During much of the 20th century reductionist thinking dominated our society, and consequently the way we deal with our projects. However, with the advance of information technology, and the democratization of several cultural and social concepts, society is beginning to use the study of complexity, which will probably be the science of the 21st century. In other words: we stop observing the world with mere generalizations and start seeing it in the complex way it really is. It is within this idea that Design Thinking emerges.
Design Thinking is an extensive subject, which we can talk about for a few hours, but its application is relatively simple and informal, the purpose of this text is to provide an idea of how Civil Engineers and Architects can apply the Design Thinking approach in their projects.
We can say that Design Thinking is separated into 7 stages.
Comprender
Observe
Define
Idealize
Prototype
Test
Implement.
In turn, these 7 steps are part of 4 processes.
User Experience - User Experience-UX
Creativity
Selection
Design and Execution.
Here it is interesting to make a distinction between steps and processes. Steps are finite periods of task completion. Processes are cyclical, on-going activities. And what does this mean? It means that each of these processes can be repeated more than once in order to achieve the expected result.
And how does this work at the AEC?
Loosely translated, Design Thinking is "Designer Thinking", and although it is not taught in every engineering school in the country, the approach that follows is a logical unfolding of design thinking.
USER EXPERIENCE
Understand: Design Thinking is an approach focused on the user, so in this step one must seek to understand the user's side, what is his/her relationship with the project, how does he/she intend to use the environment? For architects this is more natural, but it is also the engineer's duty to worry about the user. What is the purpose of the building? If it is a commercial building, it may be more interesting to finish the work earlier to start exploring the business, giving preference to more industrialized structures. If it is a house, it is interesting to hide the structural elements, or make them part of the architecture of the environment, and so on...
Observing: many scholars put observing and understanding as the same step, called Empathy, some also add the step of "Participation" which is more focused on I.T. or production processes. In the AEC area observation can be understood in how relationships develop. It is taking notes of the users' behavior, of the activities that will be developed. But this is a stage without direct influence of the user, based much more on the experience of solving problems of the designer than on the opinions of the user.
Once, when sizing a laboratory, I realized that the technicians who would use the laboratory had no idea how the activities were developed, they had no procedures of use, so it was necessary to understand the purpose (in this case an educational laboratory), and then observe the users using the laboratory, to develop measures for using the space, as well as areas for disposal, use and disposal of materials.
At the end of this step there will be a correlation of guidelines: implicit vs. explicit, client needs. It is at the end of these two steps that we will have the necessary material for the creation of the Needs Program.
CREATIVITY
Define (focus): this is where I think the steps start to become clearer for AEC designers, the focus area can be seen as the program of needs, it is in this step that one tries to address the complexity of the problem, explore similar processes, learn from other designers' experience (benchmarking) and understand once and for all if the initial challenge reflects the identified problem.
In my opinion, using the concepts of PMI, this is the stage where the scope of the project is defined, and it is from here that the Project Opening Agreement - TAP, document containing the permissions and restrictions of the Project Manager, the scope and non-scope, the project members, etc. should come from. In the SCRUM methodology, on the other hand, I believe this is the stage where the product backlog would come out: the list of the project's expected functionalities. And finally, in the PRINCE II method we would have in this stage the Business Case.
At the end of this stage it will already be clear the delimitations and choices of parameters of the project's boundaries, that will provide the designer with the elaboration of the Architectural Party in the next stage
SELECTION
Brainstorming: this is the stage when the different members of the team begin to approach the problem from different points of view, the more divergent the ideas, the richer and more elegant the solutions. It is here that the designers will elaborate the Architectural Party. And to begin the preliminary studies, the maturing of the idea, and the alignment with the client's and the designer's ideas, this is also the stage when the Briefing is elaborated.
Prototyping (building): this is the stage when the solutions must be communicated, sketched, drawn, built and tested. And this is where the advance of information technology comes in for the AEC market, it is thanks to BIM modeling that we can prototype our projects, and verify their viability. Here the translation of the project studies is done, but still in an imprecise language, without exactness of execution. This is where the preliminary design comes in.
DESIGN AND EXECUTION
Testing: this is the stage where we learn whether the prototype works or not. In the AEC area it can be seen in several ways: Computational analysis of the luminothermal parameters, structural analysis of the adopted solution, virtual performance of the design components under adverse conditions, and even 3D visits.
Implement: this is the stage when the executive project is drawn up and the final construction project is offered.
PROCESSES
Notice that as Design Thinking is a user oriented approach, it is interesting that the user has the power to validate each of the processes, avoiding rework by the designers. If a process is not validated, it must be redone. Still, unforeseen problems may arise and, depending on the severity, the project may regress even to early stages.
