1.4 Two ways of thinking: divergent and convergent thinking

● Prototype – bringing ideas to reality “Never show up to a meeting without a prototype.” says Simon Sinek6. So, what advantage might a prototype bring to the discussion? After generating ideas (many of them!) it’s time to test them in reality. But, testing requires interaction with the solution. This is why visualisation (sketch, storyboard, drawings) or materialisation (mock-up, model done with Lego bricks, walk-through) are very practical examples for prototypes. Their main task is to validate or invalidate the idea, and eventually improve it. This is why very often the prototypes are fast and simple representations of an idea and can be reshaped and corrected. They are far from being perfect!

● Test – let your users interact with the prototyped solution Testing ideas goes much further than asking for verbal feedback. We need to see how our users interact with the new solution! This is why we use prototypes. We want to show them to people, ideally those challenged with the problem we try to solve, and we encourage them to interact with the prototype. Their feedback is precious, with it we’ll be able to see if we are on the right track, or if we need to further research to redefine the problem we identified at the beginning. Thanks to the feedback we might also opt for other solutions that will be more usable or that will create a better customer experience. It is important to note that the Design Thinking stages do not have to be implemented in a sequential way. If for example during the testing phase we will see that our prototypes do not answer the needs of the users, we go back to the ideation phase again. This “going back and forth” is inherent to the process, it is called “iteration”.

1.4 Two ways of thinking: divergent and convergent thinking

Far too often we associate creativity with the ability to produce new ideas and come up with the solutions in an instant. For the design thinking process to work, though, we must alternate between two ways of thinking and acting. First, divergent thinking - opens new possibilities, is exploratory, flexible, non-linear. It might be called improv or, the “Yes, and…” way of thinking. The second, convergent thinking - is the action of structuring, evaluating and selecting among the possibilities that arise. It is more what we would call critical thinking, more analytical and referring to the facts. It would be more of a “Yes, but…” way of thinking, where we try to make sense out of data that we have at our disposal. It is the alternating between both thinking styles that generates creativity. The divergent mode expands the space, the vision we have of things. It generates new data that changes our perspective, fills the holes in our knowledge and completes the map of the problem we

6 Design Thinking. Thinking like a Designer” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vvfi3wZ9pg

are investigating. The convergent mode instead, contracts that space in order to bring out the most important elements and illuminate more concrete choices. Now, understanding those two types of thinking can help you and your team members better understand their capabilities. Among your colleagues it might be easy to recognise who is more the "Yes, and..." type and who is more of a "Yes, but..." type. You can also reflect on your own ”style”. More importantly, a clear definition of the stages in the design thinking process (e.g. it's divergent thinking time!) might help the team to focus on either exploration of new ideas or

analysis and selection of ideas. For example, when in the define phase and we notice the team struggling, we can advocate patience until they are on familiar ground. Switching to thinking modes that are not within their comfort zone helps expand their capabilities. Awareness of this dynamic helps maintain a certain discipline while innovating, which in turn allows for better use of the team capabilities and team communication. Creative craziness on a solid foundation!