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. You’ll start by understanding the essential “what, how, when, why, and who” of Design Thinking. Next, you’ll 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 you’ve already learned, with exercises crafted to deliver directly relevant experience. Regardless of your role in the world of technology, you’ll learn how to supercharge success for any tech-related project, business initiative, or digital transformation.
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.
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 with, communicate, and empathize with the right people at the right time
- Liberate the ideas trapped in your heads, so you can explore them deeply with others
- Think divergently, expand creativity, and work through uncertainty
- Navigate problems to more 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
Table of Contents:
Foreword
Preface
Prologue
PART I: Design Thinking Basics
Hour 1: Design Thinking Explained
Thinking Slower to Deliver Faster
A Process for Progress: Popular Design Thinking Models
Our Design Thinking Model for Tech
The Battle Between Perfection and Time
The What: Techniques and Exercises
The How: The Design Thinking Cycle for Progress
The When: Ambiguity, Complexity, and Uncertainty
The Why: Better Practices and Faster Outcomes
The Who: Design Thinking by Technology Role
Design Thinking in Action: Real-world Tech Examples
What Not to Do: Lessons Learned the Hard Way
Summary
Workshop
Hour 2: A Design Thinking Model for Tech
Human-Centered Thinking
Design Thinking in Four Phases
What Not to Do: Exclusively Left to Right
Summary
Workshop
Hour 3: Design Thinking for Small Audiences
Design Thinking for Me
Learning More Quickly
Thinking and Problem Solving
Coping with Ambiguity
Prioritizing Next Best Steps for Uncertainty
Executing More Effectively
What Not to Do: This Isn't for Me
Summary
Workshop
Hour 4: Resilient and Sustainable Teams
Design Thinking for Tech Team Alignment
Design Thinking for Sustainable Teams
Responsibly Operating at Speed
What Not to Do: The Archipelago Effect
Summary
Workshop
Hour 5: Visible and Visual Teamwork
Making Teamwork Visible and Visual
Tools for Visual Collaboration
Executing a Design Thinking Exercise
What Not to Do: Keeping It All Inside
Summary
Workbook
PART II: Understanding Broadly
Hour 6: Understanding the Lay of the Land
Listening and Understanding
Assessing the Broader Environment
Understanding and Articulating Value
What Not to Do: Ignore the Culture Fractals
Summary
Workshop
Hour 7: Connecting with the Right People
A Framework for Finding and Prioritizing People
Exercises for Stakeholder Mapping and Prioritization
Exercises and Techniques for Engaging Stakeholders
What Not to Do: Stick to the Happy Path
Summary
Workbook
Hour 8: Learning and Empathizing
From Stakeholders to Personas
Three Types of Empathy
A 360-Degree Model for Empathizing
A Recipe for Empathizing
What Not to Do: Ignore the 20 Percent
Summary
Workshop
Hour 9: Identifying the Right Problem
Identifying and Understanding a Problem
Three Exercises for Problem Identification
Techniques and Exercises for Problem Validation
What Not to Do: Jump In! (to the Wrong Problem)
Summary
Workshop
PART III: Thinking Differently
Hour 10: Introduction to Thinking Differently
Ideation and Thinking for Problem Solving
Divergent and Convergent Thinking
Warm-ups for Thinking Differently
Techniques for Clearing the Mind
What Not to Do: Stay Convergent!
