“Leave what you know at the door and learn something new.” Exactly the approach needed to take on this venture. I’ve participated in a 12-week programme at the Hasso Plattner School of Design Thinking at the University of Cape Town. The programme has provided an in-depth, hands-on and practical learning experience.
On the 8th of February, we had an orientation that has set the tone for the rest of the programme. It was a full day of learning what Design Thinking is and how we need to apply it to a challenge statement – a broad statement that has to be broken down to establish what the root of the challenge is.
We’ve learned that the design thinking methodology consists of six phases: Understand; Observe; Point Of View; Ideate; Prototype and Test. These phases don’t exactly happen in a sequential pattern, for instance, you may have a viable Prototype but it may not be exactly what people need or want, it’ll then mean that you have to go back to the Point Of View phase to redefine the challenge statement.
We’ve had an opportunity to work on a 3-week project where we were split into groups having people with different disciplines such as Biology, Commerce, Innovation and Design, Higher Education, Entrepreneurship, Chemical Engineering and more! In the 3 weeks, we were guided by a coach who then takes us through a series of activities that would help us to unpack the initial challenge. Next, we had the 8-week challenge with a different group but this time having the coaches brief each individual in the team so that we’d have an opportunity to lead an activity.
“Leave what you know at the door and learn something new.” Exactly the approach needed to take on this venture. I’ve participated in a 12-week programme at the Hasso Plattner School of Design Thinking at the University of Cape Town. The programme has provided an in-depth, hands-on and practical learning experience.
On the 8th of February, we had an orientation that has set the tone for the rest of the programme. It was a full day of learning what Design Thinking is and how we need to apply it to a challenge statement – a broad statement that has to be broken down to establish what the root of the challenge is.
We’ve learned that the design thinking methodology consists of six phases: Understand; Observe; Point Of View; Ideate; Prototype and Test. These phases don’t exactly happen in a sequential pattern, for instance, you may have a viable Prototype but it may not be exactly what people need or want, it’ll then mean that you have to go back to the Point Of View phase to redefine the challenge statement.
We’ve had an opportunity to work on a 3-week project where we were split into groups having people with different disciplines such as Biology, Commerce, Innovation and Design, Higher Education, Entrepreneurship, Chemical Engineering and more! In the 3 weeks, we were guided by a coach who then takes us through a series of activities that would help us to unpack the initial challenge. Next, we had the 8-week challenge with a different group but this time having the coaches brief each individual in the team so that we’d have an opportunity to lead an activity.
This experience has exceeded my expectations and has made a great impact in my life!
