PYB300 Chap.3 Design Thinking and the Theory of Change
Design Thinking and the Theory of Change
Before any section is written, a PYB300 team needs a program idea. This chapter covers the Week 3 workshop on design thinking and the Tutorial 2 activities that apply it: building a persona, turning it into an actionable problem statement, and generating ideas with the worst possible idea technique.
It then reads the Theory of Change worksheet, a brainstorming tool that bridges the idea and the program logic, and shows how its answers feed later sections.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Design thinking as practical, creative problem solving
- 02
Empathise: personas and their four key questions
- 03
Define: the user needs, need and insight template
- 04
Ideate: the worst possible idea technique
- 05
The theory of change worksheet and its questions
- 06
Scoping the idea without making it too narrow
- 07
Recording design work in minutes and progress reports
Worked example · free
From persona to problem statement
- 1Fill the template from the persona's evidence: young carers in regional towns need a safe way to be recognised at school because fear of consequences keeps their role hidden.
- 1State a terrible idea and its worst attribute: publishing a list of young carers in the newsletter, which exposes them publicly without consent.
- 1Reverse the worst attribute into a better idea: a confidential check-in with a trained wellbeing staff member, followed by a peer group in school hours.
Key terms
- Persona
- A fictional but realistic service user with a header, demographic profile, end goals and a scenario, used to see a problem from the user's side.
- Problem statement
- The actionable result of the define stage, written as a user, a need and a compelling insight drawn from the empathise stage.
- Worst possible idea
- An ideation technique that generates deliberately bad ideas, names what makes them bad, and searches for their opposites.
- Theory of change worksheet
- A unit brainstorming tool that maps the key problem, stakeholders, allies, reinforcing forces, change, measures and assumptions before the program logic is drafted.
- Pain point
- A difficulty a user currently faces within a system, identified during the empathise stage.
- Design Thinking Placemat
- A one-page unit template with spaces for the persona, the define stage, and bad and better ideas.
- Reinforcing factor
- Something that keeps a problem going, recorded on the worksheet and later targeted by the program's outcomes.
Design Thinking and the Theory of Change FAQ
Do we have to address every factor behind the problem?
No. Tutorial 1 says a program does not need to address all the factors, and that segmenting by location or population subgroup is acceptable. The caution is not to go so narrow that the program loses its impact. Focus on what will make the biggest difference, and draw on existing national or international programs only where they suit the Australian context.
Is the theory of change worksheet the same as a program logic?
No. The worksheet itself states that it is a brainstorming tool to complete before the program logic, and is not to be mistaken for the logic model itself. Its answers feed the logic: reinforcing factors become outcome targets, the change and measurement questions foreshadow outcomes and evaluation, and its assumptions become the assumptions row.
Why start ideation with bad ideas?
Bad ideas are easy to generate and lower the pressure on the team. Listing what makes an idea terrible exposes the attributes that matter to users, and reversing or substituting the worst attribute often produces a genuinely good idea. Mixing and matching several bad ideas can also surface combinations nobody would propose directly.
How should the team record its design thinking?
The unit's samples show two places. Meeting minutes can capture the personas and the systemic factors they reveal, and the progress report can summarise which stages are complete, such as empathise, define and ideate. Recording the work as you go also gives every member a specific situation to describe later in a selection criteria response.
Exam move
Run the three stages in order and write each output down before moving on: a persona with a scenario, a one-sentence problem statement, then a page of bad and better ideas. Build personas from your reading and from what the partner said at the town hall, not from guesswork, and include people from diverse backgrounds so the program considers cultural safety from the start.
Keep the completed worksheet: its reinforcing factors become your outcome targets in Chapter 4, and the decisions you made during these sessions are strong material for a problem-solving or creativity criterion in the examination.
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