Early test phases are decisive  

An integral component of design thinking is to develop prototypes even in the early phase of the innovation process. Prototypes can be either physical or haptic prototypes or service interfaces modeled using “touch points”. Whatever the type, all prototypes serve to test existing ideas against the requirements of the future users. Prototypes are created in an iterative process. The design of the innovation is adapted on the basis of feedback. The important point here is to invest only as much effort in the creation of the prototype as is necessary to obtain the feedback which will result in positive changes. If a prototype is developed too extensively in the early phase of the process, the willingness to modify it again, perhaps even from the ground up, will ­decline.  Design thinking projects are characterized by interdisciplinary project teams as well as by experimental prototypes and pronounced weighting of user requirements. Technicians, business people, and psychologists all work together on the innovations. This heterogeneity ensures that the technical feasibility, the ­viability, and the desirability (satisfaction of user requirements) are given their due consideration (see Figure 2).   

In terms of the entire innovation process, the integration of users, as was the case for the lead user innovation, has a positive effect on efficiency. Assurance can be obtained at an early stage that the right products or services are being developed. More­over, the early prototype development leads to a reduction in the development time because many of the hurdles during implementation start to appear significantly earlier and can be solved right away in the next iteration of the prototypes.   

Creative exchange of ideas produces important drive   

The pioneer in the successful utilization of the design thinking methodology in the ICT industry was AT&T. AT&T Wireless (today Cingular) carried out a re-design of its wireless data ­service mMode in cooperation with the design company IDEO in accordance with the described innovative approach back in 2003. AT&T managers were required to use the ­existing ­mMode service to solve tasks such as finding a store in San Francisco where they could buy the CD of a certain singer. The managers were forced to admit that the service was too cumbersome and that they had had to fall back on conventional media such as newspapers or the telephone book to complete the assignment. This instructive experience provided the necessary drive to ­adapt the mMode service and to orient it more closely to user ­requirements.