1. Rob Gleasure R.Gleasure@ucc.ie www.robgleasure.com
IS6117 eBusiness Development Project Lecture 1: Design Thinking for Radical Innovation
Rob Gleasure

2. IS6117 Today’s lecture Reminder of outline Design Thinking
The emergence of design thinking
The core concepts
Empathising
Defining
Ideating
Prototyping
Testing
Exercise

3. Course Objective
To gain a practical understanding of developing new e-Business ventures
To identify a new technologically-enabled e-Business venture
To prototype the e-Business applications necessary to make it run

4. Course Outline
Project work starts at the end of the summer exams but thinking and planning for project ideas starts immediately
The project concludes with a presentation of the proposed electronic business venture and demonstration of a proof of concept prototype in mid August 2017
Projects will be completed in groups of 3 people
Mentors are: Tom O’Kane, Ciara Fitzgerald, and Rob Gleasure (module coordinator)

5. Important Dates and Marking
Part 1 (Individual work)
Executive summary of idea 1
28th October
A single paragraph describing your idea, handed into my office (Room 2.112, O’Rahilly Building)
Initial report on individual e-business ideas
18th November  5%
The report should describe what the idea is, the target customer base, the value proposition, and possible revenue streams (a template will be provided)

6. Important Dates and Marking
Part 1 (Individual work)
Executive summary of idea 2
late January
A single paragraph describing your idea, handed into my office (room 2.112, O’Rahilly Building)
Detailed interim report on individual e-business ideas
late February  5%
This detailed report on your idea should elaborate on the earlier report by incorporating mentor feedback, early stage market research, and reflect the idea based on your e-business and technical learning from the December to March 2017 timeframe (a template will be provided)

7. Important Dates and Marking
Part 1 continued (Individual work)
Individual e-business proposals due
Early June
The individual proposal should be a concisely written submission based on your business idea and the revisions you made to that idea based on feedback from the pre-summer seminars, market research, and the additional work done to date to develop the idea (a template will be provided)

8. Important Dates and Marking
Part 2 (Group work)
Group project proposal
Late May/early June
Interim Project Report I due
Late June  5%
Interim Project Report II due
Late July  5%
The interim project reports should provide a high level overview of your work to date, and an assessment of the implications of that work for the operational, economic and technical feasibility of your proposal. The reports should consist of 4-5 pages plus appendices providing evidence of work undertaken (templates will be provided)

9. Important Dates and Marking
Part 2 Continued (Group work)
System and systems documentation due
Late August  35%
This deliverable should include a full assessment of the technical feasibility of your business venture. The deliverable will include a working prototype (including source code submitted on CD-ROM), a description of the application’s technology platform and architecture, a requirements specification, analysis and design documentation (for both data and functionality) and a discussion on how the chosen implementation supports the proposed business venture.

10. Important Dates and Marking
Part 2 Continued (Group work)
Business Plan due
Late August  35%
This document should include a full assessment of the commercial feasibility of your business venture. The deliverable will include: an assessment of your value proposition, market and competitor analysis; customer analysis; an evaluation of your product/service offering; details of venture financing; financial projections and breakeven analysis; company description; details of operational and management structures and activities; marketing and sales plans; and stakeholder analysis.

11. Important Dates and Marking
Part 2 Continued (Group work)
Final presentations
Late August  10%
This will consist of a 20 minute presentation plus 10 minutes Q&A. The presentation should examine both business and technical aspects and feasibility. The business aspects should include the management team, market opportunity (including competition), value proposition, market launch, forecasted sales figures, key risks and contingency plans, financial aspects, and an examination of why someone should invest in your business proposal. As well as demonstrating the systems prototype, the presentation should include an overview of the architecture, an assessment of technical feasibility of delivering value proposition, and system challenges & plans. All members of each group must participate in the presentation and Q&A session.

12. The emergence of design thinking
The origins of design thinking are generally associated with Rolf Faste in Stanford and David Kelley in Ideo
It grew from growing realisation in the 1970s onwards that design problems are not like the ‘solvable’ and quasi-mathematical problems in the natural sciences
Design thinking is now one of the leading business concepts in a range of industries

13. The core concepts of design thinking
Design problems are ‘wicked’
Not bounded – limitless number of variables
No stopping rule – they are never completed and each problem is in some way(s) unique
Solutions are not correct/incorrect – some are better/some are worse
At its core, design thinking is about understanding users’ needs
The better defined a problem, the better it can be solved

14. The core concepts of design thinking
Design thinking is as much a mindset, central to which is
Human-centrism
Empathy/contact with users
Open-mindedness
Design thinking also emphasises the diversity of teams
A good designer is ‘T-shaped’
Duplicate expertise is not so much valued

15. The design thinking process
The design thinking process basically involves five steps
Note: this is not a ‘waterfall’ model – this is an iterative and parallel process
Image from

16. Empathising In order to empathise, we need to understand our users
We need to research our market
Some of this can be done through web research, e.g. scaling the problem, gaining a foothold understanding of how users operate
However the real empathising starts in the context of ongoing dialogue with potential users
‘Why-bombing’
The ideal outcomes from this stage are surprises

17. Empathising This leaves us with two key dimensions
These are complimentary (most projects will include them all)
Existing information
New information
Detailed view of users
Birds’ eye view of users
Reading cases, forums, reviews, etc.
Interviews
Market statistics and competitor analyses
Surveys
Here you are trying to figure out the right questions – use observations and ‘why’ bombing
Here you are assuming you know the right questions to ask

18. Defining List pain points, i.e. things that users complain about
List workarounds and awkward behaviours
Formalise these into a problem statement.
This statement should:
Make it clear whom the user is
Aggregate smaller concerns into one larger issue
This statement should NOT:
Narrow the problem down in a way that lends itself towards specific solutions

