Toolbox Design Thinking «HOT»

In the bustling Product Innovation wing of Sparks Electric , Priya, a senior design lead, stared at her whiteboard. It was covered in sticky notes—yellow, pink, green—each screaming a different problem. “The EV charger is too slow.” “The cable is too heavy.” “The app crashes.”

The mirror wasn’t for vanity. It was for seeing the truth. They went back to the napkin. Iterated. Tested again. The new charger launched. Not perfect. But honest. The handle had a rubberized, ridged grip (Raj approved). The app displayed one thing: “Time for a short walk / coffee / stretch” (Leila approved). And the fox? Optional. Hidden under “pet mode.”

Then, a battered cardboard box arrived. Taped to its side was a note from her old mentor: “Before you fix the machine, fix the thinking. Here’s your toolbox.” toolbox design thinking

They put the prototype in front of Raj and Leila. Raj laughed at the foam grip. “Too squishy—I’ll tear it.” But he loved the glow. Leila ignored the pet fox. “My kid would fight me for the screen.” She pointed at the timer: “Just tell me ‘15 more minutes for coffee.’ That’s delight.”

She smiled at the team. “Design thinking isn’t a workshop. It’s a toolbox you carry every day.” In the bustling Product Innovation wing of Sparks

Her team was drowning. Not in ideas, but in chaos . Every fix created two new bugs. Morale was a flat line.

She threw away the old problem statements. Instead of “Fix the heavy cable,” she wrote: “How might we make the grip feel like a handshake, not a deadlift?” Instead of “Speed up charging,” she wrote: “How might we turn a 30-minute wait into a moment of delight?” The team’s energy shifted from complaint to curiosity. It was for seeing the truth

And on her desk, next to the charger, sat the crumpled glasses—still waiting for the next problem.