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Problem Tree Analysis
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Problem Tree Analysis is one of the most powerful tools you can use when designing. This unique template allows us to choose an objective and then balance the ideas of resources, and outcomes.


Round Robin
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Use a round robin exercise as a quick and efficient way to get rapid feedback on a given idea or solution. Use it with your teammates to gain new perspectives and consider different approaches. The round robin exercise starts with a series of ideas, problems, or solutions that need to be examined or ideated on further


Journey Mapping
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A journey map is a tool that we can use inside of our businesses to deeply look at our services and our experiences. We can even use it when thinking about our products from the point of view of our key users. A journey map is a model for a specific user's journey. Multiple populations will result in multiple journey maps.

Creating a Problem Statement
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Creating a problem statement (also known as asking 5 why's) allows you to evolve and think deeply about the root cause of a given problem or issue you are facing. The root cause is the problem that starts all the other problems. Solving for the root cause allows you to prevent other issues from cascading.


Crazy 8s
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Sometimes you just need to shake things up! Crazy 8s is an exercise that takes less than 10 minutes and gives you the power to change things up with a more spontaneous method. 


Affinity Map
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Affinity mapping is an organizational exercise that uses a process of clustering ideas together by a certain principle to help figure out groupings within data that is qualitative.


Abstraction Ladder
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An abstraction ladder is a great framework to guide thinking as it helps us put problems in context. You can use an abstraction ladder when you’re trying to figure out where to start with a big problem, or use it with more narrow problems to try and figure out how to gain more traction. 


Rose, Bud, Thorn
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When considering a specific problem or topic, it is important to understand what’s working, what’s not, and what has potential. Rose, bud thorn is a great structured responding or structured thinking method that allows us to collect feedback in three different distinct buckets: positive roses, potential buds, and problematic thorns.


Cover Story Mockups
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Cover story mockups are an exciting way to get people involved in thinking about a possible future where their product, service, or idea has taken off and is taking the world by storm! Your cover story can help you brainstorm a variety of individual headlines, images, and quotes for different publications, allowing you to look at your project or idea through a distinct lens each time.


Meet Rachel Dzombak
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Meet design thinking leader Dr. Rachel Dzombak. While she’s a design thinker at her core,  she’s also a strategist, researcher, and educator. Rachel is currently a Technical Director and Head of Digital Transformation at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute. She's excited to help us learn more about design thinking!


What's On Your Radar?
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What's On Your Radar is a way to understand the landscape of a given stakeholder and determine what is most important to them. This exercise is one of the earliest sensing tools you can use to describe and organize what is on the purview of any stakeholder, whether primary, secondary or even tertiary.


Creative Matrix
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The creative matrix is an immediate go-to when you need to understand how to rapidly ideate new possible solutions, improvements to a service or product, or anything in-between. This exercise helps us to diverge from the current way of thinking by making solution generation fun and insightful.


Personas
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Personas are a summarization of common or overlapping attributes in a given audience or population. Being able to identify your brand’s possible personas is crucial when trying to make design decisions. You can use this Personas template as an empathy building tool, allowing you to connect with your user and determine their wants and needs.


Meet Megan Guidi
‍‍‍

If you ever have a chance to sit down with Megan Guidi, do it. Megan is an expert in all things design thinking, with some serious qualifications to prove it. She’s not just a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, she also runs her own consultancy called Open and has held a variety of senior strategist positions at top-tier companies.


Intro to Miro
‍‍

Miro is a digital whiteboard used to collaborate with our teams. Explore Miro at your own pace to create projects, boards, or frames. Learn the basic mechanics through our icebreakers template and invite your team to jump in! You can use the Strategic Design Kit hub to explore different Miro templates and use them however you like!


Storyboards
‍

Storyboards are a great tool to map out either an experience that you want to create or an experience that you are imagining. This process allows you to put it back in front of users to validate whether the needs you are expressing in the storyboard actually exist.


Stakeholder Map
‍

A stakeholder map is an organizational tool to figure out who's involved with a service or product, whether they are providing, creating, or sourcing anything along the entire chain of delivering a service. It helps you to determine the most important, key figures involved with your product, service, or idea and examine them closely.


The 20-10-10 Exercise
‍

The 20-10-10 Exercise: How Leaders Prioritize Their Lives. The 20-10-10 exercise prompts critical and actionable thinking under the umbrella of continuous personal development and tells you, beyond intuition or bias, what you are organically motivated to put time, energy, or resources in to.

