The Difference Between Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile
As more large companies begin to embark upon audacious transformation plans and set up innovation teams, more corporate professionals are being introduced to a world in which terms like design thinking, lean, agile, pivot, experiment, fail, adapt and so on are used almost interchangeably.
Many fall victim to the law of the instrument bias and after attending a one day design thinking workshop, load all of their eggs into that one basket, maintaining a firm belief that design thinking is the silver bullet solution for their innovation woes, but as I detailed in a previous blog post, design thinking is only one step in the process.
With that, I often get asked by professionals new to the space what the difference between design thinking, the lean startup and agile is and the answer forms the basis for this article.
Brainstorming in its traditional sense is perhaps one of the worst ways to come up with ideas.
Usually, ideas come to us when we give our minds space - while going for a long nature walk, while working out, while in the shower - they tend not to come to us while in a high intensity groupthink environment surrounded by peers, superiors and having been given just one hour to come up with ‘breakthrough’ ideas that will save the company from disruption.
However, by bringing together the right people, creating the right environment and using the right tools, we can drastically improve the outcomes of such initiatives.
That’s where design thinking comes in - as it walks participants through proven pathways for inspiration, problem definition, idea generation, prototyping and testing.
According to Tim Brown, author and CEO of world renowned design consultancy, IDEO, “design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.”
Globally, about 95% of startups fail and the number one reason is market failure - building what nobody knows exists, nobody wants to buy or nobody wants to pay more for than it costs you to get it in their hands.
The lean startup methodology was born out of Silicon Valley in the late noughties, however owes its roots to Toyota’s lean production system and the US Department of Defence’s OODA philosophy (observe, orient, decide, act, which is also fundamental in agile). But while Toyota’s system teaches us how to builds things efficiently, it doesn’t teach us what to build in the first place.
The lean startup is used to rapidly experiment across problem, solution, customer segment, distribution channels, marketing channels, revenue models, cost structures, messaging and so on in order to complete the puzzle that underpins any idea for as Michael Dell put it, ideas are a commodity, execution of them is not.
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This guide provides an overview of the five key stages of design thinking, from empathy through to test. Find out how to apply the approach and start innovating at your organisation.
To help you avoid stepping into these all too common pitfalls, we’ve reflected on our five years as an organization working on corporate innovation programs across the globe, and have prepared 100 DOs and DON’Ts.
This guide provides an overview of the five key stages of design thinking, from empathy through to test. Find out how to apply the approach and start innovating at your organisation.
