1.1 Problem-Solving Approach to Design
Business communications tasks are often designed to solve a problem or improve a situation. Design thinking processes are often enlisted to get to the true heart of the problem. A clearly-articulated design process provides a clear, step-by-step plan for finding the best solution for your situation.
Take a moment to search the Internet for the term “design thinking process” and look at “images.” You will find many variations. Have a look at several of them and see if you can find a common pattern.
One commonality you will likely find in the images is this: the first step in designing any solution is to fully Discover the problem. Figure 1.1.1 shows a typical design thinking process, from discovery to innovation. Think about the kind of communication and interaction with customers that each step of this process might entail for a business.
Design thinking encourages multiple perspectives and variations at the heart of the issue: You think about solutions to customers problems until you have a clear empathetic understanding of the problem. This critical first stage of the design process requires investigation, beyond your initial assumptions. Creating this empathetic relationship to the problem allows for deeper understanding; however it cannot be done alone.
For our purposes, we will use Barry Hyman’s Problem Formulation model [2] to clearly define a problem. Hyman’s Problem Formulation model consists of 4 elements:
- Need Statement: recognizes and describes the need for a solution or improvement to an “unsatisfactory situation.” It answers the questions, “what is wrong with the way things are currently? What is unsatisfactory about it? What negative effects does this situation cause?” You may need to do research and supply data to quantify the negative effects.
- Goal Statement: describes what the improved situation would look like once a solution has been implemented. The goal statement defines the scope of your search for a solution. At this point, do not describe your solution, only the goal that any proposed solution should achieve. The broader you make your goal, the more numerous and varied your solutions can be; a narrowly focused goal limits the number and variety of possible solutions.
- Objectives: define measurable, specific outcomes that any feasible solution should optimize (aspects you can use to “grade” the effectiveness of the solution). Objectives provide you with ways to quantifiably measure how well any solution will solve the problem; ideally, they will allow you to compare multiple solutions and figure out which one is most effective (which one gets the highest score on meeting the objectives?).
- Constraints: define the limits that any feasible solution must adhere to in order to be acceptable (pass/fail conditions, range limits, etc.). The key word here is must — constraints are the “go/no go” conditions that determine whether a solution is acceptable or not. These often include budget