Business School Cheat Sheet: How One Simple Concept Will Make You A Better Entrepreneur
Telstra’s Imaginarium ran its first phase and were nice enough to let us sit in with them. Here’s some of what we learned.
Brought to you by Telstra
Brought to you by Telstra’s Imaginarium.
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A kid in an MRI room, waiting to be scanned. Everything hospital beige; the only slashes of colour are the instructive info-graphics telling the patients what to do, and the bright yellow exclamation mark warning sign on the door. The little girl is crying when she lies under the fluorescent lights.
Later, the man who designed the machine she was being slowly conveyer-belted into says, “The parents are looking at each other and they don’t say a word, because they don’t know how they’re going to get their child through this.”
Doug Dietz had been designing MRI and CT technology for General Electric for over 20 years before the company shipped him off to a course that changed everything about the way he viewed his work. The course was in Design Thinking, a human-centered method of problem solving, and it immediately made him assess the way actual patients experienced his designs — especially children. Quite rightfully terrified by the idea of having to lay still and alone inside a huge, noisy machine, 80% of children needed to be sedated to get through the scans. After giving the machines some child-friendly makeovers, brightly painting one scanner as a submarine and another as a tent in a camping scene, and changing the sounds and scents of the machines, the number of kids who needed sedation during the process dropped to just 5%.
Learning the tangible power of design thinking was part of the Imaginarium project last week. Lead by Tom Harvey, a business designer at Telstra, the workshop spoke to the idea that innovation is a discipline that can be managed. “Thinking like a designer can transform the way you develop products, services, processes – even strategy,” says Tom.
The phrase “Design Thinking” was coined in 1969 to describe the methods used by architects and urban planners, of asking citizens empathetic questions in order to arrive at a better solution. It’s now become a hugely popular process used by companies like Apple and GE, and government initiatives that hope to change social behaviour en masse. It’s the opposite of analytical thinking; the difference between saying, “I made this, hope you buy it!” and, “I’m making this, tell me how to make it so great that everyone will buy it”.
As Tom explains, “It’s a customer-centered methodology, so the products and services you develop are more likely to delight them.”
How Do You Do It?
Whether you’re using the design thinking process for innovation (to create a product, or have people buy your stuff) or for social change (getting people to ride bikes instead of drive; convincing them to stop talking at the movies), you need to build a focus group. Ask this group all the reasons why they wouldn’t buy what you’re selling, or do what you’re asking.
Design thinking is especially good at addressing the ill-defined or tricky reasons people might not be picking up what you’re putting down. For instance: “I love your bespoke artisanal bike covers, Franz, but I live in a different state and I don’t believe in the internet so I could never buy one.” These problems are kind of slippery, and the solutions don’t tend to be available through technical knowledge — but they’re likely to be the biggest reason you aren’t making bank.
You might initially discount the people who give you extreme answers — “I love it more that Beyoncé because…” or, “That is the worst, most terrible thing ever and here’s why…” — but they are actually the best at giving a voice to what those in the middle might feel, but have a tough time putting their finger on.
As Tom says, “You have to really listen to the consumer to solve real problems and create real value. If you’re not solving a problem or serving a need, why would anyone care?”
Figure Out How This Changes Things
Design thinking also stresses the need to rapidly prototype your solution, so you can get more feedback as quickly as possible. Then, as Tom says, you get to “explore as many ideas as possible to learn why things work or not.”
After this second round you refine the prototype, or develop an entirely new one. All along the way you’ve got to be willing to throw your notions out the window and readjust your thinking.
Design thinking isn’t easy; it takes a lot of time. But the human focus, and the creativity required to maintain that focus over the entire course of the work, sets it apart from other methods of problem solving. And it might make you rich beyond your moderate, financially realistic dreams.
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The Telstra Imaginarium enables young Australians to solve problems for their generation by collaborating
with Telstra and industry leading mentors.Follow their journey here #CreateYourFuture