The Interplay of cooking and Design Thinking
We at Turian Labs recently had an opportunity to work with a large Indian conglomerate for creating a learning module on ‘Design Thinking and its applications in the business context.’ As part of the project, we curated numerous methods and tools aligned to the various stages of Design Thinking. While I spent most of my day detailing and breaking down the collaborative process better, I also took occasional breaks to the kitchen to cook a few quick meals. Since we are operating in a work from home scenario, I was practically working on both the activities simultaneously for over a month. I had a realization in terms of how the ‘art of cooking’ is no different from powering through a ‘Design Thinking’ methodology.
Gathering ingredients
Cooking: Every time a recipe gets going, the first step is to check for the ingredients and the total time it would take to prep and cook. Are all the ingredients available? Is there enough time to complete the process? An easy recipe is the one with limited ingredients and relatable processes. The lesser ingredients in hand, the easier it gets to jump-start a recipe. Cooking always has its set of limitations and through these, emerge new opportunities.
Design Thinking (DT): At the beginning of each project, we plan the scope and the time it would take to achieve the goal. How would the team go about the various stages? Define the brief, timeline and the various stakeholders involved along with areas that are out of scope. Create a longitudinal view of the entire project during the planning phase. Embrace the limitations to further refine the objective of the project.
Custom made pies
C: The next step after gathering the ingredients is to get the recipe started. But one should always keep in mind the final audience which will be savouring the dish. It is important to take into account the users’ likes and dislikes just like being considerate of the diners’ favourites or if they are allergic to some ingredient.
DT: Empathizing with the users helps to set aside one’s own assumptions and judgments to gain real insight into the users’ motivations and frustrations. As a takeaway, all users have different schools of thought and functioning processes. Detail out their mental models by understanding their experiences. Try to create ‘moments of delight’ for the users based on these experiences.
Keep the data stewing
C: More the stewing, the better the taste. There is no room for impatience and hurry while cooking. Take the time, savor the process and hope it turns out good.
DT: Similarly, synthesize the data gathered from users as much as possible. Keep re-looking at it to form new meanings and connections. Hunt for micro-stories from users that highlight their experiences. Redefining a brief must take into consideration a holistic view that includes all the critical influences and stakeholders in a process. Through this process of constant rumination, various areas of opportunity start emerging.
The equilibrium of flavors
C: Every dish is a tasteful balance of the five flavors — sweet, sour, bitter, spice and salt. One has to keep experimenting, changing techniques to ensure that the final dish is maintaining an equilibrium of flavors. There is a little bit of tasting, to ensure the essence is setting into the dish.
DT: All the data stewed is put to use by generating ideas. These ideas cannot just be biased on personal preferences. The flavors of Design Thinking, help in maintaining a balance in the ideas. Is the idea desirable? Is it technically feasible? Is it viable for the business? The three lenses of innovation, which include factors of desirability, viability and feasibility have to be taken into consideration to hit the sweet spot (opportunity area).
Taste early, taste often
C: The best way to know if a recipe is working is to taste it. The more one tastes, the closer one gets to refining it to perfection. Keep tasting, refining and tasting again. No one waits for the recipe to completely evolve to taste it. Constant checks and micro validations help in achieving the final zing in the recipe.
DT: The same applies to any idea that the team generates. Create rough versions of the idea that can be tested easily. A prototype is a scaled-down version of the solution, which can either be a simulation, product mock, or paper sketches. Any rough incarnation of the idea being conveyed is good enough to be tested. ‘Fail early, fail often’ to ensure the final output becomes the ‘Minimum Lovable Product.’ The advantage here is getting multiple versions of iterative feedback in the shortest time period.
Serve and observe
C: On completion of cooking, the next step would be to serve the dish and observe the reactions of the diners. One not only observes what they like in order to incorporate for another meal but also notice what went wrong. This helps in avoiding errors when the recipe is on trial once again.
DT: Similarly, validate the final prototype with multiple stakeholders involved. Observe how they interact. What did they love about it? Was there anything they did not understand? Record and remember their reactions for another round of iteration. Retain what they loved and reiterate on what they complained about.
Evaluate and Evolve
C: A recipe does not perfect itself the very first time. After serving a new recipe that is now familiar, there is always a scope for minor additions or subtractions. Every time the dish is recreated, there is always a minor tweak to it in the hope of nearing perfection.
DT: The same goes for the final solution that emerged through the process. There is always room for improvement. The final solution that meets the users’ needs and expectations is then executed in the market.
Every stage of the Design Thinking process is relatable to numerous daily activities one does subconsciously. When applied to different domains, it aids in systematically revamping the challenge area.
In conclusion, Design Thinking as a practice is not to be seen in isolation. It is an everyday approach, when practiced over a period of time becomes an ingrained culture.
