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Thinking like a can transform the way you Thinking develop products, services, processes—and even strategy. by Tim Brown

Reprint R0806E

Thinking like a designer can transform the way you develop products, services, processes—and even strategy.

Design Thinking

by Tim Brown

Thomas Edison created the electric lightbulb rect observation, of what people want and and then wrapped an entire around need in their lives and what they like or dislike it. The lightbulb is most often thought of as his about the way particular products are made, signature invention, but Edison understood packaged, marketed, sold, and supported. that the bulb was little more than a parlor Many people believe that Edison’s greatest trick without a system of electric power gener- invention was the modern R&D laboratory ation and transmission to make it truly useful. and methods of experimental investigation. So he created that, too. Edison wasn’t a narrowly specialized scientist Thus Edison’s genius lay in his ability to con- but a broad generalist with a shrewd business ceive of a fully developed marketplace, not sense. In his Menlo Park, New Jersey, labora- simply a discrete device. He was able to envi- tory he surrounded himself with gifted tinker- sion how people would want to use what he ers, improvisers, and experimenters. Indeed, made, and he engineered toward that insight. he broke the mold of the “lone genius inven- He wasn’t always prescient (he originally be- tor” by creating a team-based approach to in- lieved the phonograph would be used mainly novation. Although Edison biographers write as a business for recording and replay- of the camaraderie enjoyed by this merry ing dictation), but he invariably gave great con- band, the process also featured endless sideration to users’ needs and preferences. rounds of trial and error—the “99% perspira- Edison’s approach was an early example of tion” in Edison’s famous definition of genius. what is now called “”—a meth- His approach was intended not to validate odology that imbues the full spectrum of inno- preconceived hypotheses but to help experi- vation activities with a human-centered design menters learn something new from each iter- ethos. By this I mean that is pow- ative stab. Innovation is hard ; Edison ered by a thorough understanding, through di- made it a profession that blended , , OPYRIGHT © 2008 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. BUSINESS SCHOOLOPYRIGHT © 2008 HARVARD PUBLISHING CORPORATION. C

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, business savvy, and an astute under- nicating and collaborating—exactly the kinds standing of customers and markets. of human-centered activities in which design Design thinking is a lineal descendant of thinking can make a decisive difference. (See that tradition. Put simply, it is a discipline the sidebar “A Design Thinker’s Personality that uses the designer’s sensibility and Profile.”) methods to match people’s needs with what Consider the large health care provider Kai- is technologically feasible and what a viable ser Permanente, which sought to improve the business strategy can convert into customer overall quality of both patients’ and medical value and market opportunity. Like Edison’s practitioners’ experiences. Businesses in the painstaking innovation process, it often en- service sector can often make significant inno- tails a great deal of perspiration. vations on the front lines of service creation I believe that design thinking has much to and delivery. By teaching design thinking tech- offer a business world in which most manage- niques to nurses, doctors, and administrators, ment ideas and best practices are freely avail- Kaiser hoped to inspire its practitioners to con- able to be copied and exploited. Leaders now tribute new ideas. Over the course of several look to innovation as a principal source of dif- months Kaiser teams participated in work- ferentiation and competitive advantage; they shops with the help of my firm, IDEO, and a would do well to incorporate design thinking group of Kaiser coaches. These workshops led into all phases of the process. to a portfolio of , many of which are being rolled out across the company. Getting Beneath the Surface One of them—a project to reengineer Historically, design has been treated as a nursing-staff shift changes at four Kaiser hospi- downstream step in the development process— tals—perfectly illustrates both the broader the point where , who have played nature of innovation “products” and the value no earlier role in the substantive work of inno- of a holistic design approach. The core project vation, come along and put a beautiful wrap- team included a strategist (formerly a nurse), per around the idea. To be sure, this approach an organizational-development specialist, a has stimulated market growth in many areas expert, a process designer, a union by making new products and representative, and designers from IDEO. This aesthetically attractive and therefore more de- group worked with innovation teams of front- sirable to consumers or by enhancing line practitioners in each of the four hospitals. perception through smart, evocative advertis- During the earliest phase of the project, the ing and strategies. During the core team collaborated with nurses to identify latter half of the twentieth century design be- a number of problems in the way shift changes came an increasingly valuable competitive occurred. Chief among these was the fact that asset in, for example, the consumer electron- nurses routinely spent the first 45 minutes of ics, automotive, and consumer packaged each shift at the nurses’ station debriefing the goods industries. But in most others it re- departing shift about the status of patients. mained a late-stage add-on. Their methods of information exchange were Now, however, rather than asking designers different in every hospital, ranging from re- to make an already developed idea more at- corded dictation to face-to-face conversations. tractive to consumers, companies are asking And they compiled the information they them to create ideas that better meet consum- needed to serve patients in a variety of ways— ers’ needs and desires. The former role is tacti- scrawling quick notes on the back of any avail- cal, and results in limited value creation; the able scrap of paper, for example, or even on latter is strategic, and leads to dramatic new their scrubs. Despite a significant investment Tim Brown ([email protected]) is the forms of value. of time, the nurses often failed to learn some CEO and president of IDEO, an innova- Moreover, as economies in the developed of the things that mattered most to patients, tion and design firm with headquarters world shift from industrial to such as how they had fared during the previous in Palo Alto, California. His have knowledge work and service delivery, innova- shift, which family members were with them, won numerous awards and been ex- tion’s terrain is expanding. Its objectives are and whether or not certain tests or therapies hibited at the of no longer just physical products; they are new had been administered. For many patients, the in New York, the Axis Gallery in Tokyo, sorts of processes, services, IT-powered inter- team learned, each shift change felt like a hole and the in London. actions, entertainments, and ways of commu- in their care. Using the insights gleaned from harvard business review • june 2008 page 2

