A typical design process looks like this: You get a bunch of requirements based on incremental improvements to an existing product or service, build the new offer, and ship it out to the world and hope that it succeeds. If customer research is involved, it’s only to ask potential customers what they want and whether your idea might fit the bill. The problem with that approach is that most customers don’t really know what they want until they see it — and their deepest needs might actually be met by something radically different from what they expect.
That’s where human-centered design comes in. “It’s a way of solving problems specifically by putting people first,” says David Schonthal, a clinical professor of strategy and Executive Education instructor at the Kellogg School of Management. “Whatever area of business you are in, human beings are at the end of every product, service or strategy. The more deeply you understand the needs of those human beings, the more you can help them make progress in the world in interesting ways.”
The director of entrepreneurship programs at Kellogg, Schonthal has been on all sides of the design and innovation cycle, including spending a decade at IDEO, the renowned firm that has become virtually synonymous with design thinking. Schonthal is also known for co-creating “friction theory” with his Kellogg colleague Loran Nordgren. In their 2021 book, “The Human Element,” the duo describe the resistance customers feel toward new ideas and how to overcome it. Schonthal has helped launch companies as an entrepreneur and fund them as a venture capitalist, using human-centered design to reimagine everything from electric vehicles to diabetes management to the future of breakfast.
Here, he takes us inside two Executive Education courses — one offered online, the other in person — that teach these principles to curious professionals through hands-on activities. “Basically, I’m trying to get people to think revolutionarily, not evolutionarily,” says Schonthal.
How do the techniques of human-centered design differ from traditional product design?
Schonthal: It’s very research led, employing a lot of ethnographic and qualitative research techniques to uncover insights and reframe problems. Design isn’t going out, talking to customers and building exactly what they think they want; it’s really understanding the “why” behind their needs and using very rigorous frameworks for understanding the underlying progress a person is trying to make.
We teach specific interviewing techniques that are outstanding at uncovering the underlying functional, social and emotional needs of people — ideally, the stuff their competitors have not yet figured out. The process is highly experiment-driven, prototype-heavy and iterative. The idea is to teach participants how to create a culture in their organization of tight, inexpensive and rapid progression. While most business strategy tends to be linear and arms-length, this approach is very cyclical and hands-on.
What is an example of the kind of challenge students might try and solve for their partner during the in-person class?
Schonthal: A prompt I’ve used in the past is to design new luggage for a partner. Most people think we are going to come up with a bag with different pockets. But really walking it back, we ask, “What am I really ‘hiring’ a piece of luggage to do for me?” Once we understand the underlying job we hire luggage to do, there are many different ways we can design solutions with superior outcomes. Sometimes people design a new version of a suitcase, but sometimes people invent a service that doesn’t involve bags at all.
There are lots of different ways you can solve the problem once you understand the underlying job. If the magic answer is “having my bags already unpacked in my room when I arrive at a hotel,” how might we work backwards from that outcome to create a compelling new offer? People tend to get really anchored on what currently exists. Human-centered design is a really beautiful way of helping people shake themselves out of their current context and think about an entirely different future.
What do you hope people take away from this class?
Schonthal: The A-plus answer when they walk out would be for them to say, “Now that I’ve seen the world this way, I’m not going to approach product development, service design or innovation projects in the same way again.” But underneath it all, what really matters is that they leave wanting to lay the groundwork for creating a more human-centered innovation organization. I want participants to leave appreciating the durable competitive advantage that comes with designing for the true needs of others.
The Creativity Issue
How can data be used to inspire creative thinking?
“It’s easy to look at datasets and use them as a compass to develop an organization. But even though data can tell us what is happening, it can almost never tell us why. In my Kellogg courses, one of the biggest keys to innovation is solving a different problem than everyone else. Most of the truly innovative organizations on the planet look at the world very differently from their peers. The participants who leave with a set of tools to think about the world differently from their competitors are the ones who will win.”
Learn more about Schonthal’s Executive Education courses and register for an upcoming session.