service with the people that will use it?
Is the service what people really want and need?
What could really impact positive systems change?
What are we learning from what’s working and not working?
Guiding questions we try to
keep in mind

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Pendulum Swings
Between
CultureTools

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• Open Data and then
designing around
insights
• Internal capacity building
to learn design thinking
processes and tools
• Methods used for better
citizen centered
engagement experiences
with Government
• Policy Labs
How is Design Thinking being explored in
the public sector these days?
UK
“Bringing new Policy
techniques to Gov’t
designing services
around
people’s experience”

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Co-create innovative services with
people that will use them and leave
some room to muck around

63.
The serious play and spinning plates of Richard Feynman

64.
Beware of over simplifying and hoping that Design
Thinking will easily solve all your challenges…

65.
www.thinkjarcollective.com
@thinkjar_
Ben Weinlick
bweinlick@gmail.com - 780-918-5608
Tools, Resources, Services
Contact me if interested in
Full Day Learn Design Thinking By Doing It workshop!

66.
Bonus Slides On Culture of
Innovation!

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Patterns of innovation
The right culture
The right human
centred tools
Need Both!

68.
Support looking for practices and ideas that are
outside one’s usual silos
Innovative Cultures
Innovation
Pattern

69.
“Legendary innovators like
Franklin and Darwin share
a defining attribute.
They had a lot of hobbies.”
― Steven Johnson - Where good ideas come
from
Recognize innovation can’t be something we
only fart around with at work
Innovation
Pattern
Innovative Cultures

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Innovation
Pattern
Have people that thoughtfully challenge
the Status Quo
Innovative Cultures

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Are full of people that are always looking to do
better and keep learning
Innovative Cultures
Innovation
Pattern

72.
Value playfulness and not taking ourselves too seriously
But not forced cheesy play
Innovative Cultures
Innovation
Pattern

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Support diverse backgrounds of teams
Innovative Cultures
Jonas Salk, developer of the
vaccine that eradicated polio,
made it a practice to
assemble men and women
from different domains in his
think tanks.
Invite people from other
domains and ask them how
they would solve your
problem.
www.thinkjarcollective.com
Innovation
Pattern

74.
Recognize that rarely do true innovations come
from the top
They steward bottom up co-design
Innovative Cultures
Innovation
Pattern

75.
Build capacity for people to learn disciplined
creative problem solving tools like Design
Thinking
Innovative Cultures
Innovation
Pattern