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observing these important times of transition, the patient rather than at the nurses’ station. the innovation teams explored potential solu- In only a week the team built a working proto- tions through and rapid proto- type that included new procedures and some typing. ( of a service innovation will simple software with which nurses could call of course not be physical, but they must be tan- up previous shift-change notes and add new gible. Because pictures help us understand ones. They could input patient information what is learned through prototyping, we often throughout a shift rather than scrambling at videotape the performance of prototyped ser- the end to pass it on. The software collated the vices, as we did at Kaiser.) data in a simple format customized for each Prototyping doesn’t have to be complex and nurse at the start of a shift. The result was both expensive. In another health care project, higher-quality knowledge transfer and reduced IDEO helped a group of surgeons develop a prep time, permitting much earlier and better- new device for sinus surgery. As the surgeons informed contact with patients. described the ideal physical characteristics of As Kaiser measured the impact of this the instrument, one of the designers grabbed change over time, it learned that the mean in- a whiteboard marker, a film canister, and a terval between a nurse’s arrival and first inter- clothespin and taped them together. “Do you action with a patient had been more than mean like this?” he asked. With his rudimen- halved, adding a huge amount of nursing time tary in hand, the surgeons were able across the four hospitals. Perhaps just as im- to be much more precise about what the portant was the effect on the quality of the ultimate design should accomplish. nurses’ work experience. One nurse com- Prototypes should command only as much mented, “I’m an hour ahead, and I’ve only time, effort, and investment as are needed to been here 45 minutes.” Another said, “[This is generate useful feedback and evolve an idea. the] first time I’ve ever made it out of here at The more “finished” a prototype seems, the the end of my shift.” less likely its creators will be to pay attention Thus did a group of nurses significantly to and profit from feedback. The goal of proto- improve their patients’ experience while also typing isn’t to finish. It is to learn about the improving their own job satisfaction and pro- strengths and weaknesses of the idea and to ductivity. By applying a human-centered de- identify new directions that further proto- sign methodology, they were able to create a types might take. relatively small process innovation that pro- The design that emerged for shift changes duced an outsize impact. The new shift had nurses passing on information in front of changes are being rolled out across the Kaiser

