UVA-S-0240TN

Rev. Nov. 17, 2015

Design Thinking Course

Teaching Note

Table of Contents

Course Overview

Teaching Objectives for the Course

Accompanying Materials

Teaching Plan:
Session 1: Why Design Thinking?
Session 2: The Design Process
Session 3: Design Brief
Session 4: Visualization
Session 5: Ethnography
Session 6: Identifying Insights (using Mind-Mapping design tool)
Session 7: Design Criteria
Session 8: Brainstorming
Session 9: Concept Development
Session 10: Napkin Pitch
Session 11: Assumption Testing
Session 12: Prototyping
Session 13: Co-creation
Session 14: Learning Launch
Session 15: So What?
Conclusion

This teaching note was prepared by Jeanne M. Liedtka, Professor of Business Administration, and Rachel Brozenske, Adjunct Pro fessor.
Copyright  2015 by the University of Virginia Darden School Foundation, Charlottesville, VA. All rights reserved. To order copies, send an e-mail to
sales@dardenbusinesspublishing.com. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by
any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission of the Darden School Foundation.
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Exhibit TN1: Sample Posters (Available upon adoption. Contact Darden Business Publishing for details.)

Exhibit TN2: Course Videos (Available upon adoption. Contact Darden Business Publishing for details.)

Exhibit TN3: Student Submission Templates

Exhibit TN4: Mindset Questions for Students

Exhibit TN5: Feedback Diagnostics

Exhibit TN6: Assumptions in the Jennifer Parks Case (UVA-ENT-0102)

Appendix 1: Teaching Plan for “Design Thinking at Arena Industries: Designing an Employee Wellness
Approach” (UVA-S-0240)

Appendix 2: Teaching Plan for “Design Thinking at Trenton State College: Designing a Faculty Retirement
Experience” (UVA-S-0241)

Appendix 3: Teaching Plan for “Design Thinking at Great Lakes: The Search for Growth” (UVA-S-0248)
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Course Overview

This course allows students to explore an approach to decision making called design thinking. Design
thinking emphasizes deep user understanding, iteration, and a focus on possibilities as a way to enhance value
creation for stakeholders. This collection of course materials includes three mutually exclusive case-based
classroom simulations (UVA-S-0240, UVA-S-0241, and UVA-S-0248), a complete set of videos (contact DBP
to preview and license video content), two books, posters for in-class exercises (contact DBP to license full
sets of the ethnographic posters), and a supplemental tool kit containing downloadable PDFs for student
assignments. See full list of resources in the “Accompanying Materials” section.

The Design Thinking course employs one of the three available case-based simulations to create a hands-
on and engaging experience for students, using a variety of design thinking tools, within the constraints of the
classroom. In my class, I use a single case for the entire term, teaching the entire design thinking process over
a 15-session course and usually devoting one 85-minute session to each tool. Any of the three individual case-
based simulations can also be used to teach individual design skills—such as journey mapping, mining
ethnographic data for deep insights, or ethnographic interviewing—rather than the full end-to-end process.

What truly distinguishes the design of this course and these case-based simulations and makes them
valuable for teaching design thinking is that instructors receive additional information in the form of a set of
posters that summarize ethnographic interview findings for each story (see Exhibit TN1 for sample posters
from each of the three cases). Thus the design of the materials allows students to get a brief personal experience
in ethnographic interviewing as a preassignment for class, but then data from multiple other interviews are
supplemented on the posters. This additional information gives students a rich database with which to explore
the full range of design thinking activities; it also allows for experiential exercises in class rather than merely
case discussions. Students get to practice design thinking in a real organizational context. The case-based
simulations allow students to see the scope of the project, create a design brief, conduct ethnographic
interviews, mine research data for insights, generate ideas, and design marketplace experiments. The teaching
plan is designed for a “flipped classroom” approach, which works well for this material.

I use the case-based simulations in conjunction with both a workbook, The Designing for Growth Field Book:
A Step-by-Step Project Guide1 and a text, Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Tool Kit for Managers.2 Both the Field
Book and Designing for Growth can be purchased through Amazon.com 3 or through Columbia Business School
Publishing.4 The lesson plan contained in this note assigns readings from each of these, but the simulations can
be taught without using this material. We have also created an extensive set of video materials (available through
Darden Business Publishing) on the individual steps and tools (see Exhibit TN2).

Teaching Objectives for the Course

 Introduce students to a new approach—design thinking—that enhances innovation activities in terms

of market impact, value creation, and speed.
 Expand students’ thinking about design and innovation beyond the design and development of new
products to other fundamental sources of value creation.

1 Jeanne Liedtka, Tim Ogilvie, and Rachel Brozenske, The Designing for Growth Field Book: A Step-by-Step Project Guide (New York: Columbia University

Press, 2014).
2 Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Ogilvie, Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Tool Kit for Managers (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011).
3 Visit http://tinyurl.com/ol5fjf6.
4 Visit http://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-designing-for-growth-field-book/9780231164672.
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 Strengthen students’ individual and collaborative capabilities to identify customer needs, create sound
concept hypotheses, collect appropriate data, and develop a prototype that allows for meaningful
feedback in a real-world environment.
 Teach students to translate broadly defined opportunities into actionable innovation possibilities and
recommendations for client organizations.

Accompanying Materials

To teach design thinking, you can use one or more of the cases listed below.

1. Case-based simulations:
 “Design Thinking at Arena Industries: Designing an Employee Wellness Approach” (UVA-S-
0240): In this case-based simulation, Arena Industries (Arena) (a real but disguised company) is a
global company seeking to improve the wellness of its employees. As part of the simulation,
students read a short introduction to Arena’s business and operating philosophies, as well as details
concerning the challenges present in the larger health care environment in the United States.
Faculty members receive a supplemental set of posters (UVA-S-0240H) containing details
obtained from ethnographic interviews conducted with Arena employees, as well as an interview
guide for students to use as they practice their ethnography (see Exhibit TN1 for a sample poster).
Students play the role of consultant charged with recommending to Arena’s leaders how best to
address the opportunity to improve employee wellness.
 “Design Thinking at Trenton State College: Designing a Faculty Retirement Experience” (UVA-
S-0241): In this case-based simulation, the vice provost for academic affairs at Trenton State
College (TSC) (a real but disguised college) is tasked with designing a new retirement experience
for faculty. TSC, a public institution that serves the state of Missouri and employs more than 1,500
full-time faculty, faces a wave of upcoming retirements and an existing process that few feel is
working well. Faculty members receive a set of posters (UVA-S-0241H) containing details obtained
from ethnographic interviews conducted with retired TSC faculty (see Exhibit TN1 for a sample
poster) as well as an interview guide for students to use as they practice their ethnography. Students
play the role of a member of the provost’s office who has been charged with reviewing the
experience of retirees and recommending to college leaders ideas to improve the retirement
experience for faculty.
 “Design Thinking at Great Lakes: The Search for Growth” (UVA-S-0248): In this case-based
simulation, Great Lakes (a real but disguised organization) is a Fortune 200 company and one of
the world’s largest dairy cooperatives. Its CEO reflects on the challenges and the opportunities the
company faces as it considers how to tap into a bigger slice of the lucrative market for snack foods
for Millennials, an area its research had identified as a promising first target. Faculty members
receive a set of posters (UVA-S-0248H) containing details obtained from ethnographic interviews
conducted with a cross section of Millennials (see Exhibit TN1 for a sample poster), as well as an
interview guide for students to use as they practice their ethnography. Students play the role of
members of a handpicked innovation team chartered to explore and develop profitable revenue-
growth opportunities.
2. Books:
 Jeanne Liedtka, Tim Ogilvie, and Rachel Brozenske, The Designing for Growth Field Book: A Step-by-
Step Project Guide (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014) (referred to hereafter as Field Book).
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 Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Ogilvie, Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Tool Kit for Managers (New
York: Columbia University Press, 2011) (referred to hereafter as Designing for Growth).
3. Student Assignment Submission Templates (see Exhibit TN3). Also available as PDF forms for
students to fill in and submit.
 “Design Thinking Template—Design Brief,” UVA-S-0240H1
 “Design Thinking Template—Design Criteria,” UVA-S-0240H2
 “Design Thinking Template—Napkin Pitch,” UVA-S-0240H3
 “Design Thinking Template—Key Assumptions,” UVA-S-0240H4
 “Design Thinking Template—Learning Launch Design,” UVA-S-0240H5
4. Feedback Diagnostics for student submissions (Exhibit TN5).
5. *Videos (see Exhibit TN2)
6. *Posters
 “Design Thinking at Arena Industries: Designing an Employee Wellness Approach” (Posters)
(UVA-S-0240H)
 “Design Thinking at Trenton State College: Designing a Faculty Retirement Experience” (Posters)
(UVA-S-0241H)
 “Design Thinking at Great Lakes: The Search for Growth” (Posters) (UVA-S-0248H)
*Videos and posters are available to qualified adopters. Please contact Darden Business Publishing for details.

