Understanding Design Thinking, Lean, and Agile

Chapter 1. Introduction

Despite its title, this report is really about ability, learning, and adapting. Design Thinking, Lean, and Agile are mindsets that, when practiced, help organizations develop new competencies. We learn to tackle problems and explore possibilities. We strive to make every action a learning opportunity for making better decisions. And, we put learning to work as we pursue outcomes in a way that’s optimized for adapting to constant change. More than following steps, procedures, or instructions, this report describes the mindsets and ways of working that help teams to think differently, practice new skills, and develop new ability.

Popular culture depicts designers as precious snowflakes. In the movies, developers are socially inept propeller heads. And we all like to joke about bean-counting middle managers and executives who are asleep at the wheel. And, all of them are petrified of being disrupted by Silicon Valley’s hoodie-wearing startups.

Convention is dead in the modern age—there are no rules, and job roles are so last century. It’s no wonder people are so confused about how to do software better.

These are exaggerated generalizations, I know, but they do paint a picture of the mess we face when working together to build stuff that matters. Creating digital products and services is a pursuit that requires collaboration across many disciplines. Technology, design, and business all have their own kinds of architects. Strategy has different flavors, from ...