All about design thinking

Design Thinking in Spain is an innovative and collaborative methodology that has become a fundamental tool both for the business environment and the resolution of problems.

In contrast to traditional problem-solving approaches, Design Thinking isn't limited to analyzing the situation and seeking a quick solution, but rather dives into a deep understanding of users' needs, motivations, and context.

Design Thinking is a methodology focused on people, collaborative and flexible to promote innovation. Its main characteristics are:

• User-centered: this technique puts the user at the center of the process, prioritizing their needs, motivations, and context. In this way, it ensures that the products and services developed really satisfy their desires, avoiding solutions that are merely intuitive or based on assumptions.
• Iterative and non-linear: it is characterized by its iterative nature, where each stage of the process is continuously fed back and fine-tuned. This allows for greater flexibility and adaptability, enabling ideas and solutions to evolve based on the learnings obtained during experimentation and user testing.
• Collaborative and multidisciplinary: collaboration between disciplines, such as design, engineering, psychology, or business, allows problems to be addressed in a comprehensive manner and to take into account multiple factors that impact the final solution.
• Focused on action: Design Thinking puts into practice the principle of "learning by doing". Through rapid prototyping and user testing, ideas are materialized and valuable feedback is obtained early in the process.

Work methodologies such as the Agile Methodology and Design Thinking differ mainly in their approach and end goal.

Design Thinking focuses on the user, creativity, and generating innovative ideas. While the Agile Methodology provides the structure and flexibility required to carry out these ideas quickly and efficiently.

Although they have different objectives, both techniques can complement each other. For example, you can use Design Thinking to understand users and generate ideas, and then use Agile Methodology to develop and launch those ideas to the market.

Implementing the Design Thinking methodology in companies and their teams can generate a series of positive changes that impact the company's results.

1. Empathy building: cultivates empathy as an essential skill for understanding people's needs, motivations, and context.
2. Increased creativity: encourages the generation of original ideas that break away from traditional schemes and provide innovative solutions. 
3. Improved decision making: allows decisions to be made based on concrete data and a deep understanding of the user, thus reducing risks and uncertainty.
4. Rapid prototyping: facilitates the creation of functional prototypes quickly and in an economical way. This allows ideas to materialize, to be visualized and tested with users in the early stages of the process.
5. Flexibility and adaptation: Design Thinking is characterized by its flexible and adaptable nature, allowing companies and teams to adjust their strategies and solutions in response to changes in the environment and new user needs.
6. Collaborative culture: promotes teamwork and the participation of people with different perspectives, which enriches the creative process.
7. Increased efficiency: helps to optimize resources and time, thus avoiding unviable solutions or solutions that do not respond to real demands.
8. Risk reduction: by approving ideas with users from the early stages of the process, Design Thinking minimizes risks in the product or service launch.
9. Improved customer satisfaction: the creation of products and services that truly respond to the needs and expectations of users generates greater satisfaction and loyalty.
10. Competitive advantage: allows companies to differentiate themselves from the competition by offering innovative solutions. This differentiation translates into a competitive advantage that can drive organizational growth and success.