19. Ideating
This stage is where your opportunity to flex your creative muscles comes in
Quantity is your friend! If you are struggling to come up with ideas, then your problem statement was too restrictive
Abandon judgement – no idea is a bad idea as long as it fits with the needs identified in your problem statement
Visualise things! Get a pen and paper out (or whatever medium you find comfortable) and draw pictures, bubble-diagrams, etc.
You can be surprised what jumps out when you can see what you’re thinking

20. Prototyping
Prototypes consist of anything from paper based representations to fully functional websites
It allows three things
You can figure out if and how your idea can be implemented
It gives you a way of discussing things with users in a shared language, i.e. “is this what you meant?”
Ideas can be tested with users
Types of Prototyping
Low-Fidelity Prototyping
High-Fidelity Prototyping

21. Testing Testing serves two purposes To evaluate ideas
To generate new ideas from users
With this in mind, a few tips:
Test with users that are representative and appropriately critical
Try to minimise users’ nerves/sense that they are being observed
Prioritise key tasks (you can’t test everything)
Present your task instructions in as natural a way as possible (but take care not to prompt people with these instructions)
If users can’t do something, remind them it’s not their fault and that this is valuable to you
Other than that, stay quiet!

22. Example 1: An MRI for Children
Designers at GE had designed a MRI machine for internally scanning patients for tissue damage, tumours, etc.
Some of these machines were for paediatrics wards (children)
Children found the machines terrifying, yet the scan only works if you hold completely still inside them
Up to 80% of children had to be sedated
The designers adopted a design thinking approach to try and understand the children’s journey, their feelings, and how they were building negative feelings
Huge drop in sedation, huge increase in satisfaction

23. Example 1: An MRI for Children
Images from

24. Example 2: Radically Low-Cost Incubation
Image from

25. Exercise: The Wallet Project
This is a minor amendment of an exercise developed by Stanford University as part of their design curriculum
The idea is to get you used to the process of design thinking
Some suitably nondescript music at

26. 1. Go! (3 minutes) Design the ideal wallet/purse
This can include material changes, the addition of hardware or software – whatever you like

27. 2 Interview (2x3 minutes)
Form groups of two (these will be your groups throughout the exercise)
One of you should take 3 minutes to ask your partner to describe their wallet/purse, what they use it for, the sorts of things they carry, what they like/don’t like about it.
Take notes as you interview them
After 3 minutes, switch roles so the second person asks the first about their chosen module

28. 2 Dig Deeper (2x3 minutes)
Again taking turns, you should take another 3 minutes to explore some of your partner’s answers. Ask ‘why’ and really search for surprises
Again, take notes as you interview them, particularly of things that surprised you
After 3 minutes, switch roles

29. 3 Capture Findings (2 minutes)
On your own, take 2 minutes to jot down
Your partner’s needs from their wallet – these should be verbs
Any insights you learned about your partner (how they feel about their wallet, their worldview, etc.)
In particular, try and make note of areas where his/her needs differ from yours, as well as where they are the same.

30. 4 Define a Problem Statement (2 minutes)
Once more on your own, take 2 minutes to create a really rich problem statement for your partner
Remember, this should be juicy enough to afford multiple different approaches
It should take the rough form
My partner _______partner’s name________
needs a way to ___ partner’s need from their wallet____________.
Unexpectedly, in his/her world,
________________insight________________________________.

31. 5 Capture Findings (5 minutes)
Again on your own, take 5 minutes to come up with 2-5 radical ideas that could meet your partner’s needs
Don’t get hung up on whether they are practical, nor how they could actually be put together – the goal here is to come up with as many interesting and creative ideas as you can. Silly is ok.
Draw these ideas where possible, use words sparingly

32. 6 Share ideas and Capture Feedback (2x3 minutes)
One of you should take 3 minutes to talk your partner through your ideas
Ask them what they like/don’t like but remember
The best outcome is new ideas!
Avoid defending ideas, other than to clarify what it is your partner doesn’t like
After 3 minutes, switch roles

33. 7 Reflect and Create a New Solution (2 minutes)
This may be a refinement of a previous idea or something completely new
It’s completely ok (good, even) if you need to change your problem statement as part of this re-design
Try and create some drawing that will really make it clear what you are thinking about creating

34. 8 Discuss New Solution (2x2 minutes)
One of you show your partner your new solution
Again, remember – the point is not to confirm your design, it’s to foster discussion and create new insights
After 2 minutes, switch roles

35. Readings on design thinking
Links and references
For general discussions of design thinking
Brown, T Design Thinking, Harvard Business Review (86:6), pages
Buchanan, R Wicked problems in design thinking. Design issues (8:2), pages 5-21.
Design thinking and innovation at Apple, HBR case study
For an in-depth discussion of the philosophy of design (this one isn’t for the faint hearted)
Simon, H. A The sciences of the artificial, MIT press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

36. Readings on design and strategy
Brown, T Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation, HarperBusiness, USA
Christensen, C Seeing What's Next: Using the Theories of Innovation to Predict Industry Change, Harvard Business Press, Cambridge, MA.
Moore, G Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers, HarperCollins, NY.
Kim, W. & Mauborgne, R Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant, Harvard Business Press, Cambridge, MA.
Ries, E The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses , Crown Business

37. Readings on planning
Barringer, B Preparing Effective Business Plans, Pearson
Williams, S The FT Guide to Business Start Up 2008, Prentice Hall
O’Kane, B Starting a Business in Ireland (5th ed) Oak Tree Press
Getting Real (