BUAD 497 · Smith GLS · Step 3 of 3
Honors Human Centered Leadership Seminar: Converting Insights & Ideas into Innovations
A full-year consulting project with a real client. Your team moves from insight to prototype to implementation plan, briefs the client every week, and finishes with the HCD Technical Report (your senior thesis) and a public poster at EUReCA.
Who this is for
Smith Global Leadership Scholars from every Haslam major: finance, accounting, supply chain, management, HR, business analytics, economics, marketing and international business. Two-semester senior capstone. The topics are written as open resources, so anyone learning human-centered design is welcome to use them.
How each topic page works
Each topic explains the idea in plain language, then gives you an interactive tool to try it on a realistic example. Put it to work connects the topic to the real deliverable in this course, and Go deeper points to the sources. Every topic ends with a team activity we run in class.
Topics
Topic 01
Your Capstone Consulting Year
Map the two-semester capstone, from the Summer Prototype Update to EUReCA, with a planner that shows what done looks like for each deliverable.
Lab: Capstone Year Planner · Team activity
Topic 02
Scoping the Client Challenge
Turn a client's problem into a scoped design challenge with stakeholders, firm and assumed constraints, and a clear out-of-scope line.
Lab: Challenge Scope Builder · Team activity
Topic 03
Who You Learned From: Your Interviewee Log and Sample
Log every conversation with a code, then get a ready-to-use sample sentence with counts, referral chains and warnings about gaps.
Lab: Interviewee Log and Sample Summary · Team activity
Topic 04
The Business Model Canvas
Learn the nine blocks in plain language, then build a canvas that checks whether segments, value, delivery, costs and funding fit together.
Lab: Nine-Block Canvas Builder · Team activity
Topic 05
The Value Proposition Canvas
Profile your users' jobs, pains and gains, link each pain reliever and gain creator to them, and see where your fit has gaps.
Lab: Value Fit Checker · Team activity
Topic 06
Live Prototyping and Iteration
Run your prototype where the problem lives, count what people do and know when to iterate, pivot or pilot.
Lab: Live Prototype Log · Team activity
Topic 07
Implementation: Roadmap, Resources and Partners
Build a Now, Next, Later roadmap with owners, resources and partners, then run a readiness check before your client does.
Lab: Implementation Roadmap Planner · Team activity
Topic 08
Pilot, Define Success and Sustain It
Scope a pilot, set success measures across desirable, feasible and viable, and show what sustains the idea after launch.
Lab: Success Metrics Builder · Team activity
Topic 09
The Weekly Consulting Brief
Write a one-page weekly brief that reports results with evidence, flags risks early and makes clear asks.
Lab: Weekly Brief Builder · Team activity
Topic 10
Pitching Your Prototype
Plan the Summer Prototype Update and Final Prototype Presentation: five beats, a minute budget, showing the prototype and a so-what for every claim.
Lab: Pitch Outline Builder · Team activity
Topic 11
The HCD Technical Report
The Smith GLS Technical Report Template section by section: executive summary, problem and people, credibility, insights, design response, testing, ethics and the AI statement.
Lab: Report Section Tracker · Team activity
Topic 12
Your EUReCA Poster and Abstract
Write a 150 to 200 word EUReCA abstract in four moves and build a three-column poster that meets the format rules and tells one clear story.
Lab: Abstract Builder and Poster Checklist · Team activity
Topic 13
Using AI in Consulting Research, the Right Way
Use AI for ideas, drafting and practice without risking integrity or client trust, and write the AI statement every deliverable needs.
Lab: AI Use Statement Builder · Team activity
Topic 14
Feedback, Imposter Syndrome and Blind Spots
Spot imposter syndrome and Dunning-Kruger blind spots, take feedback without getting defensive and give teammates notes they can use.
Lab: Feedback Response Coach · Team activity
Dates, deadlines and grades are in Canvas.