DEFINE

Step 2
Design Thinking Model step 2
2
• Define—State Your
Users' Needs and
Problems
• It’s time to accumulate the
information gathered during
the Empathize stage.
• Analyze your observations
and synthesize them to
define the core problems
you and your team have
identified.
• These definitions are
called problem statements.
• You can create personas to
help keep your efforts
human-centered Topic before 21/10/2024
Define
3
• GE Healthcare product
designer Doug Dietz was shocked to
learn that 80% of children needed to
be sedated in order to undergo an
MRI.
• While his team had created an
innovative new MRI machine, they
didn’t address that particular issue
because they hadn’t looked at it
from the perspective of a child.
• When they finally did, and added
colorful graphics to the machine and
a story to the experience, only a
fraction of one percent of kids had to
be sedated for the tests.

Topic 21/10/2024
Define
4
• Albert Einstein once said
“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life
depended on the solution, I would spend the first fifty-
five minutes determining the proper question to ask,
for once I know the proper question, I could solve the
problem in less than five minutes.” Figuring out the
right question is the same as figuring out the right
perspective.

Activity: Define your problem statement.

Topic 21/10/2024
Defining “Define”
5
• The main concern in the “define” stage of Design Thinking is
around clearly articulating the problem you are trying to solve.
• Without clearly defining the problem, you will stumble in the dark
and come up with solutions that don’t work.
• Our goal should be to frame the problem correctly. By doing so, we
generate a variety of questions, which in turn give us different
options and ways of thinking about the problem. As a result, more
solutions will open up.
• The fundamental questions at this stage are:
• What is the actual problem we are trying to solve?
• Who is really affected by it?
• What are the different ways of solving the problem?

Topic 21/10/2024
Defining “Define”
6
In order to answer these questions, we use the data collected by
members of the team through engagement with users during the
“empathize” stage. This data is interpreted and assigned meaning by
all members of the cross-functional team.
• Interpreting and assigning meaning is concerned with knowing:
• Who the users are.
• Their motivations.
• Their context.
• Their needs relating to the particular problem you are trying to solve.

Topic 21/10/2024
The Define Stage in Practice
Begin by making the data you’ve collected more
7
visual in order to identify patterns and themes.
• Unpack user stories to allow the cross-functional
team to dissect the stories and organize them
into four categories. The four categories in which
the user data is organized are:
• Quotes and defining words.
• Thoughts and beliefs.
• Actions and behaviors: think body language vs.
what the user is saying.
• Feelings and emotions: emotional responses may
be positive, neutral, or negative.
Unpacking is:
• Sharing what you found with fellow designers.
• Capturing the important parts in a visual form.
• Getting all the information out of your head and
onto a wall.
• Making connections, patterns, themes.

Topic 21/10/2024
Method: Analysis and Synthesis
8
• Analysis is about breaking down complex concepts and problems
into smaller, easier-to-understand constituents.
• Synthesis, on the other hand, involves creatively piecing the
puzzle together to form whole ideas.
• Here are three ways of carrying out analysis and synthesis:
• Information clustering to reveal patterns in the data.
• Analysis of metaphors used by the users.
• Exploring contexts: social, cultural, psychological, functional, etc.

Topic 21/10/2024
Method: Five Whys
9
• 5 Whys is an iterative interrogative technique used to explore the
cause-and-effect relationships of a particular problem. The primary
goal is to get to the bottom of a problem by repeating the question
“Why?” where each answer leads to the next question. Typically,
five cycles are enough to achieve the goal here.
• Not all problems have a single root cause. If one wishes to uncover
multiple root causes, the method must be repeated, asking a
different sequence of questions each time.
• https://youtu.be/SrlYkx41wEE (Example)
• https://youtu.be/TUDy6Rc81a4 (Example)

Activity: Do it for something you do not like?

Topic 21/10/2024
POV
10
• The main goal of the define stage is to
club all the answers together and convert
them into a coherent single statement.
• In other words: a meaningful and
actionable problem statement or point of
view. This focuses on the insights and
needs of a particular user or composite
character.

