Design Thinking for Engineers: Balancing Objective Truth with User Needs

Let me start by stating that I love science and engineering; they literally enable everything around us. I also appreciate how difficult and complex it can be. However, by contrasting hard-core engineering with innovation, I have to say, that we engineers are lucky to have a well-defined notion of Objective Truth. 

When I had a job involving fixing machines, we knew for certain when our work was successful because the machine would just work again. Currently, when I set up an automation workflow, I know for sure when my setup works correctly because the workflow is working without errors. Those are just a couple of my examples. However, the same goes for many other areas. A code, for example, either works or not, either optimized or more optimized. You get the idea, right?

What is Design Thinking? ​

Design Thinking is an innovation process/framework that puts human needs at the center of the problem-solving approach. It aims to transform observations, into insights, and insights into innovations. It is one of the most prominent innovation processes out there that has been gaining considerable buzz. You can think of it as a ‘perspective’ from the human perspective.
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The main goal of Design Thinking is to come up with sensible innovations, or Design Innovations. 

However, when it comes to Design Innovation (and Design Thinking), the clarity engineers often rely on begins to blur. Design Innovation is about generating and implementing ideas that are humanly desirable, technologically feasible, and financially viable. It is an idea that applies to all fields and people of all backgrounds. The complexity for us, engineers, often lies in the ‘humanly desirable’ part. Mainly because it places emphasis on subjective human needs and desires, which can sometimes conflict with our objective, data-driven approach.

A Diagram illustrating what is Design Innovation

​Engineers function in a domain of rationality, logic, and precision, where problems have clear and optimal solutions that can be derived from scientific principles and numerical data. Thus, interviewing users, concluding insights, and brainstorming solutions can make us feel unsettled, especially when you are a seasoned engineer. After all, why brainstorm solutions if we can directly make something that just works? Isn’t it a waste of time? If you are feeling that I want you to know that it is normal.
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Before those execution-focused questions, innovation often starts with something more fundamental, a WHY. Before making a product that works, there is a question of why is this product needed to begin with. What problem or opportunity area does it address? Is this ‘product’ the best way to go? How did we conclude that? Answers to those questions are often in the gray area. Mainly because of their human roots. 

Why is Design Innovation Important? ​

Design Innovation is important because it is how value is created, it is the core ingredient of every business to thrive. It is what makes economies grow and what provides jobs to people in our local communities. Design Innovation is one key element that pushes the advancement of humanity forward.
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Engineers are a key ingredient in this as we ultimately build and ensure the feasibility of every innovation out there through our technical abilities. Expanding this ability to include skills in tackling human needs can make engineers amazing innovators. 

Balancing Objective Truth with User Needs

One of the challenges that engineers face when applying innovation methods like design thinking is to balance the objective truth of science and engineering with the subjective reality of user needs and preferences. In engineering and science, there are often clear and measurable criteria to evaluate the performance and validity of a solution, such as functionality, efficiency, accuracy, and reliability. However, in Design Innovation areas, the value and appeal of a solution may depend on a range of factors, such as context, culture, emotion, and taste, which are not easily quantified or standardized.
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Therefore, we need to push ourselves hard to adopt a user-centric perspective and empathize with the diverse and dynamic needs and preferences of our customers and stakeholders. By doing so, we can create solutions that are not only technically sound but also desirable and meaningful for the users. It is a mindset shift that can take time and effort, however, once there, engineers become the best innovators.

Engineers make great innovators!

Where Can You Start? Tools and Frameworks for Design Thinking and Design Innovation

Luckily, starting to understand how human-centered innovation is quite simple. We can start by being super curious about other people in all aspects of their lives. Beyond that, if you want to get deeper into the field, you can start looking at related literature, and tools.

The field of design innovation is growing to include many tools and frameworks that put a bit of science on it. Here are some of the resources we have on our website to help you get started.  

• What is Design Innovation: introduces the concept of Design Innovation, its goals, principles, methods, and challenges, and how it can help generate human-centered solutions for various problems.
• What is Design Thinking: an introduction to Design Thinking, a human-centered innovation process that emphasizes empathy, collaboration, and iteration.
• What are empathy maps: Introduce what empathy maps are and how to use them as a tool to gain insight into stakeholders and design solutions that meet their needs and desires.
• Recommended books: a collection of books and publications related to design innovation, covering topics such as customer development, biomimicry, cradle-to-cradle, and innovation tournaments.

 
We keep adding more tools and topics related to Design Innovation, so make sure to follow our social media or sign up to our mailing list to keep updated.

​Can you relate to the engineer's struggle and advantage? 

Want to watch a video? 

Check out our YouTube video on Design Thinking for Engineers - Should Engineers Practice Design Thinking? for more about this topic. 

By Tayseer Almattar

Tayseer is a passionate designer and educator. He believes that innovation potential can be grown and nurtured within organizations with relevant design innovation processes. 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tayseer-almattar-design-innovation
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