Teaching Plan

I teach a single case-based simulation over the course of a semester-long Design Thinking course. I use it
for the first 15 sessions, and students do a project for an outside client for the remaining 15. I use the simulation
to give students the opportunity to practice the tools in the reassuring environment of the classroom rather
than having to tackle a real project, and to illustrate each step of the process along the way. Students either
complete the assignment individually before class or work in teams during class. I focus on one tool or process
step per week in an 85-minute class.

Session 1: Why Design Thinking?

Reading(s): Designing for Growth, Chapter 1

Assignment(s): View videos “What Is Design Thinking?” and “Meet George and Geoff.”

I introduce the subject of design thinking in this initial session by first asking students what they took away
from the assigned readings and/or videos for day one. We review and discuss some of the different models of
the process used by design firms such as IDEO, Jump, Continuum, and the Luma Institute. During the latter
half of the session, we focus on the story of George and Geoff and the importance of mindset. What do they
think about their own mindsets? I put up a short list of questions for students to answer privately
(Exhibit TN4).
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Session 2: The Design Process

Case(s): UVA-S-0240, UVA-S-0241, or UVA-S-0248

Reading(s): Designing for Growth, Chapter 2
Field Book, Step 1: Identify an Opportunity
Assignment(s): 1. View video: “Step One: Identify an Opportunity.”
2. Prepare case by taking a first pass at completing Step 1 in the Field Book.

Now we roll up our sleeves and jump into the case-based simulation. We begin to utilize the Field Book as
we review students’ views on Step 1, identifying the right kind of opportunity to use design thinking. Some
problems are better suited to our traditional analytic approaches, and we want to be sure to select the kind of
problem for which design thinking is especially valuable as an approach. I ask, “What makes this opportunity
a good issue for design thinking?” Focusing students’ attention on areas of opportunity rather than solutions is
key here.

Session 3: Design Brief

Reading(s): Field Book, Step 2: Scope Your Project and Step 3: Draft your Design Brief
Assignment(s): 1. View videos: “Step Two: Scope Your Project” and “Step Three: Draft Your
Design Brief.”
2. Prepare case by taking a first pass at Steps 2 and 3 in the Field Book.

In our next session, we look at Steps 2 and 3, scoping the opportunity described in the case and creating
the design brief. I first have students form teams, open their Field Books to Step 2, and compare what each has
written. I ask them to select one of their statements and work together through the scoping exercise, first
broadening by asking why, then narrowing by looking at barriers.

I point out here that what they write in the boxes is just information, and just one perspective. There is no
one right answer; the choice is a strategic one. Which scope do we believe will give us the solutions that are of
most interest to us right now? We do the scoping exercise to push the students to examine the problem more
carefully and from different angles.

We then move onto Step 3, and I ask them to share their design briefs with each other, looking for areas
of difference. Interesting issues often arise around target users: For whom are we designing? How broad can
we make our focus? Is this one project or multiple projects? Metrics are another interesting area: How will we
know we have succeeded or failed?

I then ask the teams to complete and turn in a design brief for the case (see template in Exhibit TN3). I
offer feedback (and sometimes give a grade) for the completed brief. The feedback diagnostics that I use are
contained in Exhibit TN5.

Session 4: Visualization

Reading(s): Designing for Growth, Chapter 3

Field Book, pages 76 and 77
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Assignment(s): 1. View videos: “Step Four: Make Your Plans” and “Design Tool: Visualization.”
2. Create a visualization of your ideal vacation and bring it to class.
3. Think about what a visualization of the case issues might look like.

Visualization gives us our first chance to be hands-on. In advance of class, I ask students to prepare a
visualization of their ideal vacation and bring it to class. I then pair them up, and each partner—using only the
visual—tries to describe the ideal vacation that the other student has drawn. After debriefing this process, we
turn back to the simulation and consider how visualization might help communicate more clearly and
compellingly the issue at hand.

Session 5: Ethnography

Reading(s): Designing for Growth, Chapter 4

Field Book, Step 4 and Tools section, pages 46 through 61
Assignment(s): 1. View videos: “Step Five: Do Your Research,” “Design Tool: Ethnography,” and
“Design Tool: Ethnographic Interviewing.”
2. Find two people who are not fellow students, and who meet the target-market
criteria in the case. Using the appropriate interview guide, conduct an interview
with each one. Each interview should take at least 45 minutes to complete if
students do it thoroughly. Try to take careful notes on student responses (bring
these to class), then create a poster (Field Book page 61) on what you learned from
one of your interviewees.

This is the session where we send students out into the real world on their first assignment. In advance of
class, I ask students to complete two interviews using an Ethnographic Interviewing Guide that I provide (each
Appendix has a guide specific to each simulation). We discuss the challenges they encountered and share tips
about what worked well for them. I then ask them what they would do differently next time and introduce the
idea of creating of a large poster that captures key points about each person they interview, trying to capture
the real person behind the quotes. I show them an example of a poster (see Exhibit TN1).

Session 6: Identifying Insights (using Mind-Mapping design tool)

Reading(s): Designing for Growth, Chapter 6

Field Book, Step 6
Assignment(s): 1. View video: “Step Six: Identify Insights.”
2. Bring a paper copy of the poster you created from your interview.
3. We will complete Step 6 in class.
This is one of my favorite sessions. The instructor takes the poster PDFs that accompany this teaching
note to a copy store to have them blown up into poster size (this is generally inexpensive if one sticks with
black and white, and has them made on a plotter printer). The instructor should also provide sticky notes (about
one-third of a pack per student). I hang the posters up in a “gallery” that students will browse during the early
part of class. I leave one wall free for their own posters and ask them to quickly (this session is very full, with
no extra time) post their own posters on that wall. Then we get started. Here are my instructions to them:
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Our session goal is to begin to identify and synthesize key insights across all our interviews.

First, browse the gallery

Browse the gallery and select the observations (not recommendations or interpretations) that you consider relevant to
designing the ideal experience for the opportunity presented in the case. Write a short phrase capturing each observation
individually on a separate sticky note in large block letters. You should have a minimum of 20 sticky notes.

Next is clustering
Take a first pass at clustering your own observations, placing the related ones together in a way that makes it easy for
you to find them using the clipboard provided.

