Design Thinking Reflection

1. 1
Trust & believe in yourself.
The design process is a combination of gaining expert knowledge
(from various stakeholders) and going with your gut & intuition to
what feels right.
Along the way you way come across moments of being completely
lost & overwhelmed, and it is at this point you need to be aware, &
believe in yourself inspite of failing.
Characteristics required for this process are: 1) awareness 2)
positive confidence to succeed as much as you may fail 3)
empathy & humbleness to learn & unlearn
learning

2. There is no one way.
And its no way a waterfall method. One is always learning
new methods, new approaches & combinations. What would
be ideal, is being able to command that knowledge (of design
thinking methodologies) to execute a successful process.
2

3. As much as you have
freedom, there needs to be
control.
Control in the means of respecting time, people, etc.
3

4. process

5. application
The need
In my design company that we have been running for the past 6 years, I
have noticed a certain problem:
The business development representative has had difficulty capturing the
client’s feedback in a way that lets designers relate to the problem or the
client. He/she either misses out explaining the nuances of the client (such as
his likes, dislikes, personality, etc.) which could be vital at some point of the
project or sometimes misses out on just really understanding the bigger,
unnoticeable client need.
So one afternoon just few hours before a client meeting we asked ourselves
HMW capture our client discussion that results in us truly understanding the
client and his need and allow us to share the details with the team in the
most unbiased, effective manner, which allows for discussion?

6. application
The idea
After quickly brainstorming we decided to develop a sort of
“dialogue manual”, that captures vital questions & also creates a
process of direction which helps uncover what the client is like, and
what he really wants! This is unique for each client
This also makes it easier for the business development rep to listen,
observe & speak to the client in a way that records the discussion,
and the process of empathizing (through questions, observation,
etc.) uncovers the clients needs.

7. application
The prototype
We created the manual on the same day of discussion and
prototyped the experience immediately.
The result – success!
The client was very impressed with the way we were asking
questions, and in-fact mentioned that he wanted the same “method,”
for his own team.
The client increased the project value & SOW after the discussion.
and signed the contract after 1 week of discussion.

8. the prototype