Design Thinking and Innovation

By
Dr. Manjunath Patel G C
PES Institute of Technology & Management, Shivamogga
NH 206, Sagar Road, Shivamogga, Karnataka 577204
Approved By AICTE, Affiliated to VTU, Recognized by Govt. of Karnataka.
www.perstrust.edu.in/pesitm, e-mail: principal_pesitm@pes.edu
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 Design Thinking in IT

Design thinking in IT industries

Design thinking to Business Process Model

Design thinking for Agile Software Development

Virtual Collaboration

Scenario Based Prototyping

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 Understanding IT industry with an example

XYZ
InfoTech
promises to use technology
IT companies - They build software to make other businesses run to solve all of your
smoothly! problems!

Now, if I know some technology and ask a programmer to solve problems by building
specific pieces of software

IT companies build or maintain software

so that businesses run more smoothly.

Anyone who builds or maintains software

My grocery company has belongs to the IT sector.
got IT department 3
Design Thinking in General

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 Design thinking in IT industry
Project management
IT Industry
Design thinking in IT industry

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Agile model of Project Management

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 Design thinking and Agile methodology

30-35% or even 50% of the IT projects fail according to research

Agile improves success rate by almost double by promoting better collaboration and
communication

But Agile only provides way to solve problems and how can 1 decide which is the right
problem to solve.

This is where Design thinking plays a vital role

Combining both is not an easy task and requires culture shift (new way of thinking and
doing) and one has to get accustomed to this cultural shift

This combination value people over processes

Organizations have to allocate right people for the projects and they should ensure cultural
compatibility between teams and the way Design thinking and Agile methodology work

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 Best practices for combining
Design thinking and Agile methodology
Invest in user research

A clearly defined problem statement

Build a productive team culture

Optimal use of Design thinking

Design patterns and periodic testing

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 Waterfall Model
The waterfall model is a breakdown of project
activities into linear sequential phases, where
each phase depends on the deliverables of the
previous one and corresponds to a specialization
of tasks. The approach is typical for certain
areas of engineering design

Different phases Activities performed in each stage

Requirement During this phase, detailed requirements of the software system to be
Analysis developed are gathered from client
System design Plan the programming language, for Example Java, PHP, .net or other
high-level technical details of the project
Implementation Coding the software
Test Stage Test the software to verify that it is built as per the specifications given by
the client.
Deployment Deploy the application in the respective environment
Maintenance Once your system is ready to use, you may later require change the code
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as per customer request.
 When to Use the Waterfall Model
Waterfall Methodology can be used when:
1. Requirements are not changing frequently
2. Application is not complicated and big
3. Project is short
4. Requirement is clear
5. Environment is stable
6. Technology and tools used are not dynamic and is stable
7. Resources are available and trained
Advantages and Disadvantages of Waterfall Model
Advantages Disadvantages
Before the next phase of development, Before the next phase of development, each
each phase must be completed phase must be completed
Suited for smaller projects where It is not desirable for complex project where
requirements are well defined requirement changes frequently
Project is completely dependent on Clients valuable feedback cannot be included
project team with minimum client with ongoing development phase
intervention
Any changes in software is made during Small changes or errors that arise in 11 the
Agile vs. Waterfall Model

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 Agile vs. Waterfall Model

Test
Configure
Release

Build
Design

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Advantages of Agile Development Method used in software
development in IT Industry

Solutions are Prototyped and Results are verified

Best solutions are accepted

Before approval itself the solutions are experienced by the client

To improve user experience short iterations are possible

Small cross-functional teams

Incremental delivery is possible

Fast feedback helps the designers and developers

Continuous improvement is possible

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 Design thinking in Business Process Modelling

What is Business Process Model?

Business process management (BPM) is a way of breaking down business processes into
their most basic elements: the tasks and activities a business carries out. BPM shows, clearly
and transparently, how a product or service transforms as it moves through an organization's
process sequence, often in near real-time.

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 Design thinking in Business Process Modelling

Process models mediate communication between stakeholders: Business analysts, process

participants and software architects

Process models provides shared understanding so that everyone can contribute knowledge

BPM – Combination of various process related steps: Process mapping, Process discovery,
Process simulation, Process analysis and Process improvement.

BPM – Arrived from last few decades and have replaced previous organizational efficiency
packages: Time and Motion Study (TMS) and Total Quality Management (TQM).

