Why It’s OK To Dislike Design Thinking

You might have had a bad experience or expected a different result—I get it.

This is not another dogmatic article about design thinking. I may be placing myself at odds with purists in the field of design. I am ok with this. What I am not ok with is user-centered design being seen as a bad thing.

I have read several recent articles denouncing design thinking. I enjoy seeing their strongly-worded, often controversial titles. We all fall prey to clickbait. I have read enough to identify a few patterns and trends. My hypothesis is that hatred toward the design thinking framework is due to: 1) incorrect definition, 2) how it relates to delivery, and/or 3) the way it has been “sold.”

If you are a hater I encourage you to read this article to identify why you feel this way.

Incorrect Definitions

I already have a development process and a design process, why do I need a design thinking process? Our designers are designing screens and buttons just fine today.

Design thinking is a framework for identifying opportunities and driving alignment based on empathy for users. The framework itself is not prescriptive. It is intended to be used by both designers and non-designers. There are a few key tenets that can be repeated in any given order: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. The non-sequential nature of the tenets can drive someone who is looking for a process or an equation insane.

If you are looking for a process for designing software, hardware, services, etc. design thinking isn’t it. Processes are, by definition, a series of repeatable steps in a predictable order. Processes scale well, which is why organizations love them. They are desirable because they lead to consistent outcomes. I can totally understand why someone would want these things.

Design thinking is repeatable but is often unpredictable. It doesn’t promise any particular outcome. It provides a set of tools and establishes a common vocabulary.

The framework of design thinking is often confused with the practice of design. This is understandable since they both have ‘Design’ in their title and they are both focused on the act of creation. Design is the discipline and craft of envisioning and creating great experiences. It is delivered by designers.

These two are complementary in nature. Leverage user-centered design and combine it with a focus on craft. This ensures that a solution is both beautiful and addresses user needs, behavior, and goals. When used together the result is amplified.

Delivery

This sounds more waterfall than Agile. Can this map to Lean software methodology? I think we tried this once and it wasn’t clear how to get to code.

The framework doesn’t spell out how to deliver a fully formed user experience. Design thinking does not spell out how to launch a product or service. Given its lack of rigidity, design thinking maps most easily to Agile software development methodology.

Both Agile and the framework focus on progress. Working code, user flows, wireframes, you name it — ongoing iteration in the name of shipping. Design thinking does not replace or threaten any way to design an experience or develop code. It is not prescriptive about how something launches, but ensures what gets shipped will be used.

Design thinking identifies and prioritizes opportunities for improving user experiences. How designers, engineers, product managers, and/or marketers act on these opportunities is up to them. It isn’t fair to blame a set of tools for not prescribing how something was built — whatever the end product is.

How it was sold

Our organization spent thousands of dollars getting training on design thinking and then we were left with nothing more than fancy posters and pretty decks. How am I supposed to run a pilot?

Set an unrealistic expectation for anything and it will fail before it gets a chance to succeed. If a sponsor is explicitly told “design thinking alone will transform your organization to become more innovative”…that’s not good. Nothing by itself can deliver on that promise. A combination of education and activation is required for the framework to be activated.

How does this combination work? Let me use an analogy…. f you grew up playing sports we all had someone like this on our team: Season after season they had the highest quality gear: Balls/Bats/Sticks/Sneakers/Branded ‘performance’ clothing/Etc. But none of this stuff ever made this person the best athlete. The best athlete is the best because of their skills. This is a function of improvement given repetition over time. Also known as activation.

Practitioners need to leverage the framework regularly to become proficient at its use. Similarly, only spending money on design thinking training isn’t advisable. This alone will not result in the creation of a world-class designer, design thinker, or user-centered organization. This might be a good start toward that goal, but without being paired with its use, issues arise.

So What?

I understand why some people hate design thinking. It’s not for everyone. Not everyone likes working in groups. Some people would rather work individually and independently. That’s cool too, but that doesn’t scale well.

Some simply have an aversion to the word ‘Design’ or ‘Designer.’ This is a bummer. We don’t wear black turtlenecks, funky glasses, and indoor scarves all the time. Other people simply feel like they know users well enough because they see themselves as one.

If someone didn’t define, sell, or deliver the framework correctly I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to use it. Or for writing bad Yelp reviews about it. I would be upset if I was sold something that wasn’t what I wanted. Or worse, if someone sold me something that never arrived.

Design thinking is great at establishing empathy for the people that use your product or service. Ideation and concept generation become accessible for non-designers by the use of Post It Notes and Sharpies. It also provides effective approaches to driving alignment.

I just don’t buy into why these Designers think that they know more about the users than the rest of the team. We tried this once and it failed, let’s get back to assigning requirements.

For those that consider themselves design thinking haters, I challenge you as to whether or not you were: given an incorrect definition, experienced a broken promise, or had inflated expectations. If it was all three I am sincerely apologetic. That shit sucks.

If your experience was bad for one, or several of these reasons, I recommend giving it a second chance with what you know now. Don’t dismiss its value. If you only use a framework once — and then say it will never work for anyone else — you didn’t really give it a chance.