PDF Summary:HBR's 10 Must Reads on Design Thinking, by Harvard Business Review

Design thinking provides a framework for innovation that prioritizes human needs and desires. In HBR's 10 Must Reads on Design Thinking, the Harvard Business Review explores the core principles and applications of this user-centric methodology.

The authors discuss how design thinking combats cognitive biases, encourages experimentation and prototyping, and necessitates strong leadership. Case studies from various industries demonstrate how design thinking can drive innovation, disrupt markets, and transform organizational capabilities.

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Leaders should cultivate a culture that promotes innovative thought while simultaneously maintaining a definitive and precise course.

Bason and Austin emphasize the importance for leaders to foster a setting that allows ample time for the evolution of design-thinking practices. Leaders should avoid overly controlling every detail and instead cultivate a setting that encourages the exploration of diverse concepts. This methodology may be unfamiliar to many managers, but it is essential for developing truly innovative ideas. It is essential for leaders to guide the team's exploratory endeavors to align with the strategic objectives, offering direction and a definitive aim. This involves providing clear guidance regarding the main goals of the project, underscoring the reasons for employing design thinking, and recognizing step-by-step successes to maintain momentum.

Leaders must actively manage the discomfort and emotional reactions that surface when design thinking challenges conventional practices.

Design thinking inherently exposes the shortcomings in existing products, services, and approaches. Bason and Austin describe how leaders must help their teams deal with the emotional fallout from this process. Upon uncovering surprising revelations regarding customer preferences and needs, employees might feel defensive, frustrated, or fearful. Leaders must acknowledge and validate these emotions, steering their groups to view them as opportunities for growth and improvement.

Effective leadership encompasses steering groups, providing essential support, and celebrating small victories to build assurance and sustain momentum.

Leadership that effectively employs a creative and human-centered problem-solving approach goes beyond simply giving orders and setting deadlines. Bason and Austin's research highlights the critical role leaders play in guiding and supporting their teams through consistent mentorship. Leaders should engage in attentive listening to staff issues, provide support, and acknowledge minor victories to foster assurance and progress. Executives should actively support design thinking within their companies by providing their teams with essential resources and protecting them from any resistance to change. Leaders who wholeheartedly adopt and regularly implement the core tenets of design thinking can motivate their teams and achieve exceptional results.

Other Perspectives

• While leadership is important, the success of design thinking initiatives also heavily depends on the team's collective skills, diversity, and collaboration.
• Psychological safety is crucial, but it must be balanced with accountability to ensure that team members are motivated to perform and deliver results.
• Encouraging the testing of new concepts and viewing mistakes as learning opportunities can sometimes lead to a lack of focus on efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
• Maintaining a definitive course is important, but too much rigidity can stifle creativity and the organic evolution of ideas that design thinking encourages.
• Allowing time for the evolution of design-thinking practices is beneficial, but in fast-paced industries, there may be a need for quicker adaptation and implementation.
• Exploration of diverse concepts is valuable, but without proper vetting and strategic alignment, it can lead to resource wastage and project sprawl.
• Aligning exploratory endeavors with strategic objectives is essential, but overemphasis on alignment might limit the potential for truly disruptive innovation.
• Managing discomfort and emotional reactions is part of a leader's role, but it should not overshadow the need for critical feedback and constructive criticism.
• Celebrating small victories is important for morale, but it should not lead to complacency or distract from the larger goals and challenges at hand.
• Consistent mentorship is key, but leaders must also empower employees to be self-sufficient and develop their own problem-solving capabilities.
• Attentive listening to staff issues is important, but leaders must also ensure that this does not compromise decision-making and the ability to act swiftly when necessary.
• Providing resources and protecting teams from resistance to change is important, but leaders must also prepare teams to adapt to change and overcome resistance through their own resilience.
• Implementing design thinking principles is beneficial, but leaders must also be open to other methodologies and approaches that might be more suitable for certain projects or contexts.

Introducing and developing strategies for launching new offerings into the marketplace.

Successful innovation requires not just designing a great offering, but also carefully designing the process of introducing it.

This section explores the role of design thinking as a strategic tool for the successful adoption of new initiatives. The introduction of a novel product, service, or strategy should be approached as a unique design challenge, according to Brown and Martin. Organizations aiming for effective integration must carefully plan to blend new methods into their existing frameworks and engage different parties in order to overcome opposition to change, ensuring lasting outcomes.

