As Sendhil Mullainathan points out, it is essential to understand the elements that characterise the social sectors and separate them from the private and business sectors. In social phenomena there is no a single explanation or a right approach, rigid structures do not work in the social sciences (as they do in natural sciences). One of the most frequently made mistakes is to underestimate the importance of culture in the social sectors. It is important to remember that people, not users, inhabit the world. A user is something that designers create to help them to standardise the needs and requirements they aim to meet. Design thinking, as any other practice attempting to alleviate social challenges must step out of its comfort zone and unload any possible baggage to be able to look at this new context with clean eyes.

More than a need of design, there is a need of methods and approaches to overcome the changing situations in the social sectors, and design thinking is one alternative.