This document discusses design thinking and human-centered design approaches for improving processes at Tufts University. It outlines tools like contextual inquiry, interviews, and design charrettes that can be used to understand user needs and identify opportunities. Prototyping and testing ideas iteratively is emphasized. The goals of developing a scalable integration architecture and improving search to give users more control are presented. An agile development process using user stories, sprints, and releases on a quarterly basis is proposed to build out the solution components over time.

3. Today
Project
Introduction
Design
Thinking
EA: New
Paradigm
access:Tufts
Demo
Tools &
Takeaways
Conversation

5. “We can make it easier to get work done at Tufts!”

9. We Matter

10. Where do we begin?

11. Empathy

12. The people who face the problem every day hold the key to the answer.

13. Actions Motivations
Questions Barriers

14. “Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that
draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people,
the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business
success.”
- Tim Brown, President and CEO, IDEO

15. Inspiration
Ideation
Implementation

16. Empathy
Define
IdeatePrototype
Test

17. Discovery
Interpretation
IdeationExperimentation
Evolution

18. “Give us three months…”

19. HCD Process
Frame the
problem
Project
plan
Build the
team
Recruiting
plan
Research Synthesis Prototype Evaluate Refine
ITERATIVE

20. Design Thinking Process - Inspiration
Observe users
Form insights –
find the “why”
in what you
see!
Group
storytelling
Broad insight
generation –
“Sometimes
people will…”

22. UX Research - Discovery
• Diagonal slide of the organization:
• “Customers” – staff and faculty who engage in transactions (on their own
behalf)
• Tufts Support Services who assist customers
• IT Help Desk support staff
• Managers, Directors, VP’s
• Contextual Inquiry

23. Design Thinking Process - Ideation
"How Might
We...?"
Brainstorm
Ideas
Select top 2
or 3
Storyboard

24. IDEO’s 7 Rules for Brainstorming
1. Defer judgment
2. Encourage wild ideas
3. Build on the ideas of others
4. Stay focused on your topic
5. Be visual
6. One conversation at a time
7. Go for quantity
Source: https://challenges.openideo.com/blog/seven-tips-on-better-brainstorming

25. Design Thinking Process – Implementation
Design
Experiments
Test Iterate

26. Design Thinking Process to Reframe a Problem
How might we…
Why do we want to do that?
What is stopping us from doing that?
Revise: How might we...?
Has our concept of the problem changed?

28. Tools We Use
• Fly on the Wall Observation
• Contextual Inquiry
• One-On-One Interview
• Expert Interview
• Group Interview/Focus Groups
• 5 Why (Root Cause/Fishbone or Ishikawa Diagram)
• Design Charrettes
• Service Blueprinting

29. Design Charrettes

30. Design Charrette
Current State:
1. Rapid (individual) brainstorm on Post It notes – “Why is [process] so complex? Where
are the pain points? What is it preventing us from making it easier?” (5 min.)
2. Synthesis: Combine all members’ Post It notes and organize into groups, you can add
new ones as you go, remove duplicates (5 min.)
3. One person from each group reports out to whole room/group discussion (20 min.)
Future state:
1. Respond to the problems you've identified. Describe, on index cards, how the
experience could be different! Use “How Might We…” (10 min.)
2. Together, create a storyboard that describes the experience of initiating and completing
a [process]. Start with the user experience and move to the completion of the business
process. You can use specific technology references if it helps.

32. Analogous Inspiration

33. Prototyping

41. Architecture & Development
Development
Enterprise Architecture
Relevance of Search
Product Release Plans

42. User Stories
• 3C’s
• How they were used
• Show our user stories
• See how easy it is to get started…

43. Development Process
• Agile cross adapted DAD
• Sprints and spikes
• Card wall
• Gantt chart as a communication vehicle

45. Enterprise Architecture: a New Paradigm for
Tufts University
• FROM point-to-point system connections – expensive, difficult to
maintain, constraining
• TO scalable and adaptable cloud-based integration:
• Data flow across multiple systems including legacy on premise and cloud SaaS
(today).
• Consistent data and business rules throughout the university (future).

51. Search
“Search is the user's lifeline for mastering complex websites”
- Jakob Nielson1
• Give the user the ability to “control their own destiny.”
• Give the user an “escape hatch” in case they get stuck.
1Nielson, Jakob. "Search: Visible and Simple." Search: Visible and Simple. May 13, 2001. Accessed March 13, 2016. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/search-visible-
and-simple/.

53. Ongoing Process of Portal Development
Select subset
of process
Design digital
workflow
solution
Extract
design
pattern
Apply to
other sets of
processes
Release
quarterly

54. Product Roadmap
Build Base
System
2-8/2016
Discovery for
Component 1
9-12/2016
Build Component 1
1-6/2017
Discovery for
Component 2
(or next 20
transactions)
7-10/2017
Build
Component 2
8/2017-2/2018

55. Resources
Articles:
• Design Kit: The Course for
Human-Centered Design
• Design Kit: The Field Guide to
Human-Centered Design
• 45 Design Thinking Resources for
Educators
• Service Design Toolkit
• How Might We video
Books
• Change by Design
• Building Microservices
• Design Sprints
• Disciplined Agile Delivery

56. Thomas W. Cox
thomas.cox@tufts.edu
Louis Kaczmarek
louis.kaczmarek@tufts.edu
Thank You!