During our mini-conference in mid-August, the biggest part of our work was to define the design thinking process for sharing out to our larger faculty and community groups. After a great deal of thoughtful discussion, the attendees created the "Version 1.0" of the design thinking process that Parker will use in its work with faculty, students and the broader community. We ultimately followed Stanford's d.school process. The d.school at Stanford has been the thought leader in design thinking in the academic arena. The d.school process is a formalized version of the design thinking process that originated at the IDEO design firm in the mid-nineties.
However, we felt that by using more "student friendly" language and terms, we would achieve greater understanding across our community more quickly. We also felt that by further defining each step with student "I can" statements, clarity about the meaning of each step would be achieved. Finally, a short paragraph that provides still more detail helps round out our Version 1.0 design thinking process. Here are our Version 1.0 steps, statements, and definitions:
Parker’s Design Thinking Process
Our design thinking process incorporates seven distinct steps and it mirrors the original design thinking process as outlined by IDEO and the d.school at Stanford.
We believe that this version is more “student friendly” by using words and terminology that are familiar to students in their learning process here at Parker.
Notice (d.school: empathy)
I notice the world around me.
I realize things can be better.
I choose to get involved.
Noticing allows you to start to see problems, and the myriad of facets that may be pertinent to a particular problem, giving rise to an excellent and elegant solution later in the process. Noticing is deliberate, dynamic, and empathic. Noticing at its best involves deliberate and careful observation with consideration towards bias and why bias occurs. Furthermore, a deep level of noticing promotes a sense of comprehension and connectivity to the surrounding environment.
Focus (d.school: define the problem)
I consider different viewpoints and perspectives.
I define the problem.
Focusing is the process of fully defining a problem, and recognizing the many layers that the problem may possess. A good solution can only come from a well-identified problem.
Brainstorm (d.school: ideate)
I imagine all of the possibilities.
I say yes rather than no.
I improve every idea.
Brainstorming is when you consider all of the possible solutions to their defined problem. It is a process that pushes you to go beyond boundaries and see things from new perspectives. It is an act the promotes creativity and innovation. When brainstorming, there are no limits - the goal is to “think big” and cast a wide net to capture multiple ideas. A great brainstorming prompt is “yes, and…?”
Design (d.school: prototype)
I make a plan.
I mind-map the process.
Designing is making a plan. It involves thinking your way through an idea from start to finish. It is the crucial moment when an initial path to a solution or product is selected and refined, though it may not be the ultimate path to the final ending result.
Create (d.school: prototype)
I take action.
I generate a draft or prototype.
Creating is the physical execution of the design. It results in a tangible output. The product or output is unrefined but it is “ready enough” to be shared with others for feedback. The work of creating should be mindful of a final outcome, but also mindful of the caveat that “perfection is the enemy of done.” Perfection is not the goal of creating. Instead, the goal is having a useful draft or prototype that demonstrates the selected design or solution.
Test (d.school: test)
I have an end in mind.
I try out my ideas with others.
I reflect on what did and did not work.
I learn from my results.
Testing is how you found out if your creation has addressed your problem. It is the point at which one determines the worth of the creation and frequently spurs an iterative process. An important component is having a rubric or a measure by which you are testing the success of your draft or prototype. Discovering mistakes through testing is the best possible outcome - it will make the next iteration of your idea better. Testing should send you back to some or all of the previous steps of the design thinking process as you further refine your process and/or your design.
Share
I share my solution with the world.
I know how to respond to suggestions and praise.
I know there are no failures - there is only new learning to be gained.
Sharing is communicating your process and your outcome to many different audiences, with a special focus given to those with whom the problem connects to the most. It is a collaborative process and an individual goal all in one. It is conversation in all its forms, written and verbal. Listening is as important as conversing. The discovery of mistakes might happen during sharing. That discovery is a “win” because it will further your understanding and learning, and it will result in a better version of the solution. Another important part of sharing is appropriately managing the feedback that is given and taken.
Again, none of our steps are earth-shattering or even truly original. The group who met during our mini-conference mirrored the steps of Parker's process to the design thinking process outlined by the d.school at Stanford University, but put things into student-friendly language. A significant shift for us was calling out the different phases of prototyping - we chose to separate the mental thinking design phase from the physical creating phase so as to highlight the importance of thinking through scenarios and designs mentally before getting into physical prototyping.
We also thought that a visual representation of our process would be helpful in terms of communicating our work. When we brainstormed ideas for a visual representation of the process that we could use to communicate our process, the prototype looked like this:
There is a lot of symbolism and rationale that went into this particular graphic. Most important, we wanted to represent both the higher level ordering of all steps for the majority of our students while also providing a contact point for our youngest students. We were also very intent on having the graphic be circular so as to imply that there is not a defined end to the steps or process, nor is there really a clear beginning or end. Depending on where one is in their process, or how complicated their solution is, or how their testing goes, one might jump around steps in all manner of different ordering. Furthermore, some solutions only require some of the steps, while others would require multiple iterations of the process so as to discern a viable solution.
Following the mini conference, I met up with our communications graphic designer, who ultimately produced our finished product. Stunning!
FYI: The d.school model and explanation for their design thinking process and steps are outlined in the excellent book Creative Confidence, written by Tom and David Kelley, the founders of the d.school and IDEO. The d.school model is also found on several websites hosted both by the d.school and other organizations.
So, you might be asking yourself a few questions about our design thinking model. Here's a quick Q&A:
Where did the Parker team get the idea to change the names for the steps?
We were discussing the idea of making meaning of a word, and how it often takes intentional explanation for a group to understand a term in the same way. By using more school-friendly language, we hoped that the path to shared meaning would be straighter and easier for all members of our community.
Why did the Parker team change the names for the steps of the process?
This might best be answered by providing a specific example. In schools, we use the term "brainstorming" all of the time, whereas "ideate" is not such a familiar term. By specifically terming that step "brainstorming" both our students and faculty already have a base of understanding from which to work. As for the "prototype" phase, we elected to break this phase into two discrete elements, design and create, so as to ensure that students pause to mentally consider drafts and prototypes before they move into the physical act of creating them. If we just used "prototype" the concern was two-fold. One, students would not incorporate the mental consideration aspect of prototyping before beginning to produce output. Two, the word "prototype" sounds very science-heavy, and doesn't feel as relevant to arts, humanities, and younger students. We wanted to ensure that we were mindful of these important parts of our school and curriculum and forge a process that would be inclusive of all of those areas.
What does outlining the steps using a graphic accomplish?
A visual representation is a great cue for remembering or teaching. It's also a wonderful tool that communicates our process succinctly. In our research phase, we looked at other schools and how they approached communicating out their work - the more successful example schools all had a very clear and easy-to-understand graphic that captured their process and thinking. We decided to follow suit with our work.
Why did the team decide to incorporate the "I can" statements for each step?
The participants at the mini-conference agreed that by putting some prompting statements along with each step's name, we would help students and faculty gain better clarity about the intent of each step. In designing student learning outcomes or learning targets, pedagogical best practice calls for "I can" or "I will" statements. We decided to fold in that best practice into our work with design thinking.
What is the relationship between "Dream / Do / Try" and the full process?
For our very youngest learners, seven steps is a lot to remember. By distilling the steps to their essence, even our youngest learners will be able to gain purchase into our process.
Are you interested in creating your vision version 1.0 for your community? Do you have other questions about our process, graphic, or explanations of our design thinking approach? Feel free to contact us with questions!