Reflection On Design Thinking Activities And Self-Analysis

Overview of Design Thinking

Self-reflection refers to the process of thinking actively in order to create a link between the experiences of an individual and with their professional or practical knowledge. Self-reflection is also important because an individual can become aware of their own strengths and weaknesses. This process helps in identification of the various assumptions and beliefs of an individual and challenges the same. It helps a person in developing themselves because they can learn from their past experiences and learning’s and understand their mistake such that they can avoid such mistakes and improve themselves completely. There are various models of reflection that can be used for self-reflection such as the Gibbs reflection model. Design thinking refers to solving problems innovatively and creatively by empathetically understanding others, challenging the assumptions, generating alternatives for problems which was not possible without design thinking (Brenner & Uebernickel, 2016). The main aim of the paper is to carry out a reflection on all the activities, experiences and leanings got after undertaking the design thinking program. The paper will discuss about all the skills and knowledge acquired during the program with the help of self-analysis and reflection. The paper will also discuss about an action plan that will be undertaken in order to improve all the skills and knowledge.

Figure 1: Gibbs reflective cycle

Source: (Main, 1985)

From the above diagram, we can see the stages of the Gibbs reflective model. This model helps us in properly describing about our experiences such that we can learn from the same; it helps us in discussing about our feelings before undertaking a course and after undertaking the same, evaluating our experiences, analyzing the same. It also helps us in preparation of action plan that can help us in improving our skills and knowledge such that in case we are faced with a similar situation in future we will be in a better position to deal with it (Carlgren, Rauth & Elmquist, 2016).

Design thinking refers to the process of solving problems innovatively and creatively and it can be used in different fields of life and therefore the design thinking activity within our unit was aimed at the same. Our unit began with understanding the concept of design thinking. In order to understand the same our unit included- empathy and rapid prototyping, the tools that are used for design thinking, the research skills needed for design thinking, mind mapping and various others. Before undertaking this activity, I did not have much idea about design thinking and its concepts. However after undertaking the same I gained a lot of knowledge and practical experience about various concepts of design thinking such as I behave more empathetically with people now, I have understood the importance of primary and secondary information and also the tools that are used for design thinking, the research skills that are needed for the purpose of design thinking has also been understood by me (Mitchell & Reiter-Palmon, 2017).

Empathy and Rapid Prototyping

The first concept that was discussed in the design thinking activity was that of empathy and rapid prototyping. Empathy refers to understanding the needs, emotions, thoughts and motivations of other people (Kolko, 2015). This skill of empathy helps us to share all those feelings which others feel and it helps us to step into the shoes of the other people. It can help us in understanding how another individual is feeling in a particular situation and without being emotional. This skill is important for design thinking because it can be used for designing products and services that will meet the needs of the people (Elsbach & Stigliani, 2018). The skill of empathy can be improved in me such that I can take decisions without being influenced by my emotions and that will help me to think creatively and innovatively. Rapid prototyping is also an important part of design thinking because it can help us to test our ideas and make changes and improvements to them as soon as possible. It is of great importance in engineering because it can help in designing new products.

The second concept of design thinking activity was the tools that are used for the purpose of design thinking. For this purpose we need to understand the type of data that will be used for this case. Primary data can be collected by way of interviews, experiments and surveys. This data is a type of first hand data that has not been collected before (Serrat, 2017). On the other hand, the secondary data refers to the data that has already been collected by someone and published somewhere. Secondary data can therefore be collected from governmental departments, websites, various records of the organization and various others. Further, secondary data has got various benefits such as it can help in saving cost, it involves little time, and it can be used in case the budget of a project is not feasible. Observation can also be used as a tool and it also helps in gathering information from various types of primary sources. There are various other tools that can be used for the same purpose.

The third concept of the design thinking activity involves research skills that are required for design thinking. There are mainly two types of research- qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative research refers to the research that is dependent upon some form of quality or other types of behavior, culture, experience and others. For instance the research done to understand data related to consumers taste and preferences. Quantitative research on the other hand refers to the research method that helps in quantifying the data and establishes a cause and effect relationship. Further in order to understand the data properly the activity discussed about mind mapping. The data is separated into different groups in order to prepare the mind mapping diagram properly.

Tools for Design Thinking

The design thinking activity further discussed about the various stages of design thinking. The process of design thinking includes understanding the users empathetically, challenging their basic assumptions and beliefs, redefining all the problems in order to understand various alternatives and this will help the users to find solution to problems that they could not have thought initially (Liedtka, 2018). By understanding the process of design thinking a person can provide a solution based approach. This method is used by us such that the process can fit into our minds. For instance: this method is like algorithms that we did for making our problem solving easier.