Summary
Workshop
Hour 11: Guardrails for Thinking Creatively
Constraints and Guardrails
Simple Guardrails for Thinking Differently
Exercises for Thinking Through Risks
Crazy Techniques for Extreme Thinking
What Not to Do: Avoid the Silly-Sounding Stuff
Summary
Workshop
Hour 12: Exercises for Increasing Creativity
Creativity and Thinking
Techniques and Exercises for Creative Thinking
What Not to Do: Concluding Thinking Too Early
Summary
Workshop
Hour 13: Exercises for Reducing Uncertainty
Next-Step Thinking for Uncertain Situations
Reducing Uncertainty and Ambiguity
Working Through Uncertainty and What's Next
What Not to Do: The Brute-Force Path
Summary
Workshop
Hour 14: Thinking for Problem Solving
From Ideas to Potential Solutions
Visual Exercises for Problem Solving
What Not to Do: Skimp on Brainstorming
Summary
Workshop
PART IV: Delivering Value
Hour 15: Cross-Teaming and Communicating for Outcomes
Cross-Boundary Teaming for Collaboration
Techniques for Working Across Teams
Techniques for Communications Challenges
What Not to Do: Using Words When a Picture Is Needed
Summary
Workshop
Hour 16: Prototyping and Solutioning by Doing
The Prototyping and Solutioning Mindset
Making Progress versus Solving the Entire Problem
Techniques for Making Planned Progress
What Not to Do: Ignoring the Inverse Power Law
Summary
Workshop
Hour 17: Solutioning Small and Fast
The Progress Mindset: Showing Up and Starting Small
Realizing Value Through Objectives and Key Results
Starting Small and Delivering Fast
Techniques for Delivering and Executing to Think
For a Limited Time Only
What Not to Do: The Forever MVP
Summary
Workshop
Hour 18: Delivering Value at Velocity
Delivery Techniques for Increasing Value Velocity
Team Considerations for Velocity
Change Control Considerations for Velocity
What Not to Do: Shrink Sprints to Speed Up
Summary
Workshop
PART V: Iterating for Progress
Hour 19: Testing for Validation
The Testing Mindset
Traditional Types of Testing
Testing Techniques for Learning and Validating
Testing Tools for Feedback
What Not to Do: Automate Everything
Summary
Workshop
Hour 20: Feedback for Continuous Improvement
Simple Feedback Techniques
Strategic Feedback and Reflection Techniques
What Not to Do: Wait for Late Feedback
Summary
Workshop
Hour 21: Deploying for Progress
Avoiding Perfection Traps
Novel Techniques for Making Progress
Edge Case Techniques for Deploying and Realizing Value
What Not to Do: Deploying Too Soon
Summary
Workshop
Hour 22: Operating at Scale
Techniques and Exercises for Effective Scaling
Operational Resiliency Techniques
Techniques for Sustaining Systems and Value
What Not to Do: The Scale versus Features Mandate
Summary
Workshop
Hour 23: Making Change Sticky
Change Management and Adoption
The Four-Phase Change Process
Methods for Creating Awareness
Techniques for Providing Purpose
Driving Readiness Through Design Thinking
Four Techniques for Adopting Change
Techniques for Timing Change
What Not to Do: Change Management Can Wait
Summary
Workshop
Hour 24: Design Thinking for Project Velocity
Project Management Velocity
Leadership and Governance
Stakeholders and Expectations
Development Approach
Risk Management
Schedule Management
Managing Scope
Delivery and Quality
Communications and Collaboration
What Not to Do: No Courage, No Future
Summary
Workshop
Appendix A: Case Study Quiz Answers
Appendix B: Summary of Design Thinking Techniques and Exercises
Appendix C: Design Thinking in Action (by the Hour)
References
9780137933037 TOC 10/10/2022
About the Author :
George Anderson is a program director for Microsoft and an adjunct professor and guest lecturer for several universities. George holds Stanford Innovation & Entrepreneurship as well as Innovation Leadership credentials, PMI's Wicked Problem Solving and Prosci's Change Practitioner certifications, an MBA with a focus in Human Resource Management, and a PhD in Applied Management and Decision Sciences.
As a program director, George assembles and leads global tech teams that help organizations transform themselves. George's architects and consultants provide the technology and business skills necessary to design and develop business-enabling technology solutions, and George and his project managers provide the leadership, governance, and communications necessary to deliver those solutions.
In these ways, George's teams solve problems that drive meaningful change and measurable value. George knows first-hand the power of thinking and executing differently to change our world and often shares those learnings and experiences. He has co-led worldwide design thinking communities within Microsoft and has incorporated design thinking techniques and exercises into several of Microsoft's governance methods and project delivery methodologies.
Since 2002, George has also been assembling authoring teams to publish popular technology planning and implementation books, including Teach Yourself SAP in 24 Hours (2015) and SAP Implementation Unleashed (2009). More recently, he has shared how Design Thinking can be applied to our work and personal lives through Stuck Happens: 95 Simple Life Hacks for Thinking and Thriving (2021). And George and his team shared guidance and techniques organized around PMI's Process Groups in Design Thinking for Program and Project Management (2019).
Design Thinking for Tech: Solving Problems and Realizing Value in 24 Hours marries George's love of people, high-tech software development, platform-based business solutioning, and Design Thinking. It bridges the real-world intersection of technology and more than 130 Design Thinking techniques and exercises useful in learning, empathizing, and solving difficult problems while providing early and repeatable value along the way. Connect with George on LinkedIn or through email at George.Anderson@Microsoft.com.
