Design Thinking: New Culture of Collaboration

Researchers at the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) discovered that companies and organizations are using this innovation concept far more extensively and in more diverse ways than previously assumed.

Successes are registered above all in the improvement of the working culture and the efficiency of innovation processes.

"The concept is so popular because it is not limited to certain industries, but rather represents a way of thinking about solving complex problems in all areas"

said HPI Director Prof.

Christoph Meinel. On the surface, companies are using design thinking to change their offerings, but in reality they are changing themselves, according to Meinel. For the current study "Parts Without a Whole?", he and HPI researchers Jan Schmiedgen, Holger Rhinow and Eva Köppen evaluated responses from 235 users on semi-structured questionnaires and conducted qualitative interviews with eight experts.

A large majority of respondents (71%) stated that design thinking has improved the working culture, especially within the team. Innovation processes have become significantly more efficient for many users (69%) and user involvement is more frequent (48%).

Cost savings (18 percent) or increased profits (29 percent) were less of a priority.

"It is of course difficult to measure the financial added value of design thinking precisely and directly. However, the answers show that corporate processes and customer experience are sustainably improved, which increases profitability in the long term"

says Jan Schmiedgen, one of the three authors of the study. Only one in twenty said that design thinking had no influence in their own organization.

Knowledge transfer and collaboration

What surprised the HPI researchers was that design thinking is not primarily used for the development of new products and services, but for the improvement of internal processes and services.

According to the study, design thinking is used in day-to-day business not only in the development of products and services, but also to facilitate knowledge transfer and collaboration and to sharpen the image of the company's own customers.

The design thinking process results in new business models, creative products, more user-friendly digital applications and innovative software systems.

SAP co-founder Hasso Plattner was involved in the founding of the d.school at Stanford ten years ago and is convinced that "the potential of design thinking can only be fully exploited if it is integrated holistically and as an entrepreneurial attitude into the organizational structures of your company".

However, the majority of the organizations surveyed (72 percent) position design thinking in a more traditional way - in isolated areas such as marketing or research departments.

Just under a tenth of respondents stated that they had abandoned design thinking in their own organization. The most important reasons included a lack of structural embedding and a lack of support from management.

"A lack of time, adequate space and financial resources then makes it difficult to implement the concept productively"

reports co-author Eva Köppen.