| name | design-thinking-ps |
| description | Design thinking for ill-structured problems. Covers empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test — the iterative human-centered cycle used when the problem itself is not yet clear. Includes reframing, brainstorming, lateral thinking operators, assumption challenging, and the discipline of building to learn rather than building to ship. Use for wicked problems, product design, and any problem where "what is the question?" is the hard part. |
| type | skill |
| category | problem-solving |
| status | stable |
| origin | tibsfox |
| modified | false |
| first_seen | "2026-04-12T00:00:00.000Z" |
| first_path | examples/skills/problem-solving/design-thinking-ps/SKILL.md |
| superseded_by | null |
Design Thinking
When the problem is well-defined, Polya's method works. When the problem itself is unclear — "how should we reduce food waste in our cafeteria?" "what should this product even do?" — a different approach is needed. Design thinking is the iterative, human-centered method that treats problem definition as part of the problem. It trades precision for exploration and rewards prototypes that fail fast over plans that succeed on paper.
Agent affinity: jonassen (ill-structured problems), bransford (anchored instruction, IDEAL), polya-ps (framing)
Concept IDs: prob-brainstorming, prob-lateral-thinking, prob-analogical-reasoning, prob-assumption-challenging
The Design Thinking Cycle at a Glance
| Phase | Activity | Output |
|---|
| 1. Empathize | Learn about users, stakeholders, context | User insights, pain points, context map |
| 2. Define | Frame the problem sharply | "How might we..." statement |
| 3. Ideate | Generate many candidate solutions | Idea bank (divergent) |
| 4. Prototype | Build the cheapest thing that tests an idea | Low-fidelity artifact |
| 5. Test | Put prototype in front of real users | Evidence, revised understanding |
The cycle is iterative. Testing often reframes the problem, sending you back to Define. This is a feature, not a bug.
Phase 1 — Empathize
Goal: Understand the users, stakeholders, context, and constraints well enough that the problem definition is grounded in reality rather than assumption.
Operations:
- User interviews. Open-ended questions, not leading questions. "Tell me about the last time you tried to do X."
- Observation. Watch users in their actual environment. What do they do, not what do they say they do?
- Shadowing. Follow a user through a complete task.
- Empathy maps. What does the user say, think, feel, do?
- Journey mapping. Chart the user's experience from first encounter to completion.
Empathize produces raw material. It does not produce a problem definition.
Phase 2 — Define
Goal: Transform the raw empathy material into a sharp problem frame. The output is usually a "How might we..." statement.
