Project highlight

LADWP Design Thinking Workshop

A hands-on workshop that gave LADWP employees a working knowledge of design thinking, and the chance to practice it on real problems.

Design Thinking
Workshop
Ideation
Facilitation

My role: Workshop architect and lead facilitator
With Enterprise U
Client: LADWP
Employee workshop
Format: 2x 3 hr workshops
22 LADWP employees / 5 teams of 4-5
When: May 7 and May 14, 2026
Part 1 and Part 2

The quick version

LADWP wanted its employees to get familiar with design thinking and practice it, not just hear about it. I architected the whole workshop, the activities and the lectures, and led it as facilitator. Enterprise U worked with the client and handled scheduling with LADWP.

Twenty-two LADWP employees took part over two sessions, on May 7 and May 14. The teams all work on billing support and accessibility initiatives, so they practiced design thinking on challenges from their own work.

Day 1

Empathy + Define

Teams started with people. They drew proto-personas, mapped the person’s day, and narrowed what they heard into a design challenge.

Part 1 slides

The workshop deck for day one, in Figma.

Open in Figma

Day 1 outcomes

A hand-drawn portrait of a person with glasses on a sheet of paper — **Meet the person.** Participants sketched a portrait of the person they were designing for.

Handwritten design challenge ideas on a notepad with red voting dots — **Define the challenge.** A first design challenge, written as a question and voted on with dots.

A persona template in Figma showing a proto-persona and a user persona — **Proto-persona to persona.** The template teams used to turn their first sketch into a fuller persona.

A flip chart with a drawn persona and boxes mapping their situation — **Map the situation.** A persona at the top, with what they see, feel and struggle with below.

A flip chart with a drawn persona and a sketched journey around a table — **Draw the journey.** Teams sketched the moments in a person’s day and where it breaks down.

A participant holding up a flip chart with a persona and journey sketch for the room — **Share back.** A participant holds up their team’s persona and journey for the room.

Two participants drawing together on a flip chart at a table — **Two heads at a table.** Pairs drew the person and their situation together.

Participants working around a table with paper, markers and red dots — **Working in tables.** Small groups, markers and dots, and lots of paper.

Day 2

Ideate + Prototype + Test

Teams turned what they learned into ideas, sketched a solution, and tested it with each other.

Part 2 slides

The workshop deck for day two, in Figma.

Open in Figma

Day 2 outcomes

A sheet of blue, yellow and orange sticky notes sorted into four areas — **Questions first.** Teams sorted “what worked” and “what to change” before they jumped to ideas.

A flip chart split into questions and new ideas, covered in sticky notes and red dots — **New ideas.** A board of questions and new ideas, with dots marking the ones to try.

A flip chart with a hand-written scenario in green and red marker — **Write the scenario.** A short story about one person, their goals and what gets in the way.

A hand-drawn storyboard of a van and people talking, on paper — **Sketch the solution.** A storyboard of the idea in use, drawn in minutes.

A flip chart with a four-panel storyboard drawn in marker — **Four-panel storyboards.** A quick, low-fidelity way to share an idea and get feedback.

A tall flip chart with a persona, orange sticky notes and written next steps — **The whole idea on one page.** Persona, scenario, ideas and next steps on one sheet.

Participants at a table covered in colorful sticky notes — **Sticky notes everywhere.** Teams filled the tables with ideas before choosing which to prototype.

Participants sketching and working on laptops around a table — **Prototype together.** Sketching and laptops side by side as the ideas took shape.

What it shows

Teaching by doing. Short lectures, then hands-on activities, so 22 people practiced design thinking instead of just hearing about it.
A full design thinking arc. Empathy and define on May 7, then ideate, prototype and test on May 14, on real billing support and accessibility challenges.
Working with a partner. I designed the activities and lectures and led the sessions, while Enterprise U managed the client relationship and scheduling.

Want the full story?

See how I design learning that people practice.

The UX/UI bootcamp case study shows how I turned design thinking into a 24-week hands-on curriculum.

Read the UX/UI bootcamp case study See all work