Design thinking is a way of being

Someone asked me the other day if we can “do a design thinking workshop?”.

I wasn’t sure how to respond.

Design thinking isn’t done once, in a workshop, and then all your problems are solved.

It’s alive, and requires continuous learning, experimentation, and iteration, over an extended period of time.

It’s about creating a culture of always trying new things; a culture where management is OK with people taking risks and experimenting as they think they need to be.

It’s ongoing; not static.

If you want to think like a designer, you need to think inclusively, accessibly, empathetically, and intelligently. Good designers are known for really understanding the problems they’re facing, and then designing solutions, testing them, and iterating on them, until they’re closer to right then they were before.

Design thinking isn’t a thing you do. It’s a way you think.

It’s a way of being.