In my various years of teaching companies and teams how to use design thinking I stumbled quite often over a few often seen misunderstandings.
"Yes I know design thinking, we did it once and it took 4 days"
A classic even in the community of product professionals. Its still surprising how many people mix up the "Design Sprint" with the whole toolset of Design Thinking.
Here are further most seen misunderstandings of design thinking you should be aware of:
Design thinking is only for designers: One of the most common misunderstandings of design thinking is that it is only for designers or creative professionals. I saw this misconception already in big companies which thought of themselves to be full flagged agile and user-centered. Design thinking can be used by anyone, regardless of their background or profession, I would even say in a design thinking session there should be not more than 1-2 designers!
Design thinking is a rigid process: Another misconception is that design thinking is a rigid, step-by-step process that must be followed exactly. In reality, design thinking is a flexible framework that can be adapted to suit the needs of the project and the team. If you are a really experienced facilitator you can change the process in the minute you identify the need for another step or method.
Design thinking is only for creating products: While design thinking is often used to create new products, it can also be applied to solve problems in a wide range of industries, such as healthcare, education, and government.
Design thinking is only about creativity: While creativity is an important part of design thinking, it is not the only focus. Design thinking also involves empathy, research, and iteration to arrive at effective solutions, it is also a very powerful tool for alignment and stakeholder management.
Design thinking is a magic bullet: Some people believe that design thinking is a magic bullet that can solve all problems. While design thinking can be a powerful tool, it is not a guarantee of success and should be used in conjunction with other problem-solving approaches. This is the hardest part to identify the need and also to understand when its not working. Also to be aware of: Sometimes you need a few sessions to solve a problem, unexperienced teams tend to take one failed design thinking sessions as an argument for "design thinking is not working on this problem"
Design thinking is a one-time process: Finally, some people believe that design thinking is a one-time process that is only used at the beginning of a project. In reality, design thinking is an ongoing process that involves iteration and feedback throughout the project lifecycle.
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