Design Thinking + Agile: The Perfect Methodology Combo

After 10+ years building software products, we’ve found that combining Design Thinking with Agile delivers the best results. Here’s how we make it work.

The Problem with Pure Agile

Agile is excellent for iterative development, but it has limitations:

• Assumption-driven: Stories often based on stakeholder opinions, not user needs
• Solution-focused: Jumps to “how” before understanding “why”
• Short-term thinking: Sprint planning can miss the bigger picture
• Limited empathy: User stories ≠ deep user understanding

The Problem with Pure Design Thinking

Design Thinking excels at problem discovery, but:

• Slow delivery: Can spend months in research and ideation
• Prototype limbo: Great concepts that never ship
• Scope creep: Open-ended exploration leads to expanding requirements
• Implementation gap: Designers throw concepts over the wall to developers

Our Integrated Approach

We combine the best of both methodologies:

Phase	Methodology	Duration	Output
Discover	Design Thinking	1-2 weeks	User insights, problem definition
Define	Design Thinking	1 week	How Might We questions, success criteria
Ideate	Design Thinking	1 week	Solution concepts, user flows
Prototype	Design Thinking	1 week	Interactive prototypes
Develop	Agile	6-12 weeks	Working software (2-week sprints)
Test	Both	Continuous	User feedback, iteration

Phase 1: Discover (Design Thinking)

Goal: Deeply understand the problem and users

Activities

1. Stakeholder Interviews

   • Business goals and constraints
   • Success metrics
   • Known pain points

2. User Research

   • User interviews (5-8 per persona)
   • Observation/shadowing
   • Analytics review

3. Competitive Analysis

   • What exists in the market
   • What works and what doesn’t
   • Opportunities for differentiation

Deliverables

• User personas (2-3 primary)
• Journey maps
• Pain point analysis
• Opportunity areas

Real Example: For a fintech client, we discovered that users didn’t need “faster transfers”—they needed “peace of mind that money arrived.” This reframed the entire product direction.

Phase 2: Define (Design Thinking)

Goal: Frame the right problem to solve

Activities

1. Synthesis Workshop

   • Affinity mapping of research findings
   • Pattern identification
   • Insight generation

2. Problem Framing

   • How Might We (HMW) questions
   • Point of View (POV) statements
   • Success criteria definition

3. Prioritization

   • Impact vs. effort matrix
   • MoSCoW method
   • MVP scope definition

Deliverables

• HMW questions (prioritized)
• Problem statement
• Success metrics (HEART framework)
• MVP feature list

Example Problem Statement:

For [busy professionals] who need to [manage personal finances],
our product will [automate expense categorization] unlike [manual
spreadsheets] because [it saves 2+ hours per week and reduces errors].

Phase 3: Ideate (Design Thinking)

Goal: Explore multiple solutions before committing

Activities

1. Ideation Workshop

   • Crazy 8s exercises
   • Solution sketching
   • Peer critique

2. Concept Development

   • Refine top 3 concepts
   • User flow mapping
   • Edge case consideration

3. Concept Testing

   • Low-fi prototype testing
   • Quick user feedback (5-8 users)
   • Iteration based on feedback

Deliverables

• Solution concepts (3-5)
• User flows
• Low-fi wireframes
• Concept test results

Pro Tip: Explore divergent ideas before converging. Some of our best features came from “crazy” ideas that we refined.

Phase 4: Prototype (Design Thinking)

Goal: Validate solution before development

Activities

1. High-Fidelity Design

   • Visual design
   • Interaction design
   • Design system creation

2. Interactive Prototype

   • Figma/Sketch prototypes
   • Key user flows
   • Edge cases

3. User Testing

   • Usability testing (8-10 users)
   • Measure: task completion, time, errors
   • Iterate based on findings

Deliverables

• Hi-fi designs
• Interactive prototype
• Design system/UI kit
• Usability test report

Validation Criteria:

• 80%+ task completion rate
• <2 critical usability issues
• 4+ average satisfaction score (1-5 scale)

Phase 5: Develop (Agile)

Goal: Build working software iteratively

Sprint 0: Setup (1 week)

• Technical architecture
• Development environment
• Team roles and ceremonies
• Sprint planning

Sprints 1-N: Development (2 weeks each)

Sprint Planning

User Story Template:
As a [persona]
I want to [action]
So that [benefit]

Acceptance Criteria:
- Given [context]
- When [action]
- Then [outcome]

Definition of Done:
- Code complete and reviewed
- Tests written and passing
- Design QA approved
- Product owner accepted

Daily Standups (15 min)

• What did I complete yesterday?
• What will I work on today?
• Any blockers?

Sprint Review (1 hour)

• Demo working features
• Stakeholder feedback
• Product backlog adjustments

Sprint Retrospective (1 hour)

• What went well?
• What didn’t go well?
• What will we improve?

