Tim sketches with virtuosity and cuts rectangles out of wrapping paper. Meanwhile, Ada and Gesine are deep in discussion, putting their concept down on paper. Stephan pores over his drawing, wondering whether to elaborate further on his prototype or let the rough draft speak for itself.
This is a report on the application of Design Thinking to solve sustainability problems.
Global Goals Jam
Over three days in mid-September 2021, the Global Goals Jam place in Freiburg im Breisgau – as it did in dozens of other cities around the world. This event was an initiative by committed individuals to creatively develop solutions to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. In the inspiring Lokhalle (a former locomotive depot), four spontaneously formed teams tackled questions related to three of these goals, which were further adapted to the local context of Freiburg.
Infometis sent Patrick Steiger as a design thinking coach to one of these teams. Under his guidance, the six Freiburg residents energetically and enthusiastically developed a solution for networking owner-operated businesses that already operate sustainably. Interviews with four of the businesses clearly showed that they feel like "lone wolves," are not currently recognized by the city, and lack the time and resources to create a systematic network on their own.
The team developed a vision for such a network and, as a concrete first step, a concept for a kick-off event. Tests in the form of telephone conversations with three leaders of sustainably operating businesses confirmed the relevance of the proposed solution. All three participants indicated they would welcome such a network and would definitely attend the initial event as proposed by the team.
From Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, the team went through a coach-led design thinking process to ensure that the final presentation would produce a result that answered the initial question.
The design thinking process
Design Thinking is a framework for solving relevant problems. The team chose the design challenge: How can we create a more sustainable and livable Freiburg city center? To address this broad task, the problem had to be broken down into a relevant question, for which a concrete solution was then developed.
The basis for this development process is the Design Tinking Mindset. This includes:
- Cooperation
- Human-centered approach
- creativity
- Results-oriented
It is the coach's task to convey this mindset to the participants and to provide them with the framework in which they can put this attitude into practice.
Over two and a half days of intensive collaboration , the six randomly selected participants transformed into a solution-oriented team. To sharpen the problem definition in a human-centered way, the team was briefly divided into two groups. These groups cycled to the city center to conduct interviews with shop owners. On that sunny autumn Saturday in the tourist town of Freiburg, this proved to be a significant challenge for our design thinkers. Would they be able to find business owners willing to spare 20 minutes for an interview? The coach provided methodological tips and instructed them to return to the Lokhalle in two hours with the collected data.
Both groups successfully conducted two interviews each. Combined with the experience of a participant who is herself a shop owner, the material was sufficient to refine the problem as follows: How can we help owner-operated businesses that operate sustainably to network more easily so that they achieve greater visibility?
The coach then guided them to develop many solutions using a specific creativity technique (a mixture of 6-3-5 and the Google Design Studio), from which the most promising ones could then be pursued further.
From the 34 initial ideas generated, eight solutions were condensed and further developed into two prototypes. Human-centered work also includes testing these prototypes with the stakeholders. In this case (it was a Sunday), the relevance of the solution concepts was verified through telephone interviews with three shop owners who had been interviewed the previous day.
The results-oriented nature of the Global Goals Jam arose from the fact that on Sunday afternoon, a jury and the interested public wanted to see a concrete solution to the problem presented.
The role of the Design Thinking Coach
The coach has the following moderation tasks:
- Time management → Implement time-boxing to force results ("There's never enough time.")
- Teaching methods → Promoting the application of the Design Thinking mindset
- Technical application → Guidance so that participants can fully concentrate on the content
- Focus → Intervene when the team gets lost in details
- Motivation → If the team is in the «groan zone» (roughly in the middle of the process) and feeling desperate, make sure they see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Conclusion
Design Thinking is a highly intensive format of activities that allows a team to turbocharge its resources to such an extent that only 15 working hours were needed, from clarifying the problem (How can sustainable businesses be networked?) to finding a solution (a vision for a network with a kick-off event) to presenting it to a jury. The team bonded, and above all, there was the fun and enjoyment of working on a sustainability topic. Thanks to the Design Thinking coach, the team members were able to fully dedicate themselves to the problem at hand.