• The POV statement is created by making

sense of who the users are, what their
needs are, and the insights that come
from the observations made.
Activity: Define your problem
statement based on POV.
Topic 21/10/2024
Good Problem Statement
11
What Makes a Good Problem Statement?
A problem statement is a roadmap that guides your team and focuses on the
specific needs that you have uncovered. It creates a sense of possibility and
optimism that allows team members to spark off ideas in the Ideation stage. A good
problem statement should thus have the following traits:
• Human-centred. The problem statement should be about the people the team is
trying to help, rather than focusing on technology, monetary returns, or product
specifications.
• Broad enough for creative freedom. The problem statement should not focus
too narrowly on a specific method regarding the implementation of the solution.
• Narrow enough to make it manageable. A problem statement such as
“Improve the human condition” is too broad. Problem statements should have
sufficient constraints to make the project manageable.
• Forward looking: A good problem statement is always forward looking. It
contains within it seeds for possibilities.
• Verb driven, action oriented: begin the problem statement with a verb, such as
“Create”, “Define”, or “Adapt”, to make the problem become more action-oriented.
Topic 21/10/2024
Detailed Steps
12
1. Start by looking at the insight/problem statements that you’ve created.
2. What further insights/topics arise from the problem statement? These topics are subsets
of the entire problem. They focus on different aspects of the challenge.
3. Try rephrasing/reframing them as questions by adding “How might we” at the beginning.
It is a good idea to spend plenty of time getting the right HMWs first, before you start
generating ideas.
4. The goal is to find opportunities for design, so if your insights suggest several How Might
We questions, that’s great.
5. Now take a look at your How Might We question and ask yourself if it allows for a variety
of solutions. If it doesn’t, broaden it. Your How Might We should generate a number of
possible answers and will become a launchpad for your brainstorms.
6. Finally, make sure that your 'How Might We’s aren’t too broad. It’s a tricky process but a
good How Might We should give you a narrow enough frame to let you know where to
start your brainstorm, but also enough breadth to give you room to explore wild ideas.
7. Use brainstorming techniques to come up with as many solutions that you and your
team can imagine to How Might We? questions.
8. Finally, prioritise the best ideas with the team, build on them, and work them into next
steps. At the ideation stage, you can select different topics and try out a few to find the
sweet spot of where the group can really churn out a large quantity of compelling ideas.

Topic 21/10/2024
Define the problem
13
• 3,50,000 surgeries per year (685 Per day)
• Cataract is needless blindness & can be
cured.
• Seventy percent patients are treated free
of cost.
• Arvind Eye Hospital, Madurai
• Govindappa Venkataswamy Dr. V.
• Started at the age of 58, retiring as medical
educator
• Severe arthritis and bed ridden for many
years

21/10/2024
Define the problem
14
• Shortage of clean water
• Vestergaard Frandsen Swiss
firm originally clothing
company
• Filters 99.9%.
• 6.5 dollar = 1000 liter
• It has been named “LIFE
STRAW”

21/10/2024
Define the problem
15
• Tamilnadu
• Community policing
• Introduction of innovative schemes to
prevent crimes that bridged the gap
between the police and the public.
• ‘Beat Officers’ System (Neighborhood
Anna)
• J K Tripathy

21/10/2024
Define the problem
16
• Magnolia (Healthcare- terrain
problem)
• Nearest hospital 45-60 km
• Partnership of Mangol Govt. with
Nippon foundation Japan
• Developed Do-It-Yourself kit with
traditional medicine
• Self diagnose, self medicate
primary level
• Postpaid medicine
• Reduced 45% patient visit

Topic 21/10/2024
Define the problem
17
• Access to electricity, Brazil
• Electricity = Farm Productivity
• Fabio Rosa (Mono Phase Power System)
• Cost USD 7000 to USD 450 per
household
• 27000 people (1980-1990)
• Solar system USD 10 per month

Topic 21/10/2024
Define the problem
18
• Malara, Gujrat – Tata chemicals
• Solid waste (SODA ASH) 30
Acre fine dust
• Saved relocation cost of Rs. 12
crore
• 22.5 acres transformed
• 20000 plants of 6 varieties
grown, Vegetable too
• Ecosystem of insects,
butterflies, ants, rats, snake &
birds
• Zero fine dust pollution

Topic 21/10/2024
Define the problem
19
• 1970
• Airlines beyond
technology
• Till date unparalleled in
cabin experience
• Singapore airlines

Topic 21/10/2024
Thank You!