Partnering with The Swartz Center
‍

While we all know the importance of entrepreneurship now, academics were quite different in the past. Luckily, as times change and new leadership arises, novel and audacious ideas have the spectacular opportunity to become reality. Learn about the origins of The Swartz Center at Carnegie Mellon University.


Meet Rachel Dzombak
‍

Meet design thinking leader Dr. Rachel Dzombak. While she’s a design thinker at her core,  she’s also a strategist, researcher, and educator. Rachel is currently a Technical Director and Head of Digital Transformation at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute. She's excited to help us learn more about design thinking!


Meet Megan Guidi
‍‍‍

If you ever have a chance to sit down with Megan Guidi, do it. Megan is an expert in all things design thinking, with some serious qualifications to prove it. She’s not just a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, she also runs her own consultancy called Open and has held a variety of senior strategist positions at top-tier companies.

Partnering with The Swartz Center

While we all know the importance of entrepreneurship now, academics were quite different in the past. Luckily, as times change and new leadership arises, novel and audacious ideas have the spectacular opportunity to become reality. Learn about the origins of The Swartz Center at Carnegie Mellon University.

Meet Dave Mawhinney of Carnegie Mellon, our partner

Meet Dave Mawhinney, Executive Director of The Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University Dave Mawhinney was an entrepreneur long before joining Carnegie Mellon University and is excited to introduce new entrepreneurship programming for the university.

Rose, Bud, Thorn

When considering a specific problem or topic, it is important to understand what’s working, what’s not, and what has potential. Rose, bud thorn is a great structured responding or structured thinking method that allows us to collect feedback in three different distinct buckets: positive roses, potential buds, and problematic thorns.

Cover Story Mockups

Cover story mockups are an exciting way to get people involved in thinking about a possible future where their product, service, or idea has taken off and is taking the world by storm! Your cover story can help you brainstorm a variety of individual headlines, images, and quotes for different publications, allowing you to look at your project or idea through a distinct lens each time.

Ecosystem Collection Map

An ecosystem collection map allows you to scan your environment by looking at your existing understanding of a topic and mapping additional research or viewpoints to explore your idea further. It allows us to completely brain dump and describe things thoughtfully. We can then examine these ideas to look for patterns across maps. 

What's On Your Radar?

What's On Your Radar is a way to understand the landscape of a given stakeholder and determine what is most important to them. This exercise is one of the earliest sensing tools you can use to describe and organize what is on the purview of any stakeholder, whether primary, secondary or even tertiary.

Hopes and Fears

The hopes and fears template helps us explore the power of vulnerability. It works to expose different challenges, opportunities, and feelings early on. Oftentimes, unleashing someone's purpose and passion in a safe space can be transformative. The anxiety you have can actually be a big accelerator!

Creative Matrix

The creative matrix is an immediate go-to when you need to understand how to rapidly ideate new possible solutions, improvements to a service or product, or anything in-between. This exercise helps us to diverge from the current way of thinking by making solution generation fun and insightful.

Intro to Miro

Miro is a digital whiteboard used to collaborate with our teams. Explore Miro at your own pace to create projects, boards, or frames. Learn the basic mechanics through our icebreakers template and invite your team to jump in! You can use the Strategic Design Kit hub to explore different Miro templates and use them however you like!

Storyboards

Storyboards are a great tool to map out either an experience that you want to create or an experience that you are imagining. This process allows you to put it back in front of users to validate whether the needs you are expressing in the storyboard actually exist.

Stakeholder Map

A stakeholder map is an organizational tool to figure out who's involved with a service or product, whether they are providing, creating, or sourcing anything along the entire chain of delivering a service. It helps you to determine the most important, key figures involved with your product, service, or idea and examine them closely.

The 20-10-10 Exercise

The 20-10-10 Exercise: How Leaders Prioritize Their Lives. The 20-10-10 exercise prompts critical and actionable thinking under the umbrella of continuous personal development and tells you, beyond intuition or bias, what you are organically motivated to put time, energy, or resources in to.

Adam Paulisick

Founder at maadlabs.io (fmr @BCG @Nielsen — acquired 3x). Prof @teppercmu, MHCI & exec ed at Gates School of Comp Sci. Founder @TheShopPgh

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