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Former Member

Recently we were selected as a group of students from La Trobe University to participate in SAP Design Thinking Workshop. The idea was to introduce Design Thinking and Brainstorm for challenges to discuss that can be designed to find out some important aspects that SAP would like to know. It was a 3 day workshop where there were teams divided as to have both teachers and students in each team. We were given the basic introduction of what design thinking is and were asked to come up with ideas where we could use it and implement. After a nice brainstorming session our team came up with The task to foster various Interest groups as means of gaining Industry knowledge with experts and alumni.  The generic problem every graduate faces by the end of his course is the employment and we want to come up with a solution for it, Design thinking workshop gave us the platform to express our ideas and execute it with the help of our team. Employment after your masters is a big concern and if we have better ways to cope up with it will surely help both the students and institutions. Better employ-ability will lead to better enrollments for the University. 


In a nutshell,  "Design thinking is the art and science of solving problems—not limited to just new products and services" . For me it is more of a combination of Innovation, Ideation and Integration. The intention to plan and execute a task in the most innovative and optimized way using the principles of ideation and integrate it with the help of team. . The goal is to generate as many ideas as possible, do a 360 degree research,have brain storm sessions and come up with the most practical one to prototype and finally implement. "Design thinking works best when integrated. Engineers start with technology. MBAs start with funding. Designer start with people. The trick is to get interdisciplinary teams to raise their collective I.Q. by working in the overlap of those three areas. That’s where innovation flourishes" . Team Work is the first step towards achieving any goal. In the whole exercise the main learning was its not just the technological knowledge that helps but the chemistry between the team and how you implement various design thinking tools in it. That is how we are going to flourish this new idea and turn it to the real, so that there would be benefit for both the students and the institution.

Design Thinking confirms that design, as a process and as an output, has greater opportunity to add value to the triple bottom line than any other business function. We did learn how can we use our potential in best possible way to achieve the goal. Design thinking is a process for practical, creative resolution of problems or issues that looks for an improved future result. It is the essential ability to combine empathy, creativity and rationality to meet user needs and drive business success. Unlike analytical thinking, design thinking is a creative process based around the “building up” of ideas. There are no judgments early on in design thinking. This eliminates the fear of failure and encourages maximum input and participation in the ideation and prototype phases. I really hope that the knowledge and experience I have gained through it will help us in long run and create new prospects for the students to come after us. I want to thank both LaTrobe University and SAP for introducing us to it.