A Large-Scale Design Thinking Project Seen from the Perspective of Participants

Abstract

Design thinking is increasingly being used as an approach to facilitate participatory organizational change. However, we know little about how such processes are experienced by the people who participate in them. In this paper, we therefore present a case study of the participants' perspective in a large-scale design thinking project in a public library. The project embodies a series of issues that arise when design thinking approaches are applied to large-scale, IT-oriented design projects. The study is based on interviews and observations conducted before, during and after the project, and the findings from the study focus on how results from design thinking projects are (or are not) implemented in organizations, what it takes to be "a good participant", how vague project objectives can create both motivation and frustration, and how the potentially stressful experiences of working in organizations that undergo constant transformations affect project participants.