Design Thinking in Business and IT: Overview, Techniques and Example Workshop

You might've talked about innovation with your IT department or software development agency lately and the words "design thinking" were surely mentioned. So what is it? Just another piece of business jargon to add to your arsenal or a useful tool? Or maybe even an overestimated hype? Nowadays every organization or business runs into a myriad of problems as business models become increasingly more complex. Globalization and advances in communication and technology, all add up to creating unique opportunities but also new challenges that are not easy to solve applying the old tested methods. That's where design thinking comes into play.

Design thinking is basically a discipline that facilitates innovation and problem solving by taking the human-centered approach and focusing on the needs and wants of the end-user. It follows a string of steps and involves teams with mixed skills and backgrounds so it can combine their different strengths and points of view. Because it brings people in the same environment, with the help of an experienced facilitator, they can establish common ground. The result is that everyone's voice will be heard and collaboration is achieved in a fun and informal way. Everyone within the group is encouraged to share their ideas, experiences, skills and expectations so the group can work through the different options following the DT process and collaborate to reach a solution for the problem at hand.