WorksheetsDesign Thinking Worksheet Questions
Total questions: 8
Worksheet time: 4mins
Which of the following is a scenario where design thinking is most appropriate?
Updating a state statute to meet federal compliance requirements
Redesigning the resident experience of navigating disability benefits
Debugging a malfunctioning power-grid transformer
Drafting a budget amendment with fixed spending rules
Which characteristic best signals that design thinking should not be used?
Multiple stakeholder groups with conflicting needs
A need to surface unspoken user frustrations
Fixed technical requirements that cannot be altered
A need to explore multiple prototypes
A public hospital wants to redesign the physical layout of its emergency department to reduce trauma triggers for patients. Where does design thinking fit?
Nowhere — clinical environments cannot be redesigned
Only in revising federal emergency care regulations
In co-designing the patient experience and environment
Only in selecting medical equipment vendors
Which scenario most clearly represents an inappropriate use of design thinking?
Improving a city’s online housing assistance portal
Redesigning a mandatory cybersecurity upgrade
Reimagining the intake experience at a community mental health clinic
Supporting residents in co-creating a neighborhood public safety project
Why does design thinking struggle with problems that have predetermined technical or legal specifications?
It thrives on ambiguity and multiple solution paths; predetermined specs leave no room for exploration, co-design, or prototyping
It lacks methods for gathering user insights and observations
It primarily focuses on strict compliance audits rather than solution generation
It eliminates prototyping in favor of immediate implementation
Which is the best example of a government problem that is too technical for design thinking?
Rewriting tax code language to match federal IRS definitions
Co-developing community climate adaptation strategies
Improving the experience of applying for SNAP or Medicaid
Supporting residents in co-designing a neighborhood safety initiative
Which is the best example of a policy or social services problem where design thinking is a good fit?
Redesigning crisis response services to better meet community needs
Updating dam engineering controls to meet safety codes
Implementing state cybersecurity standards
Drafting statutory language for compliance alignment
A social enterprise designed a technically excellent cookstove but adoption is low among rural women. Which explanation best reflects how design thinking helps uncover the real failure point?
It challenges safety requirements to increase adoption
It optimizes combustion efficiency through technical modeling alone
It trains users to adopt the product regardless of preferences or routines
It surfaces cultural, household, and gender dynamics through empathy research and co-design, revealing mismatches between the product and daily practices and guiding modifications aligned with lived realities
