Solving Real Problems First: Design Thinking and User Experience Training Course (Online / Remote)
1Summary
Teams that jump straight to building usually end up solving the wrong problem beautifully. Design Thinking exists to slow that first step down just enough — forcing a real conversation with the customer before a single feature gets built, so the eventual solution actually fits the problem it claims to solve. This course from Arab British Fellowship Training Academy gives participants that discipline in a practical, hands-on form.
As one of the Academy’s Product Management Courses, the programme moves through empathy mapping, customer journey analysis, structured ideation, prototyping and user testing — the full cycle from a vague problem to a validated solution. Participants finish with a capstone project and the practical ability to apply Design Thinking inside real product work, reducing wasted development effort and improving product-market fit.
2Objectives and target group
- Understand the principles and stages of Design Thinking, and why the order matters.
- Conduct customer interviews and user research that surface real needs, not assumptions.
- Build empathy maps and personas that ground design decisions in evidence.
- Map the customer journey to find genuine pain points and opportunities.
- Generate and prioritise ideas through structured ideation techniques.
- Build and evaluate low- and high-fidelity prototypes before committing to development.
- Test concepts with real users and validate assumptions before scaling.
- Apply Design Thinking inside agile product development, not as a separate exercise.
Target Audience
- Product Managers and Product Owners
- UX and UI Designers
- Innovation Managers
- Business Analysts and Customer Experience Professionals
- Product Development Teams
- Marketing and Brand Managers
- Entrepreneurs and Digital Transformation Specialists
- Project Managers responsible for product innovation
3Course Content
Module 1: Why Slowing Down Builds Better Products
- Foundations and principles of Design Thinking
- Human-centred product development
- Business value of customer-focused innovation
Module 2: Talking to Customers Before Designing Anything
- Identifying customer needs
- Qualitative and quantitative research methods
- User interviews and observation techniques
Module 3: Empathy Mapping and Personas
- Building effective empathy maps
- Understanding customer motivations
- Creating personas that guide real decisions
Module 4: Mapping the Customer Journey
- Mapping the complete journey end to end
- Identifying pain points and opportunities
- Measuring customer experience performance
Module 5: Generating and Prioritising Ideas
- Structured brainstorming methods
- Creative problem-solving frameworks
- Prioritising ideas worth pursuing
Module 6: UX Foundations for Design Thinkers
- Principles of user experience
- Information architecture and interaction basics
- Designing intuitive interfaces
Module 7: Prototyping Before You Build
- Low-fidelity vs high-fidelity prototyping
- Wireframes and interactive prototypes
- Choosing the right prototyping tools
Module 8: Testing and Validating With Real Users
- Planning usability testing
- Collecting and acting on user feedback
- Iterating based on usability metrics
Module 9: Capstone: Applying Design Thinking to a Real Challenge
- Solving a real product challenge end to end
- Building and testing a prototype solution
- Presenting recommendations and an implementation plan