Process models mediate communication between stakeholders: Business analysts, process

participants and software architects

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 Advantages of BPM

Align operations with business strategy

Improves process communication

Increase control and consistency

Improve operational efficiencies

Gain competitive advantage

By revealing the way things are done at an organization, and comparing that with the way
things should be done, BPM highlights the dependencies and relationships between people,
process, and technology—and where those elements are ripe for improvement.

Design thinking is also focused on improvement, but takes the end-user or customer
experience as a starting point. Fundamentally, design thinking uses empathy to understand
the way people feel about using a service or product, including where their frustrations lie,
then builds on that knowledge to create improvements, with the ultimate goal of making
customers’ lives and experiences better and more fulfilling. 17
 Design thinking in Business Process Modelling
There are five key phases of design thinking: The similarities to BPM are clear.
•There is a challenge: How do I solve it? Process improvement requires the
•I have learned something: How do I act upon it? same approach of identifying a
•There is an opportunity: What do I create? challenge (like an inefficient process),
•There is an idea: How do I build upon it? generating the information needed to
•I tried something: How do I evolve it? understand why the process is
This is an ongoing, cyclical approach, with the inefficient, implementing a possible
practice of ‘design, test, and iterate’ at its solution, then measuring the
center— that is, constantly creating and rapidly effectiveness of that solution over
deploying prototypes or new ideas, then testing time. Rinse and repeat! Merging the
and reflecting on them, including through fast two disciplines essentially means using
feedback from customers. the insights gained through an effective
BPM framework to feed into the
Organizations therefore spend less time and design thinking process, and enhance
resources any one idea, and yet have the customer-facing business processes.
capacity to quickly scale up any idea that has
merit, and positive reactions from customers.
After all, without a clear view of the current state operational structure and business process
landscape to analyze, the risk of producing a ‘solution’ which is in fact not fit for purpose, or
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causes issues in other parts of the system, is amplified.
 Benefits of Design Thinking and BPM
Working in tandem, design thinking and BPM unlock a range of powerful (and potentially
lucrative) benefits, including:

• Competitive advantage, gained through a willingness to innovate, then ‘double-down’ on

ideas that work, and discard ones that don’t—before they become a liability

• Moving beyond traditional process maps and case models to more customer-centric and
human-scale products and services

• Pooling collective ease and enhancing collaboration, through building multidisciplinary

teams to focus on a single problem

• Harnessing natural empathy, leading to a better understanding of the needs and challenges
of customers

• Generating more revenue by ensuring a deeper level of customer satisfaction

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 Agile in Virtual Collaboration
In the book ‘The Flat World’ The author Thomas Friedman indicates the word ‘FLAT’ with
an imaginary impression that, technology and internet has changed the world so abundantly
that in modern times people work remotely not only from a single geographic location but
also across continents with different time zones, cultures and even languages.

Thomas Friedman explains flattening as (The world is flat, 2005) the combination of a
personal computer with fiber optic micro cable, using the internet with the help of a working
software.

Working remote and in a global environment is not so uncommon anymore and has gained
acceptance as a general working norm in last couple of decades.

With insourcing, outsourcing and companies operating in a global environment do business

globally. With the management headquartered at a single location however do operate with
other regions with the use of technology. This means business run globally and hence
projects within the organizations also path globally.

Agile methods are more popular in the software industry however have gain so much
admiration that other industries also want to pursue its benefits in their businesses. Operating
in a global environment make these frameworks more challenging to operate efficiently. 20
 Agile in Virtual Collaboration
Agile methodology can accept changes anytime compared to that of a waterfall method, and
hence collaboration between collocated teams eases out the agile processes. Besides
coordination; interaction, development, planning, review, retrospective sessions etc. also
immensely reduce time and effort.

Working remote or distributed is considered being competitive and is considered a fit

operating model. Some companies also provide it as a choice to its employees. Businesses
want to leverage talent round the clock, use the best talent which may not be locally
available, cheap labor by outsourcing to low cost countries, higher productivity and
numerous strategic reasons.

With growing needs of working remote, it is intolerable to voice that agile methods will not
work by distributed teams. Although few trials will arise, with the help of tools and
techniques moving to a remote working environment is possible.

