Design-oriented firms such as Apple and IDEO have demonstrated how
design thinking can directly affect business results. Yet most managers
lack a real sense of how to put this new approach to use for issues
other than product development and sales growth. Solving Problems with
Design Thinking details 10 real-world examples of managers who
successfully applied design methods at 3M, Toyota, IBM, Intuit, and SAP;
entrepreneurial start-ups such as MeYou Health; and government and
social sector organizations including the City of Dublin and Denmark's
The Good Kitchen.
Using design skills such as ethnography, visualization, storytelling,
and experimentation, these managers produced innovative solutions to
problems concerning strategy implementation, sales force support,
internal process redesign, feeding the elderly, engaging citizens, and
the trade show experience. Here they elaborate on the challenges they
faced and the processes and tools they used, offering their personal
perspectives and providing a clear path to implementation based on the
principles and practices laid out in Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Ogilvie's
Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Tool Kit for Managers.