A Design Thinker’s Personality Profile Contrary to popular opinion, you don’t need ine solutions that are inherently desirable better than the existing alternatives. weird shoes or a black turtleneck to be a de- and meet explicit or latent needs. Great de- Experimentalism. Significant innovations sign thinker. Nor are design thinkers neces- sign thinkers observe the world in minute de- don’t come from incremental tweaks. Design sarily created only by design schools, even tail. They notice things that others do not and thinkers pose questions and explore con- though most professionals have had some use their insights to inspire innovation. straints in creative ways that proceed in en- kind of design training. My experience is that Integrative thinking. They not only rely on tirely new directions. many people outside professional design analytical processes (those that produce either/ Collaboration. The increasing complexity have a natural aptitude for design thinking, or choices) but also exhibit the ability to see all of products, services, and experiences has re- which the right development and experi- of the salient—and sometimes contradictory— placed the myth of the lone creative genius ences can unlock. Here, as a starting point, aspects of a confounding problem and create with the reality of the enthusiastic interdisci- are some of the characteristics to look for in novel solutions that go beyond and dramatically plinary collaborator. The best design thinkers design thinkers: improve on existing alternatives. (See Roger don’t simply work alongside other disciplines; . They can imagine the world Martin’s The Opposable Mind: How Successful many of them have significant experience in from multiple perspectives—those of col- Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking.) more than one. At IDEO we employ people leagues, clients, end users, and customers Optimism. They assume that no matter who are and marketers, anthropolo- (current and prospective). By taking a “peo- how challenging the constraints of a given gists and industrial designers, and ple first” approach, design thinkers can imag- problem, at least one potential solution is psychologists. harvard business review • june 2008 page 3

Design Thinking

system, and the capacity to reliably record Sometimes the trigger for a project is leader- critical patient information is being inte- ship’s recognition of a serious change in busi- grated into an electronic medical records ini- ness fortunes. In 2004 Shimano, a Japanese tiative at the company. manufacturer of bicycle components, faced What might happen at Kaiser if every nurse, flattening growth in its traditional high-end doctor, and administrator in every hospital felt road-racing and mountain-bike segments in empowered to tackle problems the way this the United States. The company had always re- group did? To find out, Kaiser has created the lied on technology innovations to drive its Garfield Innovation Center, which is run by growth and naturally tried to predict where Kaiser’s original core team and acts as a consul- the next one might come from. This time Shi- tancy to the entire organization. The center’s mano thought a high-end casual bike that ap- mission is to pursue innovation that enhances pealed to boomers would be an interesting the patient experience and, more broadly, to area to explore. IDEO was invited to collabo- envision Kaiser’s “hospital of the future.” It is rate on the project. introducing tools for design thinking across During the inspiration phase, an interdisci- the Kaiser system. plinary team of IDEO and Shimano people— designers, behavioral scientists, marketers, How Design Thinking Happens and engineers—worked to identify appropri- The myth of creative genius is resilient: We be- ate constraints for the project. The team lieve that great ideas pop fully formed out of began with a hunch that it should focus more brilliant minds, in feats of imagination well broadly than on the high-end market, which beyond the abilities of mere mortals. But what might prove to be neither the only nor even the Kaiser nursing team accomplished was nei- the best source of new growth. So it set out to ther a sudden breakthrough nor the lightning learn why 90% of American adults don’t ride strike of genius; it was the result of hard work bikes. Looking for new ways to think about augmented by a creative human-centered dis- the problem, the team members spent time covery process and followed by iterative cycles with all kinds of consumers. They discovered of prototyping, testing, and refinement. that nearly everyone they met rode a bike as a The design process is best described meta- child and had happy memories of doing so. phorically as a system of spaces rather than a They also discovered that many Americans predefined series of orderly steps. The spaces are intimidated by cycling today—by the re- demarcate different sorts of related activities tail experience (including the young, Lycra- that together form the continuum of innova- clad athletes who serve as sales staff in most tion. Design thinking can feel chaotic to those independent bike stores); by the complexity experiencing it for the first time. But over the and cost of the bikes, accessories, and special- life of a project participants come to see—as ized clothing; by the danger of cycling on they did at Kaiser—that the process makes roads not designed for bicycles; and by the de- sense and achieves results, even though its mands of maintaining a technically sophisti- differs from the linear, milestone- cated bike that is ridden infrequently. based processes typical of other kinds of This human-centered exploration—which business activities. took its insights from people outside Shi- Design projects must ultimately pass mano’s core customer base—led to the real- through three spaces (see the exhibit “Inspira- ization that a whole new category of bicycling tion, Ideation, Implementation”). We label might be able to reconnect American con- these “inspiration,” for the circumstances (be sumers to their experiences as children while they a problem, an opportunity, or both) that also dealing with the root causes of their feel- motivate the search for solutions; “ideation,” ings of intimidation—thus revealing a large for the process of generating, developing, and untapped market. testing ideas that may lead to solutions; and The design team, responsible for every as- “implementation,” for the charting of a path pect of what was envisioned as a holistic expe- to market. Projects will loop back through rience, came up with the concept of “Coasting.” these spaces—particularly the first two— Coasting would aim to entice lapsed bikers more than once as ideas are refined and new into an activity that was simple, straightfor- directions taken. ward, and fun. Coasting bikes, built more for