The next concept that had been discussed in the design thinking activity is that of problem solving and finding. According to this concept before trying to solve any problem, we need to see if there is any problem therefore problem identification has to be done. Sometimes we think that there is some problem when actually there is no such problem and it is only in our minds. For instance when I bought my play station, I found that it had a problem of heating up when I played games in it and therefore before investigating into the same I spent further money to buy a cooling fan to overcome the problem. However when I met my friends who also had play station, I understood that it is common for the play stations to get heated up when game is being played in it. Then I understood that wasted money for something that was never a problem. The next step is to understand the problem being faced properly. This is so because many times a problem may look easier when seen from a different perspective. I have had practical experience with the same because once I had worked overtime in my office to complete a project and on completion I wanted to print that out but then I saw that the printing machine was not working and that is when I started panicking because I was unable to do the same. It was only in the morning that I remembered that the printing machine was not plugged in (Serrat, 2017). Therefore in this situation if I had tried to understand the problem a bit calmly maybe I would have been able to get the print out immediately.

By undertaking the design thinking activity, I have acquired a lot of knowledge and skills about design thinking concepts that include- rapid prototyping and behaving empathetically with others, the different tools of design thinking, and the research skills that are required for the purpose of design thinking, the concept of mind mapping, problem finding and solution. From the activity I have also understood that I can actually work empathetically withy others and I have understood the concept of rapid prototyping or the ability to create new designs and carry out engineering tests on it as soon as possible. I did not have much idea about rapid the same concept before undertaking the activities. I have got knowledge about the different tools that can be used by me for carrying out design thinking and also about the importance of primary and secondary data. I can also make use of the observation technique to collect data from primary sources. I have acquired the research skills that are needed for design thinking that is I can collect qualitative data by way of observation and interpretation. By being able to collect this data I can understand the customer’s behaviors, attitudes and various other qualities factors (Oxman, 2017). I have understood about mind mapping and how it can help in thinking more innovatively by understanding the relationship between the data and information and being able to link the same. Through the design thinking activity I have understood that I am incapable of identifying problems properly and solving the same. This is so because I do not have the ability to look at problems from different perspectives. This shows that I have lack of creativity. Therefore this is an area where I can improve myself such that I can generate different alternatives to the problems that is being faced by me and to look at problems from different perspectives.

Research Skills for Design Thinking

From the above discussion, it has been understood some of my weaknesses are that I need to improve my empathetic skills, problem solving skills and the ability to conduct quantitative research. This is so because I am incapable of generating many alternatives due to which I cannot solve problems and look at the problems from different perspectives. Some of the major drawback of being too empathetic is being easily affected by others strong emotions for instance misery and others and which affects the ability to think creatively. I need to improve my research skills such that I can easily organize, collect and analyze information.

Conclusion 

From the above discussion it can be concluded that self-reflection is necessary for everyone since it helps in identification of the strengths and weaknesses and an individual can improve upon their weaknesses and work upon the same once it has been identified by them. Without this self-reflection I have understood the areas in which I can improve myself and therefore I have prepared an action plan showing the way in which the same will be done by me. By undertaking the program, I have understood about various concepts such as- empathy and prototyping, the tools that are used for design thinking such as the Delphi technique, interview method, questionnaire method and various others. I have understood the importance of secondary data. I have understood how to make a mind map and how it can be helpful in organizing all information and the way it can help in seeing everything as a whole. From this course I have also learnt about the ability to solve problems. Therefore the knowledge and the skills developed by me during this course can be made use by me in the future also whether in my personal or professional life.

References 

Brenner, W., & Uebernickel, F. (2016). Design thinking for innovation. Research and Practice.

Carlgren, L., Rauth, I., & Elmquist, M. (2016). Framing design thinking: The concept in idea and enactment. Creativity and Innovation Management, 25(1), 38-57.

Elsbach, K. D., & Stigliani, I. (2018). Design thinking and organizational culture: A review and framework for future research. Journal of Management, 44(6), 2274-2306.

Kolko, J. (2015). Design thinking comes of age.

Liedtka, J. (2018). Why design thinking works. Harvard Business Review, 96(5), 72-79.

Main, A. (1985). Reflection and the development of learning skills. Reflection: Turning experience into learning, 91-99.

Mitchell, K., & Reiter-Palmon, R. (2017). Creative leadership: How problem solving, decision making, and organizational context influence leadership creativity. In The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity across Domains (pp. 363-380). Cambridge University Press.

Oxman, R. (2017). Thinking difference: Theories and models of parametric design thinking. Design Studies, 52, 4-39.

Serrat, O. (2017). Design thinking. In Knowledge Solutions (pp. 129-134). Springer, Singapore.

Serrat, O. (2017). Understanding and developing emotional intelligence. In Knowledge solutions (pp. 329-339). Springer, Singapore.

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