Our Agile Practices

1. Pair Programming

   • Complex features
   • Knowledge sharing
   • Code quality

2. Test-Driven Development (TDD)

   • Write tests first
   • Better code design
   • Confidence in refactoring

3. Continuous Integration/Deployment

   • Automated testing
   • Daily deployments to staging
   • Weekly releases to production

4. Design QA in Every Sprint

   • Designer reviews implemented features
   • Catches design deviations early
   • Maintains design quality

Phase 6: Test (Continuous)

Goal: Validate with real users, iterate

Week 1-2 of Each Sprint

• Development

Week 2 of Each Sprint

• User testing with real users
• Analytics review
• Feedback collection

Every 2-4 Sprints

• Larger usability study
• Iterate on design if needed
• Update backlog priorities

Real Project Example: E-Commerce Checkout Redesign

Challenge

Client’s checkout had 60% abandonment rate.

Our Process

Discover (2 weeks)

• User interviews: Found confusion about shipping costs and delivery dates
• Analytics: Identified 3 main drop-off points
• Competitor analysis: Benchmarked against best practices

Define (1 week)

• HMW: How might we make delivery expectations clear upfront?
• Success metric: Reduce abandonment to <40%
• MVP scope: Redesigned 3-step checkout

Ideate (1 week)

• Tested 3 different checkout flows
• Selected one-page checkout with progressive disclosure
• Validated with 8 users

Prototype (1 week)

• Built Figma prototype
• Tested with 10 users
• 85% task completion rate

Develop (8 weeks, 4 sprints)

• Sprint 1: Cart and checkout shell
• Sprint 2: Payment integration
• Sprint 3: Address validation
• Sprint 4: Order confirmation and polish

Test (Continuous)

• A/B tested new vs. old checkout
• Monitored analytics daily
• Collected customer feedback

Results

• Abandonment: 60% → 35% (42% reduction)
• Conversion: +18%
• Customer Satisfaction: 3.2 → 4.5 (1-5 scale)
• Support Tickets: -30% (delivery-related)

Adapting the Process

For Small Projects (4-8 weeks)

• Discover: 2-3 days
• Define: 1 day workshop
• Ideate: 2 days
• Prototype: 2-3 days
• Develop: 2-4 sprints
• Test: End of each sprint

For Large Projects (6+ months)

• Run full Design Thinking phase (4-6 weeks)
• Break into multiple Agile streams
• Run parallel teams (3-5 developers each)
• Monthly design reviews
• Quarterly user research

For Ongoing Products

• Design Thinking for new features (quarterly)
• Agile for continuous development
• Monthly user research
• Design system maintenance

Tools We Use

Design Thinking

• Miro/Mural: Workshops and collaboration
• Figma: Design and prototyping
• Maze: Prototype testing
• Hotjar: User behavior analytics

Agile

• Jira: Sprint planning and tracking
• GitHub: Code repository and CI/CD
• Slack: Team communication
• Notion: Documentation

Common Questions

Q: Doesn’t Design Thinking slow down Agile?

A: Only initially. The upfront research (2-4 weeks) prevents months of building the wrong thing. We’ve seen projects save 30-40% development time by validating first.

Q: How do you handle changing requirements?

A: Design Thinking establishes the problem and success criteria—these rarely change. Solutions can evolve in Agile sprints based on learning.

Q: What if user research contradicts stakeholder requests?

A: We present both perspectives with data. Usually stakeholders appreciate the user insights and adjust. In rare cases, we test both approaches (A/B test).

Q: How do you scale this across multiple teams?

A: Shared research repository, regular cross-team reviews, and a central design system keep everyone aligned.

Lessons Learned

1. Involve Developers Early

Don’t wait until development sprints. Include developers in:

• Define workshops (technical feasibility)
• Ideation sessions (implementation ideas)
• Prototype reviews (catch technical issues early)

2. Time-box Research

Design Thinking can be endless. Set strict time limits:

• User interviews: 1 week max
• Synthesis: 2 days
• Ideation: 1 day workshop
• Testing: 2-3 days

3. Start Development with Known Parts

While finalizing designs for Feature C, start developing Feature A. Parallel workstreams accelerate delivery.

4. Design QA is Non-Negotiable

Designers must review implemented features every sprint. This prevents design drift and maintains quality.

5. Measure Everything

Define success metrics in the Define phase and track them throughout development and post-launch.

The Results

Teams using our integrated approach see:

• 30-40% faster time-to-market (vs. waterfall)
• 50-60% fewer major changes post-launch
• 20-30% higher user satisfaction scores
• Better team morale (designers and developers collaborate vs. conflict)

Conclusion

Design Thinking and Agile aren’t competing methodologies—they’re complementary. Use Design Thinking to discover and validate the right problem and solution, then use Agile to build it efficiently.

The key is knowing when to use each:

• Uncertainty about the problem? Design Thinking
• Clear problem, need to build? Agile
• New feature or pivot? Design Thinking → Agile
• Iterative improvement? Agile with regular user testing

Want to Try This Approach?

We offer:

• Workshops: Train your team on integrated methodology
• Facilitation: Run Design Thinking phases for your project
• Full Service: End-to-end product development

Contact us: hello@22lab.dev

---

About the Author: 22 Lab’s Product Development Team has delivered 100+ projects using this integrated approach, spanning fintech, e-commerce, healthcare, and SaaS products.