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on ati Insp nt 1 ira e ti m on le p Move on to the Expect Success next project – repeat Im Build implementation resources into your plan Make the case to the business – spread the word What’s the business prob- 3 lem? Where’s the oppor- tunity? What has changed (or soon may change)?

Help marketing Look at the world: design a communi- Observe what people do, cation strategy how they think, what they Execute the Vision need and want the experience

Prototype some more, What are the business con- test with users, test Involve many disciplines straints (time, lack of resources, internally from the start (e.g., engi- impoverished customer base, neering & marketing) shrinking market)?

Communicate internally – don’t work in the dark! Pay close attention to “extreme” users such as children or the elderly Tell more stories (they Prototype, test, keep ideas alive) prototype, test… Have a project room where you can share Apply integrative insights, tell stories Put customers in thinking the midst of every- thing; describe their journeys

Build creative frameworks How can new (order out of chaos) Are valuable ideas, as- technology help? sets, and expertise hiding inside the business?

Make many sketches, concoct scenarios

Organize information and synthesize possibilities (tell more stories!) Brainstorm Ide 2 ation

Images © IDEO harvard business review • june 2008 page 5

Design Thinking

pleasure than for sport, would have no con- facturers signed up to produce Coasting bikes trols on the handlebars, no cables snaking in 2008. along the frame. As on the earliest bikes many of us rode, the brakes would be applied by Taking a Systems View backpedaling. With the help of an onboard Many of the world’s most successful computer, a minimalist three gears would shift create breakthrough ideas that are inspired by automatically as the bicycle gained speed or a deep understanding of consumers’ lives and slowed. The bikes would feature comfortably use the principles of design to innovate and padded seats, be easy to operate, and require build value. Sometimes innovation has to ac- relatively little maintenance. count for vast differences in cultural and socio- Three major manufacturers—Trek, Raleigh, economic conditions. In such cases design and Giant—developed new bikes incorporat- thinking can suggest creative alternatives to ing innovative components from Shimano. the assumptions made in developed societies. But the design team didn’t stop with the bike India’s Aravind Eye Care System is probably itself. In-store retailing strategies were created the world’s largest provider of eye care. From for independent bike dealers, in part to allevi- April 2006 to March 2007 Aravind served ate the discomfort that biking novices felt in more than 2.3 million patients and performed stores designed to serve enthusiasts. The team more than 270,000 surgeries. Founded in 1976 developed a brand that identified Coasting as by Dr. G. Venkataswamy, Aravind has as its a way to enjoy life. (“Chill. Explore. Dawdle. mission nothing less than the eradication of Lollygag. First one there’s a rotten egg.”) And needless blindness among India’s population, it designed a public relations campaign— including the rural poor, through the effective in collaboration with local governments and delivery of superior ophthalmic care. (One of cycling organizations—that identified safe the company’s slogans is “Quality is for every- places to ride. one.”) From 11 beds in Dr. Venkataswamy’s Although many others became involved in home, Aravind has grown to encompass five the project when it reached the implementa- hospitals (three others are under Aravind tion phase, the application of design thinking management), a plant that manufactures in the earliest stages of innovation is what led ophthalmic products, a foundation, to this complete solution. Indeed, the single and a training center. thing one would have expected the design Aravind’s execution of its mission and team to be responsible for—the look of the model is in some respects reminiscent of bikes—was intentionally deferred to later in Edison’s holistic concept of electric power the development process, when the team cre- delivery. The challenge the company faces ated a reference design to inspire the bike is logistic: how best to deliver eye care to companies’ own design teams. After a success- populations far removed from the urban cen- ful launch in 2007, seven more bicycle manu- ters where Aravind’s hospitals are located.

