1. Design
Project
Management
Design Thinking &
Project Management
Bruce Gay, PMP

2. Agenda
1. Introduction
2. What is Design?
3. Key Elements of Design Thinking
4. Why Design Thinking?
5. The How (Tools & Methods)
6. Future State - Where things are going
7. Design Resources
Design
Project
Management

3. Personas – Who are You?
1. New to Design Thinking – Skeptical about “touchy feely” aspects of
human-centered design
• Minimal or no experience with Agile methodology
• Worried design will drive up cost and schedule risk on projects
2. Wants to control “Scope Creep” & deliver products that delight the
customer
• Experienced PM who manages complex projects where
requirements are vague or not known at the start of a project
• Waterfall methodologies have not provided 100% success in the
past
3. Wants to apply human-centered design to her organization’s projects
• Open to applying new thinking to product or service delivery
• Her organization is supportive of embedding Design Thinking into
the business as a strategy for innovation
Design
Project
Management

4. A Call to Action
Design
Project
Management

5. Did you know that Design is "old news"?
As Project Managers we are late to this party.
Design
Project
Management

6. Design
Project
Management
The Future for PMs
The future of
Project Management
is deeply linked with Design.

7. The Need for Design Thinkers
Design thinking has emerged as a major trend for how innovative organizations
are approaching problem solving.
Design thinking encourages innovative solutions by drawing on approaches from
engineering and design and combining them with ideas from the arts, social
sciences, and the business world.
For Project Managers, Design it is particularly significant for exploring and then
narrowing the scope of requirements for a project in a way that generates non-
typical solutions to a challenge.
Source: TwentyEighty Strategy Execution, Inc.
Design
Project
Management

8. Design Thinking encourages a more strategic
approach to Project Management.
Design
Project
Management

9. Design is what other people do? Wrong!
Even non-designers can do Design.
Design
Project
Management

10. What is Design?
Design
Project
Management

11. Examples of Design
Design
Project
Management

12. “ Design is not a one-shot vaccine;
it’s an ‘innovation fitness program’ that puts
an organization on top of its game.
It is not an ‘event’, it is a way of thinking,
communicating and doing every day. ”
Heather Fraser
THE ROTMAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS,
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
What is Design
Design
Project
Management

13. Design is not just
something layered on
at the end. It’s not
lipstick on a pig.
Design
Project
Management

14. Good Design is about building the right thing,
not just making things look pretty.
Design
Project
Management

15. Design is complementary to what you do now.
Design
Project
Management
Design
Engineering

16. Key Elements of Design Thinking
Design
Project
Management

17. Design Thinking represents the democratization
and application of problem-solving
methodologies that are integral to Design.
Design
Project
Management

18. Key Elements of Design Thinking
Design
Project
Management
People-centered.
Empathy is at the core.

19. Design
Project
Management
Extensive Collaboration.
Key Elements of Design Thinking

20. Design
Project
Management
Highly creative.
Strives for diverse
viewpoints.
Key Elements of Design Thinking

21. Design
Project
Management
All about doing.
Being hands-on.
Key Elements of Design Thinking

22. Design
Project
Management
Iterative.
Key Elements of Design Thinking

23. Why Design Thinking?
Design
Project
Management

24. Design is a cross-cutting product development
activity that should be top to bottom.
Project Managers should not run from Design,
they should be driving it.
Design
Project
Management

25. “Design Thinking is the creative and
systematic approach to problem
solving by placing the user at the
center of the experience.”
Prof. Anthony Mayo
HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL
Design
Project
Management

26. Design Drives Business Value
Over the past 10 years,
design-driven companies
outperformed the S&P 500
Index by 219%.
Source: The Design Management Institute (DMI)
Design
Project
Management

27. Design Helps to Mitigate Risk / Failure
Source: Accenture and CEA 2011
Design
Project
Management
of returned consumer electronic products have no defects…95%
68%
worked properly but didn’t meet customers expectations.
(They either thought it was broken or it did not work properly.)
In 2011, this represented a $17 billion problem in the U.S. alone.

28. Design Reduces Overall Development Costs
1x
10x
100x
RELATIVE COST
TO REPAIR
Tom Gilb
SOFTWARE ENGINEER
AUTHOR OF “PRINCIPLES OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT” (1988)
Design (concept)
Development
Released
Design
Project
Management

29. Design Promotes Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Design
Engineering Business
Human
Sciences
Design facilitates
collaboration among
these key disciplines
Design
Project
Management
Effective teamwork requires a
common language and set of
methods and principles that
everyone can participate in.

30. The Cost of Design is Not All That High
Source: Nielsen, Jakob, and Landauer, Thomas K.: "A mathematical model of the finding of usability problems,“ Proceedings
of ACM INTERCHI'93 Conference (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 24-29 April 1993), pp. 206-213.
Design
Project
Management

31. The How
(Tools / Methods)
Design
Project
Management

32. Design Thinking is not magic. There is rigor to it.
You can learn it. You can practice it, you can get
better at it.
Design is a set of tools to solve problems.
Design
Project
Management

33. “Design Thinking stresses the need
to rapidly prototype the solution so
that the designers can get feedback
as quickly as possible.”
Prof. Sarah Soule
STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Design
Project
Management

34. Discovery
Synthesis
Creation
Validation
Generic Design Model
Design
Project
Management
Iterative

35. There are Many Models of Design
Source: Stephanie Gioia, Director of Consulting, XPLANE, inc.
Design
Project
Management

36. Stanford Design School Process
Design
Project
Management
No single process or toolkit serves every case. Design
has as variety of processes and tools that people
customize to serve their needs.
The five step process from the Stanford Design School
is a model that is broadly used and has proven value.
Source: Stanford University Institute of Design
Empathize
Define
Ideate
Prototype
Test

37. As a Project Manager, you need to understand
whatever design process you are using and
account for it.
Design
Project
Management

38. Future State - Where things are going
Design
Project
Management

39. The Future – Applying Design to PM Practice
There are softer, more intangible benefits of Design.
Design provides a toolbox. There are different tools that Project Managers
can use.
There are different applications:
• Process improvements
• Stakeholder participation
• Requirements gathering
• Experience design
Design
Project
Management

40. When faced with a tough business challenge --
tackle it as a design problem!
Design
Project
Management

41. Summary of Takeaways
1. The future of Project Management is deeply linked with Design.
2. Design Thinking encourages a more strategic approach to Project Management.
3. Good Design is about building the right thing, not just making things look pretty.
4. Good Design is about problem solving.
5. Even non-designers can do Design.
6. Design is not magic. There is rigor to it. You can practice it, you can get better at it.
7. Project Managers should not run from Design, they should be driving it.
8. Project Managers need to understand whatever Design process they
are using and account for it.
Design
Project
Management

42. Design Resources
Design
Project
Management

43. Where to Go for More Information
Design
Project
Management
• IDEO
• Frog Design
• Stanford d.school
• Luma Institute
• IBM Design Thinking

44. Design
Project
Management
Thank you.
Bruce Gay, PMP
LinkedIn & Twitter : brucegay