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The problem with Design Thinking is that Design Thinking has become a cargo-cult of meaningless buzzwords and hot air. The same can be said about Agile -- it's
by Jorge1o1 3y ago
The problem with Design Thinking is that Design Thinking has become a cargo-cult of meaningless buzzwords and hot air. The same can be said about Agile -- it's just a collection of buzzwords loosely connected into a "framework" or "approach" or "school of thought" but it's certainly difficult to put an exact pin on what exactly DT and Agile entail.
But if we can't agree on the specifics -- at least we can agree on the broad points right?
- Agile is about iterating quickly, making smaller changes more frequently, etc.
- DT is about empathizing with the end user, considering the problem before solving it, and then attempting to fix it and asking for feedback
The problem is, once you cut through all the bullshit, you're left with what is really just common-sense wisdom. So they're faced with a choice:
- Either you teach the core concept sans-BS, which can't be monetized.
- Or you build an entire ecosystem of hot air, buzzwords, tooling, artifacts, blog posts and rituals around your obvious wisdom, which is how we ended up with Stories and Sprints and User Points and Epics and JIRA and Scrum and all the other crap. You can now sell $12,000 bootcamps, $100k software, etc.
- marcosdumay 3y ago> Agile is about iterating quickly, making smaller changes more frequently, etc. Agile is about revising the plan frequently to adjust it for reality. All of those things are tools, not the goal; and if you do all of them but still don't revise the plan, you won't get any of the benefit.
- Jorge1o1 3y agoGood point actually, thanks.
- marcosdumay 3y agoGranted, it's even a bit hard to make fast iterations without revising the plan, so it's natural to ignore the difference. But some management structures achieve just that.
- tsunamifury 3y agoAgile is clearly defined below Design thinking is letting user requirements and their actual use cases dictate product definition and execution rather than feature cram and technology momentum. It's literally the base of Steve Jobs most famous speech before launching the iPod -- it's not about Mips and Bips, it's about the experience users wants. Something the author of this gets insanely wrong. Like the author, you complain about something rather simple and obvious to understand -- then just sort of... rant.