Design for How People Think

Chapter 17 Succeed Fast, Succeed Often

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Succeed Fast, Succeed Often

While I still encourage industry-standard build–test–learn cycles, I do believe that the information gleaned from the Six Minds approach can get you to a successful solution faster if you start with this knowledge.

In this chapter we’ll look at the Double Diamond approach to the design process, and I’ll show you how you can use the Six Minds to narrow the range of possible options to explore and help you select the optimal designs. We’ll also look at learning while making, prototyping, and contrasting new services or products with those of your competitors.

Up to now, we’ve focused on empathizing with our audience to understand the challenge from the perspective of the individuals who are experiencing it. The time we’ve taken to analyze the data should be well worth it, helping us to more clearly articulate the problem, identify the solution we want to focus on, and inform the design process to avoid waste.

I challenge the notion of “fail fast, fail often” because I believe the Six Minds approach can reduce the number of iteration cycles needed.

Divergent Thinking, Then Convergent Thinking

Many digital product and service designers are familiar with the Double Diamond product and service creation process, roughly summarized as consisting of four phrases: Discover, Define, Develop, Deliver (Figure 17-1).

Figure 17-1

The Double Diamond design process

The Double Diamond process can appear complicated, ...