design-thinkinglisted

# Design Thinking ## Overview Design thinking — formalized by Tim Brown at IDEO and Stanford's d.school, grounded in Simon (1969) and Rittel's "wicked problems" — replaces assumption-driven decisions with evidence from observed human behavior. Its three-lens test: every viable innovation must sit at the intersection of desirability, feasibility, and viability. Most product failures are desirability failures; teams built something technically sound that people did not want. Composes with neighbors: use [`jobs-to-be-done`](../jobs-to-be-done/SKILL.md) alongside the Define stage; use [`mvp`](../mvp/SKILL.md) after Prototype; use [`lean-startup`](../lean-startup/SKILL.md) as the execution engine after the full five-stage cycle. ## When to Use Apply when: - The real user problem is not yet understood — team has a solution but no observed-behavior evidence - User adoption is failing despite a technically sound product (unresolved desirability gap) - Team is locked into one solution direction and needs divergent thinking first - Problem has multiple conflicting stakeholders and no single correct answer - Team states "we already know what users need" without observational evidence **When NOT to use:** - Problem and solution both well-understood; challenge is execution only - Less than two weeks available for genuine user research (produces assumption-laundering) - Regulatory constraints preclude prototyping before specification - Team cannot access real users at all ## Coachin