Double Diamond in Project Management

Developed by Jacopo Renzi

Abstract

Every company could have its own method to face the process behind the design of a new product or for solving a problem but it has been observed that all firms go through the same steps when they have to think, design or solve and this is the reason why Design Council developed and launched the Double Diamond in 2005.

The Double Diamond is a model which aims to let design teams visualise the main steps they have to follow in order to achieve the best result in the best possible way. Richard Eisermann, Design Council’s Director of Design and Innovation at the time, together with his team decided to extrapolate a model which described the stages behind design processes. From an analysis of previous Design Council’s works, it came up that all firms followed a similar, if not the same, procedure and the Double Diamond model gathers all moves in four principal phases: discover, define, develop and deliver.

The scope was to “create something that would be applicable in any field”, and despite its recent introduction into the process design market, that is why it is widely utilised because thanks to its adaptability it can be used whether you have to develop a new product or you have to face a problem. The Double Diamond model has to be seen like a guideline for the project manager who has to plan, coordinate and assess the project’s activities understanding and evaluating possible dangers and problems for the purpose of successfully conclude the project respecting time, performance and cost.

This article aims to be a useful tool even for people who don’t know about this model because it gives them a full overview and some practical examples and also for people who already know about it but it could be a brief reading for getting some inspiration on how to implemented it in their projects.

The basis idea

In 2003 Design Council was focused on the importance of the adoption of a strategic approach to design and how much significant was the design management. Richard Eisermann had just started his new position at the company when he asked his team to describe what design process is. They had regular meetings during which they were sharing their respective researches on the design methods used across the organisation’s previous works in order to elaborate and design an adaptable structure that could fit all methods.

Richard came across the basis concept of the Double Diamond years before, in particular he remembered that "Dave Duncanson, an engineer at IDEO, talked to me about the product development process as being like the classic diamond-shaped kite, with a tail composed of progressively smaller diamonds. […]"[2]. So, the idea of divergent and convergent diagrams had already been founded although it did not have a name yet.

The model

As the name can suggest, the Double Diamond’s graphic represents two connected diamond shapes which aim to guide designers, engineers and project managers through the process starting from an initial challenge or problem to the best final solution.

There are two main partitions, one between the two diamonds and the other is a sub-division of each diamonds. From the external division you can notice how the model emphasise the initial challenge or problem on the far left, then the final solution is on the far right and the middle breaking point is where the design brief occurs. Anna White, one of the people behind the Double Diamond, said: “For me the first part of the diamond is about questioning the brief and defining the problem statement. I explain it as ‘designing the right thing’. The second part of the diamond is about exploring possibility, iteration, testing and developing, so ‘designing the thing right’.”[3]

Moreover, each diamond’s sub-division brings to the four main stages of the model: discover, define, develop and deliver. The idea behind the diamond-kite shape is that you start from a specific point, then you have to space and consider numerous different alternatives and at the end only one will be chosen. This explains the divergent and convergent trend of the diagram that reflects what happens in real design processes.

Discover

This is the first step starting with the single problem and ending with a portfolio of different possibilities that have to be properly evaluated later in the process. In the graphical way, this is the divergent part in which almost every idea is welcome and deserves to be taken into account. In fact, one of the main aspects of this stage is to keep minds open.

Initial influences and inspirations can come out from different sides, it could be a product manager, a designer or even a customer. Afterwards, information has to be search and the three key sources are: - Market research - User research - Design research group

The market research includes tracking of perceptions and attitudes related to the company, its products and services, but it can also regard competitor analysis. It has been noticed that being user-oriented is one of the most important keys for companies, so in this phase is fundamental to understand what the customers need and in which way they would like to being satisfied. In addition, design research groups aim to applied design thinking from the beginning of a design process.

Define

Once all the ideas and information are gathered, it is time to define. So, it is important that the whole team work on the project in order to assess possible issues from the beginning. It is fundamental to establish and keep a communication with other experts and department internally. Thus, not only designers have to take part but also all the other employees who can contribute in the evaluation of the project. This phase usually finishes with the corporate sign-off that can allow project managers continue their project or not.

In the Define stage you traverse the convergent part because it starts with numerous possible solutions and it narrows until the definition of the best result. This result represents the proposal that will be presented in order to obtain the corporate sign-off.

Develop

At this point the project has been accepted and it has obtained the corporate and financial backing, thus it is the phase where design teams give life to prototypes and try and try. It is crucial under both the economical and temporal aspect to gather experts from different departments in order to speed up the process avoiding useless attempts that can be easily cut out just asking questions to the right people. This is the most iterative part because there are continuous tests and feedback until the optimal solution.

Deliver

Finally, the deliver stage consists in taking the concept though the final testing signed-off, produced and launched.

The key parts are: - Final testing, approval and launch - Targets, evaluations and feedback loops.

Basically, companies have to identify any late constraints or problems before manufacture and have to be aware of standards and regulations of the specific sector.

Furthermore, organisations are required to report back on the success of the launched product or service with the particular scope to prove how a good design impacted on the success of the product or service.

Applications

This section reports two cases taken from the Design Council’s “A study of the design process” in which the organisation worked with eleven global brands in order to understand how they move into design processes. In both cases the Double Diamond can be observed even if each company has its own structure for designing.

BSKYB

British Sky Broadcasting (BSKYB), also known as Sky, is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services. The company was formed in 1990 by the merger of two early incumbents in the UK multi-channel TV market, Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting.

Design Council had noticed the particular characteristic of the company to have an internal design management capability together with a strong relationship with an external design consultancy for the execution of product designs.

Key elements of BSkyB’s product design strategy include[4]: - Ensuring the commissioned agency had a crucial understanding of the brand and positioning, and briefing them to incorporate brand identity into product design - Developing a formal design language to give all products a consistent brand identity. - Working with its external agency partner during early market position, user behaviour and concept development phases. - Creating separate identities for individual product lines based on the requirements of their specific markets. - Developing a policy for visually identical products with multiple simultaneous manufacturing partners, using different internal electronics. - Getting buy-in from senior management (and a direct link to CEO) which makes it easier to justify investment in design and gives it a higher status within the organisation.

At that time, BSkyB was facing the re-designing of its set top boxes which were produced by external manufacturers and originally the design of the boxes was left entirely to the manufacturers’ discretion. But, around three years before the time of the study, the company’s senior management recognised that it would have be better to deliver a recognisable product as a highly visible element of the company’s presence in the customer’s home and a reinforcing feature for the company’s brand identity.

After a competitive pitch and the evaluation of different ideas and agencies, BSkyB selected Frog Design for this project and Ed Snodgrass was chosen as the project manager. He guided the company and the design consultancy through the design process called Discover – Design – Deliver. It is simple to address this internal process to the Double Diamond model and, as shown in the figure, the main difference is that the Design phase of BSkyB is what the Double Diamond identifies as Define and Develop.