Ep 188| Design Thinking Vs Traditional Thinking Vs Critical Thinking Six Key Differences

Welcome to this Design for Change. Thank you for staying tuning in with me. There is a big misconception between traditional thinking and design thinking. And also there is something called critical thinking. Okay, I'm going to give you key six differences, guys, because if you have the clarity on what you're doing when you're approaching a methodology or a process, you will be able to deliver it better. You will be able to forecast and see what's really happening in your project. Okay, so this podcast is not only going to give you the differences and it's also going to help you with going into the base root of how this kind of thinking really came. Okay? And what is the common things, what we perceive and what is the reality? Okay, so now first we'll start talking about design thinking. Okay, See in the aspect of problem solving, I'll differentiate these three parameters. Okay, so first is design thinking. It is very good empathy process. Okay? It's creative, it's definitely user centric approach, guys. Whereas a traditional process, it follows a very predefined procedures. I mean it's like a regular norms, it's like a regular rules and policies. So design thinking is varying in that aspect. So what is critical thinking in this? See, it analyzes the issue from multiple different perspectives and questioning without any assumptions. See, this is the major thing. See, critical thinking is very, very vital because I'm really interested and inclined towards that. The moment when you are asking questions and then you stop assuming, you will start seeing the reality and the data will start popping in. Okay, so in the respect of problem solving, the difference is design thinking has a empathy, creativity, user centric approach. Whereas a traditional has a norms, but critical thinking has asking questions and ability. Let's come to the second difference, which is process. See, design thinking is inevitably a beautiful iterative process. It has a definition, ideation, prototype testing, and it reiterates in a way. But traditional thinking has a sequential process. When you complete the research, only you will be able to go for the idea. Once you are completing the idea, then and only you will go for the production. So there is nothing turning back. See, I was a typical engineer, okay? So I have been working in a traditional industry where the systems are pretty much defined, where the process is pretty much defined so that you can, you can't change that. So the agility will not be there. But critical thinking involves analysis and evaluation. See, it is not going on either side of flexibility or either side of rigidity. It is like analyzing what is information, what is the real need and evaluating and then forming the Information and then taking the decision. See, a good design thinker needs to have the ability of critical thinking. That's why I'm comparing with you this aspect as well. And once management and the design team and everybody is able to align with this critical thinking, they will be able to make a balance of design thinking and this. Okay, second important, third important differentiation factor is innovation. See guys, design thinking encourages innovation to a greater extent because of the varying nature it has. But I tell you, the bad part is in traditional thinking, it may, it may produce a lot of resistance for you, you know, because it's all proven based on existing methods and you can't go beyond that sometimes it will resist you a lot. But critical thinking focus on rational analogies like let's say, what is really rational behind this to reach a logical decision or a conclusion. What is the data which is there in front of me? How, what rational I can bring in. See, the moment when you wear this hat of critical thinking, your innovation will have a balance between what is really required and what is the real forecast or a mission. See, again, you should be not having design thinking on too much side or traditional thinking on too much side. It's all about making you critical think in that aspect. Okay, I hope now you're getting the clarity. So the very first important differentiation, what we made is problem solving ability. Second is the process. Okay, how iterative and how sequential it is. Third is we talked about innovation and creativity. Fourth is we'll talk about industry application. See, design thinking is widely used nowadays. Okay. Compared to earlier three to five years, mostly creative industries used. But traditional thinking is commonly used in manufacturing. It's used in industrial settings and manufacturing setups. That's a typical thing. But critical thinking applies in the fields such as business, particularly law. Okay, so it is just very. It's understood, right? Because critical thinking is where the judgmental decisions and policies and other things and politics and business and other things, people are using this critical thinking. But my biggest interest is if design thinkers, if creative designers are analyzing this critical thinking ability, they will be able to have a huge balance. So understand the industry difference application. Okay, the fifth, the, the fifth important thing is how relevant it is in product design. So now we'll compare in that aspect. See, design thinking is focusing on exactly the needs of the user. It's focusing on the user experience part. And you know what? A traditional process relies only on design principles and standards of the industry. But that's needed. I'm not saying that's not needed. Don't get me wrong. Because I'm a medical product designer, I know the safety aspect more than anything. Okay, but the point is you should be able to focus on the user needs and user experience. Let's say a doctor is operating a device, a surgical tool which you've designed for 10 hours. Or maybe the doctor is using the ventilator which you designed a UI for the critical care unit. The doctor is going to use that ventilator for three hours per day. Do you think customer experience doesn't matter? The way in which you use your iPhone or your phones, your experience, you expect a user experience, right? Even to use for half an hour or 15 minutes. So why not the doctor? Why not the critical clinicians who are using that? So it's not about the standards or policies or safety. It's also about the user experience. It's about the both. I would say that is why in critical thinking, if you ensure the problem analysis, if you ensure the need analysis, if you ensure the safety analysis and then if you take a decision, it will be a balanced one. Okay? See relevance in product industry. Product design industry is like user needs and experience is focused whereas a traditional thinking focus on design principles and standard. But critical thinking matches this. Finally, the sixth difference is guys, See according to a report by Design Management Institute I I already told you that design industries who are applying design thinking outperform this S&P 500 by almost 200 percentage, 219 percentage over the last 10 years. And study published by Harvard Business Review, 97% of the executives believes critical thinking is essential for business success. And research by McKinsey Company suggests that traditional manufacturing industries could boost productivity by only 20%. See, they can improve but it's only 20% by implementing digital technologies, process innovation that's going to happen. See, this is a report in 20. But there are many reports by my McKinsey which can show that design thinking industries are having 3x of return on investment, 3 times of return on investment because of the significant revenue, significant difference they made in the product and services over the line. So it is very vital guys, it is right time to move into traditional thinking, into a design thinking. Okay, so problem solving approach, process innovation, the way in which the industry is applying it and the relevance in the product design is all what's going to make a big difference. Okay, so write out in the description what kind of a thinker you wanted to be. Either you wanted to be a design thinker or a traditional thinker or a critical thinker or a mix of design thinking and critical thinking. I'LL be happy to follow up with you and selected users will be given free goodies and T shirts and we have a very special gift guys apart from T shirts for our consistent listeners who are listening to this podcast and engaging. Okay because I believe podcast should be two way. Mostly it's one way but I believe that's the reason I kept this chat open and you can pour your feedbacks and if you need my support in learning all these things in a very traditional way, you know I take one week of design thinking I teach all the nuances, process principles and everything and make them do a three weeks project intensively on this. If you need that kind of a support you can just come and experience the program what I have. So let's meet inside that okay and if you feel this useful give me a best star rating in Apple and Spotify and subscribe me for further episodes and get notified. Thank you guys. Take care. All the best.