Analysis + Synthesis = Design Thinking

Analysis and synthesis, thus, form the two fundamental tasks to be done in design thinking. Design thinking process starts with reductionism, where the problem statement is broken down into smaller fragments. Each fragment is brainstormed over by the team of thinkers, and the different smaller solutions are then put together to form a coherent final solution. Let us take a look at an example.

Case Study

Problem Statement − Suppose the problem statement at hand is to contain the attrition that happens in companies worldwide. High quality employees leave the organization, mainly after the appraisal cycle. As a result, an average company loses its valuable human resources and suffers from an overhead of transferring the knowledge to a new employee. This takes time and additional human resource in the form of a trainer, which adds to the company’s costs. Devise a plan to contain attrition in the company.

Analysis − Now, let’s break down the problem statement into various constituent parts. Following are the subparts of the same problem statement, broken down to elementary levels.

● The employees are not motivated anymore to work in the company.

● Appraisal cycle has something to do with attrition.

● Knowledge transfer is necessary for new employees.

● Knowledge transfer adds to the cost of the company.

Synthesis − Now, let's start solving each problem individually. In this step, we will do synthesis. Let's look at one problem at a time and try to find a solution only for that problem statement, without thinking of other problem statements.

● To solve the problem of lack of motivation, the management can plan some sort of incentives that can be given on a regular basis. The efforts put in by the employees must be rewarded well. This will keep the employees motivated.

● To solve the issue of occurrence of attrition during appraisal cycle, the management can conduct a meeting with the employees leaving the organization, and take their insight as to what led them to leave the company.

● For knowledge transfer, the management can hire only those people who are experts in a domain.

● Regarding concerns for budget of knowledge transfer, the management can have a document prepared by experts in a domain and this document can be uploaded on intranet. This can be made available to new joinees. Hence, additional human resource is not required for knowledge transfer and this will reduce the figures in the company's budget.

Now, if we observe carefully, the third solution may not be feasible all the time. We cannot be assured of expert professionals coming for interviews all the time. Moreover, expert professionals demand more compensation than not-so-expert professionals. This will increase the company's budget.

Hence, we will now combine the other three solutions to form a coherent one. The final solution will be for the management to first have a talk with the employees leaving the organization to know the reasons behind attrition, then come up with awards in suitable categories and then, create an easily and universally accessible document in the organization for knowledge transfer.

This way, analysis and synthesis together help in design thinking process. Design thinkers start with breaking down a problem into smaller problems that can be handled and studied easily. Then, the different solutions are combined to form a coherent single solution