Then create a “mind map”

Gather with your designated design team to create a group mind map. You will do this by building important clusters of
observations based on what you see in the data—attaching the sticky notes relevant to that cluster to your board.

Start with one person. He or she selects one observation to begin. That sticky note is placed on the board, then team
members each add any of their sticky notes (one at a time, taking turns) related to that initial theme to form a cluster.
Then go on to a second team member and start another cluster theme. The team continues in this way until all major
clusters have been gathered on the board. At the conclusion of this, all outliers are posted in the margins.

Pay attention to any outliers: just because an observation doesn’t fit into a group doesn’t mean that it doesn’t deserve
attention.

Look for themes and insights associated with each cluster

Sit back and look for themes within a cluster and then relationships across the clusters that may have implications for
our design effort. Write these on large sticky notes and attach them to your board on top of the clusters.

In general, I do not expect to complete Step 6 in one class session; if need be, we complete it at the start
of the following class session.

Session 7: Design Criteria

Reading(s): Field Book, Step 7

Assignment(s): 1. View video: “Step Seven: Establish Design Criteria.”
2. We will complete Step 7 in class.

Starting with where we left off on Step 6, we continue the process, completing Step 6 and moving on to
Step 7. Here are my instructions:

Let’s start by going back to the insights you generated yesterday. Take 15 minutes to review these and see if you can
improve on them, or find additional ones. Then we will move to Step 7.

Creating design criteria

Translate your insights from Step 6 into a preliminary set of specific design criteria. Then capture the criteria your team
creates on a single sheet of flip-chart paper. Complete the following sentence:

If anything were possible, our design would…

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We post the flip charts in the front of the room and discuss similarities and differences across each team’s
criteria. Each team then goes back to its own list and edits it. I encourage students to borrow other teams’
criteria and to add to and subtract from their lists based on what they borrow. I ask each team to submit its list
of design criteria to me using the submission template (contained in Exhibit TN3), which is also available as
a separate PDF form (UVA-S-0240H2) that you can send to students to fill out. I then offer the teams feedback
using the diagnostic contained in Exhibit TN5.

Session 8: Brainstorming

Reading(s): Designing for Growth, Chapter 7

Field Book, Step 8
Assignment(s): 1. View video: “Step Eight: Brainstorming.”
2. We will complete Step 8 in class.

This is another lively session—and one that requires yet more sticky notes! There are many approaches to
brainstorming. For each case study, I prepare a set of trigger questions (a sample is contained in each of the
three Appendices) and use an approach called the blue card technique. To do this, each student needs some
sticky notes (about one-third of a medium-size pad). I begin by asking students to clear a common area in the
center of each table, and I explain the blue card brainstorming process:
 Three minutes to silently write ideas, one per sticky note, in response to the trigger question
 Five minutes to share ideas with team, going in turns around the table, one idea per person per round

We’ll have X rounds of idea generation (I usually do three or four).

In each round:
 I will share a trigger question.
 Each person at your table will take three minutes to SILENTLY generate three ideas in response to the
trigger question and write each idea on a separate sticky note.
 One person at your table will share one idea and place it in the center of the table; proceed around the table
with each person sharing one idea at a time (three trips around the table), so that all ideas are shared in five
minutes.

I repeat the process until I have used all my prepared trigger questions. Then I ask students to carefully
collect all of the individual sticky notes containing their ideas and save these for the next class, where we will
use them to create concepts as part of Step 9.

Session 9: Concept Development

Reading(s): Designing for Growth, Chapter 8

Field Book, Step 9
Assignment(s): 1. View video: “Step Nine: Develop Concepts.”
2. We will complete Step 9 in class.
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In Step 9, we take the outputs of the brainstorming process and start to build concepts from the ideas. The
goal is to create a portfolio of concepts to work with. As with brainstorming, there are many methods to
generate a quantity and breadth of ideas. In all, the first step is to organize the ideas. Organizing ideas into
clusters will make it easy to combine them in different ways.

I suggest that students think about how they organize their closet—or the way they organized their LEGO
blocks as children: there are many ways to organize LEGO blocks, and each of those ways might inspire
different constructions. Likewise, there are many different ways to organize ideas. We can organize them by
type of idea (e.g., product or marketing or entertainment); we can organize them by step in a journey (e.g.,
anticipation, store entry, browsing, or checkout); and we can organize them by intended audience (e.g., things
for kids, teens, or adults); and so on.

My instructions to students in this step are the following:

Step 1: Review all the ideas on the sticky notes you generated during our last class and eliminate redundancies.
Step 2: Assess what is missing and add ideas.
Step 3: Find ways to organize ideas into meaningful clusters.
Step 4: Explore other ways to mix and match the ideas: What makes the most sense? What mix leaves the least
number of leftovers? I suggest that you photograph your original, sort, and compare to subsequent sorts...your first sort is
rarely the best!

When students have finished sorting, I again ask them to carefully store their sorts (usually on a sheet of
flip-chart paper) for our next class.

Session 10: Napkin Pitch

Reading(s): Field Book, Step 10

Preassignment(s): 1. View video: “Step Ten: Create Some Napkin Pitches.”
2. Create one napkin pitch (Step 10) and turn it in before class using the submission
template.

In Step 10, we create napkin pitches. The name derives from the notion that a good idea can be
communicated simply, often on the back of a napkin. For each concept, the napkin pitch describes the big idea,
its target customers and their unmet need, and why the concept creates novel value for them; the elements you
will make, buy, and partner for; the channels you will use; and the potential rivals to watch. I point out to
students that—for the first time in our process—the business rationale comes into consideration as an
important factor.

In preparation for class, I ask each student to work alone on creating one napkin pitch and give it to me
before class. In class, I ask students to describe their pitch to the other members of their team. I then ask each
team to draw a four-by-four box on a sheet of flip-chart paper, and to create a team pitch. This pitch can
incorporate elements from each of the different original pitches, or it can be an entirely new team creation. At
the end of class, I ask each team to present its napkin pitch to the class.

As we conclude class, I explain to each student that, in a real project, they should create no fewer than 5
napkin pitches, and probably no more than 12—but for our purposes, we will practice the remaining steps of
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the process with just a single napkin pitch. I ask each team to submit its favorite napkin pitch, and I offer
feedback on this, using the feedback diagnostics contained in Exhibit TN5.

Session 11: Assumption Testing

Reading(s): Designing for Growth, Chapter 9

Field Book, Step 11
Case: “Jennifer Parks at PillarPoint Home Loans: Developing a New -Growth
Initiative” (UVA-ENT-0102)
Assignment(s): 1. View video: “Step 11: Surface Key Assumptions.”
2. Read the Jennifer Parks case and come to class prepared to discuss the key
assumptions you see Jennifer making about why her business idea is a good one.

In the assumption-testing step, I ask students to examine why they think their new concept is a good one—
in other words, they must examine the key assumptions underlying the attractiveness of their idea and think
about how to gather data to test these assumptions and assess the likelihood that they are true.

In particular, I ask them to pay attention to the four tests that any good business idea must pass—the value
creation test, the execution test, the scalability test, and the defensibility test. First, they must lay out the specific
assumptions they are making about why this concept passes each test. I suggest that this is a good time to go
back to their design brief and criteria. The design brief should remind them of the strategic organizational goals
that they wanted to accomplish when they began the innovation journey, the business case. The design criteria
contain the essential elements that the business concept must meet to create value for their stakeholders, based
on their discovery work—the customer case.

I encourage them to make sure that their assumptions relating to each individual test (value, execution,
defensibility, and scalability) are as explicit as they can make them. Then they must begin to identify what kinds
of information that they would need to gather to test these and where they might find this data.

