Design Thinking Techniques Selection in Software Development: On the Understanding of Designers and Software Engineers Choices

Design Thinking (DT) is a concept that promises increased innovativeness through a more user-centered approach. DT offers a mindset, working spaces, and techniques to support the generation of ideas and transform those into solutions. However, the selection of DT techniques is a complex endeavor since it needs to take into account the problem context and nature, user profile, among other characteristics. In addition, little is known about how do professionals make their selection. This paper reports on a focus group study with professionals working in software development. We used the Cynefin framework combined with the Double Diamond model to explore the process of selection of DT techniques for hypothetical scenarios. We found that the professionals need to respect the default domain to set their strategies and allow insights to emerge.

[1]  Donald C. Gause,et al.  Towards New Requirements Engineering Competencies , 2019, 2019 IEEE/ACM 12th International Workshop on Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering (CHASE).

[2]  Franziska Dobrigkeit,et al.  Design thinking in practice: understanding manifestations of design thinking in software engineering , 2019, ESEC/SIGSOFT FSE.

[3]  Franziska Dobrigkeit,et al.  The best of three worlds - The creation of InnoDev a software development approach that integrates Design Thinking, Scrum and Lean Startup , 2017 .

[4]  Edna Dias Canedo,et al.  Design Thinking Use in Agile Software Projects: Software Developers' Perception , 2020, ICEIS.

[5]  M. Elmquist,et al.  Framing Design Thinking: The Concept in Idea and Enactment , 2016 .

[6]  Lisa Carlgren,et al.  Making It Happen: Legitimizing Design Thinking in Large Organizations , 2014 .

[7]  Eunji Lee,et al.  Design Thinking Methods and Tools for Innovation , 2015, HCI.

[8]  H.M.N. Dilum Bandara,et al.  Adopting Design Thinking Practices to Satisfy Customer Expectations in Agile Practices: A Case from Sri Lankan Software Development Industry , 2018, 2018 Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon).

[9]  Seda McKilligan,et al.  A Systematic Literature Review for Human-Computer Interaction and Design Thinking Process Integration , 2018, HCI.

[10]  D. Snowden,et al.  A leader's framework for decision making , 2007 .

[11]  Walter Brenner,et al.  Design Thinking as Mindset, Process, and Toolbox , 2016 .

[12]  Manfred Broy,et al.  On Integrating Design Thinking for Human-Centered Requirements Engineering , 2020, IEEE Software.

[13]  D. Morgan.  Focus groups for qualitative research. , 1988, Hospital guest relations report.

[14]  Christoph Meinel,et al.  Design Thinking: A Fruitful Concept for IT Development? , 2011 .

[15]  Sabrina Marczak,et al.  Supporting the teaching of design thinking techniques for requirements elicitation through a recommendation tool , 2020, IET Softw..

[16]  Klaus Krippendorff,et al.  Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology , 1980 .

[17]  Falk Uebernickel,et al.  The Use of Design Thinking for Requirements Engineering: An Ongoing Case Study in the Field of Innovative Software-Intensive Systems , 2019, GI-Jahrestagung.

[18]  Timothy C. Lethbridge,et al.  Software Engineering Data Collection for Field Studies , 2008, Guide to Advanced Empirical Software Engineering.

[19]  Lauren Weigel.  Design Thinking to Bridge Research and Concept Design , 2015 .