Solving Real Problems First: Design Thinking and User Experience Training Course
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