Design thinking takes the methods designers use to make things and applies them to problems that are not traditionally design problems. Stanford's d.school and the consultancy IDEO popularized the approach in the 2000s. It is human-centered: start with the people affected by the problem, not with the technology or the business model. The process is usually described in five stages: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. The stages are not linear. Teams loop back and repeat as they learn.

The method has spread widely. Hospitals use it to redesign patient intake. Schools use it to rethink curriculum. Governments use it to improve public services. The appeal is simple. It gives teams a structure for exploring ambiguous problems without jumping to solutions. But it has critics. Some argue that design thinking has become a buzzword, a workshop format that produces sticky notes and enthusiasm without lasting change. The critique has merit when the process stops at ideation and never reaches implementation.

Core stages

• Empathize: understand users and their needs.
• Define: frame the problem clearly.
• Ideate: generate many possible solutions.
• Prototype and test: build and learn quickly.

Design thinking works best when it is paired with the authority to act. A workshop that ends with no budget and no mandate changes nothing.