Entrepreneurs need design thinking in this economic climate.
This post summarizes an article I published on Medium last year. Upon request from my subscribers, I provide a quick introduction to design thinking and explain why it is an essential tool for entrepreneurs.
Design thinking is an innovative method based on agile approaches. The method focuses on the consumers of the solutions. Therefore, the principles revolve around the users of the systems, products, and services.
This method is widely used in many industries and sectors, such as IT (Information Technology), engineering, science, and manufacturing. Design thinking practice can be applied to every discipline.
The practice of design thinking helps practitioners explore uncertain situations in the earlier phase of the solution lifecycle and understand implications and impact by reviewing assumptions, risks, issues, and dependencies.
The design thinking method uses creative problem-solving techniques collaboratively. These collaborative efforts are manifested through design thinking workshops.
The method has several phases. They are called questioning, brainstorming, prototyping, iterative experiments, sketching, and continuous tests.
These phases cover several constructs: empathy with users, defining consumers, ideation, prototyping, and validation.
There are several reasons entrepreneurs add design thinking to their power toolbox.
The most important reason is to develop solutions meeting requirements. Entrepreneurs creating new products need to understand the requirements and use cases of their solutions.
The best source for capturing requirements and use cases are meeting the actual users of the solutions. As an alternative, creating personas representing user types can be applied.
The next compelling reason to use design thinking is its agility. Entrepreneurs need to think and act quickly. The agile approach has become the new norm in business ventures, especially in startups. Speed to market is critical for startups to remain competitive.
There is a common perception that agile methods cut things short and reduce the quality of products and services. There is partial truth in this perception. If agile is used randomly without proper thought, it can be detrimental to a quality outcome.
However, using agile with design thinking can address quality problems because potential concerns and risks are discussed and addressed in the inception phase of the solution.
Using design thinking techniques, entrepreneurs can create mental models of how users interact with their solutions in each iteration of the agile program sprints. They work on priorities by adding tasks to backlogs and clearing them based on importance and urgency.
Design thinking is a globally recognized and practiced solution approach. Technology leaders and entrepreneurs embrace design thinking for various compelling reasons that I introduce in this article.
Design thinking is considered the most powerful tool for startup entrepreneurs.
I am inspired to write this post after learning that my design thinking contributions are recognized by the Thinkers360 network, as announced on LinkedIn today.
Annually, the Thinkers360 network organization assesses contributors and informs the public about the top 50 leaders and influencers in the field.
As a Certified Enterprise Design Thinking Practitioner since 2017, I have written books and scholarly papers and penned several articles about design thinking on multiple platforms.
The recent one on this platform is titled: Power of Design Thinking for Writers: Design Thinking is one of the most powerful tools for my professional and personal goals. I apply it to my writing practice too.
My journey in the Thinkers360 network
I joined this organization a few years ago as recommended by industry influencers whom I follow. My business and leadership mentors believed that this organization could create extended visibility for my work, patents, publications, and overall leadership profile in the industry. It was true.
Since joining the organization, my profile usually hits the top 100 list in technology based on my contributions to technical communities. In addition, my professional network substantially increased, and I met many collaborators globally.
Thinkers360 creates a profile for members based on their publications on the web. In addition, members can include links to their published materials in various disciplines and formats.
For example, my thought leadership profile has included a portfolio of academic papers, article and book writing, industry influence, speaking engagements, and entrepreneurship based on my patents.
Joining Thinkers360 is free. Free membership allows a certain amount of engagement. However, it enables paid members to have extra benefits such as blogging, adding more publication links, and extensive networking with industry leaders.
About Me
I am a technologist, postdoctoral researcher, author of several books, editor, and digital marketing strategist with four decades of industry experience.
I write articles on Medium, NewsBreak, and Vocal Media. On Medium, I established ILLUMINATION, ILLUMINATION-Curated, ILLUMINATION’ S MIRROR, ILLUMINATION Book Chapters, Technology Hits, SYNERGY, and Readers Hope publications supporting 17,000+ writers on Medium. You can join my publications requesting access here.
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You may also check my blog posts about my articles and articles of other writers contributing to my publications on Medium. I share them on my website digitalmehmet.com. Here is my professional bio. You can contact me via weblink.
You may also check my blog posts about my articles and articles of other writers contributing to my publications on Medium. I share them on my website digitalmehmet.com. Here is my professional bio. You can contact me via weblink.
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Dr Mehmet Yildiz 