Because this is an area in which students often struggle, I use the Jennifer Parks case to practice surfacing
assumptions together as a class. I ask students to prepare the case individually as a preassignment, then ask the
teams to compare their notes in class and capture the key assumptions they surfaced on a flip chart. We then
review these together. Case Exhibit 6 contains a list of the most important assumptions that I like to discuss.
We also talk about the best way to test each of these via a thought or market experiment.

Again, I ask the teams to complete and submit the template outlining the assumptions behind their napkin
pitch. I offer feedback based on the diagnostic contained in Exhibit TN5.

Session 12: Prototyping

Reading(s): Designing for Growth, Chapter 10

Field Book, Step 12 and pages 78 through 80
Assignment(s): 1. View video: “Step 12: Make Prototypes.”
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In Step 12, we will look at another powerful solution to testing the tool kit—prototyping. Prototyping helps
us to elicit feedback that is more accurate by creating a more vivid experience of the new future. I tell students
that psychologists have found that helping people to pre-experience something novel can be a very effective
proxy for the real thing and can significantly improve the accuracy of their forecasting. We talk about the new
evidence emerging from neuropsychological research that thinking about a personal future involves different
parts of our brain and that research subjects’ assessments of their reaction to imaginary events activate many
of the same neurological pathways that the actual events will later.

Providing prototypes then is really about creating a pre-experience by providing a concrete and tangible
artifact that allows our potential users to imagine the future more vividly. Whether in the form of storyboards,
journey maps, user scenarios, or business-concept illustrations, low-fidelity and often two-dimensional
prototypes offer specific tools to make new ideas more tangible and allow us to solicit more accurate feedback
as to what wows and what works.

It is easy for students to imagine prototyping a new toothbrush, but what about an experience—or even a
new business model? These require not mock-ups of physical items but storyboards, user scenarios, experience
journeys, and concept illustrations. A prototype can be as simple as a sketch on a piece of paper or telling
someone a story. In design thinking, prototypes are usually only two-dimensional: anything that lets us walk
stakeholders through a new experience in a way that makes that experience more tangible for them. These work
because the point of a prototype is to have a good conversation and get better feedback—not to model or test
a finished product.

These are my instructions to students as they create a prototype of their napkin pitch:

First, start out small and simple. The most successful innovation projects prototype early and often. They permit
their prototypes to feel unfinished. A prototype that leaves a little room for interpretation invites the user to contribute
to it and complete it. Prototypes that look too finished and perfect encourage users to make us feel better by telling us
what they think we want to hear—that they love it!

Then, figure out the story that you want to tell. Visualize the concept in pictures, using as few words as possible.
Add complexity as appropriate as you go.

Always, visualize multiple options. Create some choices to be made. This can be as easy as asking someone to
place a sticky note on the option they like best, or to put a check mark next to it. In one of our favorite stories, a health
care clinic prototyped a new office layout by using big clips to hang bed sheets from the ceiling to act as walls and using
cardboard boxes as sinks and desks. They asked the doctors and nurses to walk around the space doing exactly what
they would normally do, and they moved the sheets to give them a feel for different options. So be willing to move the
sheets!

Finally—and this is essential—play with your prototypes, don’t defend them. You created them; let others
validate them.

Students spend the remainder of class creating a prototype of their team’s napkin pitch.

Session 13: Co-creation

Reading(s): Designing for Growth—Chapter 11

Field Book—Step 13
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Assignment(s): 1. View video: “Step 13: Get Feedback from Stakeholders.”

2. We will complete Step 13 in class.

During class, students should break out into dyads—each student paired with a member of another team—
to have a co-creation session about their respective napkin pitches. One at a time, students play a person from
the target market who is there to offer feedback on the new idea being described by their partner. I give each
student about 10 minutes to have a conversation about his or her team’s prototypes. At the 10-minute mark, I
ask students to switch, and the presenting student now role-plays the target-market representative who is
listening to the other team’s napkin pitch.

During these conversations, I remind students to use their prototypes to provide visual stimulus to the
conversation. Leaving parts of the concept incomplete is a great way to elicit the customer’s creativity and
competence. Even if you know how your team wants to fill in the blank spaces, it can be illuminating to see
what your co-creator comes up with.

When the 20 minutes for sharing ideas is over, I ask students to return to their teams and share what they
have learned. I then invite them to make changes to their concept based on these learnings. Then, as a class,
we debrief the process and discuss the challenges of having good co-creation conversations with stakeholders.

Session 14: Learning Launch

Reading(s): Designing for Growth, Chapter 12

Field Book, Step 14
Assignment(s): 1. View video: “Step 14: Run Your Learning Launches.”
2. As a team, design a learning launch for your idea using the template provided and
submit it in advance of class.

The learning launch, Step 14, is the last tool we work with in class. It asks students to design and conduct
an experiment in the marketplace quickly and inexpensively. It forms a bridge between customer co-creation
and commercial rollout. In contrast to a full new-product rollout, a learning launch’s success is not about how
much you sell, but how much you learn. The goal of the launch is to test the remaining critical assumptions. I
ask the student teams to design a learning launch for their napkin pitches and share it with the class. I ask other
students to offer feedback to the presenting teams about the quality of their designs.

After class, I give each team an opportunity to resubmit its learning launch, and I offer the team’s feedback
based on the diagnostic in Exhibit TN5.

Session 15: So What?

Reading(s): Designing for Growth, Chapter 13

Assignment(s): 1. View videos: “Step 15: Design the On-Ramp,” “Measuring Impact” and “What
Now? What Next?”
2. Think of an area of opportunity in your own life to use design thinking to improve
the situation. What would that be? How would you go about that project?
Page 14 UVA-S-0240TN

In our final case-based session, we discuss issues of impact and measurement. I first ask student teams to
compile a short list of the key takeaways they have gleaned from our 14 steps. We then discuss what effect
these have had and how that effect might be measured.

Conclusion

When students have progressed through all the stages of the design process using the case materials, they
begin their group projects for real clients, repeating the steps they have learned in a real-life opportunity.
Page 15 UVA-S-0240TN

Exhibit TN1
Design Thinking Course
Sample Poster for Arena Industries Case (UVA-S-0240)1

1 See Session 6 instructions for how posters are used in class and how to reproduce them inexpensively.
Page 16 UVA-S-0240TN

Exhibit TN1 (continued)

Sample Poster for Trenton State College Case (UVA-S-0241)

Page 17 UVA-S-0240TN

Exhibit TN1 (continued)

Sample Poster for Great Lakes Case (UVA-S-0248)

Source: All exhibits, unless otherwise specified, created by case writer.

Page 18 UVA-S-0240TN

Exhibit TN2
Design Thinking Course
Course Videos*

Video Title Length (min.)

“What Is Design Thinking?” 11:27
“Meet George and Geoff” 23:29
“Step One: Identify an Opportunity” 15:16
“Step Two: Scope Your Project” 6:46
“Step Three: Draft Your Design Brief” 7:03
“Design Tool: Visualization” 7:15
“Design Tool: Ethnography” 7:04
“Design Tool: Ethnographic Interviewing” 18:20
"Step Four: Make Your Plans" 11:45
"Step Five: Do Your Research" 6:46
“Step Six: Identify Insights” 12:10
“Step Seven: Develop Design Criteria” 6:03
“Step Eight: Brainstorming” 15:47
“Step Nine: Develop Concepts” 9:42
“Step Ten: Create Some Napkin Pitches” 8:34
“Step 11: Surface Key Assumptions” 17:22
“Step 12: Make Prototypes” 11:37
“Step 13: Get Feedback from Stakeholders” 22:51
“Step 14: Run Your Learning Launches” 15:16
“Step 15: Design the On-Ramp” 4:12
“Measuring Impact” 6:32
"What Now? What Next?” 15:12
*Contact Darden Business Publishing to preview and purchase video content.
Page 19 UVA-S-0240TN

Exhibit TN3
Design Thinking Course
Student Submission Templates1

Step 3: Design Brief

1 Each template is available as a separate PDF file that instructors can provide to students to fill out. The files include fillable form fields so students

can complete and submit them electronically.