Coasting A sketch (left, seat plus helmet storage) and a prototype (middle) show elements of Coasting bicycles. Shimano’s Coasting website (right) points users to safe bike paths.

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Aravind calls itself an “eye care system” for a springboard two constraints: the poverty and reason: Its business goes beyond ophthalmic remoteness of its clientele and its own lack of care per se to transmit expert practice to pop- access to expensive solutions. For example, a ulations that have historically lacked access. pair of intraocular lenses made in the West The company saw its network of hospitals as a costs $200, which severely limited the number beginning rather than an end. of patients Aravind could help. Rather than try Much of its innovative energy has focused to persuade suppliers to change the way they on bringing both preventive care and diagnos- did things, Aravind built its own solution: a tic screening to the countryside. Since 1990 manufacturing plant in the basement of one Aravind has held “eye camps” in India’s rural of its hospitals. It eventually discovered that it areas, in an effort to register patients, admin- could use relatively inexpensive technology to ister eye exams, teach eye care, and identify produce lenses for $4 a pair. people who may require surgery or advanced Throughout its history—defined by the diagnostic services or who have conditions constraints of poverty, ignorance, and an that warrant monitoring. enormous unmet need—Aravind has built a In 2006 and early 2007 Aravind eye camps systemic solution to a complex social and screened more than 500,000 patients, of medical problem. whom nearly 113,000 required surgery. Access to transportation is a common problem in Getting Back to the Surface rural areas, so the company provides buses that I argued earlier that design thinking can lead take patients needing further treatment to one to innovation that goes beyond , but of its urban facilities and then home again. that doesn’t mean that form and aesthetics are Over the years it has bolstered its diagnostic ca- unimportant. Magazines like to publish pho- pabilities in the field with telemedicine trucks, tographs of the newest, coolest products for a which enable doctors back at Aravind’s hospi- reason: They are sexy and appeal to our emo- tals to participate in care decisions. In recent tions. Great design satisfies both our needs years Aravind’s analysis of its screening data and our desires. Often the emotional connec- has led to specialized eye camps for certain de- tion to a product or an image is what engages mographic groups, such as school-age children us in the first place. Time and again we see suc- and industrial and government workers; the cessful products that were not necessarily the company also holds camps specifically to first to market but were the first to appeal screen for eye diseases associated with diabe- to us emotionally and functionally. In other tes. All these services are free for the roughly words, they do the job and we love them. The 60% of patients who cannot afford to pay. iPod was not the first MP3 player, but it was In developing its system of care, Aravind has the first to be delightful. Target’s products ap- consistently exhibited many characteristics of peal emotionally through design and func- design thinking. It has used as a creative tionally through price—simultaneously.

Aravind Aravind’s outreach to rural patients frequently brings basic diagnostic tools (left and center) and an advanced satellite-linked telemedicine truck (right) to remote areas of India.

