INNOVATION

Why Design Thinking Works

by Jeanne Liedtka
FROM THE SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2018 ISSUE

O
The Challenges of Innovation

Superior solutions.
Lower risks and costs.

Employee buy-in.
The Beauty of Structure
Customer Discovery

Immersion.

Shaping the Innovator's

Journey

What makes design thinking a

social technology is its ability to
counteract the biases of
innovators and change the way
they engage in the innovation
process.
PROBLEM DESIGN IMPROVED
Innovators THINKING OUTCOME
are:

Trapped in Provides A better

their own immersion understanding
expertise and in the user’s of those being
experience experience, designed for
shifting an
innovator’s
mindset
toward…

Overwhelmed Makes New insights

by the volume sense of and
and data by possibilities
messiness of organizing it
qualitative into themes
data and
patterns,
pointing the
innovator
toward…

Divided by Builds Convergence

differences in alignment around what
team as insights really matters
members’ are to users
perspectives translated
into design
criteria,
moving an
innovation
team
toward…

Confronted by Encourages A limited but

too many the diverse set of
disparate but emergence potential new
familiar ideas of fresh solutions
ideas
through a
focused
inquiry,
shifting
team
members
toward…
Constrained Fosters Clarity on
by existing articulation make-or-
biases about of the break
what does or conditions assumptions
doesn’t work necessary that enables
to each the design of
idea’s meaningful
success and experiments
transitions
a team
toward…

Lacking a Offers pre- Accurate

shared experiences feedback at
understanding to users low cost and
of new ideas through an Sense making.
and often very rough understanding
unable to get prototypes of potential
good that help solutions’ true
feedback from innovators value
users get…

Afraid of Delivers A shared

change and learning in commitment
ambiguity action as and
surrounding experiments confidence in
the new engage staff the new
future and users, product or
helping strategy
them
build…
Alignment.
Idea Generation

Emergence.
Articulation.
The Testing Experience

Pre-experience.
Learning in action.

CONCLUSION
A version of this article appeared in the September–October 2018 issue (pp.72–79) of Harvard
Business Review.

Jeanne Liedtka (liedtkaj@darden.virginia.edu) is professor of business administration at the

University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.

This article is about INNOVATION

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10 COMMENTS

Johannes Bontlogile 7 months ago

This is a beautiful piece! I have recently enrolled on Design Thinking & Innovation course and the
perspective blew my mind! In a lame man's language, Design thinking values the participation of
the user in finding problems. coming up with solutions, prototyping and choosing the best
practice to deliver value! Wow, awesome!

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