Design Thinking Key Principles

Design Thinking requires more than tools and methods. It requires a Scout Mindset* — the genuine desire to see things as they are, not as we'd prefer them to be. Without the willingness to be wrong, and the openness to reconsider information and perspectives that challenge what we think we "know," the principles that follow become performance rather than practice.

There's no benefit to being wrong longer. And we all reserve the right to get smarter.

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We use the nine principles below to guide human-centered design practice, from how you think to how you see to how you work.

HOW YOU THINK

1. Design with, not for.

Involving stakeholders, especially customers and end users, is critical to creating human-centered products, services, and processes. WHO we design with matters because we tend to design for people like ourselves. The greater the diversity of perspective among the people doing the designing, the greater the likelihood that their solutions will be intentionally inclusive.

2. Embrace ambiguity.

Design Thinking is inherently messy. Learning what works and what doesn't, uncovering assumptions, and reframing problem statements — all require you to be comfortable with not knowing the exact path forward. Uncertainty isn't a problem to eliminate; it's often a signal that you're working on something worth solving.

3. Collect dots. (Be curious.)

Innovation often comes from connecting existing dots in new ways. This means the precursor to connecting dots is COLLECTING dots — the more, the better. Cast a wide net: the books, articles, and newsletters you read; the documentaries, films, and short-form videos you watch; the podcasts and lectures you listen to; the conversations you seek out. You never know when a seemingly unrelated idea becomes the seed of a breakthrough.

HOW YOU SEE

4. Fall in love with THEIR problem, not YOUR solution.

Be intentional about deeply understanding and staying focused on the needs and desires of the customers and end users you serve. Empathy is a lens through which you see their reality more clearly, and ethnography (observational research) is a proven approach to understanding their context firsthand. Surveys and interviews tell you what people say — observational research reveals what they actually do and experience. As the mantra goes: if you don't go, you can't know. Staying anchored to their problem, not your preferred solution, is what keeps human-centered design honest.

5. Solve the right problem.

Diving headfirst into the problem that's presented to you works often enough to feel like it's always the right approach. The risk is that sometimes this leads you to focus on the wrong problem entirely. Periodically asking reframing questions — "What are we (or they) really trying to accomplish?", "Is this still the right problem?", "Is there a better problem to solve?" — can prevent the costly mistake of building a great bridge only to find it's over the wrong river. Or that a bridge was never needed.

6. It's not the mice, it's the maze.

When research reveals that people are behaving in ways that seem counterproductive or hard to rationalize, the temptation is to frame the problem around the people. (“How do we get them to behave differently?”) But human behavior rarely exists in a vacuum. Processes, tools, incentives, organizational structures, and unwritten rules all shape what people do and why. These are elements of the maze. 

Before concluding that the mice need to change, ask whether the maze is the real culprit. A problem framed as "fixing the people" will lead to very different, and often far less effective, solutions than one framed as "fixing the system they're operating in." The mice/maze lens is especially useful when defining what you’re trying to accomplish, because the frames you accept or challenge will shape everything that follows. 

Change management that focuses only on training the mice without redesigning the maze rarely sticks in the long term.

HOW YOU WORK

7. Design the conversation, not just the solution.

Idea generation is too important to leave to chance. Unstructured brainstorming is easy to do poorly, which is why it has earned a bad reputation in some circles. Using a few simple, proven practices — such as separating divergent and convergent thinking, ditching the Scribe, and using targeted "How Might We" questions — can dramatically improve the quality and quantity of ideas you and your team produce. The best ideation sessions feel energizing and focused, not chaotic.

8. Make your thinking visible.

A sticky note, a rough sketch, or a simple diagram can do what words alone cannot: give everyone in the room the same picture. Externalizing ideas, even crudely, transforms vague concepts into tangible things that can be reacted to, challenged, and improved. When thinking stays in people's heads or is buried in dense text, assumptions hide, and alignment is an illusion. Making ideas visible invites candid feedback, surfaces misunderstandings early, and accelerates shared understanding. You don't have to be an artist; you just have to be willing to show your work.

9. Fail early, fail fast, fail forward.

Because most people dislike failing, they avoid it at all costs. Ironically, this can increase the risk of larger, costlier failures down the road. Employing tools like prototyping and concept testing enables and accelerates "intelligent failure," allowing teams to learn quickly and cheaply what does and doesn't work. The goal isn't to avoid failure, it's to make your failures small, fast, and instructive. 

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*The term "Scout Mindset" was coined by Julia Galef. You can learn more from her brilliant TEDxTalk or her book, The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't (2021)