Double-Diamond Design
There are two phases of design work: to define a problem and develop a solution. Each phase has a diverge and converge element. Defining problems begins by understanding of space and the awareness that all problems can’t be solved. Then it converges on how to best serve customers in a distinctive way. For solution development we also can’t build all solutions, so we need to find quick and dirty ways to converge on solutions. A risk in the design process is to jump to solutions and developing a minimum viable product (MVP) without conducting customer interviews, ethnography, strength and weaknesses of viable products, and survey work. In a way this saves four weeks of problem definition and wasting four months on solution development to develop a MVP, test it, and find out it does not work. The odds of getting something right when trying something new are very low.
In Double-Diamond Design sometimes it is possible to flip the diamonds and get inventions out of the lab. Still requires doing the same work.
Credit: Thomas Eisenmann, Harvard Business School.