Unit 1 - DesignThinking Skills
Design Action Plan
Handout
The Five Characteristics of Action Plan
1 — It is not just a brainstorming session or a “one-day” process.
2 — It is an iterative process.
3 — It contains phases of both divergent and convergent thinking.
4 — It requires everyone to collaborate and go through the process together.
5 — There are deliverables at every phase.
1 — It is not just a brainstorming session or a “one-day” process.
The design action plan is not a process that works instantaneously - it requires time and effort
from committed individuals involved with the same objective to make it work. It is certainly not
a “one-day” process where problems can be solved in 24 hours. There are phases where you
need multiple iterations, testing and checking back with users and exploration where it would
take time to incubate. Some have commercialized design thinking as a “brainstorming” session.
It is not. Remember, design thinking is a 5-step process, and not a 1-step Ideate Phase. It seeks
to define the problem, even as it finds the solution.
2 — It is an iterative process.
The design action plan is an iterative process. You need to repeat each phase backwards and
forwards, and arrive at each decision or desired result, after rounds of discovery. It means to
work on something over and over again until every facet becomes crystal clear. For example,
you can iterate between Ideate and Prototype Phase several times - you sketch ideas and
immediately build prototypes to make rounds and rounds of discovery of the idea. After that,
you may want to go back to the Ideate Phase to refine the ideas yet again.
3 — It contains phases of both divergent and convergent thinking.
The design action plan has phases of both divergent and convergent thinking. The Empathize
and Ideate Phase requires divergent thinking. Divergent thinking is to create and explore ideas
and possibilities, without restraint. Within the phase, you will be encouraged to make guesses,
come out with wild ideas and be creative. The Define, Prototype and Test Phase requires
convergent thinking. Convergent thinking means to actively select and decide the right
solutions to the problem, based on constraints or feedback. Within the phase, you will be
encouraged to analyze and make decisions and constantly ask critical questions to solve the
problems at hand. Both sides of thinking are important in order to make this process work.
QUOTES TO REMEMBER “Divergent thinking is to create and explore ideas and possibilities,
without restraint.” “Convergent thinking is actively selecting and deciding the right solutions to
the problem based on a set of constraints or feedback.”
4 — It requires everyone to collaborate and go through the process together.
The design action plan is made up of phases where everyone, including the design thinking
facilitator, collaborates on the process together. Everyone will bring their prior experiences and
knowledge about the problem to the table and work on the issue together. The process is not
like a hot potato, where you “toss” the responsibility from one individual to another. For
example, the researcher in the Empathize Phase might share with the business lead in the
Define Phase and define the project, which engages a designer to coordinate the Ideate Phase,
and then leave everything to the engineer in the Prototype and Test Phase! But this is not
proper design thinking. Instead, all of them (the researcher, business lead, designer and
engineer) should be in the process from start to end. This is because everyone in the team
requires deep insight into what the issues are and what are the needs of the users- so that
everybody is on the same page. Design thinking is a process where everyone collaborates
together from start till end with a common objective.
5 — There are deliverables at every phase.
There is a deliverable outcome of each action phase which will give you a point of reference
when you go through the process of iteration. This list of deliverables is not exhaustive, but you
do not have to use them all. Based on the nature of your project, select the necessary
deliverable. At the end of each phase we have: