design-thinking

Use for design thinking, or when a product or service problem needs user understanding before solutions: "what do users really need?", "how might we...", "plan a discovery sprint", "validate this concept". Skip when the spec is frozen or the task is code maintenance.

Fall in love with the problem, not the first solution. End with what to learn next, not just ideas.

When to use

• A product, service or UX problem where the real user need is unclear.
• "How might we" framing, discovery sprints, concept validation before building.
• Reframing a request using what users actually do or say.

Skip: the spec is fully frozen and no discovery is wanted, or the task is code-only maintenance with no user problem to frame.

Before you start

1. State in one block: Design challenge (who is affected, in what situation) and Pass (Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test plan).
2. Gather first. Read tickets, interview notes, support threads, analytics or the product itself before writing Empathize. Ask up to 3 questions only for users, constraints or success signals that tools cannot answer.
3. Light path. Small ask: 1-2 lines per stage, 3 ideas, one prototype, 2 signals.
4. If Empathize has no real user input, say so in Define and keep the POV narrow. Never invent research.

Stages

1. Empathize

• Who: primary user or stakeholder. Mark facts from the user versus [INFERRED].
• Jobs, pains, gains: what they are trying to do and what hurts.
• Context: when and where the need shows up.

No fabricated quotes. Paraphrase only what the user supplied.

2. Define

• Insight: a non-obvious tension connecting pains and context.
• POV: "[User] needs [verb] because [insight]."
• How Might We: 2-3 well-scoped questions opened by the POV.

3. Ideate

Quantity and variety, using each HMW as a prompt. Tag each idea desirable, feasible or viable as a hypothesis, not a fact. Default 8-10 ideas unless the user sets a number.

4. Prototype

Describe low-fidelity artifacts: paper flow, roleplay script, landing-page smoke test, clickable sketch. For each: Purpose: the question it answers. Fidelity: one line placing it between sketch-only and interactive.

5. Test plan

• Learning goals: what would convince you the idea is wrong?
• Participants: who and how many, or "to be decided".
• Signals: behaviors or metrics to observe, stated so they can fail.
• Next iteration: what changes if results are mixed.

Pitfalls

• A POV that restates the solution ("users need a dashboard").
• HMW questions that are too broad ("improve the experience") or too narrow (they hide the solution).
• Treating desirable / feasible / viable tags as proven.
• A Test plan with no signal that could show the idea is wrong.

Worked example: references/example.md.

Checklist

• Challenge and Pass stated
• Empathize separates facts from [INFERRED]
• POV and HMW before Ideate
• Ideas tagged desirable, feasible or viable as hypotheses
• Prototype gives purpose and a fidelity line
• Test plan has learning goals and falsifiable signals