Design Thinking

A holiday is always a good time for reflection. Last week I found myself sitting on a surprisingly sunny British beach, reading an article about the rise in WFV (working from villas). We can thank the simple mobile device for this flexibility. These sleek looking machines have been designed to be simple to use so you can do anything you want at the touch of a button. But beneath that perfect exterior is a complex and intricate array of parts to make the perfect sum.

This got me thinking about our business and what our customers see. Presentation is everything, to showcase the latest ideas and products which can make journeys seamless and enjoyable for passengers and crew, all presented with a proverbial bow! But the journey to the end product comprises a number of carefully curated stages to uncover consumer insight, identify the strongest customer needs and draw on the latest technology. So, perhaps it’s time we shared a little insight into what we do and how we get there using the Monty’s Bakehouse Design Thinking Framework.

No matter the size or source of the project, whether it is an insight from our analysts or a challenge from a customer, every new project follows the Monty’s Design Thinking Framework. The framework is built up of 2 consecutive portals, The Problem Space and The Solution Space which shape the discovery and development phases of product development and provide rigorous structure to interrogating problems and creating new innovative ideas.

Let’s start with the former, the Problem Space, where we focus on the exploratory phase. The team will kick off by framing the challenge, exploring how the problem can be defined, what does it mean for the customer and crew, what are the barriers, what works well now and what do they need to solve the problem. This can include online questionnaires, focus groups, in-depth interviews or desk research. We will look at other extreme categories for clues, for example, when recently considering hygienic solutions the team looked into the medical industry and space travel on how they solve the problem.

There are a number of phases within this portal and we will move backwards and forwards, to re-define, re-explore and listen to customers until we are satisfied the problem has been exhausted and we truly understand the problem’s history, who it’s for, why it exists and when it occurs. As part of this process the team interrogate the size of opportunity to quantify the benefit for our customers and to help tailor the solution specifically to particular customers. One size doesn’t fit all, and it’s vital to understand what may work for one customer won’t necessarily work for another.

Next, we move into the Solution Space where the team focus on designing products to solve the problem. During this stage, the chefs and packaging developers collaborate with the insights team to ideate product solutions. The team draw on trends, flavours, ingredients and innovative cooking and manufacturing techniques from all over the world tapping into the SATs network of resources. These ideas are shortlisted based on a number of success criteria including ability to solve the problem, level of innovation and size of opportunity. 

These ideas are then developed into a number of prototypes by our highly skilled chefs. Each prototype is assessed against the brief whilst checking it hits cost and manufacturing capability. This is always a tricky trichotomy which takes time to refine, requiring several iterations of development. And of course, the products need to pass the taste test. Fortunately, there are always plenty of willing volunteers in the office to help with this stage but getting feedback from consumers is the ultimate test. So, prototypes are shared with unbiased consumers for a true evaluation. This second portal takes time, and often the project can be thrown back to the early development stages if it doesn’t solve the problem or fails to add something new and different. 

So, the next time your sat with a Monty’s Bakehouse snack in hand, be assured, it’s taken a dedicated team of insight analysts, product development specialists, chefs and food lovers to get to this point. It’s not luck it meets the brief, it’s because we care. A lot.

If you are interested in giving us a brief drop us a line and we will gladly take up the challenge.