DT Autopsy

Failure mode 01

False Start

The team dives into solutions before the problem is properly understood. Speed feels like progress. It isn't.

Symptoms

Research phase is skipped or treated as a formality
The brief is accepted uncritically — no one interrogates the framing
The team converges on a solution direction before week one is done
User interviews happen after the concept is already fixed

Root cause

Discomfort with ambiguity. Teams mistake activity for progress and treat divergence as a problem to eliminate rather than a resource to exploit.

What it costs

You build the wrong thing well. The output looks polished but solves a problem nobody actually has — or not the one that matters most.

Failure mode 02

Empathy Theatre

The team goes through the motions of user research without actually listening. Personas get built. Insights don't.

Symptoms

Interviews are short, surface-level, or confirmatory
Personas are demographic profiles, not behavioural archetypes
The team selects quotes that support what they already think
'Empathy maps' are filled in from assumption, not observation

Root cause

Confirmation bias operating at team level. Research becomes a legitimacy exercise — you do it so you can say you did it, not to change your mind.

What it costs

False confidence. You proceed into ideation believing you understand the user, but the understanding is a projection. The gap surfaces during testing — too late.

Failure mode 03

Solution Fixation

One idea dominates the room early. Everything after — research, feedback, testing — gets bent to serve it.

Symptoms

Ideation produces one strong idea and a handful of token alternatives
Negative test feedback is explained away rather than acted on
The team's energy visibly concentrates on one direction
Pivoting feels like failure rather than learning

Root cause

Sunk cost dynamics plus social pressure. Once a team has invested identity in an idea, disconfirming evidence becomes a threat rather than a signal.

What it costs

You miss better solutions that were sitting adjacent to your fixation. The final output solves a version of the problem — just not the most important version.

Failure mode 04

Prototype Paralysis

The prototype becomes the point. Teams refine endlessly, test never, and confuse craft with progress.

Symptoms

Prototypes are high-fidelity before core assumptions are tested
The team iterates on aesthetics before validating the concept
User testing keeps getting postponed until it's 'more ready'
More time spent building than learning

Root cause

Fear of rejection dressed up as rigour. A polished prototype feels safer to show — but it actually raises the emotional cost of hearing that it's wrong.

What it costs

Time and momentum. You burn the sprint on execution when the fundamental question — does this address a real need? — is still unanswered.

Failure mode 05

Insight Orphan

Research surfaces a real, sharp insight — then it gets lost. It never makes it into the design decisions that follow.

Symptoms

Strong research findings aren't reflected in the final concept
The 'How Might We' statements are generic, not rooted in specific observations
There's no traceable link between what users said and what the team designed
Insights live in notes or affinity maps — but don't drive decisions

Root cause

The synthesis step is treated as a sorting exercise rather than a meaning-making exercise. Data gets organised but not interpreted — and interpretation is what produces direction.

What it costs

You do real research and throw it away. The output disconnects from the people it was supposed to serve — and the team can't explain why they made the choices they made.