Design Thinking Workshop Tips
- Nancy Maher
- May 4
- 5 min read
Updated: May 6
There are three responses to a piece of design - yes, no and WOW! Wow is the one to aim for. Debbie Millman
Well-crafted Design Thinking workshops are fun.
I've seen them spark innovation, empathy, and collaborative problem-solving - even repairing strained relationships.
Solving problems for your customers in a highly collaborative and playful way, keeping the customer at the heart of all the activities, is powerful.
So, whether you aim to generate new product ideas, solve a challenge, or embed a user-centric mindset, design thinking workshops are a structured yet flexible approach to solving problems collaboratively.
Check out my Design Thinking Workshop tips.
CONTENTS
What is Design Thinking?
Design thinking is a dynamic process that relies heavily on the interplay between divergent and convergent thinking to solve problems effectively.
Divergent thinking: This is the phase where you generate a wide range of ideas and explore many possibilities without judgment, encouraging creativity and open-mindedness. It’s about expanding the problem space and considering multiple perspectives.
Convergent thinking: This focuses on narrowing down those ideas by critically evaluating and selecting the most feasible and impactful solutions. This activity brings focus, structure, and direction to the process. Designers cycle back and forth between these two modes, diverging to create options and converging to refine and decide, ensuring a balance between creativity and practicality.
How can Design Thinking be used?
Design thinking can be used anytime to solve problems by focusing on people’s real needs. For example, I've used it in software companies to generate new product ideas and to support change management programmes in identifying new ways of working.
Many companies use it to create better products, like making a toothbrush more straightforward or Airbnb improving user experience by understanding travellers’ needs and building trust between hosts and guests.
It helps improve services too, like making food delivery faster and more reliable or designing healthcare solutions that fit patients’ daily lives. Basically, whenever you want to come up with creative ideas that work for people, design thinking is a great tool.
Where did Design Thinking Originate?
Design thinking originated in the mid-20th century as an interdisciplinary approach to creative problem-solving, combining insights from psychology, engineering, and design research.
Early pioneers like John E. Arnold and Herbert A. Simon helped formalise it as a method focused on understanding user needs, iterative prototyping, and tackling complex “wicked problems.”
The concept gained widespread recognition in the 1990s through organisations like IDEO and Stanford’s d.school, which popularised design thinking as a human-centred, collaborative process for innovation across industries. Today, it remains a popular approach in software companies for addressing complex challenges by emphasising user empathy, creativity, and experimentation.
Design Thinking Workshop Tips
Pre-Workshop Planning Is Essential
Pre-workshop planning is crucial to ensure the team is focused on solving the right problems and aligned on clear, meaningful outcomes. It helps identify and address any potential challenges that could impact the session’s success, such as interpersonal dynamics within the team or logistical issues like wall space, before the workshop begins. Preparation allows facilitators to work cohesively as a team, coordinating their efforts to guide the workshop smoothly and proactively avoid roadblocks.
Plan the Ideal Duration
Design Thinking workshops typically last anywhere from a few hours to multiple days, depending on the complexity of the problem and the workshop goals. Common formats include half-day sessions, one-day workshops, or longer multi-day events that allow deeper exploration and ideation.
Plan the Ideal Number of Participants
I've found that the ideal number of participants usually ranges between 10 and 15 people. This size balances diversity of perspectives with effective collaboration, ensuring everyone can actively contribute without the group becoming unwieldy. The group often includes people from different departments or backgrounds to foster creativity and cover various viewpoints relevant to the challenge.
Introduce the Voice of the Customer
A combination of pre-surveys and interviews is recommended to capture the customer's voice before a workshop, typically run by the User Experience team. Pre-surveys help gather quantitative data from a broad audience, providing an overview of customer preferences, pain points, and behaviours through structured questions. Interviews complement this by offering qualitative, in-depth insights into customers’ motivations, feelings, and experiences through open-ended, flexible conversations.
Define Clear Objectives and Scope
Start by articulating a clear problem statement or goal. Decide what insights you want to uncover and what outcomes you expect from the session, whether it’s new product ideas, improved user experiences, or simply teaching the Design Thinking process.
Frame the central challenge as a “How might we…” question to focus the group’s creativity.
Plan the Logistics
Choose a spacious, comfortable location that is conducive to creativity. For remote workshops, select digital tools for collaboration - my favourites are MIRO and MURAL.
Use of walls—Make sure the room has permission and enough space for you to put paper and sticky notes on the walls.
Prepare all materials in advance: sticky notes, markers, paper, whiteboards, and prototyping supplies.
Design a concise, activity-rich agenda. Avoid cramming too much; allow time for discussion, reflection, and breaks to maintain energy and focus.
Structure the Workshop
A great Design Thinking workshop typically unfolds in three main parts:
Section | Purpose & Activities |
Introduction | Welcome participants, clarify objectives, introduce the agenda, and set expectations. |
Icebreaker | Use fun, interactive activities to build rapport and energise the group. I use polling tools like Mentimeter for check-ins and random polls throughout the day. |
Main Activities | Guide the team through the Design Thinking phases with hands-on exercises. Mix up independent reflection, break-out groups and whole group discussion. |
Wrap-Up | Summarise key takeaways, assign action items, and outline next steps |
Facilitate the Design Thinking Process
Move participants through the five key phases, adapting the depth and duration to your workshop’s goals:
Empathise: Use empathy maps, user interviews, or persona exercises to understand real user needs and pain points.
Define: Synthesise findings into a clear problem statement. Encourage group discussion to ensure alignment.
Ideate: Lead brainstorming sessions, encouraging quantity and diversity of ideas. Use creative exercises to stretch thinking beyond the obvious.
Prototype: Guide participants in rapidly sketching or building low-fidelity prototypes- paper, digital, or physical- based on their ideas.
Test: Facilitate peer feedback and user testing within the group, using structured feedback grids or open discussion to refine solutions.
Workshop Best Practices
Keep the user at the centre: Regularly remind the group to focus on real user needs and experiences throughout the session.
Foster collaboration: Encourage open sharing, active listening, and cross-functional teamwork. Collaboration is not optional; it is essential.
Co-facilitator: A co-facilitator allows for better management of group dynamics and logistics. While one facilitator leads the activities, the other can monitor participant engagement and handle technical issues.
Balance structure and flexibility: Stick to your agenda, but be ready to adapt based on group dynamics and emerging insights.
Use of a Timer: A timer helps keep the session on track by breaking the workshop into focused time blocks for specific tasks, such as brainstorming or sketching ideas. This ensures activities stay concise and productive without dragging on.
Document everything: Visually capture ideas, discussions, and prototypes on walls, boards, or digital canvases for easy reference and follow-up.
Debrief and Next Steps
End with a debrief session. Recap what was learned, highlight standout ideas, and clarify how outputs will be used or developed.
Prioritise the top 5 action items and owners to ensure momentum continues after the workshop.
Summary
A great Design Thinking workshop is more than a series of activities. It is an immersive experience that unlocks creativity, builds empathy, and drives actionable outcomes. With thoughtful preparation, clear objectives, and engaging facilitation, your workshop can transform challenges into opportunities and participants into passionate problem-solvers.
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