Design Thinking for My Life

What is design thinking? It generally follows a five step process: 1) Empathize – get inside the needs of the user through curiosity and observation, 2) Define – clearly articulate the core problem based on the needs discovered in the first step, 3) Ideate – generate a lot of possible solutions, 4) Prototype – create some of the solutions with simple experiments, 5) Test – evaluate the prototypes and refine.

Many years ago, when I was laid off from a job I came across a book called Designing Your Life by two college design professors. This book really opened my eyes to using design thinking outside of the design world. It was instrumental in helping me start a successful freelance business. I’m not sure I would have taken that step without this book to nudge me.

As a father, I use the process of design thinking to become a better parent. When I see my kids struggling with something my wife and I start with curiosity and empathy. We work to see the challenge from their perspective. Maybe the tantrum isn’t about the thing they’re throwing the fit about? We brainstorm creative solutions that don’t involve typical reactions (nervous system mastery is also a big help here). Then my wife and I try to test out new approaches. Dr Becky has also been a big influence on us. Her book Good Inside has given us a lot of tactics and frameworks to help us ideate new solutions.

To learn more about design thinking, check out the seminal book on the subject by Tim Brown called Change by Design.