Prologue

Have you ever felt as if you were simply not creative or imaginative enough? Do you need to solve tough problems? Are you interested in delivering value throughout a project rather than exclusively at the tail end? If you said yes to any of these questions, then the Design Thinking mindset is actually perfect for you. And no, you don’t need to be a designer to use Design Thinking. You just need to be human.

At its core, Design Thinking is about creative problem solving, using trial and error to build and test prototypes targeting the right problem to create the best solution. Design Thinking has been successfully adopted throughout the business, academic, and nonprofit sectors. It helps improve user alignment and understanding across an entire team. And its iterative nature complements other popular practices in the technical field.

In the following pages, George lays out the path for us and for our teams to begin using Design Thinking to solve our company’s, our customers’, and even our own personal challenges and toughest problems.

It’s an interesting and practical approach, too. George doesn’t tackle the status quo by turning every meeting into a Design Thinking workshop. On the contrary, George lights up the way to real progress by building the Design Thinking process into how we already operate, communicate, and get things done. Rather than bolting on a new way of thinking and executing, he instead thoughtfully injects techniques and exercises into the very fabric of our projects and initiatives.

In this way, Design Thinking becomes another intrinsic enabler for success rather than something we are asked to apply when someone wants to paint a vision, prototype an idea, or deliver a retrospective.

So don’t allow Design Thinking to be relegated to designers and user experience experts! And don’t simply stand on the sidelines. Everyone in the Tech community, and frankly anyone interested in thinking and doing things smarter, needs it. Jump in and learn how Design Thinking fundamentally changes your own personal and professional playing field!

—Bruce Gay, PMP and Principle/Founder of Astrevo