Leaders must identify every stakeholder and ensure they remain actively engaged during the entire innovation process.

Brown and Martin emphasize the importance of considering every person and collective that might be influenced by a new design. This includes not only end users but also employees involved in its development, production, and delivery, as well as external partners, suppliers, and regulators. It is essential for leaders to proactively engage stakeholders from the very beginning of the innovation journey, making sure to consider their viewpoints and swiftly tackle any concerns they might have. By actively involving stakeholders throughout all stages of the design, organizations can boost engagement, develop more robust solutions, and streamline the implementation process.

Rapid prototyping and evaluation allow those involved to build confidence and secure backing for innovative projects before they are fully implemented.

Brown and Martin stress the significance of rapidly developing and assessing initial models to garner backing for inventive products. By creating basic models early on and assessing them alongside stakeholders, teams can gather essential knowledge, identify potential problems, and strengthen the trustworthiness of their proposed strategies. The iterative nature of this process not only refines the design of the product but also alleviates the fear of the unknown that often leads to resistance to change.

In order to sustain an innovative environment, embedding design thinking into the core procedures and values of the company is crucial.

Brown and Martin argue that sustainable and successful innovation requires ongoing commitment rather than intermittent initiatives that focus on a design methodology oriented towards human necessities. Companies need to integrate design thinking principles into their everyday activities and decision-making processes. Organizations must undergo a transformation that embraces a mindset centered on the user, emphasizes continuous learning, and appreciates an approach that welcomes experimentation and the insights gained from errors.

Other Perspectives

• Design thinking is not the only approach to innovation; other methodologies like Lean Startup or Agile may be more suitable for certain types of projects or organizational cultures.
• The unique design challenge perspective may not account for the complexities of scaling innovations or adapting them to different markets and contexts.
• Over-planning the introduction of new methods can lead to rigidity and stifle the flexibility needed to adapt to unforeseen challenges.
• Identifying and engaging all stakeholders is ideal but may not be practical or cost-effective in all scenarios, especially for smaller organizations with limited resources.
• The focus on stakeholder engagement might overlook the need for decisive leadership and the possibility that consensus-driven processes can lead to suboptimal compromises.
• Rapid prototyping and evaluation can sometimes lead to a narrow focus on immediate feedback, potentially neglecting long-term strategic considerations.
• The iterative nature of prototyping might slow down the time to market, which can be critical in fast-paced industries.
• Embedding design thinking into core procedures and values assumes that it is always beneficial, which may not be the case for all companies or industries.
• The ongoing commitment to design thinking principles may not be sustainable for every organization, especially if it does not align with the company's strategic objectives or industry practices.
• Integrating design thinking into everyday activities might dilute its effectiveness or lead to a checkbox mentality rather than a genuine commitment to innovation.
• There is a risk that emphasizing design thinking could lead to overlooking other important aspects of business, such as operational efficiency, cost management, or traditional research and development.

The benefits derived from utilizing design thinking.

Design thinking has been instrumental in driving substantial innovations across different environments, including the development of novel products and the complete overhaul of business models.

This final section presents a variety of case studies and successes that illustrate the application of design thinking across diverse industries and disciplines. The writers demonstrate how design thinking empowers organizations to evolve alongside their customers' changing needs, securing a competitive advantage against their market rivals. Brown, Govindarajan, and their peers, including Christensen and his team, underscore the progress made by deeply understanding the jobs customers need to get done, and Edmondson emphasizes the value of perceiving failures that provide valuable insights as conduits for innovation.

Merging the principles of design thinking with the "jobs to be done" framework uncovers unarticulated customer requirements, resulting in highly relevant solutions.

Christensen and his coauthors underscore the importance of understanding the jobs that customers need to get done as the cornerstone of effective innovation. Customers use products and services to fulfill specific needs and desires, and their effectiveness depends on their ability to address these essential "jobs." Design thinking emphasizes creating solutions that deeply fulfill and cater to requirements by focusing on scenarios where consumers are aware of their own needs, instead of relying on demographics, customer profiles, and product characteristics. The authors provide compelling examples, such as how the Embrace Infant Warmer has greatly improved the survival rates of premature babies in Nepal and the impressive turnaround of a condo developer who encountered difficulties when selling properties to retirees eager to downsize. The designers focused on the complexities and challenges associated with moving, enabling them to tailor their services specifically for this task, which revitalized their business.

