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Design Thinking for Software Engineering pp 181–190Cite as

Digital Platform Design at the Edge of Complexity: The Value of Design Thinking to Balance Between Configuration and Customization

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Part of the book series: Progress in IS ((PROIS))

Abstract

Even though human-centered approaches such as Design Thinking have become a widespread strategy to gain competitive advantages, it remains unclear what it means for digital platform design. The very core of digital platforms lies in the systematic reuse of modules to reduce complexity and increase variety through configuration. Design Thinking, in turn, yields a variety of prototypes grounded in a deep understanding of the problem space. While the risk of the former lies in solution-fixation, the risk of the latter is that individual desirable solutions inhibit the transition toward actual implementation. Both perspectives are triangulated and the value of Design Thinking as a mindset, process, and toolset for Digital Platform Design is discussed. This contribution highlights the sweet spot where a wide range of problems (user needs) are addressed by a variety of platform configurations.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. esurance AG, Zürich, Switzerland

    Emanuel Stoeckli

Authors
  1. Emanuel Stoeckli
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Digital Technology Management, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Bern, Switzerland

    Jennifer Hehn

  2. Department of Software Engineering, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden

    Daniel Mendez

  3. Institute of Information Management, University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland

    Walter Brenner

  4. Department of Informatics, Technical University of Munich, Garching b. München, Germany

    Manfred Broy

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Stoeckli, E. (2022). Digital Platform Design at the Edge of Complexity: The Value of Design Thinking to Balance Between Configuration and Customization. In: Hehn, J., Mendez, D., Brenner, W., Broy, M. (eds) Design Thinking for Software Engineering. Progress in IS. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90594-1_12

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