Ramona Sartipi - When Design Thinking Meets Opensource | PyData Global 2023

Design thinking is a human-centered approach focusing on empathizing with users before developing solutions, with 5 key steps: empathizing, defining problems, ideating solutions, prototyping, and testing

Many open source projects lack professional design input, leading to poor usability - the development process is often dev-centric and intimidating for designers to contribute to

Empathy maps help teams understand users on a deeper level by documenting what users are thinking, feeling, seeing, hearing, saying and doing - this creates foundation for better solutions

Scenario mapping (both as-is and to-be) helps document current user experiences and envision improved future journeys - allows teams to identify pain points and opportunities

When designing for users with limited technical literacy or resources:

• Focus on visual communication over text
• Use simple vocabulary
• Consider offline/limited connectivity scenarios
• Make solutions affordable and accessible

Prototyping should be rapid and iterative - test assumptions early with users and refine based on feedback

Design solutions may not be perfect initially - continuous iteration and improvement based on user feedback is essential

Getting stakeholder buy-in and team alignment is crucial, even with good ideas

User advocacy throughout the development process helps ensure solutions truly address user needs rather than just technical feasibility

Documentation and storytelling help communicate design intent and get alignment across teams