Why Design Matters (@P&G)

Editor's Notes

• #2: As part of the Design to Delight initiative at P&G (Marta, Mui, Rosa Maria and others are leading) I believe design should be used as a competitive advantage and that it can be applied to all kinds of products and services… including the ones you in this room work on. PRESENTED ON 4/29/2010 in Cincinnati, OH to Directors at P&G within their Global Business Services division which supports the Bus and 100K employees.
• #3: I’ll cover 5 tenets of design that I believe are criticalI’ll discuss some common barriers that top management can either cause or actively remove. And lastly I’ll touch on how you as IT professionals can think about adopting some of these concepts.
• #5: Story: Two P&G researchers followed a nice, grandmotherly lady as she ambled about, showing them around her house. When she flung the doors of her closet open, the researchers noticed that a broom covered with dust stood in the corner. In another closet, a vacuum cleaner sat, unused and forlorn. The researchers nodded conspiratorially at each other as they jotted notes.They all wandered into the kitchen. Jarring the researchers from their note-taking frenzy, the woman asked them, “Would you nice boys like some coffee?” The researchers agreed, blushing at being called “nice boys.” As the woman took a can of coffee grounds down from the pantry and opened it, the can slipped from her hands. She cried out as the can tumbled to the ground, strewing coffee grounds across the floor.Instantly, she grabbed a paper towel and attacked the mess, muttering to herself as she crouched on the floor. When she stood again, the researchers were staring at her, befuddled. “What?” she asked, the look of puzzlement on their faces engendering a puzzlement of her own. “You didn’t use the broom,” one researcher remarked. “Or the vacuum cleaner,” the other chimed in.With a sigh, the lady vented her frustration –the broom wouldn’t do a good-enough job and would leave coffee grounds on the floor, and the vacuum cleaner was heavy, cumbersome, needed to be plugged in, and was just overkill for the small mishap.The researchers nodded and wrote. Then, flipping their notebooks closed, they smiled and glanced at each other again with that same conspiratorial look, the gleam of excited insight shining from their eyes.SOURCE: BusinessWeek2005 - http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/sep2005/id20050923_571639.htm
• #6: However, it isn’t always enough to create a blue ocean. Personal JukeBox failed despite 2 year head start. Discovery Mind critical to identifying the getting started “import” pain pointFind the “Ah Ha” moment (e.g. seeing all your music neatly organized and accessible)…It wasn’t until later that Apple added other key features like buying music, automatic genius playlists, video, apps and more.
• #7: Fast Timeline and Constrained Device. Forced team to focus on the essence of the experience. Thought about what would customers want to do on the go. Limited feature set. Technology Platform enables this kind of design innovation
• #9: 5 key aspects to user centered design:Customer InsightsDiscovery MindSketchingPrototypingCritique
• #10: At its core design is based on understanding who you are designing for. Their pain points and the opportunities to help them be more successful.
• #11: Also don’t overlook other channels that may exist like Customer Support contacts and employee use of products
• #12: Prior to executing on any significant project, I’ve found it crucial to focus the team on what problems exactly we’re trying to solve. This is especially important for an “executive mandated” project as if the team doesn’t really know why they’re doing XYZ it’s unlikely to be successful.
• #13: Thru a change management process I worked with a visionary leader on in team, ShaileshShilwant, to insert “Product Discovery” at the front of our process.
• #17: Here’s some of the questions we ask up front… partnered with BrendenSchauer (Adaptive Path) who also authored the book Subject to Change.
• #18: Many of remember drawing as kids… I know I really enjoy seeing what my son, 3, draws with his crayons. So if a preschooler can do it, shouldn’t everyone in this room? And yet as we grow up we learn to tell ourselves that “I’m not good at sketching” but we’re more comparing ourselves to what a professional sketch artist might do. And yet I’ve found that if you democratize sketching and in fact encourage everyone… engineers, business analysts, and not just designers… you’re able iterate and co-create the solution much faster than you would otherwise.
• #19: There’s a full spectrum of ways to integrate sketching into your company. Everything from simple pens (I like Flair) to comic storyboards to it being part of the job description for one person on my team.
• #20: We even created a comic book in 2008 that was distributed throughout the organization. Not only was it fun… it captured the attention and focus of the organization in a way that bullets on a page never could.
• #22: Architects learned this centuries ago… a small, rough model is infinitely easier and cheaper to change than the real thing—once the concrete foundation is poured. One of my favorite stories in technology circles is 15 years ago when Jeff Hawkins was designing the first Palm Pilot PDA—he cut a number of blocks of balsawood, carrying them around in his shirt pocket and actually pulling it out in meetings, until he got the size just right. Then he had the engineers build to that size and stripped out all but the most crutial features. The great irony here is that Palm ended up establishing the category where the Apple Newton had failed—and now we see the tables turned with the Apple iPhone displacing Palm’s own smart phone.
• #23: Bill Buxton talks a lot about this concept that as the fidelity increases in fidelity, the cost (both the real cost and opportunity cost) increases.
• #24: I hold a weekly design critique with my product designers where the goal is to improve the overall design. The designers come open and wanting the feedback and leave with no obligation of implementing the feedback. It’s up to them to decide, knowing the project best, how to proceed.
• #25: Perhaps the greatest successful winning streak in the movie business (10 hits). They have found a repeatable process. “it’s very important for that dynamic to work, because it could be a brutal process, there needs to be the feeling they are all helping each other who wants that help. In order for that to work its important that no one in the room has the authority to tell the director they have to take their notes [make changes]. So no-one is taking a list of what you have to do to fix the film. All we can do is give the feedback and he goes off with the feedback… our job as leaders is to protect the dynamic in the room so that they’re honest with each other.”http://www.scottberkun.com/blog/2010/inside-pixars-leadership/
• #29: Key Talking points:One size doesn’t fit all. Discovery does not mean 2 months. It can be done in 2 hours for small projects (Low risk)Discovery also means doing it with the team not just in your head by yourself.In turnaround times, we may have to do things quickly without spending a lot of upfront time. Our portfolio should be a good mix of “Do it now, fix the basic” and “long term, big bets”.
• #30: It’s important to capture the opportunity up front and spend enough time revising the prototype before moving forward with execution.
• #31: I’m a big fan of agile methodology… focuses on the core aspects early on.
• #32: When we built motors.ebay.com it was a massive undertaking. It was clear that we would need to build not just a few more vertical experiences like that one but dozens if not hundreds more. But our existing technology platform was a barrier and needed to become an enabler. This project tried out the new tech platform, our new strategy of verticals, and our new more interactive design system.
• #34: Key talking points: - Hit blessing cultureTeams as well as Leaders (Execs) need to change (not just process)Talk about regular rhythm that Stephanie mentioned.Ultimately, we will get the best work from (and retain) our best talent if we direct them to:Be bought into the whyOwn the what and howGet their input and commitment on the whenOther Points to cover throughout:Culture of inquiryAsk open ended questions to guide the team in early phasesHolistic view of the customer experienceDelay judgmentsGo slow to go fasterFail fast, fail early (Prototype, Test, Prototype, Test)Iterative, collaborative way of workingUnleash Cross-functional creativity (PM, UED, Tech)Maximize opportunities with big bets