Forty methods. Six frameworks. The map between them.

Most innovation writing treats methods like recipes. Follow these steps, get this outcome. It doesn't tell you which tool to reach for when your client has too much data to act on, or what to do when discovery has surfaced six equally credible problem frames. The real questions are never “how do I run a journey map” — they're “is a journey map the right tool right now, and if not, what is.”

Innovation 101 is organized around those questions. Every method explains where it fits in the process, what kind of problem it solves, and where its limits are. The frameworks section maps six end-to-end approaches — not as alternatives to pick between, but as lenses for different types of problems. The scenarios section connects specific situations to the tools that actually address them.

Mert is a Senior Consultant, Lead Design Researcher and Strategist on Deloitte's Innovation and Product Strategy team, formerly known as Doblin. He leads research and experience-strategy engagements for Fortune 50 to 500 companies across financial services, healthcare, and enterprise technology, uncovering user needs, shaping product strategy, and delivering customer-centered products and services.

His path ran from engineering to design. After a BS in Mechanical Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he learned how to build things but not the why behind each decision, he pursued an MS in Engineering Design and Innovation at Northwestern University to study human-centered design in depth. The methods on this site are the ones he uses in practice, written by someone who has had to make them work under real constraints, with real stakes, for real clients.

• ·Deloitte Consulting LLP - Innovation & Product Strategy (formerly known as Doblin)
• ·MS, Engineering Design & Innovation — Northwestern University
• ·BS, Mechanical Engineering — Illinois Institute of Technology
• ·Chicago, IL