Design Thinking Facilitation

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Design Thinking tasks - Working on facilitate design thinking workshops using stanford d.school's 5-phase methodology. guides teams through empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test phases for human-centered innovation
• Planning or design - Need guidance on Design Thinking approaches
• Best practices - Want to follow established patterns and standards

Overview

Design Thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.

The 5 Phases

Phase 1: Empathize

Purpose: Build deep understanding of users and their needs.

Techniques:

• User Interviews: Structured conversations to understand behaviors, motivations, pain points
• Observation: Watch users in their natural environment
• Immersion: Experience the problem firsthand
• Empathy Maps: Capture what users Say, Think, Do, Feel

Outputs:

• Interview transcripts
• Observation notes
• Empathy maps
• User quotes and insights

Facilitation Prompts:

• "What surprised you about the user's experience?"
• "What emotions did the user express?"
• "What workarounds has the user created?"
• "What did the user struggle with?"

Phase 2: Define

Purpose: Synthesize observations into actionable problem statements.

Techniques:

• Affinity Mapping: Cluster insights into themes
• POV Statements: [User] needs [need] because [insight]
• How Might We (HMW): Reframe problems as opportunities

POV Statement Template:

[User type] needs a way to [user need] because [surprising insight].

HMW Question Guidelines:

• Broad enough to allow creative solutions
• Narrow enough to be actionable
• Not include a solution in the question
• Example: "How might we help developers understand unfamiliar codebases faster?"

Outputs:

• Affinity diagram
• POV statement(s)
• HMW questions (prioritized)

Phase 3: Ideate

Purpose: Generate a wide range of possible solutions.

Techniques:

• Brainstorming Rules: Defer judgment, encourage wild ideas, build on others' ideas, stay on topic, one conversation at a time, be visual, go for quantity
• Crazy 8s: 8 ideas in 8 minutes (1 minute per idea)
• SCAMPER: Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to other uses, Eliminate, Reverse
• Mind Mapping: Visual exploration of solution space
• Worst Possible Idea: Invert to find good ideas

Outputs:

• Idea wall / post-it collection
• Prioritized solution concepts
• Storyboards for top ideas

Facilitation Prompts:

• "What if we had unlimited budget?"
• "What would a competitor do?"
• "What's the opposite of the obvious solution?"
• "What would make this 10x better?"

Phase 4: Prototype

Purpose: Build to think and learn quickly.

Prototype Types:

• Paper Prototypes: Sketches, wireframes, paper mockups
• Role Playing: Act out the service/experience
• Storyboards: Visual narratives of the experience
• Digital Mockups: Clickable wireframes (Figma, Sketch)
• Wizard of Oz: Fake the backend, real frontend

Prototype Principles:

• Build quickly (hours, not days)
• Invest just enough to learn
• Make it tangible and testable
• Be willing to throw it away

Outputs:

• Physical or digital prototype
• Test script
• Success metrics

Phase 5: Test

Purpose: Learn from user feedback and iterate.

Testing Approach:

1. Set up realistic scenario
2. Observe without leading
3. Ask open-ended questions
4. Capture both verbal and non-verbal feedback
5. Thank and debrief

Testing Questions:

• "What do you think this is for?"
• "Walk me through how you would use this"
• "What's confusing about this?"
• "What would you change?"
• "Would you use this? Why or why not?"

Outputs:

• Feedback synthesis
• Iteration recommendations
• Decision: iterate, pivot, or proceed

Workshop Facilitation Guide

Preparation Checklist

• Define scope and challenge
• Identify and recruit users (5-7 for interviews)
• Prepare interview guides
• Gather supplies (sticky notes, markers, paper, timer)
• Set up collaboration space (physical or virtual)
• Define success criteria

Time Allocation (1-Day Workshop)

Phase	Duration	Activities
Empathize	2 hours	Share research, create empathy maps
Define	1.5 hours	Affinity mapping, POV, HMW questions
Ideate	1.5 hours	Brainstorm, Crazy 8s, prioritize
Prototype	1.5 hours	Build quick prototypes
Test	1.5 hours	User feedback, synthesis

AI-Facilitated Discovery

When facilitating asynchronously with AI:

1. Gather Context: Collect all available user research, analytics, feedback
2. Synthesize Empathy: Generate empathy maps from existing data
3. Frame Problems: Draft POV statements and HMW questions for validation
4. Generate Ideas: Propose diverse solutions using SCAMPER
5. Create Artifacts: Generate storyboards, user flows, wireframe descriptions
6. Plan Testing: Define testable hypotheses and success metrics

Integration Points

Inputs from:

• User research data
• Customer feedback
• Analytics and usage data
• Stakeholder interviews

Outputs to:

• lean-startup skill: Validated problem → Build hypothesis
• persona-development skill: Empathy insights → Persona creation
• jtbd-analysis skill: User needs → Job mapping
• opportunity-mapping skill: Problems → Opportunity tree

References

For additional Design Thinking resources, see: