Design Thinking for Tech: Solving Problems and Realizing Value in 24 Hours

Design Thinking for Tech: Solving Problems and Realizing Value in 24 Hours

by George W. Anderson
Released December 2022
Publisher(s): Pearson
ISBN: 9780137933167

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

In just 24 lessons of one hour or less, Design Thinking for Tech helps you inject techniques and exercises into your projects using the same systematic and creative process that designers have used for years.

Anderson walks you through a simple four-phase Design Thinking model, showing how to loop back, keep learning, and continuously refine your work. Youll start by understanding the essential what, how, when, why, and who of Design Thinking. Next, youll use core Design Thinking techniques to understand the big picture, focus on your most critical problems, think more creatively about them, take the next best steps toward problem resolution and value creation, and along the way rapidly iterate for progress.

Every lesson builds on what youve already learned, with exercises crafted to deliver directly relevant experience. Regardless of your role in the world of technology, youll learn how to supercharge success for any tech-related project, business initiative, or digital transformation.

Learn how to...

  • Apply a simple four-phased Design Thinking model in team and individual settings

  • Inject game-changing methods into the project lifecycle

  • Gain crucial big picture insights into how a situation has evolved over time

  • Build and maintain healthier, more resilient teams

  • Reskill teams to deliver greater business, functional, and technical impact

  • Set and manage realistic expectations through a 360° view of your stakeholders

  • Connect, communicate, and empathize with the right people at the right time

  • Liberate the ideas trapped in your head so you can explore them deeply with others

  • Think divergently, expand creativity, and work through uncertainty

  • Navigate problems to quickly arrive at potential solutions

  • Deliver incremental yet real value to people who desperately need it

  • Start small to deliver greater value at velocity

  • Improve how you approach and manage change

Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common tasks.

Practical, hands-on examples show you how to apply what you learn.

Quizzes and exercises help you test your knowledge and stretch your skills.

