// BOOK REVIEW //

Problem solving with design thinking: 10 stories, tools and tips

by Madanmohan Rao

Design-oriented firms such as Apple and IDEO have demonstrated the business impacts of
design thinking, a powerful discipline that can be applied in B2B and B2C settings. Design
thinking has been used effectively for improving internal processes and culture at for-profit and
non-profit organisations, as described in the book ‘Solving problems with design thinking: ten
stories of what works.’

Authors Jeanne Liedtka, Andrew King and Kevin Bennett describe useful tips and tools for
design thinking via a range of 10 practical stories. The 216-page book makes for an absorbing
read and is a useful reference for designers, managers and entrepreneurs.

“Innate genius isn’t the only way to solve business problems creatively,” the authors begin. Here
are my key takeaways on their design thinking tips, tools and stories.

Four key questions

The design thinking approach consists of phases driven by four key questions: what is, what if,
what wows and what works. What if explores the current reality: it frames the problem definition
and uncovers unarticulated needs. What if moves from data-based exploration to more creative
idea generation and hypotheses.

What wows moves from divergence to convergence, and narrows down the solution options to a
few promising candidates. What works rolls out low-fidelity prototypes for testing and refining
via experimentation.

Tools

There are several effective design thinking tools recommended by the authors. Reframing
involves stepping back from business as usual and asking new questions about user needs.
Visualisation uses imagery to envision possibilities. Metaphor and analogy help create new
mental models by morphing existing ones.
Ethnography studies people in their natural environments. Journey mapping and journaling chart
the steps and daily lives of users. Personas classify users into archetypes based on behaviour and
qualities. Value chain analysis plots and sequences the flows of value in the customer journey.

Brainstorming generates new possibilities and models. Concept development creates coherent
frameworks for solutions. Power of play involves breaking free from formal structures and
exploring pathways in a fun and relaxed way. World Cafe is a method for holding meaningful
conversations among a large group of diverse people.

Assumption testing verifies pre-conditions and attitudes. Mind mapping generates insights from
exploration activities. Rapid prototyping builds solutions via testing and iteration (‘show, don’t
tell’). Customer co-creation ropes in customers to create the solution that best meets their needs.
Learning launch is an experiment to let customers experiment with the new solution for a fixed
period of time.

Case studies of design thinking in action

The core questions and tools described above are shown in action in ten stories, gathered and
developed by the authors via an open call to collaboration.

Chris Cartter was CEO of the startup QuitNet.com (aimed at helping people quit smoking), and
then became head of MeYou Health, the Internet strategy division of healthcare services giant
Healthways. He used design thinking techniques like journaling to understand consumer health
attitudes and practices, and personas to map out different behavioural clusters, eg. idle, excuse
makers, validation seekers, enlightened and ‘me-time impoverished.’ Prototyping on MVPs via
social media eventually led to the Daily Challenge, a gamified approach to help people with their
health-improving actions.

Intuit launched its ‘Design for Delight’ initiative to move beyond ‘design for ease of use’ of its
business software products. This was particularly evident in its marketing team for which mobile
banking was a key focus. Consultants were roped in to educate the broader workforce about
design thinking, including Ben Blank and Aaron Eden of StartIn, and Eric Ries, author of Lean
Startup (see my book review). Internal and external experiments were conducted to make
employees more familiar with techniques like rapid prototyping and customer immersion.

Enterprise software giant SAP used design thinking to better understand how it could meet the
disruptive challenge of social media and transform itself into a business process platform. Hasso
Plattner, one of SAP’s founders, was intrigued with design thinking and wanted to establish it as
a core competency in the company. An internal initiative called Project Torrent used problem
framing, social graphs, and decision flow prototypes to create a more experimentative and
customer-facing view of Enterprise 2.0 strategy.

Experience marketing firm George P. Johnson helped IBM transform its trade show experience
for customers from spectacles into conversations, from monologue to dialogue. This was
achieved by a combination of seating and standing areas, public and private spaces, and formal
and informal settings to accommodate different learning styles of audiences. Card games were
used as internal learning tools, and the focus shifted from just quantitative ‘badge’ metrics to
‘behavioural metrics’ of client engagement based on learning models. Ethnographic research was
used to study customers as well as IBM employees at trade show booths.

3M used ‘design provocation’ to transform its B2B sales process. Ethnographic research was
used to better understand potential customers in the context of sales pitches, and ‘future use-
case’ videos, photographs and stories were used to excite and inspire customers. Finding internal
change champions helped create new kinds of formal and informal conversations via quantitative
and qualitative tools.

Toyota used design thinking to speed up and improve customer service responses in its
California centre. It created a cross-functional team of call reps, software engineers, business
leaders and change agents for better human-centred design. Journey mapping was used to
understand customers and contact centre reps, and new ideas were circulated and tested via
contests and ‘ice-cream socials.’ Local knowledge was treated as importantly as strategic vision,
and an inclusive culture was created by giving employees not just a vote but a voice on key
decisions. The re-designed solution reduced call numbers and duration, leading to savings of
millions of dollars.

Entrepreneurship champions Jean Byrne and Jim Dunne, co-founders of consultancy firm
Design21C, helped the city of Dublin move away from its bureaucratic approach and engage
citizens more actively to rebuild the city. The World Cafe approach, along with numerous
surveys, helped pick three clusters for change: water, waste and community. Nine potential
projects for urban renewal were shortlisted and described via online and cardboard models in
public spaces. A spirit of fun, citizen engagement and self-selection helped win broad support
across the board.

Australian financial services firm Suncorp used design thinking after its merger with Promina
Group to create a better ‘strategic conversation’ for organisational alignment. Visualisation,
storytelling and metaphor were used to creatively map out emerging opportunities and develop a
new shared vision.
European consulting firm Altran helped create a consortium of French retail banks and insurance
companies, and used design thinking to foster a collaborative spirit among the competitors. Their
FiDJI project (Finance, Design and the Joy of Innovation) jointly explored the human elements
of their industry such as the customers’ need of 24-hour support and concierge service. Videos
were used to capture key customer story highlights and uncover qualitative insights not always
visible in quantitative reports. Outputs included better Internet banking solutions.

Denmark’s Municipality of Holstebro used design thinking to get deeper insights into the
health needs of the elderly as well as kitchen employees and thus come up with better nutrition
solutions. Ethnography and co-creation were used to design meals that were not seen as boring to
prepare or whose only advantage was low cost. Kitchen staff were given training workshops and
re-branded as chefs, the food service itself was re-branded, feedback was sought from diners, and
a newsletter was launched to share employee and service highlights.

In sum, the book shows how design thinking can be used not just for physical products but also
for service delivery, internal processes, change management, customer engagement, individual
skill building and holistic revitalisation of citizen services. Direct contributions include better
reframing of problems, increased diversity and collaboration, richer conversations, and more
‘comfort with emptiness’ via creative confidence.

Design thinking will only become more valuable in an increasingly global, unpredictable
and complex world, the authors conclude.

About the authors:

Jeanne Liedtka is a Professor of Management at the Darden Graduate School of Business at the
University of Virginia. She was previously Chief Learning Officer for UTC. Her earlier books
include ‘The catalyst: how you can lead extraordinary growth’ and ‘Designing for growth: a
design toolkit for managers.’

Andrew King is a research associate at the Batten Institute. Kevin Bennett is manager for
marketing at a Washington startup; his earlier book is ‘Display and Interface Design.’