Post-Graduate Diploma in Management
Area: Strategy, Innovation & Entrepreneurship (SIE)
Course Title: Design Thinking & Innovation
Course Faculty
Course Description:
The scale, scope & speed at which change is happening today is unprecedented and
this is increasing the complexity and uncertainty in the present day business
environment. We need to constantly find newer ways to cope up which this change
both at an individual & corporate level. To address the challenges and problems of
today and of future organizations can’t solely rely on analytical tools and capabilities
but have to adopt a lot of creative and innovative tools. Design thinking provides us
with an approach for dealing with complexities and ill-defined problems.
Design thinking is a powerful structured approach to solving an unstructured problem
that begins with understanding unmet customer needs. It’s a human-centered design
process that approaches problem-solving with empathy for the user. It encompasses
observing the users to develop insights about their behavior, concept development,
applied creativity, prototyping, and experimentation. This approach was initially
employed at STANFORD as a systematic and structured way to product design. Over
the years, it was found to be relevant to solve real world problems, which are largely
unstructured or ill-structured. The ability to develop creative, out of box solutions to
real time problems or gaps that are faced by businesses and societies can be harnessed
by employing the tools of Design Thinking. When design thinking approaches are
applied to business, the success rate for innovation has been seen to improve
substantially.
The aim of the course is to introduce the concept of Design thinking through focused
workshops to students in a manner such that they can use the processes of active
experimentation, concrete experience, reflective observation and abstract
conceptualization to solve real world problems and make a difference. By learning the
methods of observation, visualization, and ideation, and applying them in a process of
active exploration and feedback, students gradually develop the confidence to work
with such challenging and messy problems.
Learning Objectives
1. Develop familiarization with design thinking as a human-centered approach to
solve ill-structured problems
2. Develop an empathetic worldview by interacting with potential users, framing
actionable problems statements by observing and developing insights.
3. Sharpen their interviewing and observation skills to understand and frame a
problem.
4. Overcoming mental barriers, ideating and rapid prototyping by incorporating
user feedback repeatedly to test ideas with actual users and iteration.
5. Develop an appreciation of the impact of design thinking on organizations and
how they solve problems using the structured design thinking cycle in a
variety of real-life contexts.
6. Develop skills in creative thinking and developing innovative and alternative
solutions to problems.
Pedagogy:
An array of pedagogical methods is utilized, including case studies, in-class
presentations, lecture-demonstrations & team projects. This process encourages co-
design, participatory learning and technology redefinition to create a rich educational
experience. By way of experiential learning and connecting the classroom to the
larger world students are empowered to discover, explore and inquire into issues of
local, national and global implications, resulting in creative, critical, confident,
reflective and internationally minded individuals.
Session Details
Session SESSIONS: 1-4
1-2. Introduction to Design Thinking (DT)
• What is Design Thinking & Why it is Important
• Creativity & Innovation
• Observation (Look, Ask & Try)
• What is Human Centered Design (HCD)
• Journey Map
• Videos
Unstructured Problem Solving
3-4 • Phases of Design Thinking
• Identifying Pain Points or Unmet Needs
• Steps in Design Thinking
• Compressed Hands on Exercise to go Through Entire DT Cycle
• Initial Discussion on Projects
• Exercises & Videos
5-6 SESSIONS: 5-8
Debrief on Earlier Day & Group Project
EMPATHY
• Framing the problem statement – what really is the issue?
• What-Why-How
• Observation Methods
• Interviewing and Storytelling skills
• Immersion
• Laddering & Webbing Process
Experiential Learning (Examples, Videos & Exercises)
7-8 • Depth Interview Techniques
• Asking Good Questions
• Observations & Immersion
• Developing Empathy Map
DEFINE
• Affinity Mapping
• Developing User Personas
• Identifying Patterns
• Proposed Project Discussions
• Developing Research Plan
SESSIONS: 9-10
9-10 GAINING INSIGHTS
• What is an Insight
• How Insight is Different from Fact, Observation & Inference
• Characteristics of an INSIGHT
• Problem Framing
SESSIONS: 11-14
Moving From Insights to Ideas
11-12 INSIGHT FRAME IDEA
(What you find) (What you do) (How you do)
• Ideation-Methods of Ideation
• Divergent & Convergent Techniques
• Breaking Fixedness
13 RAPID PROTOTYPING
• Importance of Prototyping
• Types of Prototyping
• De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats
• Selecting your Best POV for Prototyping
14 DESIGN CHALLENGE
• Prototype Display
• Prototype Testing
• Getting Feedback
• Going Back to DT Loop
SESSIONS: 15-16
15-16 FINAL PROTOTYPE DISPLAY
Group Presentations
(CLOSURE of Workshop)
EVALUATION
Students will be evaluated on the basis of case analysis, group projects, class
participation, and Essay. The weightage given to each of these units is listed below:
• Class Participation 20%
• Group Project submission 50%
• Individual Assignment 30%
