DT@IT Toolbox: Design Thinking Tools to Support Everyday Software Development

Recent evidence suggests that design thinking can contribute to agile software development by increasing attention towards user needs as well as collaboration in interdisciplinary teams. However, there is a lack of understanding and support on how to facilitate the integration of design thinking activities into the daily work of agile development teams. Our work extends existing research on integrating design thinking with agile software development methodologies by developing and validating a toolbox that software teams can use in their everyday work. We present the DT@IT Toolbox, a collection of design thinking methods targeted at design thinking novices that aims to support everyday software development activities. The toolbox was evaluated with a team from an SME based in Germany over a period of 12 weeks. As a result, participants reported that using the DT@IT Toolbox led to a better communication within the team, enhanced problem-solving skills, increased empathy towards users and led to a better understanding of the users needs.