Businesses have achieved market disruption and gained an advantage in competition, especially in emerging economies, by pioneering innovations that are rooted in the principles of design.

Design Thinking supports multinational corporations in prospering within various marketplaces, enabling them to create products and services that appeal to a worldwide customer base. The illustration provided showcases the creation of the Gillette Guard, an economically priced razor tailored for consumers in India. In their extensive field research, the engineers at Gillette discovered that for Indian men, the safety of the razor, how easily it could be rinsed, and the thoroughness of the shave were important factors, whereas the length of time spent shaving was not a major issue. Drawing on these observations, the group developed an economically priced, single-blade razor that outperformed Gillette's high-end offerings in meeting the unique needs of consumers in India. Multinational corporations have applied innovative design concepts to customize their products for new markets, as shown by the swift growth in market dominance in India by the Gillette Guard, which underscores the global influence of inventive products.

Learning from intentional experiments, even if they do not lead to successful outcomes, promotes progress and understanding.

Edmondson argues that while organizations should evade unnecessary mistakes, they should also embrace the idea of "beneficial missteps." These shortcomings arise from intentional experiments that question established norms and explore unknown realms. She contends that nurturing an environment in which individuals feel at ease admitting their mistakes and candidly talking about obstacles can accelerate innovation, enabling organizations to derive valuable insights from these events.

An organization can transform its innovative capabilities and solidify its position in the market by integrating design thinking into its strategic methods.

Design thinking, when embodied by Nooyi and fused with a solid strategic vision, markedly improves a company's capacity for innovation and strengthens its competitive stance. At PepsiCo, she made design a key driver of innovation, going beyond superficial changes in packaging and marketing to reimagine the entire consumer experience. She bolstered the organization's commitment to design by naming Mauro Porcini as the inaugural Chief Design Officer, thus empowering his group with the authority to influence decisions across the company. The launch of a new energy drink and a digitally interactive beverage dispenser under the Mountain Dew label has revitalized PepsiCo's product range, bringing in innovation and appealing to a broad spectrum of customers. The influence of design thinking is highlighted through the example of Nooyi, which shows its significant importance when it becomes a core part of a company's overall strategy instead of being limited to isolated projects. Design thinking shifts our viewpoint, enabling a profound understanding of what consumers want, and it encourages the development of solutions that not only fulfill but surpass what users anticipate.

Context

• The "jobs to be done" framework is a concept in innovation and marketing that focuses on understanding the specific needs and goals customers are trying to accomplish when using a product or service. It suggests that customers "hire" products or services to do a job for them, and by identifying these jobs, companies can create more effective solutions. This framework helps shift the focus from just demographics or product features to the actual tasks customers are trying to complete, leading to more customer-centric and successful innovations. By deeply understanding the jobs customers need to get done, businesses can tailor their offerings to better meet those needs and preferences.
• The Embrace Infant Warmer is a neonatal warming device developed by Embrace Innovations, an Indian healthcare technology company. It resembles a baby sleeping bag with a heatable wax insert to prevent hypothermia in premature and low-birth-weight babies. The device was designed to address infrastructural challenges in developing countries, such as unreliable power and limited healthcare staff skills. Embrace Innovations was founded by a team of graduate students at Stanford University in 2008 and has since been used in pilot programs to help newborns in need.
• The Gillette Guard is an economically priced razor specifically designed for consumers in India. It was developed by Gillette engineers after extensive research to meet the unique shaving needs and preferences of Indian men, focusing on safety, ease of rinsing, and shave thoroughness. The Gillette Guard's success in the Indian market showcased how tailored product innovation rooted in design thinking principles can lead to market disruption and competitive advantage.
• Intentional experiments are purposeful trials or tests conducted with a specific goal in mind, often to explore new ideas, challenge existing norms, or gain insights through controlled actions. These experiments involve planned actions or interventions designed to generate learning and understanding, even if the outcomes are not immediately successful. They encourage organizations to embrace experimentation, learn from failures, and use these experiences to drive innovation and progress. Embracing intentional experiments can lead to valuable insights, foster a culture of continuous learning, and ultimately contribute to organizational growth and development.
• Mauro Porcini was appointed as the first Chief Design Officer at PepsiCo. In this role, he was given authority to influence decisions across the company with a focus on design. His appointment signified a strategic shift towards prioritizing design as a key driver of innovation within PepsiCo. This move aimed to enhance the consumer experience and drive innovation in product development and marketing strategies.