Coupling scientific methodologies and design thinking tools in a hybrid approach

Design thinking initiatives are open-ended and unpredictable: a challenge for AR4D institutions. A project team of the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT (ABC) experimented with a hybrid approach, featuring both scientific methodologies and design thinking tools. This Info Note tackles the main lessons learnt from this initiative, such as:
• Sequence is key, and large-scale surveys might be wasted is applied too early in the iterative process;
• Budget and time need to be invested in staff/ design team training and continuous engagement;
• Reflection and communication formats need to be adapted and recognized by all team members; and
• Good practice is to embed design thinking initiatives in larger programs that can continue the process.

Koerner, Jana; Santos, Joshua; Grosjean, Godefroy.