How to Manage a Design Thinking Project
I just wrapped up another design thinking project in HR, and I couldn’t help but reflect on the fact how different it is compared to how we traditionally run projects in Human Resources.
I thought it might be helpful if I shared the high-level project approach I usually take and the lessons I’ve learned along the way:
PHASE #1: PLANNING
Project team: Having a balanced project team is critical to design thinking project success and to help minimize designer bias. You want to have representation from every HR function that has a key stake in the program. For example, for a performance management re-design project, the team might include the PM Program Manager, an HRBP leader, the HRIS manager, and an internal communications professional. The Head of Talent Management might be the sponsor in this scenario. I have found that the magic project team number is four to five.
Stakeholder management: I kick off every project with a stakeholder mapping exercise to surface who is impacted by the project or who impacts it. We then identify key stakeholders that need to be kept in the loop during the project. It is critical to bring these folks into the journey early and often by giving a taste of the method throughout the project. You can apply tactics I outlined in my recent change management article. Stakeholder management during a design thinking project is even more critical than for a normal project because many stakeholders might not be familiar with the design thinking approach. If they have not been brought along the journey, they can derail progress during implementation.
Anticipate discomfort: HR programs, processes, and tech have traditionally not been co-created with our users. So, when we start to apply design thinking for the first time, project team members and stakeholders might feel frustrated when they find out that there is a significant disconnect between what HR offers and how it is perceived by employees. During these moments of fragility, it is helpful to remind the project team that the feedback is neither about them nor a judgement of the quality of their work. It is simply further proof of how little our services were co-created with our users in the first place. In my experience, the main moments of discomfort occur during empathy interviews and assumption tests.
PHASE #2: DISCOVERY
Research approach: The first step during the discovery phase is to align with the project team around the research approach. I usually draft a research brief that includes research questions, research methods, research participant selection, and research context information.
Research participants: Design thinking projects are largely based on qualitative research which means that we only need a sampling of research participants to reach theoretical saturation. For a performance management re-design project, you might select research participants based on the following criteria:
· Demographic diversity
· Cross-business unit representation
· People leaders of different leadership levels
· High and medium performers
· New hires (experienced one complete PM cycle) and tenured employees
The power of empathy interviews: One research method that makes it into all my projects is the empathy interview. Not only does this method allow for deep, behavior-based insights, it is also a key stakeholder immersion tool and powerful eye opener for HR project team members.
PHASE #3: SOLUTIONING
From data to opportunities: One of the tricky transition points is going from discovery data collection to insights, and then to opportunities which serve as the jumping off point for ideation. My fellow Northwestern MSLOC instructor, Teresa Torres, has written extensively on how to identify and synthesize opportunities. Her focus is on product teams, but some of the principles and approaches can be applied to an HR context.
Ideation is hard work: I wrote a previous article around the fact that many design thinking activities are hard work. This includes ideation. As HR professionals, we have not been trained to be creative, out of the box thinkers. It’s a muscle we don’t get to use much. As the project manager you want to keep that in mind when designing ideation activities.
Integrating solutions into an existing system: Once you have aligned around your top solutions to test, you also want to start considering how all the pieces will fit together in the end. Unless you are designing a brand-new program, you need to apply systems thinking to identify how the redesign will fit into the larger ecosystem. In traditional HR projects, we like to “tie things up with a bow”. In design thinking, we are looking for incremental, iterative progress that will drive a desired business outcome over time. As one of my clients recently stated: “This is where need to learn how to embrace the messy.”
PHASE #4: TESTING
Assumption testing vs piloting: In traditional HR projects, we jump from design right into implementation — maybe we pilot first. In design thinking, we are taking high risk assumptions of our top solutions and rapidly test them to gain further insight into whether we might or might want to pursue this idea.
When we did this on a recent project, one client exclaimed: “This is how we should roll out our programs all the time. We would save so much time and money!”
PHASE #5: REFLECTION
Reflection is a step we often skip when wrapping up a project. It’s an integral part of the design thinking practice as I highlighted in a previous article.
I like to do a two-part reflection at the conclusion of a project:
Individual growth reflection: One of my favorite reflection activities is to ask project team members to anonymously (on post-its/in chat) complete the sentence “I used to think… Now, I think…”. The insights and depth of personal reflection are rich. Here is an example: “I used to think this was our problem to solve and now I think there is great power to ask and obtain ideas and test to get to a much better outcome.”
Project retrospective: Set the stage by reading out loud the prime directive of retrospective: “Regardless of what we discover, we must understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job he or she could, given what was known at the time, his or her skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand.” — Norman Kerth Project Retrospectives: a handbook for team reviews
Then, quickly recap key project activities and outcomes. Ask each project team member rose/thorn/bud reflection questions and have each person capture them anonymously on (virtual) post-its or in chat. Discuss any themes and lessons learned for future projects.
CONCLUSION:
While I am outlining the phases sequentially for clarity’s sake, in reality (and time permitting), you might move between these phases in a less linear fashion.
I am curious: How do you run your design thinking projects in the HR space? What resonates from my approach? What doesn’t? What’s missing?
[Note: This post was originally published via my LinkedIn Newsletter.]
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Design Thinking for HR is a biweekly LinkedIn newsletter that aims to inspire HR professionals to experiment with the human-centered design framework. The newsletter is curated by Nicole Dessain who is an employee experience consultant, design thinking workshop facilitator, and Northwestern University instructor. Nicole is currently writing her first book about Design Thinking for HR. Join the Early Readers’ Community here.
