After utilizing Interviews and a Journey Map to complete the empathy stage of the design thinking process, my next step was to synthesize and define the data that I gathered.

IDEO’s Design Kit (2015) and Stanford’s Bootleg Bootcamp (2016) provide an array of methods to assist with uncovering patterns and relationships from the data. After careful consideration, I opted to go with IDEO’s Storyboard method (2015) as it dovetailed nicely with the planned digital resource that I’m considering for Assignment 2.

The planned digital resource would be a tool to transition the current training and troubleshooting methods of my company’s Help Desk from the current document-laden format to an interactive digital product. The Storyboard method can assist with “visually plotting out elements of your product or service” and “refine what your idea is and reveal who will use it, where, how” (IDEO, 2015. para 1). Interestingly, the Storyboard enabled me to actually start to plot out the routes my interviewed representatives took when troubleshooting a specific customer issue.

The Empathy and Define stages of the design thinking process were key steps as they assisted me with understanding the interviewees thought processes, pain points, and roadmap to a solution. These routes will become the basis for how my planned digital resource can take shape in the upcoming prototype.

References:

IDEO. (2015). Design kit – Methods. Retrieved from http://www.designkit.org/methods/35

Stanford University Institute of Design. (2016). Bootcamp bootleg.  Retrieved from http://dschool-old.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/METHODCARDS-v3-slim.pdf