Key Points

• Design thinking is a flexible approach that promotes creativity in product design.
• Cross-functional teams are a natural fit for the design thinking system.
• Playing to your team’s strengths can net fantastic results when moving through the phases of design thinking.

How does design thinking apply to cross-functional teams? We’ve spent a fair bit of time here discussing the benefits and reasons why you want to use design thinking in product design. However, little has been said about how it applies to cross-functional teams. Thankfully, this approach benefits from multiple disciplines and specialties collaborating.

As such, we will take a deeper dive into the nitty gritty of how this approach functions. Further, we’ll explore it in the context of cross-functional teams and why it is a net benefit even among diverse workforces. If you’ve been on the fence about adopting this product development methodology, there’s never been a better time to start.

What Is Design Thinking?

Design thinking is a human-first approach to product design and development. Typically, the design thinking phases align to consider a customer need or complaint first, while developing a supporting solution through the use of empathy and creative thinking. Functionally, the final result is similar in scope to the likes of DFSS or DMAIC process improvement cycles.

However, where design thinking sets itself apart from these methodologies is through a constant feedback loop. This isn’t an approach that favors a hands-off, lack of communication sort of workflow. Instead, design thinking functions at its best when there is communication between teams, customers, and everyone else involved in the process.

Further, it encourages bolder and more creative actions to fit as solutions. As long as the solution itself is viable, reliable, and technologically feasible, it is more than fitting for final shipments to your customers. Many of the top brands around the world are utilizing this design approach, and it is certainly easy to see why.

Who Uses It?

Going off the aforementioned top brands, there is no shortage of major organizations utilizing design thinking across cross-functional teams. Tech giants like Samsung and Apple have been proponents of design thinking for years at this point, owing much of their current success to the use of this approach at critical junctures during their existence.

Further, you’ve got automotive mammoths like Ford and Tesla to consider. Ford has a tough legacy to live up to, especially when you consider it is one of the oldest automotive firms in the United States. However, they’ve been hip to change and are currently running their internal design thinking team to dream up new products.

Additionally, other tech success stories like Uber and Netflix are clear contenders for how design thinking functions in the modern era. Both of these companies took a new approach to rather entrenched institutions and have replaced them entirely, even entering popular slang as parlance for certain services.

What Are Cross-Functional Teams?

Before diving into how design thinking works in a diverse team structure, it is important to define what cross-functional teams are. A cross-functional team builds on the strengths and expertise of multiple disciplines. You aren’t solely looking at something like a design team, or a software development team, but something far more robust and adaptable to the demands of modern business.

As to why you’d want to implement cross-functional teams in the first place, that comes down to a few solid reasons. Having teams with diverse experience sets results in more robust overall functionality. Further, you don’t have to seek external perspectives when considering the likes of left-field solutions.

A cross-functional team is effectively a means to identify areas of potential weakness in a product before you even send it out for testing. As such, there is a reason why many organizations are opting for teams that are comprised of a medley of influences, expertise, and strengths. You don’t build a baseball team off the strength of their hitting, the same applies to the teams in any modern business.

Apply Design Thinking to Cross-Functional Teams

Now, that we’ve defined both crucial concepts, it’s time to take a closer look at how cross-functional teams can benefit from design thinking. It is important to remember that design thinking isn’t a monolithic structure of sorts. It is iterative by design, meaning that phases are often returned to, and things are refined until complaints and concerns are addressed.

As such, instead of considering these phases as milestones of development, they are more or less landmarks. They mark the journey you’ll take throughout the entire development process. Sometimes, it bears retreading steps, to help determine the right course of action.

Cross-functional teams excel in a design thinking role, as we’ll demonstrate throughout the remainder of this guide. When considering the five phases of design thinking, there is a clear slot for team members with different skill sets to excel. Further, you can integrate outside subject matter experts to bolster your team’s functionality for maximum efficacy.

Empathize

The first phase of design thinking is critical to the moving pieces of every subsequent step in the design journey. This is one area where cross-functional teams get a team to shine. As members of your teams who serve more ably as customer liaisons can gather concrete and actionable data. Empathize focuses on customer feedback, gathering opinions and complaints about current products.

Additionally, if there are members of your team that specialize in statistical analysis, it makes the next phase simple. Collating and formatting all your user data into a digestible format is going to make it a far simpler task to get everyone on the same page.