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This idea will grow ever more important in the Bank of America’s innovation was to build future. As Daniel Pink writes in his book A this behavior into a debit card account. Cus- Whole New Mind, “Abundance has satisfied, tomers who use their debit cards to make pur- and even over-satisfied, the material needs of chases can now choose to have the total millions—boosting the significance of beauty rounded up to the nearest dollar and the dif- and and accelerating individuals’ ference deposited in their savings accounts. search for meaning.” As more of our basic The success of this innovation lay in its ap- needs are met, we increasingly expect sophisti- peal to an instinctive desire we have to put cated experiences that are emotionally satisfy- money aside in a painless and invisible way. ing and meaningful. These experiences will Keep the Change creates an experience that not be simple products. They will be complex feels natural because it models behavior that combinations of products, services, spaces, many of us already exhibit. To be sure, Bank and information. They will be the ways we get of America sweetens the deal by matching educated, the ways we are entertained, the 100% of the change saved in the first three ways we stay healthy, the ways we share and months and 5% of annual totals (up to $250) communicate. Design thinking is a tool for thereafter. This encourages customers to try it imagining these experiences as well as giving out. But the real payoff is emotional: the grat- them a desirable form. ification that comes with monthly statements One example of experiential innovation showing customers they’ve saved money with- comes from a financial services company. In out even trying. late 2005 Bank of America launched a new In less than a year the program attracted savings account service called “Keep the 2.5 million customers. It is credited with Change.” IDEO, working with a team from 700,000 new checking accounts and a million the bank, helped identify a consumer behav- new savings accounts. Enrollment now totals ior that many people will recognize: After more than 5 million people who together paying cash for something, we put the coins have saved more than $500 million. Keep the we received in change into a jar at home. Change demonstrates that design thinking Once the jar is full, we take the coins to the can identify an aspect of human behavior and bank and deposit them in a savings account. then convert it into both a customer benefit For many people, it’s an easy way of saving. and a business value.

How to Make Design Thinking Part of the Innovation Drill Begin at the beginning. Involve design type or number of consumers exposed to pro- projects proceed and teams learn more about thinkers at the very start of the innovation totypes during the life of a program. opportunities. process, before any direction has been set. Seek outside help. Expand the innovation Find talent any way you can. Look to hire Design thinking will help you explore ecosystem by looking for opportunities to co- from interdisciplinary programs like the new more ideas more quickly than you could create with customers and consumers. Exploit Institute of Design at Stanford and progres- otherwise. Web 2.0 networks to enlarge the effective scale sive business schools like Rotman, in Toronto. Take a human-centered approach. Along of your innovation team. People with more-conventional design back- with business and technology considerations, Blend big and small projects. Manage a grounds can push solutions far beyond your innovation should factor in human behavior, portfolio of innovation that stretches from expectations. You may even be able to train needs, and preferences. Human-centered shorter-term incremental ideas to longer-term nondesigners with the right attributes to excel design thinking—especially when it includes revolutionary ones. Expect business units to in design-thinking roles. research based on direct observation—will drive and fund incremental innovation, but be Design for the cycle. In many businesses capture unexpected insights and produce in- willing to initiate revolutionary innovation people move every 12 to 18 months. But de- novation that more precisely reflects what from the top. sign projects may take longer than that to get consumers want. Budget to the pace of innovation. Design from day one through implementation. Plan Try early and often. Create an expectation thinking happens quickly, yet the route to assignments so that design thinkers go from of rapid experimentation and prototyping. En- market can be unpredictable. Don’t constrain inspiration to ideation to implementation. courage teams to create a prototype in the the pace at which you can innovate by relying Experiencing the full cycle builds better judg- first week of a project. Measure progress with on cumbersome budgeting cycles. Be pre- ment and creates great long-term benefits for a metric such as average time to first proto- pared to rethink your funding approach as the organization. harvard business review • june 2008 page 8

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Thomas Edison represents what many of whose traditional markets are disrupted by us think of as a golden age of American new technologies or demographic shifts. These innovation—a time when new ideas trans- problems all have people at their heart. They formed every aspect of our lives. The need for require a human-centered, creative, iterative, transformation is, if anything, greater now and practical approach to finding the best than ever before. No matter where we look, we ideas and ultimate solutions. Design thinking see problems that can be solved only through is just such an approach to innovation. innovation: unaffordable or unavailable health care, billions of people trying to live on just a Reprint R0806E few dollars a day, energy usage that outpaces To order, see the next page the planet’s ability to support it, or call 800-988-0886 or 617-783-7500 systems that fail many students, companies or go to www.hbr.org

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