Page 20 UVA-S-0240TN

Exhibit TN3 (continued)

Step 7: Design Criteria

Page 21 UVA-S-0240TN

Exhibit TN3 (continued)

Step 10: Napkin Pitch

Page 22 UVA-S-0240TN

Exhibit TN3 (continued)

Step 11: Key Assumptions

Page 23 UVA-S-0240TN

Exhibit TN3 (continued)

Step 14: Learning Launch Design

Page 24 UVA-S-0240TN

Exhibit TN4
Design Thinking Course
Mindset Questions for Students

Examine your mindset.

Do you spend a lot of energy worrying about making mistakes?

Do you consider your ideas as fully formed rather than as starting points?

When confronted with disconfirming data, do you find yourself debating the data’s validity or trying to
understand them?

Do you measure your progress relative to others or to your own improvement?

How do you handle setbacks? Do you view them as signals to abandon ship or as opportunities to learn
and to try something different?
Page 25 UVA-S-0240TN

Exhibit TN5
Design Thinking Course
Feedback Diagnostics

Step 3: Design Brief

Offering Feedback on Your Classmates’ Design Briefs

We will begin our feedback process by looking at each other’s design briefs. We begin here because we want to start our project process by getting as
clear about our ambitions and constraints as we can. This is the role of the design brief. It asks you to be explicit in framing your design challenge, defining
its scope, and posing the key questions you will explore at the outset. The paradox of design is that we do not know at the start of a project precisely what
our solution will be. Although we may not know exactly what the solution will look like, we can nonetheless frame our expectations for the outcomes of
our project. Though we know that the frames, scope, and questions will likely morph as the project evolves, we want to be as explicit as possible in laying
them out as we enter the “what is?” stage.

As you prepare to offer your classmates feedback on their design briefs, keep in mind that the purpose of a design brief is to organize your thinking around the scope and intent
of the project. Ideally, team members should use this document to help communicate among themselves and with stakeholders about the project. Keeping the design brief short is
important to maintain its usefulness to these constituencies, as is being clear and concise. Here are some things to look for as you offer feedback:

Project Description This should be the high-level “elevator speech” version—it should describe the project in a few sentences.
What is the business problem or opportunity? What are they doing and why? Be sure that you understand what they are proposing and that the language they
use is clear.

Does the framing make sense to you? Have they set their project up as a “problem” to be solved, or an
“opportunity” or “challenge” to be explored? Sometimes these are different sides of the same coin, and
experimenting with different approaches can lead to better definitions.

This section should make clear what question their project solution will be the answer to, and give you a sense
of the purpose behind a project and the reason why this project is critical now.
Page 26 UVA-S-0240TN

Exhibit TN5 (continued)

Project Scope Has your colleague defined a clear and seemingly appropriate scope for their design work? A good scope is
What are the parameters of the problem to be ambitious but not unrealistic for the time, effort, and skills available. This part of the design brief should make
solved or the opportunity to be explored? clear what is within bounds and what is not.

Hopefully, they have taken some time to consider some broader as well as some narrower questions. Are there
obvious higher- or lower-order questions that you believe they should consider? Does the scope take into
consideration the context of the problem or opportunity?
Constraints The goal here is to try to minimize the numbers of constraints at the outset, while not ignoring those that are
What key aspects of the environment must we nonnegotiable. If you see your colleague layering on constraints that you think may be constructively addressed
work within? or perhaps even eliminated creatively, push them to explain why those particular constraints must be worked
within rather than challenged. Constraints can be useful for triggering greater creativity—but they can also drive
out innovative solutions.

We do not yet know what constraints or requirements the solution must meet in order to create value for
stakeholders, so the emphasis here is usually on the organizational constraints such as bud get, time, and
boundaries of corporate capabilities.
Target Users Design projects should be undertaken with a specific group of target users in mind, either internal or external.
Who is your customer or end user? For whom are The design brief should be clear about who your colleague is designing for—it should name their audience as
you designing? specifically as possible in describing this group or groups.

Sometimes we obtain design briefs in which the author seems to have only a vague notion of who the customer
is and find such large target groups as the “mass-market” or “Gen Y” listed. Push your colleague to be more
specific! If they have too generalized a view of the audience, they may overlook critical elements of the problem
or opportunity space. Remember that any group is made up of actual people.

At the same time, another common pitfall is focusing on only the primary set of users and ignoring peripheral
or indirect users. For example, while your colleague may be designing a system to streamline workflow for
front-line staff, they still need to understand how that system will affect customers. Demonstrating that they
understand and have taken into consideration the larger system of players is important here.
Page 27
Exploration Questions
What key questions will you need to answer
through your research?
Expected Outcomes
What outcomes would we like to see?
What will the results of the project help us to do?
What value do we believe we can provide?
Success Metrics
How will we know if we have succeeded?
UVA-S-0240TN
Exhibit TN5 (continued)
In this section, your colleague’s focus should be on what they want to learn more about (e.g., details on who
they will interview and why they will be part of a more detailed plan that will be in Step 4). Here, we want to
see broader areas of inquiry laid out.
Encourage them not to bring too many assumptions into their exploration. As an outsider, you may see relevan t
areas of inquiry that they are not addressing. Exploration should be a divergent activity. They should not be
looking for or talking about solutions yet. Instead, they should be identifying different lines of inquiry that will
broaden their understanding and stimulate their thinking. As they set out to create new knowledge through
observation of and interaction with target customers, what are they curious about?
Although we do not know exactly what the solution will look like, we can nonetheless frame our expectation s
for the outcomes of our project. Outcomes are not the same thing as stating the solution. Instead, anticipated
outcomes should give us some guidelines to work by.
Is your colleague clear about what they expect to get out of this work? How will the project results be utilized?
What physical components will they deliver? What kind of value will the project generate?
Design is challenging (and exciting) because we do not know at the start of a project precisely what our
alternative solution will look like. Still, the more clearly and specifically your colleague defines the “if anything
were possible” types of outcomes, the better. How do they hope to change the lives of their target users for
the better?
Is your colleague clear about how they will know if their project added value? How do they define success?
Remember that metrics do not necessarily have to come in the form of numerical data. What other kinds of
measures are they looking at?
Don’t forget that the success of a design project is ultimately in how well it serves or creates value for the end
customer or user. Pleasing their organization is not necessarily the same thing as designing a successful solution
for their users. Make sure that they are including measures for both organizational and user success.
Page 28 UVA-S-0240TN

Exhibit TN5 (continued)

Step 7: Design Criteria

Offering Feedback on Your Classmates’ Design Criteria

You’ve completed and uploaded your design criteria, and now it’s time for you to provide feedback to
some of your online colleagues. Here are some things to think about as you read through what your colleagues
have submitted.

