Change is Good

Change is Good Or How to reduce anxiety and increase quality by embracing change as part of your organization’s design and development process. Ravi Singh User Experience Architect Follow me: @ravijsingh Friend me: facebook.com/ravisingh Network with me: linkedin.com/in/ravijsingh

I love you just the way you are “ Successful businesses hate change. People with great jobs hate change. Market leaders seek out and cherish dependable systems. ” - Seth Godin, Fast Company, "Survival Is Not Enough" Dec 31, 2001

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it

A profile in innovation and quality Meet the Dyson TM Innovative cyclone design challenged the status quo , introducing a vacuum cleaner that never loses suction Clear vacuum chamber exposes its actual performance Innovative industrial design Most reliable vacuum cleaner according to Consumer Reports Resulted in a billion dollar empire for Sir James Dyson

What’s quality? Best in class in terms of Design Engineering Reliability Consistency Functionality Utility Usability Ergonomics Innovation & Emotional response!

Birth of a quality product Did John Dyson just piece together others’ good ideas? Or find a gimmick that one-upped the competition? Or was he divinely inspired ? Could it be?

Outtakes takes are more than funny, they’re useful The Dyson design solution took 12 years of development & over 5,000 prototypes. Simplicity is not effortless – it’s an outcome of a lot refinement (aka, trial and error ). By definition, quality and completeness come late in the process when the design is the most educated. Design learnings come from failures, so Try  Succeed or Fail  Learn  Refine Quickly

Stay relevant by embracing change Change is a means to an end: better products for better user experiences and better company value. If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less. – General Eric Shinseki, Chief of Staff, U. S. Army

Big changes – exciting stuff! This happens over decades Paradigm shifts can render conventional product designs obsolete

Small changes for continuous improvement Early prototype Still same form This happens over years

Change is a challenge to the status quo Predictability ensures usability but Innovation leads to differentiation. VS “ Easy” “ Awesome”

Design is about micro-change The design process is a series of cumulative adjustments and occasional leaps of inspiration or creative destruction . Designers must enlighten stakeholders to the value of an iterative process for visual design, information architecture and technical development. Designer: Matt Willey Watch online: youtube.com/watch?v=uhnV21sL9UI

We’re not talking pocket change As a BIG IDEA , change is an active process of discovery, improvement & innovation.

Show, don’t tell The most persuasive presentation for change is through a literal prototype of the actual thing . Build, tinker, test and sell it by demonstration , just like Dyson did, in whatever your medium happens to be. Vetting your prototype is the best way to mitigate the risk of an ill-conceived design change.

Not all change is equal An attempt for Positive Change Worse than before Just different Better than before Uh oh. Undo the change! Hmm… Why bother changing? Yippee! Claim victory and make progress. Part of an explorative process. An active way to encounter serendipity. A way to identify bad ideas that can be avoided in the future. Something was learned. Improved design. But watch for unintended consequences and cost to achieve. Value Responses Outcomes

Evolution or Revolution, for better or worse Southwest.com 1999 – All visual metaphors (cutting edge for ‘99)

Evolution or Revolution, for better or worse Southwest.com 2005 – Changed to unambiguous links and facts

Evolution or Revolution, for better or worse Southwest.com 2008 – Focus on Key Tasks, a change for the better

Evolution or Revolution, for better or worse Southwest.com 2010 – Less focus, more options – a step in the wrong direction?

A change averse design-dev process Identify a business idea Describe and research the audience for the idea Recruit customers that fit the audience description Talk to them about their requirements Design a solution for the customer the business Get feedback from customers the business on the design concept Refine the concept based on the customer feedback Test the experience with the customers on a high-fidelity prototype Refine the prototype Develop and deploy the solution Test customer satisfaction in production for the first time

A value-oriented, customer-centric change process Identify a business idea Describe and research the audience for the idea Recruit customers that fit the audience description Talk to them about their requirements Design a solution for the customer Get feedback from customers on the design concept Refine the concept based on the customer feedback Test the experience with the customers on a high-fidelity prototype Refine the prototype Develop and deploy the solution Test customer satisfaction in production

Iterative customer-centered design process Customer Research Prototype Design Customer Validation Finalized Design Requirements Document Graphic Design Copywriting Development System testing Marketing Campaign Conversion Analysis Project Completion Project Kickoff Project Scoping Business Case Internal Reviews End User Feedback Refinements Design/Research Iterations

Acknowledge emotions during a process of change Consumer feedback is critical when proposing large-scale design changes. It also helps reassure project stakeholders. Branding is very sentimental , so only testing unbranded prototypes of a product may not completely reveal actual consumer response. Don’t be Tropicana , so in love with your own innovative redesign that you lose sight of the consumers it should appeal to. Before After Consumer response: “ I miss the orange with the straw in it.” Unintended Consequence: 20% drop in sales

Don’t rock my boat! Sources of resistance to change: Customers (end users) who are comfortable with an existing product experience and have too many things to adapt to already in the world Designers who don’t want to address changing business requirements and cling tight to their ideals Product managers with a personal investment in a preferred or functioning design Project managers and sponsors who are focused on scope, budget and time vs. product quality Yet, these are also the parties that often influence change.

Tips for Managing Change Identify the change influencers up-front: sponsors, stakeholders, analysts, designers, researchers, developers, marketers, security, legal, testers, trainers and most of all, customers Engage “non-designers” in the design process Embrace white boards and paper prototypes Keep the work products flexible to encourage painless revision Collaborate and co-own ideas Design transparently (not privately) Harness consensus and customer-focus with your change influencers to settle on a design and agree to stop iterating Avoid analysis-paralysis that prevents a design from firming up Embrace quick iterations with immediate feedback ; try, fail and recover quickly If no consensus, declare a design stopped and get end-user or sponsor feedback to settle unresolved concerns Use a change-control process to manage infinite, unhealthy change and to communicate change to dependent parties Use a “parking lot” to retain great ideas for future product releases Remember: Don’t settle for status quo when innovative ideas are in reach – Differentiate by embracing creative change!

Seth gets the last word “ [Through positive change and successful new techniques], organizations can defeat their slower competitors . It is our fear of changing a winning strategy and our reliance on command-and-control tactics that make us miserable – not change. Change doesn't have to be the enemy. ” - Seth Godin, Fast Company, "Survival Is Not Enough" Dec 31, 2001

Change is Good

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