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Design thinking is about empathy and

systems thinkers are the better for it
Publicado em 7 de março de 2014

Wynthia Goh 13 artigos Seguir

Building a digital business and improving lives

Design thinking is about empathy.

I had the opportunity to participate in a design thinking workshop where we were examining
the areas of diversity and inclusiveness in a large multicultural organization. It doesn’t
matter what is the specific focus because every topic can benefit from a healthy dose of
empathy and that is the first thing design thinking brings into the picture.

Far too often, we bring on board our biases and the accumulated insights from our own
experiences when looking at a problem. Now that is not to discount the quality of those
experiences nor to say they bear no relevance to solving a problem at hand. Rather, it is to
say hang on, that may not be the best starting point to look at a problem and should not be
the only starting point. It is an extremely useful exercise to surface underlying assumptions
that can blindside a design team in comprehending the real problem at hand and latter
restricting their idea generation.

Design Thinking and Systems Thinking

Design thinking is a mindset, a way of looking at problems and finding creative solutions
that may have been missed from a purely analytical problem solving approach. In practice it
is then backed by processes and tools to help you go through that thinking process to
develop innovative ideas. In some ways it is similar to systems thinking in looking at the
interconnectedness of various factors to understand there is a bigger picture. Unlike systems
thinking, it brings far more human centeredness to the problem solving process.

I remember when I was studying systems thinking and tried to model systems, we would
approach it from a level of detachment. We will start off with what may be the apparent
issue we are focusing on and then draw a bigger and bigger circle to understand what may
be the other factors that influence the outcome that may not be immediately apparent. The
intent is to identify all the relevant factors and so identify the whole system. There is a
certain amount of work to try to identify the relationship and run models to see how we may
optimize the system towards a desired outcome.

Design Thinking Demands Empathy

In design thinking, you first take a walk in someone else’s shoes and the world looks very
different after that experience. That change in perspective and that additional perspective
change the way you will approach a problem.
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For example if you model a healthcare system and try to see
2 what are the factors
9 and how
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you can tweak the factors to achieve a desired outcome - say constant healthcare cost for the
next 5 years. Design thinking will add a rich layer of understanding of the system we are
trying to model by forcing us to take the perspective of key stakeholders in the system. The
design thinking process demands of you the modeler or whoever it is that is trying to “solve
the problem” to first take the time to understand the people in the system you are trying to
model and to understand how the system looks when they are inside it, how the problems
affect them and how they would benefit when the problems are resolved.

If we continue with the case of the healthcare system modeling, you will build out the
persona of patients and healthcare providers. Supported by available data, you will start to
build personas that are representative of the people in the healthcare system and also build
out the world around them and their mindsets and priorities as they go through their roles in
the healthcare system. This additional layer of persona development is invaluable in helping
the systems thinker understand and develop more accurate relationships among the factors
as well as their impact in the overall systemu. The stakeholders participating in the process
emerge from it having walked in one anothers’ shoes, develop a deep empathetic
understanding of the issues and take ownership in designing the solutions.

Empathy leads to better and more innovative problem solving

Beyond building out more accurate system models, the process of building the personas
imbibed the system modelling team with a far greater understanding of the people in the
systems than they otherwise could have. This vastly informs the whole systems view that is
critical to good systems design and can lead to a far more strategic way of looking at
problems. Without the complements of design thinking, a systems thinker may look at how
we will adjust the factors we have modeled to achieve a better outcome. With the layers of
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information from the design thinking process, we have the additional depth of understanding
of the whole system such that we can (and we dare to) generate more out of the box ideas
that may build new feedback loops and change the system we are observing.

The combination of design and systems thinking can deliver a truly holistic understanding of
a current system, generate ideas that will transform the system while yet continue to
maintain a whole systems view to ensure the new system is sustainable. The two clearly
work so well together it is surprising we have not seen a more prominent growth of
integrated design and systems thinking as a single discipline.

In 2009, Tim Brown from IDEO gave a Ted Talk that first introduced the terms “design
thinking” and “human centered design” to a wider public. He is a LinkedIn Influencer and
you can follow his posts here.

Have you attended or facilitated design thinking activities? Are you a systems thinker who
has explored both disciplines? Do share your experience and insights.

______________________________________________________________________

Wynthia Goh (@verydeepsleep) is passionate about digital and the transformative value of
technology. A strategist and definitely a change agent. Happy to connect on LinkedIn with
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Building a digital business and improving lives
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KAMAU MUGURE 2a
Founder D-Shule at SME Kenya.

We have been having debates with Gichobi Stanley over the most appropriate system of designing
interventions for social Challenges. I like your integrated approach orientation.
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Tjahjokartiko Gondokusumo 5a
Your Co-op Planner for Public and Private Partnerships

Cooperative emphaty
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Wynthia Goh
Building a digital business and improving lives

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