Some Notes on Forming Teams

Forming effective teams, especially for design projects, requires careful consideration of the roles, skills, and dynamics needed to tackle complex problems. Here are some ideas to help you form a multidisciplinary team:

1. Identify the Key Skills Needed

  • Diverse Expertise: Include individuals from different disciplines (e.g., OT, Physiotherapy, Psychology, carers, equipment specialists) to ensure a range of perspectives.

  • User-Centered Thinkers: Choose members who understand or can relate to the end users’ needs.

  • Problem-Solvers: Bring in individuals who are natural problem-solvers and can think creatively and critically.

2. Ensure Diverse Perspectives

  • Functional Diversity: Include members with varying roles and specialities to cover all aspects of the problem. This could include technical experts, creative thinkers, and operational staff.

  • Cultural and Background Diversity: Teams perform better when they include people with different backgrounds, as this brings unique ways of thinking and approaching challenges.

3. Consider Team Roles

  • Facilitator: Someone skilled in leading the process, ensuring that the team stays focused on user needs and moves through the stages efficiently.

  • Creative Lead: This person will guide brainstorming and ideation, helping generate out-of-the-box ideas and solutions.

  • Technical Lead: The person who evaluates the feasibility of ideas from a technical perspective and ensures that any prototypes or solutions are practical.

  • User Researcher: A team member dedicated to gathering and analyzing user insights to inform the design process.

4. Encourage Cross-Disciplinary Learning

  • Promote collaboration between members with different expertise to facilitate knowledge sharing. This cross-pollination helps each team member understand the problem from multiple angles.

5. Consider Team Dynamics

  • Collaboration Skills: Select people who are good communicators and are open to collaboration and feedback, as DT is a highly interactive process.

  • Empathy: Ensure team members are empathetic and user-focused, as understanding the user is a critical part of design thinking.

  • Adaptability: Choose flexible team members who are open to iteration, change, and unexpected developments.

6. Set a Shared Vision and Purpose

  • Clarify the project’s goals and ensure that all team members understand the purpose of the project and their individual roles in achieving it.

By combining diverse skills, perspectives, and experiences, you can form a well-rounded team capable of tackling complex design problems using the design thinking methodology.