A few quick reminders:

 Design criteria do not tell you what to make or how to make it, they describe the attributes an ideal
solution must have. They are a concise list of relevant constraints and aspirations for the solution.
 Though they may consist of nothing more than a list of bullet points on a single sheet of flip-chart
paper, design criteria are one of the most important milestones in the design project. Poorly done, they
risk making all that research effort you have undertaken during “what is?” meaningless—and you don’t
want to let that happen to your classmate! That is why feedback is so important at this particular
moment in our process.
 Iteration really makes a difference in quality. Chances are good that the first set of design criteria you
come up with will not be very good. The first pass tends to be vague and conventional. It is essential
that the design criteria be specific, actionable, and interesting! How can we hope to produce innovative
ideas using design criteria that are boring and obvious?

So, as you review others’ design criteria:

1. Make sure that the language in the criteria list you review is specific. Push your classmate to go beyond
language such as “the ideal solution would make customers feel good about visiting their doctor.” The
trouble is that we have no idea what (in this case) makes someone feel good—everyone who reads that
statement imposes his or her own meaning on the term “feel good.” Ask your classmate to go deeper:
What is behind feeling good? What does his or her research suggest about what conditions lead to
feeling good?
2. Make sure that the criteria listed are as actionable as possible. Again, the best design criteria point one
in the direction of things that can be controlled, created, and managed.
3. Encourage your classmate to push the design criteria tow ard the interesting and nonobvious. As we
said earlier, creative ideas aren’t inspired by obvious, humdrum insights and criteria. To create
something new, we must have observed something new. If you are reading criteria that seem self-
evident to you, encourage your classmate to go back to their data and look again. The willingness to
go back again and push deeper and deeper is what typifies creative types. They earn their flashes of
brilliance through hard work and discipline!

The format in which your classmates capture their design criteria is less important than their content. They
may present you with a simple list of attributes that an ideal solution would have. Instead, they may elaborate
in detail using a format such as the one below that we supplied in the Field Book. What is important is not the
form, but the thought behind it!
Page 29 UVA-S-0240TN

Exhibit TN5 (continued)

Design Criteria
Do they specify what needs (functional, emotional, psychological, social) that an ideal design
Design Goal would fulfill for the stakeholder? Why is it strategically important for their organization to
address those needs?
User What about the aesthetic attributes necessary to succeed with the target stakeholder—are
Perceptions they clear and compelling?
Physical Have they attended to any specific physical attributes if they are designing a product? Have
Attributes they attended to specific environments or situations if they are designing a service?
Functional Do they recognize specific needs to accommodate unique situations, occasions, or standards
Attributes issues?
Constraints Have they attended to specific requirements around timing, budget, resources, or
capabilities? For either the stakeholder or the organization?
Page 30 UVA-S-0240TN

Exhibit TN5 (continued)

Step 10: Napkin Pitch

Offering Feedback on Your Classmates’ Napkin Pitches

Napkin Pitch
CONCEPT NAME:
The Big Idea
This is where your colleague should have described
the concept at two levels of detail:
 an inspirational high-level statement of
aspiration that would capture “what if we
could…” in a way that clear and compelling to
a reader.
 a second, more specific level of detail that lays
out the mechanics of how the concept would
actually work in process. Specifically, what
would happen? What would the new product
look like and do? What specifically would the
new process or experience consist of, in terms
of steps and activities?
Execution
This section should identify the components of the
value proposition that the firm will need to create
and deliver and how it will deliver it. It should
describe what internal capabilities it will leverage, as
well as what capabilities the firm must obtain, and
how and where it will obtain them.
An important aspect here is the recognition of the
role of value chain partners such as suppliers and
distributors. Is there a description of why these
partners will want to participate?
Needs/Benefits
This is where the customer value proposition is
laid out. This is where you classmate should talk
in detail about the specific stakeholder that wants
this and why. It should specify the unmet needs it
serves and how it serves them. How does this
new offering meet the needs of the stakeholder in
ways that are better, faster, or cheaper than
existing alternatives?
Business Rationale
In this section, we turn to a consideration of
competitors and the sustainability of advantage for
an offering directed at external stakeholders.
Competitors should be clearly identified and their
likely reaction explained. Here, we would hope to
see a strong argument laid out for why the firm in
question is uniquely capable of delivering this new
offering.
For internal stakeholders, the question remains
relevant but is more about opportunity cost and
what will encourage or prevent them from
changing their behavior.

The napkin pitch provides a simple, consistent format to summarize and communicate a set of alternative
new concepts. If you recall, the name derives from the notion that a good idea can be communicated simply,
often on the back of a napkin. The napkin pitch describes each concept by identifying the big idea; the target
customer and their unmet need; how the organization will execute the idea and make, buy, or partner for the key
elements; and how the pitch’s creator will defend the idea against competitors (if external) or inertia (internal
stakeholders).

You will recall that your classmate has been asked to generate numerous napkin pitches. We have only
asked them to upload one for your review, however. This is because our goal in giving feedback is not to critique
the idea itself, but rather to help ensure that your classmate understands each of the four categories and provide
clear and compelling detail in each. This is a good time to go back and review your classmate’s design brief and
check for the extent to which the proposed idea fits with the intention, scope, and target market specified there.
You can do them a great service by pointing out areas where they may have strayed from the original brief.
Such changes are not necessarily bad—but they should be done deliberately, not inadvertently!
Page 31 UVA-S-0240TN

Exhibit TN5 (continued)

Step 11: Assumption Testing

Offering Feedback on Your Classmates’ Assumption Surfacing

Surfacing assumptions is often a very challenging task for innovators. Optimistic by nature, they often find
it difficult to look at what can go wrong with their ideas. This step in particular profits from a team of people
who have diverse perspectives examining a concept for the underlying assumptions that must be true for it to
succeed.

Again, as with the napkin pitch, your role is not to debate whether the assumptions your classmates surfaced
are true or false. Instead, it is to ensure that the set of assumptions surfaced seems accurate and complete—in
other words, what are they missing or misstating relative to your reading of their napkin pitch?

Below is a set of questions you may find useful as you help them to look for omissions:

In considering the value test, do they make their assumptions clear about:
 What needs the customer has that the offering meets?
 Why it is valuable for the customer to solve these needs?
 Why it is urgent from the customer’s perspective?
 Have they considered the time sensitivity of these needs?
 What have they assumed about the customer having monies budgeted to meet these needs?
In considering the execution test, do they make their assumptions clear about:
 Why their firm is uniquely capable of producing the new offering?
 What current capabilities the new offering leverages?
 What capabilities are missing? And where will these new capabilities come from?
 Whose cooperation is needed from among value chain partners? And why would they be interested?
In considering the scale test, do they make their assumptions clear about:
 Whether this need is specific to a particular customer or if it exists across a customer segment?
 Whether the need is recurring or is a one-time need?
In considering the defensibility test, do they make their assumptions clear about:
 Who are the competitors affected by the new offering and how are they likely to react?
 What will prevent them from copying the concept quickly?
 How and why can the firm successfully defend its position?

Thought Experiment 2D and 3D Simulation Live (4D) In-Market Experiment

 Learn through analysis of existing
data
 Typical time frame: 1 or 2 days
 No exposure to third parties
required
Experiment
 Learn through dialogue with
market participants using
storyboards or prototypes
 Typical time frame: 1 or 2 weeks
 May require us to expose our
intentions to selected market
participants
 Test via a live experience of the
offering (e.g., a 30-day live trial)
 Typical time frame: 30 to 90 days
 Requires us to expose our offering
to many market participants
Page 32 UVA-S-0240TN

Exhibit TN5 (continued)

Step 14: Learning Launch

Offering Feedback on Your Classmates’ Learning Launch Design

Remember that a learning launch is an experiment—one conducted in the marketplace as quickly and
inexpensively as possible. It forms a bridge between customer co-creation and commercial rollout. In contrast
to a full new-product rollout, a learning launch’s success is about not how much you sell but how much you
learn. And the amount you learn depends upon the quality of the experiment that you design.