Notes and tips point out shortcuts and solutions.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. About This eBook
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Pearson’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  6. Contents at a Glance
  7. Table of Contents
  8. Figure Credits
  9. Foreword
  10. Preface
  11. Prologue
  12. About the Author
  13. Dedication
  14. Acknowledgments
  15. We Want to Hear from You!
  16. Why Design Thinking for Technology Professionals?
    1. Why This Book?
    2. Organizing the Book
    3. Audience and Approach
  17. Part I: Design Thinking Basics
    1. Hour 1. Design Thinking Explained
      1. Thinking Slower to Deliver Faster
      2. A Process for Progress: Popular Design Thinking Models
      3. Our Design Thinking Model for Tech
      4. The Battle Between Perfection and Time
      5. The What: Techniques and Exercises
      6. The How: The Design Thinking Cycle for Progress
      7. The When: Ambiguity, Complexity, and Uncertainty
      8. The Why: Better Practices and Faster Outcomes
      9. The Who: Design Thinking by Technology Role
      10. Design Thinking in Action: Real-world Tech Examples
      11. What Not to Do: Lessons Learned the Hard Way
      12. Summary
      13. Workshop
    2. Hour 2. A Design Thinking Model for Tech
      1. Human-Centered Thinking
      2. Design Thinking in Four Phases
      3. What Not to Do: Exclusively Left to Right
      4. Summary
      5. Workshop
    3. Hour 3. Design Thinking for Small Audiences
      1. Design Thinking for Me
      2. Learning More Quickly
      3. Thinking and Problem Solving
      4. Coping with Ambiguity
      5. Prioritizing Next Best Steps for Uncertainty
      6. Executing More Effectively
      7. What Not to Do: This Isn’t for Me
      8. Summary
      9. Workshop
    4. Hour 4. Resilient and Sustainable Teams
      1. Design Thinking for Tech Team Alignment
      2. Design Thinking for Sustainable Teams
      3. Responsibly Operating at Speed
      4. What Not to Do: The Archipelago Effect
      5. Summary
      6. Workshop
    5. Hour 5. Visible and Visual Teamwork
      1. Making Teamwork Visible and Visual
      2. Tools for Visual Collaboration
      3. Executing a Design Thinking Exercise
      4. What Not to Do: Keeping It All Inside
      5. Summary
      6. Workbook
  18. Part II: Understanding Broadly
    1. Hour 6. Understanding the Lay of the Land
      1. Listening and Understanding
      2. Assessing the Broader Environment
      3. Understanding and Articulating Value
      4. What Not to Do: Ignore the Culture Fractals
      5. Summary
      6. Workshop
    2. Hour 7. Connecting with the Right People
      1. A Framework for Finding and Prioritizing People
      2. Exercises for Stakeholder Mapping and Prioritization
      3. Exercises and Techniques for Engaging Stakeholders
      4. What Not to Do: Stick to the Happy Path
      5. Summary
      6. Workbook
    3. Hour 8. Learning and Empathizing
      1. From Stakeholders to Personas
      2. Three Types of Empathy
      3. A 360-Degree Model for Empathizing
      4. A Recipe for Empathizing
      5. What Not to Do: Ignore the 20 Percent
      6. Summary
      7. Workshop
    4. Hour 9. Identifying the Right Problem
      1. Identifying and Understanding a Problem
      2. Three Exercises for Problem Identification
      3. Techniques and Exercises for Problem Validation
      4. What Not to Do: Jump In! (to the Wrong Problem)
      5. Summary
      6. Workshop
  19. Part III: Thinking Differently
    1. Hour 10. Introduction to Thinking Differently
      1. Ideation and Thinking for Problem Solving
      2. Divergent and Convergent Thinking
      3. Warm-ups for Thinking Differently
      4. Techniques for Clearing the Mind
      5. What Not to Do: Stay Convergent!
      6. Summary
      7. Workshop
    2. Hour 11. Guardrails for Thinking Creatively
      1. Constraints and Guardrails
      2. Simple Guardrails for Thinking Differently
      3. Exercises for Thinking Through Risks
      4. Crazy Techniques for Extreme Thinking
      5. What Not to Do: Avoid the Silly-Sounding Stuff
      6. Summary
      7. Workshop
    3. Hour 12. Exercises for Increasing Creativity
      1. Creativity and Thinking
      2. Techniques and Exercises for Creative Thinking
      3. What Not to Do: Concluding Thinking Too Early
      4. Summary
      5. Workshop
    4. Hour 13. Exercises for Reducing Uncertainty
      1. Next-Step Thinking for Uncertain Situations
      2. Reducing Uncertainty and Ambiguity
      3. Working Through Uncertainty and What’s Next
      4. What Not to Do: The Brute-Force Path
      5. Summary
      6. Workshop
    5. Hour 14. Thinking for Problem Solving
      1. From Ideas to Potential Solutions
      2. Visual Exercises for Problem Solving
      3. What Not to Do: Skimp on Brainstorming
      4. Summary
      5. Workshop
  20. Part IV: Delivering Value
    1. Hour 15. Cross-Teaming and Communicating for Outcomes
      1. Cross-Boundary Teaming for Collaboration
      2. Techniques for Working Across Teams
      3. Techniques for Communications Challenges
      4. What Not to Do: Using Words When a Picture Is Needed
      5. Summary
      6. Workshop
    2. Hour 16. Prototyping and Solutioning by Doing
      1. The Prototyping and Solutioning Mindset
      2. Making Progress versus Solving the Entire Problem
      3. Techniques for Making Planned Progress
      4. What Not to Do: Ignoring the Inverse Power Law
      5. Summary
      6. Workshop
    3. Hour 17. Solutioning Small and Fast
      1. The Progress Mindset: Showing Up and Starting Small
      2. Realizing Value Through Objectives and Key Results
      3. Starting Small and Delivering Fast
      4. Techniques for Delivering and Executing to Think
      5. For a Limited Time Only…
      6. What Not to Do: The Forever MVP
      7. Summary
      8. Workshop
    4. Hour 18. Delivering Value at Velocity
      1. Delivery Techniques for Increasing Value Velocity
      2. Team Considerations for Velocity
      3. Change Control Considerations for Velocity
      4. What Not to Do: Shrink Sprints to Speed Up
      5. Summary
      6. Workshop
  21. Part V: Iterating for Progress
    1. Hour 19. Testing for Validation
      1. The Testing Mindset
      2. Traditional Types of Testing
      3. Testing Techniques for Learning and Validating
      4. Testing Tools for Feedback
      5. What Not to Do: Automate Everything
      6. Summary
      7. Workshop
    2. Hour 20. Feedback for Continuous Improvement
      1. Simple Feedback Techniques
      2. Strategic Feedback and Reflection Techniques
      3. What Not to Do: Wait for Late Feedback
      4. Summary
      5. Workshop
    3. Hour 21. Deploying for Progress
      1. Avoiding Perfection Traps
      2. Novel Techniques for Making Progress
      3. Edge Case Techniques for Deploying and Realizing Value
      4. What Not to Do: Deploying Too Soon
      5. Summary
      6. Workshop
    4. Hour 22. Operating at Scale
      1. Techniques and Exercises for Effective Scaling
      2. Operational Resiliency Techniques
      3. Techniques for Sustaining Systems and Value
      4. What Not to Do: The Scale versus Features Mandate
      5. Summary
      6. Workshop
    5. Hour 23. Making Change Sticky
      1. Change Management and Adoption
      2. The Four-Phase Change Process
      3. Methods for Creating Awareness
      4. Techniques for Providing Purpose
      5. Driving Readiness Through Design Thinking
      6. Four Techniques for Adopting Change
      7. Techniques for Timing Change
      8. What Not to Do: Change Management Can Wait
      9. Summary
      10. Workshop
    6. Hour 24. Design Thinking for Project Velocity
      1. Project Management Velocity
      2. Leadership and Governance
      3. Stakeholders and Expectations
      4. Development Approach
      5. Risk Management
      6. Schedule Management
      7. Managing Scope
      8. Delivery and Quality
      9. Communications and Collaboration
      10. What Not to Do: No Courage, No Future
      11. Summary
      12. Workshop
  22. Appendix A. Case Study Quiz Answers
  23. Appendix B. Summary of Design Thinking Techniques and Exercises
  24. Appendix C. Design Thinking in Action (by the Hour)
  25. References
  26. Index

Product information

  • Title: Design Thinking for Tech: Solving Problems and Realizing Value in 24 Hours
  • Author(s): George W. Anderson
  • Release date: December 2022
  • Publisher(s): Pearson
  • ISBN: 9780137933167