Our SAP Design Thinking Journey with Science World

[Jason_Cao]

As a junior Design Thinking coach, I'm glad that SAP in Vancouver and Science World have established a strong community partnership. This relationship is what brought Bryan Tisdall, CEO of Science World in Vancouver, and SAP's Design Thinkers together to solve a very interesting challenge.

Over a 3-day period, our small group of Design Thinking coaches went about applying Design Thinking techniques in attempt to solve the challenge . Here's my photo 'scrapbook' of our journey:

What's obviously important in the Design Thinking process are things like taking the time to understand our clients, testing the prototypes, and then continuously improving on the concepts and ideas.

Here are a few others things that aren't as obvious, and I think just as important:

• Possibilities instead of perfectionism - the Design Thinking process is messy, dynamic and reflects this ever-changing world we live in. Freeing ourselves from the unrealistic expectation to create the perfect solution is liberating and opens up a new world of possibilities for us (and most importantly, our clients). 
• Diversity leads to creativity - It's amazing how creative a group of people can be when they have different backgrounds, areas of expertise, and especially, different opinions and ways of doing things. Look no further than this community as a great example of how we have benefited from such diversity.
• Space to reflect and focus - As important as it was for us to take time to engage with our clients and prospective end users and understand their needs and wants, I think we also needed to then shut ourselves in a room for while. This is the chance for reflection, brainstorming, convergence, and rapid-prototyping. (See Enjoy the Silence about the positive effects of silence.)

The Design Thinking journey with Science World is only beginning. Other Design Thinking teams within SAP's Development team continue to work with Bryan and the Science World leadership team to create an innovative and relevant solution, and bring science to the city.

I invite you to share below what you think makes Design Thinking effective.

Please follow me Twitter (@JayChaos) for more updates on SAP and Design Thinking.