Define

The Define phase is where you’re clearly outlining what the problem is. Now, if you’ve got a cross-functional team, this is where things start to get interesting. Depending on the specialties of your team, you might have someone available who keeps a closer eye on feedback from social media. The launch of similar products from competitors can clue you into where you need to focus efforts.

Additionally, the Define phase is where you can see where the rubber meets the road when shifting through the next few phases. Having team members with different strengths can hone into what the actual problem present is. This is key for developing solutions, as we’ll discuss with the next concrete phase of the process.

That said, it is important to nail down the particulars of defining the problem. You can’t develop a clear solution without a concrete problem outlined and defined during this phase.

Ideate

Developing a lasting solution is a daunting task for your typical team. However, cross-functional teams are where this phase of the design thinking process excels. When drafting out concepts and ideas, you can have a ground-level view of the viability of ideas. During the Ideate phase, there are often quite a few pie-in-the-sky concepts. Having someone who collaborates closely with the manufacturing department can tell you if the concept is feasible.

Ideate is about getting creative, messy, and throwing things at the wall until something sticks. Your first pass through the phase likely won’t determine anything concrete. That’s alright, however, as you can return multiple times to these phases as you go through your design thinking process.

Prototype

Prototyping is crucial for any design thinking process. You want to develop a viable product that meets the customer’s needs while meeting those needs with empathy. As such, having cross-functional members of your team that specialize in the design of prototypes can be a boon.

Don’t worry so much about nailing the particulars down, but instead focus on getting a minimum viable product to production. You can add features as needed.

Test

Time for the real proof in your work, at least when it comes time to see if your solution is viable. Testing is a vital part of any design thinking project and one where cross-functional teams can come in handy. If you’ve got team members who specialize in quality assurance or quality control, you can rely on their expertise to put your prototypes through a gauntlet of brutally honest tests.

This is also a phase where obtaining third-party, external testers comes in handy. By working in close contact with your cross-functional team, you’re bettering your chances of landing a working solution in a shorter order of time.

Iterations and Refinement

Not every pass through your phases is going to yield a suitable solution. It might seem viable at the time of conception, but prototyping and testing reveal some deficiencies you weren’t aware of. Going back to the drawing board at this point isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and is something that is encouraged throughout design thinking.

As an iterative process, the job isn’t done until it’s done. Cross-functional teams can highlight deficiencies or concerns with prototypes with feedback gathered during testing, which leads us directly to my next point.

Opening Teams to Communication

Cross-functional teams are dead in the water without open lines of communication. Remember, this is a creative and innovative means of designing new products to fit your customer’s needs. As such, you’ll want to open up your team to communicate with one another. Further, cross-functional teams interacting with other cross-functional teams can deliver surprisingly robust results.

You don’t want to act as a completely independent entity when going through the design thinking process. Communication is paramount to my next pointer for integrating design thinking with cross-functional teams.

Collaboration

One way to think of design thinking is to consider it like you’re building a whole new house for a customer. Customers purchasing a custom house likely aren’t going to be shy about what they’re after. Teams of contractors specialize in different fields. After all, you wouldn’t expect a carpenter to do the wiring or pour the concrete slab for a foundation.

In many ways, your cross-functional team operates similarly to the teams of contractors utilized in building a home. You play to their strengths and find other team members who can counteract their weaknesses.

Other Useful Tools and Concepts

Now that we’ve highlighted design thinking in cross-functional teams, it’s time to take a closer look at some other tools for the trade. Learning which industries are going to be the most affected by artificial intelligence is going to be valuable information moving forward. AI is here to stay, and it is shaking up the business landscape just like robotics did over 20 years ago.

Learning how to implement new tools for data-driven decisions is a great way of bolstering your current workforce. Data is the lifeblood of modern business, and understanding how to best leverage it can mean the difference between wild success and middling results. You’re in good hands, however, our guide covers some of the most popular tools and where to use them.

Conclusion

Cross-functional teams are a natural fit for the likes of design thinking. Don’t worry about the particulars, you can step right in with minimal hassle and get to grips with this flexible approach right away. Many of the largest organizations in the world are already using it, and it only serves to give fantastic results for your organization and your customers.

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