My Process
Regardless of the agile methodology or design thinking framework, I approach all assignments with the same personal process. I developed this structure as a way to ensure that I have truly understood the ask and defined what successful fulfillment looks like.
Steps in my Personal Process
1. Understanding
Build understanding through knowledge transfer. Listen to the client and stakeholders and ask questions in interviews and workshops and by consumption of shared materials.
4. Visualize
Convert the information, ideas, relationships and/or processes into illustrations (ex: diagrams, prototypes, journey maps, etc.), which may be reviewed in a working session. This is often when we define current vs a potential future state.
2. Define
Collaborate with the client to diagnose problems, define success, expectations, minimum viable product, and nice-to-haves.
5. Research
Test hypothesis with hands-on interaction such as a user study and report back findings, recommendations, and next steps.
3. Distill
Reduce everything down to single-sentence questions that my work will answer when completed.
6. Implement
Convert findings into action items and user stories. Nurture stories through requirements gathering to launch via the CI/CD pipeline.
Build a Scarecrow
I like to say that "First ideas are worst ideas" so get those ideas out on paper in way that people can pull them apart easily and correct them. Like a 'strawman' argument in a debate this idea is my representation of what you asked for and likely also incorrect in some way. Let's dismantle it together.