You will recall that our design thinking process requires that we design and execute not just one, but a
series of learning launches. You have only been asked to share one of these for your classmates’ review. This is
because our goal is to help ensure that your classmate understands the mechanics of the learning launch and
what each section of the template means and provides clear and compelling detail in each.

The key assumptions that this particular learning launch is meant to test (usually around value and execution
early on) should be made clear and specific, and should be stated in testable terms.
 The target audience should be explicitly identified, as should the location of the test and how it will be
conducted.
 The specific metrics used to assess whether the hypothesis is supported or refuted—and, in particular,
what kind of response on the part of the target audience would constitute disconfirming data—should
be explicitly identified.
 The cost and time involved in conducting the test should be explained.

We observe a few systematic flaws in many of the learning launches we review:

 The experiment is not designed so that underlying assumptions can actually be tested. The emphasis is
on whether, for instance, something sells or doesn’t sell—not why. This is a fundamental flaw.
 People are often overly ambitious—push your classmate to be as small and quick as possible in the early
learning launches.

Learning Launch Design

Key Assumptions to Test Learning Launch #
Is your classmate clear on the specific assumptions that Who should identify actual people,
Who:
this learning launch is meant to test? Beware if they are not a general target market!
trying to test too many assumptions at once—it can be
hard to separate the effects. Keep in mind we are never Where: Where should be a specific location.
testing high-level assumptions such as “will they buy
this?” A yes or no here will not give us the info to How should the mechanics of the
How:
improve on our next iteration. experiment be laid out?

Cost:
What to Watch For Did they really design something
Untested Assumptions Success Metric Time: cheap and fast?
Disconfirming Data
What would we measure to know if the This one is critical—make sure that
assumption was true? Qualitative they define as explicitly as possible the
measures count as well—so long as we outcomes that demonstrate their
can assess them. assumption is untrue.
Page 33 UVA-S-0240TN

Exhibit TN6
Design Thinking Course
Assumptions in the Jennifer Parks Case (UVA-ENT-0102)

This case is optional for use with Step 11.

Value
 One-stop-shopping is valuable to high-net-worth (HNW) clients (versus multiple vendors for multiple
products).
 HNW clients want/value face time.
 HNW customers will be attracted by lower rates.
 They will want to go into the branch.
 Quick turnaround matters to them.

Execution
 Combined info on customers will reveal lower-risk targets.
 We have the right people in branch to execute a HNW mortgage product.
 We can produce a quick turnaround.

Defensibility
 Competition won’t notice for a while.

Scalability
 We can scale a business based on private bankers.
Page 34 UVA-S-0240TN

Appendix 1
Design Thinking Course
Teaching Plan for “Design Thinking at Arena Industries:
Designing an Employee Wellness Approach” (UVA-S-0240)

In this case-based simulation, Arena Industries (Arena) (a real but disguised company) is a global company
seeking to improve the wellness of its employees. As part of the simulation, students are asked to read a short
introduction to Arena’s business and operating philosophies, as well as details concerning the challenges present
in the larger health care environment in the United States. Students are asked to play the role of consultant
charged with recommending to Arena’s leaders how best to address the opportunity to improve employee
wellness.

Faculty members receive a set of posters containing details obtained from ethnographic interviews
conducted with Arena employees, as well as an interview guide for students to use as they practice their
ethnography.

Uses of the Arena Case

The Arena case lends itself well to walking students through a good overview of each of the 14 steps in the
course. It asks students to design an experience rather than a product, bringing home the point that design
thinking is useful for more than product-development purposes. It works especially well in executive classes
where students are often in staff roles and responsible for innovating processes rather than products. Wellness
is also an easy topic on which students can practice ethnographic interviewing. It also lends itself to generating
a wide array of different kinds of solutions. Though this case does not support teaching the journey mapping
tool (one of my favorites), it is especially effective for teaching the persona tool, another important core tool.

This note contains examples of design criteria created by students in Step 7 and of trigger questions used
during brainstorming in Step 8. It also includes the “Ethnographic Interview Guide” designed for use with this
case.

Examples of Student-Generated Design Criteria

If anything were possible, our design would:

 Provide an adaptable and sustainable routine.
 Make wellness fun so that it’s easier to stick to a routine.
 Take the guilt out of taking time for your own health.
 Help people stay on track while also being able to indulge.
 Offer individually tailored programs based on differing wellness goals.
 Spark urgency for a healthier lifestyle.
 Celebrate victories beyond the scale.
 Include my friends and co-workers in a social/competitive way.
 Be easily accessible from work or home.
Page 35 UVA-S-0240TN

Appendix 1 (continued)

Examples of Trigger Questions

 What could Arena do to improve the health and wellness of its employees?
 Pick a particular type of person who is having difficulty achieving wellness. Describe that person in
some detail (done as a group). What particular approaches might you use to help that individual?
 Select one of the design criteria you feel most strongly about. What could Arena do to make that
possible?
 Pick an institution that relies on a healthy work force (e.g. military, sports teams). How could Arena
draw inspiration from the institution you choose?
Page 36 UVA-S-0240TN

Appendix 1 (continued)

Ethnographic Interview Guide for Arena Case

Page 37 UVA-S-0240TN

Appendix 1 (continued)
Page 38 UVA-S-0240TN

Appendix 2
Design Thinking Course
Teaching Plan for “Design Thinking at Trenton State College:
Designing a Faculty Retirement Experience” (UVA-S-0241)

In this case-based simulation, the vice provost for academic affairs at Trenton State College (TSC) (a real
but disguised college) is tasked with designing a new retirement experience for faculty at the college. TSC, a
public institution serving the state of Missouri and employing more than 1,500 full-time faculty, faces a wave
of upcoming retirements and an existing process that few feel is working well. Students play the role of a
member of the provost’s office who has been charged with reviewing the experience of retirees and
recommending to TSC’s leaders ideas to improve the retirement experience for faculty.

Faculty members receive a set of posters containing details obtained from ethnographic interviews
conducted with retired TSC faculty, as well as an interview guide for students to use as they practice their
ethnography.

This appendix contains examples of design criteria generated by students during Step 7 and of trigger
questions used during brainstorming in Step 8. It also includes the “Ethnographic Interview Guide” designed
for use with this case.

Uses of the TSC Case

I like this case because it focuses students on a topic that they have thought very little about—retirement—
and therefore it stretches their empathy skills in ways that the other cases in this series do not. The ethnographic
information provided to instructors also contains completed journey maps, making this a good case to use to
teach that tool. The challenging aspect of this case can be finding retired people to interview.

Examples of Student-Generated Design Criteria:

If anything were possible, our design would:

 Help retirees transition well into their new life.
 Simplify and standardize the process.
 Clearly and succinctly convey the retirement process.
 Allow flexibility and customization of options.
 Create bridging alternatives between full-time employment and full retirement.
 Help people to remain connected to their work.
 Treat retirees like the school treats alumni.
 Start educating faculty about retirement much earlier in their careers.
 Recognize faculty’s achievements and make them feel appreciated for what they contributed.
Page 39 UVA-S-0240TN

Appendix 2 (continued)

Examples of Trigger Questions

 What could TSC do to improve the retirement process for its retiring faculty members?
 What are different ways that TSC could share information with retiring faculty?
 Think of ways you could commemorate the legacy of a teacher who mattered to you. What ideas does
that inspire for TSC?
 How could TSC treat its faculty more like its alumni?
 Have each person on your team individually select one of your team’s design criteria. What are different
ideas that would address the criteria you have selected?
Page 40 UVA-S-0240TN

Appendix 2 (continued)

Ethnographic Interview Guide for TSC Case

Research Focus
Attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors regarding retirement.

Information We’re Seeking

Things we’d like to discuss with all participants include:
 What the idea of retirement means to them.
 What feelings, activities, and behaviors they associate with both the process and the state of retirement.

Arranging the Interview

 Identify someone to interview; your interview subject can be anyone who is:
o Retired (or planning to retire within the next two years).
o Not a classmate taking “Creativity and Design Thinking.”
 Ask your interview subject to participate.
 Schedule a time and place for your interview; allow at least 45 minutes.

Preparing for the Interview

 Read this interview guide in advance and familiarize yourself with the questions and topics for
discussion.
 Be reasonably well rested; listening is hard work!
 Remember that your role is to ask questions that elicit the participant’s experience, thoughts, feelings,
and needs regarding health care and wellness.
 Make sure you have all the materials you’ll need for a successful interview:
o A printed copy of this interview guide.
o A notebook and pen (try not to type on a laptop).
o A recording device (if desired and with the permission of your interview subject).

Getting the Interview Started

 Make sure the participant is comfortable and that you are in a position to make good eye contact and
observe the participant.
 Take detailed notes about the surroundings, position of the participant, and participant’s attitude(s)
toward the question(s).
 Thank the participant for talking with you.
 Explain the project:
o “I’m in a class learning about creativity and design thinking. One of my assignments is to practice
ethnographic interviewing, which is a research technique that explores topics more broadly than
traditional market research. I’d like to use our conversation today as part of my class project. The
interview will be anonymous when I share any takeaways from our conversation with my
classmates.”
 (If desired) Ask the participant for permission to take a photo and/or make an audio recording of the
conversation for your reference. It can be VERY difficult to take good notes and focus on a good
ethnographic conversation at the same time.
 Request basic demographic information from the participant, including age, family situation
(married/single/divorced; presence of children at home), and occupation.
Page 41 UVA-S-0240TN

Appendix 3
Design Thinking Course
Teaching Plan for “Design Thinking at Great Lakes:
The Search for Growth” (UVA-S-0248)

In this case-based simulation, Great Lakes (a real but disguised organization) is a Fortune 200 company and
one of the world’s largest dairy cooperatives. Its CEO reflects on the challenges and the opportunities the
company faces as it considers how to tap into a bigger slice of the lucrative market for snack foods for
Millennials, an area their research had identified as a promising first target. Students play the role of members
of a handpicked innovation team chartered to explore and offer ideas as to how to improve the faculty’s
retirement experience.

Faculty members receive a set of posters containing details obtained from ethnographic interviews
conducted with a cross-section of Millennials, as well as an interview guide for students to use as they practice
their ethnography.

This note contains examples of design criteria generated by students during Step 7 and of trigger questions
used during brainstorming in Step 8. It also includes the “Ethnographic Interview Guide” designed for use with
this case.

Uses of the Great Lakes Case

This case asks students to design a snacking product for millennials. Thus, it is both a familiar product, as
well as a familiar target market. This has advantages and disadvantages. This is the most traditional case in the
series, as students are designing a well-recognized consumer product, rather than an experience. It feels to them
like a marketing case and would be good for introducing design thinking into a marketing module. In my
experience, students also have the most fun with this case and can create some terrific ideas that prototype well.
On the other hand, it does not stretch students to develop empathy and design for target markets that differ
from them, nor does it showcase the power of design thinking to design things other than products and
consumer experiences.

Examples of Student-Generated Design Criteria:

If anything were possible, our design would:

 Be customizable.
 Be correctly sized for the need of the moment/fit the mood.
 Make people feel good about their choices.
 Be healthy and have the benefits made clear.
 Be stimulating to customers’ senses.
 Be right for the snacking opportunity—breakfast/late night/impulse/meal replacement.
 Have a convenient package for storage.
 Fit with the needed tools on hand (e.g., microwave/toaster).
 Be convenient when snacking is unplanned.
 Be budget friendly.
 Be easily integrated into people’s routines.
 Be transportable—works on the go.
Page 42 UVA-S-0240TN

Appendix 3 (continued)

Examples of Trigger Questions

 What could Great Lakes offer to satisfy the snacking needs of Millennials?
 Pick one of your personas—how could Great Lakes tailor an offering customized specifically to that
persona?
 Silently (individually) select the one design criterion you feel most strongly about. Generate ideas to
satisfy that criterion.
 Choose a company that has been particularly successful with Millennials (e.g., Netflix, Patagonia,
Apple, Facebook, Uber). How might Great Lakes draw inspiration from that company?
Page 43 UVA-S-0240TN

Appendix 3 (continued)

Ethnographic Interview Guide for Great Lakes Case

Research Focus
Millennial snacking behavior

Information We’re Seeking

Things we’d like to discuss with all participants include:
 What they think and feel about snacking—when, what, where, how, why, with whom?
 What they associate with the idea of snacking.
 Their latest snacking experience—including highs, lows, pain points.
 How retail experiences shape their feelings and behavior about brands.

Arranging the Interview

 Identify someone to interview; your interview subject can be anyone who is:
o A Millennial.
o Not a classmate taking this course.
 Ask your interview subject to participate.
 Schedule a time and place for your interview; allow at least 45 to 60 minutes.

Preparing for the Interview

 Be well rested and make sure you are ready to be open and to listen.
 Remember that your role is to ask questions that guide the participant to talk about all aspects of their
snacking experiences (or lack thereof).
 Make sure you have all the materials you’ll need for a successful interview:
o A copy of this interview guide.
o A notebook and pen.
o A recording device (if desired).

Getting the Interview Started

 Make sure the participant is comfortable and that you are in a position to make good eye contact and
observe the participant.
 Take detailed notes about the surroundings, position of the participant, and participant’s attitude(s)
toward the questioning.
 Thank the participant.
 Explain the project and the participant information form:
o “I’m in a class learning about creativity and design thinking. One of my assignments is to practice
ethnographic interviewing, which is a research technique that explores topics more broadly than
traditional market research. I’d like to use our conversation today as part of my class project. I’ll
share my notes from our conversation with my classmates. You will not be identified by name.”
 (If desired) Ask the participant for permission to take a photo and/or make an audio recording of the
conversation for your reference.
 Request basic demographic information from the. participant, including age, family situation
(married/single/divorced), living situation (alone, with a roommate, with family, presence of children;
house, dorm, apartment), occupation. and anything else you find interesting. Note: some of this may
come out naturally during the course of the interview. You don’t want to make this series of questions
too long or too invasive right at the start of the session. You can always circle back to this topic.
Page 44 UVA-S-0240TN

Appendix 3 (continued)

Suggested Interview Questions

Explore the topics above using some or all of the following questions. In addition to these questions, use
prompts such as, “Tell me more,” “What happened then?,” and “What else?” to invite the participants to share
more about their responses.
 “Take a minute or two to tell me about yourself.”
 “What comes to mind when I say the word ‘snack’?”
 “Tell me about the last time you had a snack.
o Where were you?
o Were you with anyone else? If so, describe the situation.
o What prompted you to have a snack?
o What kind of snack did you have?
o How did you feel before and after eating your snack?
o Would you call the situation you just described a ‘typical’ snacking occasion? Why or why
not?”
 “What product and brands come to mind when you’re thinking about having a snack?”
 “If you could design the perfect snack, what would it be like? Describe it for me.”
 “What would make you snack more often?”
 “Is there anything else you want to tell me about anything we’ve talked about today?”