Design Thinking, AI & Magical Meetings with Erik Skogsberg

Erik Skogsberg brought an interesting intersection to the show: design thinking, AI, and how to make meetings actually productive. Sounds like three different topics, but they're deeply connected.

Design Thinking for Business Problems

Design thinking isn't just for designers. It's a framework for solving any complex problem: 1. **Empathize** — Understand the people affected 2. **Define** — Clearly state the problem 3. **Ideate** — Generate solutions without judgment 4. **Prototype** — Build quick, rough versions 5. **Test** — Get feedback and iterate

Erik applies this to everything from product development to internal processes. The key insight: most businesses skip step one. They jump straight to solutions without understanding the problem from the user's perspective.

Making Meetings Magical

Erik's framework for productive meetings: - **Purpose**: Every meeting has a clear objective. If it doesn't, it's an email. - **Participation**: Design activities that involve everyone, not just the loudest voices. - **Progression**: End every meeting with clear next steps and owners.

Where AI Fits In

AI can handle the meeting overhead — transcription, action item extraction, follow-up reminders — so humans can focus on the creative problem-solving that AI can't do. Erik sees AI as the best meeting assistant ever: it captures everything, forgets nothing, and never gets bored.

The combination of design thinking (for creative problem-solving) and AI (for execution and follow-through) is powerful. Watch the episode for Erik's specific frameworks and examples.