Design Thinking means, as the name implies: thinking (and acting) like a designer. Being curious, restless and constantly challenging business-as-usual. It is all about solving problems in a people-oriented way.

At Being Guided we combine Design Thinking as a method to enable measurable increases in AI-powered market-facing engagements, across all areas of the organisation and its buyside and sellside ecosystem.

Focusing on AI-powered Innovation

This applies to everything in business, public sector and nonprofit organisations: optimising AI-powered innovation for market-facing engagements. This means:

1. Setting clear, achievable Goals that everyone understands and buys into.
2. Implifying and streamlining Processes that deliver on the Goals.
3. Asigning and measuring the execution of Tasks that fulfill the Processes.

The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design and Stanford University (the d.school) enabled Design Thinking as a mult-stage method for innovation and Mutual Value Discovery between buyers and sellers. As you will see below, this is a very easy to understand, common sense approach.

Inspired by Stanford d.school

The Stanford d.school method provides seven (7) stages—Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test, Iterate and Implement. This offers a structured yet flexible framework to better understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems, and for us at Being Guided, rapidly create AI-powered digital innovations.

Stage 01. Empathize

Purpose: Understanding the users and their needs.

Application in AI-powered Innovation: In-depth user research, such as interviews, surveys, and observation, provides insights into user behaviours, needs, and motivations. This is crucial to ensure that the solution developed genuinely addresses real problems.

Stage 02. Define

Purpose: Clearly articulating the problem to be solved.

Application in AI-powered Innovation: After gathering user insights, define the core problem in a user-centered manner. This stage is about synthesising observations and articulating the problem in a way that guides the development of digital solutions.

Stage 03. Ideate

Purpose: Generating a range of creative ideas to solve the defined problem.

Application in AI-powered Innovation: This phase involves brainstorming and exploring a wide array of potential solutions, encouraging out-of-the-box thinking. It's essential for digital innovation as it embraces creativity and leads to the discovery of unique and effective digital solutions.

Stage 04. Prototype

Purpose: Turning ideas into tangible products.

Application in AI-powered Innovation: Prototyping involves developing scaled-down versions of the product or its specific features. Prototyping is crucial for visualising how digital solutions work and for gathering feedback before full-scale Implementation at stage 07.

Stage 05. Test

Purpose: Gathering feedback and refining the prototype.

Application in AI-powered Innovation: Testing includes formal test automation plus user trials and feedback collection on the solution. This helps in understanding the user experience, identifying issues, and validating the effectiveness of digitisation.

Stage 6. Iterate

Purpose: Try, This, Try That (T4) - fail fast, be brave!

Application in AI-powered Innovation: Iterating takes you back through any other previous stages and ensures that a mindset of continuous improvement is adopted and where moving fast does not mean breaking things, but every stakeholder fully engaged.

Stage 7. Implement

Purpose: Finalising the solution and launching it.

Application in AI-powered Innovation: The final stage involves finalising the design based on testing feedback, completing the development, and launching the solution. This phase ensures that the digital innovation is polished, user-tested, and ready for everyday use.