DESIGN THINKING

Submitted by

Arvind Kumar -2015PGP13

I had a great experience in the Design Thinking Workshop conducted at IIM Sambalpur. This
workshop provided me an opportunity to learn, how to approach any problem keeping in
view desirability what human needs with technical feasibility and economic viability. My key
takeaways, thoughts and emotions during the workshop and applicability of design thinking
in my life are the following.

Key Take away

I really liked the concept of the innovative and simplistic approach to solve the most complex
problems demonstrated during the workshop. The idea of taking up the issues which we are
facing in our Campus and coming out with the solution with the systematic and creative
thinking was one the interesting and innovative study technique to make us understand the
process of design thinking. The learning process inculcated in me the idea of solving a
problem through various perspectives and to think out of Box. It made me believe that no
matter how challenging the constraints of a given problem, at least one potential solution is
better than the existing solution. The design thinking framework steps (Empathize, Define,
Ideate, Prototype and Test) is very apt and summarises the approach of problem solving
comprehensively.
The Empathy map is complete guide to crawling inside the customer head thus knowing there
needs and requirement which is prerequisite for solving any problem. And with Empathize
exercise I had the chance to learn how to put myself in the place of other person .I really liked
the contribution made by the two of our faculty to guide us throughout our workshop.
The Customer Journey Map helps us understand the minute details of our consumers.
Mapping their day-to-day usage of a product/service with the various touch points and
emotions experienced helps us develop further insights which could be leveraged to solve the
issues and empathise with them to get the personalized touch in problem solving.
The problem statement must be clear and concise incorporating the users need and the
specific insight to solve it.
The customer feedback grid helps us to understand the viability of various solutions
proposed. It may confirm our assumptions, weed out bad ideas, question the feasibility of
some of our solutions and throw up interesting new insights.
Finally, on basis of all the above, we can create prototypes in an iterative manner and can
take it to the consumers for usage, evaluation and feedback. Prototyping makes an idea really
tangible and thus a bigger chance of to get the idea accepted.

Thought and Emotions

Firstly I would like to appreciate the process through which all the students in the class were
divided based upon their personality traits and choices they made and subsequently the
groups was formed with diverse behavioural traits. This approach of group formation was
very innovative and it ensures that every group has diverse set of people which is prerequisite
for effective design thinking.
After the group formation, problems which were assigned to various groups included our day
to day problem which we are currently facing inside our campus. This approach of making us
coming out with the solution which are very important for us within the span of 2 days seems
to be really interesting and appreciable from implantation of course curriculum.
The methods which were employed during the entire workshop was interesting which
included interviewing people which were either our classmates or the other administrative
and other working staff. This activity provided us the opportunity to understand the problem
from their perspective which ultimately helped us to come out with potential solutions in
most of the problems.
We were given numerous unexpected and interesting tasks to find out solutions to the
problem. This involved how we would tackle the problem if we became superheroes, if we
had infinite money supply, if we had zero money supply and if we were kids. To make it
more challenging all these activities were given a short time period of 5 minutes. The most
interesting part that arose from this activity was the number of creative ideas that came out of
it. The number and content pleasantly surprised us as we were unaware such creativity was
hidden within us and all that was needed was a slight push. This also made us to work as a
team and to complement each other while performing the task.
I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that even a public sector unit like railways which is
notorious for its inability to accept new changes easily had used design thinking for their
betterment. A video showing how Mumbai suburban railways have implemented some unique
methods for the benefit of the travellers was really inspiring. Another video depicting how
design thinking had helped a simple hand-pump in rural schools was converted to become a
rocking horse for the entertainment of the children. The beauty of design thinking as depicted
in this example is that its implementation not only helps the people but is also enjoyable to
use.
The Lifebuoy advertisement which promoted the washing of hands with playing on the swing
was very innovative. The advertisement spoke of reduction in the consumption of petrol by
usage of balloons was one which could really be applied in Indian Metropolitan cities and
other smaller areas. It is very great to know that big companies like TCS, Google are
following the path of design thinking.

Overall the design thinking process made me realize that solving a problem can be made
interesting and I would like to employ the design thinking approach in setting up of NGO
which will cater to the needs to sanitation and water facilities in the rural area of my village. I

am confident that this Workshop will help me in coming out with innovative solution which
will be helpful for society.