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 Agile in Virtual Collaboration
ALLOW TRANSPARENCY

As company or a lead establish a transparent environment. Provide a sense of trust in the

team members with the decisions they make an organize sessions with them to align these
decisions with company goals and vision. Do not keep responsibilities a secret. Be clear over
job functions. Make sure the outcomes are public across the team. Gather feedback. Establish
open communication channels.

ESTABLISH A CULTURE OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Drive improvements within the team. Recognize potential improvement opportunities and
obtain ideas from the team. Listen to suggestions and rationally take appropriate steps. Agile
principle drives continuous improvement and thus team members are open for improvement
opportunities. Generate calculated experiments to implement improvement initiatives.

COMMUNICATION

Communication is perhaps the most important artefact in any team. how you structure your
communication will determine the output. Practice deep communication at all levels. A
strong emphasis on communication is the key. 22
 Agile in Virtual Collaboration
COMMUNICATION

Communication need not happen only via emails, phone calls or meetings, however in
enterprises major communication happen with the help or ERP tools which help you be agile
all the time.

CONSTRUCTION OF A RHYTHM

There are three things which are absolute necessary in agile methodology: Transparency,
inspection, and adaptation. Scrum also calls it the three pillars of Scrum (Scrum Guide,
2005). It is important we create a tempo which operates around these pillars of Scrum.
Having said that this drives in creating a self-collaborating team which is a prime eminence
of Agile.

GENERATE A CULTURE OF COURAGE & FLEXIBILITY

This also goes with the concept of fail fast. Failure is not bad; it is okay to fail. However,
here the key argument is to fail fast. Establish an environment where the team is courageous
to take steps to try out something new. The idea is to reduce the delay. Detect the failure fast
and further twist your initiatives. 23
 Agile in Virtual Collaboration
ESTABLISH A SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT AND WORK LIFE BALANCE

Often distributed team end up stretching their normal working hours which lead t over
working than regular hours or working at odd time. Establish rules and ensure no team
member is defaulting these principles making the fellow counterpart abuse this principle.
Plan appropriate and set expectations accordingly.

VISUALIZE EVERYTHING

A very important footstep. Planning of tasks is easier leverage tools that provide you a visual
interpretation of tasks to be completed. Establish a solution that allows the team members to
view workflows, depict who is working on what, align together be able to pick the right task
of right priority and at a right time. This solution will help you capture the right problem
areas and effectively retrospect them to improve your processes.

Best Example:

The best example being the COVID-19 Pandemic which taught employers to be agile and
Employers offered flexible time options to employees. We can take the examples of our own
institutions. 24
 Scenario based prototyping

Design thinking is at its best if tangible prototypes can be used to envision new products and
services.

However, for complex software systems with multiple users usually such tangible prototypes
are not feasible.

To overcome this problem, scenario-based prototyping approach can be proposed for

designing complex software systems that is based on models, both structural and behavioral
models.

The approach will support the stepwise and interactive enrichment of the prototype model,
the traceability between the artefacts collected during earlier design phases and the scenarios.

The models provide a more formal outcome of the design process for the downstream
engineering activities, so that the gap between design and engineering can be narrowed.

Scenarios describe a sequence of events, illustrating the activities of one or more people in a
real-world setting. The goals are to be realistic, detailed and concise. Since this is difficult to
do quickly, it is best to cover only a limited period of time in the scenario. 25
 Scenario based prototyping
We distinguish between use scenarios, which are a form of analysis of the interviews and
represent what happens today in real-world settings, and design scenarios, which are revised
versions of use scenarios that illustrate how a new technology might be used.
Developing an app for IOS or Android
and giving it to the customer for
feedback.

Revisions are must

Instead of giving the original app

developed, photos (Photoshop,
illustrator or any other app) with real
scenarios (push button enabled or
directing to the test case) may be done.

Now UI experts and User experience

Types of Prototyping: Rapid experts come to play and finally after
prototyping/throwaway and Evolutionary many revisions the app is presented in
prototyping its original form to the customer. (Even
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rolling out of Beta forms are in practice)
 Scenarios
Rich stories of interaction

Plain text, pictures, sketches, screenshots etc.,

Storyboards

Scenarios make us think about the design in detail and notice potential problems before they
happen

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Scenarios

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 Thank You
Department of Mechanical Engineering

PES Institute of Technology & Management,

Shivamogga

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