Design is Magic and Other Myths Exposed

Ron Gagnier 2013

Ron Gagnier – Senior Experience Designer & EducatorRon has been a designer for 18 years. He has worked in many domains including business analytics, telecommunications, medical, government, and HR systems. He is recognized for facilitating and coaching teams on design and uses a proven approach that leads to tested concepts that promote a team’s best ideas while successfully meeting user goals.  Ron can assist your organization in learning to utilize design techniques that drive innovation, enhance performance, foster customer satisfaction and loyalty, and increase profit.

Who Am I?

2

Design IS Magic?

3

Why is Design Considered Magic?

BAD DESIGN is so Prevalent

4

Who Wants $100 Million in Seed Capital?

5

Start a car company in Ottawa

• Decide what car to build• Present your plan to the Board of Directors in 90 days

What Do You Do?

A. Gather your team and start sketching car designs.

B. Delegate the “Design” to the hired experts and decide what color to paint your office.

C. Gather your team and tell them all about the cars you like.

D. Gather your team and tell them all about the cars you have discovered Ron likes (71 Mustang Fastback, 2008 Ford GT40, 74 Lancia Stratos).

E. See what’s coming out by Toyota this year pick one and copy it.

F. Buy a report from consumer reports about the latest trends in automobiles.

6

Common Design Myths…

1. Design is only about the aesthetics

2. Design is best left to designers

3. Design is just opinion in a fancy dress

4. Don’t know what to build – copy somebody else’s design

5. Somebody else can tell you what to build

7

Myth 1 – Design = Aesthetics

8

Product satisfactions depends on many factors including:

Aesthetics, Quality, Craftsmanship, Features, Price

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kano_model

Design is a Team Sport!

Every member of a team plays important roles:

Product management Understand the market opportunity Understand the competition Generate ideas

Development Understand what’s possible Determine feasibility Generate ideas

User Experience Understand user need Articulate user need Generate ideas

All of these activities constitute design!

Myth 2 – Design is for Designers

9

Myth 3 – Opinions, Opinions

10

Yours

Mine

Customers’

Opinions do not discuss the situation, behavior, expectations, and values of the market

Myth 4 – Copying

11

If you don’t know what to build just copy someone successful in the industry.

Can be a good strategy only if you can deliver a better product.

• (Microsoft is seldom first to market with anything)

Still requires careful study of the situation, behavior, expectations, and values of the market in order to deliver a better product.

Myth 5 – Somebody Else Says…

12

Why can’t we trust the critics, analysts?

• Critics are paid to review products.• Analysts are paid for their

research.

Their results depend on the questions they are asked to answer.

Are they asking the right questions?Do the questions pertain to you & your industry

specifically?Are there regional variations in the answers?Have they sampled the right people?Have they sampled enough people?Do they have a hidden agenda?Etc.

Design IS Magic?

13

Apple’s Secret?

Deep understanding of their users

Passion for good design

14

The Real Problem With Design

Most organizations lack clarity about what design is and what actions comprise design.

“Things rarely get stuck because of time. They get stuck because the doing of them has not been defined” –David Allen, author of ‘Getting Things Done’

Conducting research to generate Empathy Synthesizing that research to gain Insight Using insight to generate Ideas Exploring ideas through Concepts Evaluating concepts to determine Value

Why design? Discover an optimal solution (customer satisfaction) Discover an innovation (competitive advantage) Discover a new method of manufacture or delivery (development cost savings) Avoid guessing about what customers/user want Many more…

What’s Design About?

16

What Does Good Design Look Like? An Example

2004 - Visitor Information Website for Parliament 1 800 calls were going unanswered due to

volume Website was intended to reduce the call

volume (actually increased it) Surveys indicated user frustration

17

Homepage (2004)

18

Research

Research: Interviewed product stakeholders

▪ Directors ▪ Developers▪ Content creators▪ Etc..

Interviewed Users to find out:▪ what kind of information is beneficial to them▪ whether they accessed the website

All UsersExternal:Tourists / CitizensGroup toursEducational tours: StudentsTour marketing companiesParliamentary BusinessGuests of MPs, SenatorsInternal:1-800 staff SecurityParliamentarians - MPs, SenatorsVIPs, Dignitaries and DiplomatsPotential:ProtestorsMedia or production related professionals

30+ sets of interview notes

19

Research Synthesis

Affinity diagrams, Card Sorting, Personas, Scenarios, Artifacts, …

20

Users & Goals + Priority

1) Tourists/Citizens Easy exploration Quick access to information An engaging experience

2) Parliamentary Business Portable information Ease of Access Ease of Navigation

3) 1-800 Staff Speed, to be able to use the system quickly Efficiency of effort when finding information Minimal steps to find information Logical/Intuitive grouping of information

21

Sketches & Designs - 1

Visitor Information Banner

Welcome to the Parliament Hill Visitor Information Site

I am a Tourist Planning a VisitParliament hill offers many things to see and do. Take a tour, see one of our seasons attractions, or witness the Canadian political system in action by visiting the Senate and House of Commons galleries

I am doing business on the Hill (Or visiting someone who is)

image

image

Touring Parliament | Visiting Ottawa | Seasonal Attractions | Doing Business | Contact Us

Walking Map of Parliament Hill

22

Visitor Information

I am a Tourist Planning a VisitThis area may contain a general at-a-glance view of our offerings

I am Doing Business on Parliament Hill This area may provide a general description of what it means to visit Parliament on business and links for each ‘type’ of business visitor.

image

image

Parliament of Canada

Touring Parliament Tour OverviewsGroup TourCentre Block Guided TourEast Block Guided TourEducational TourOutdoor Tour & ActivitiesPublic GalleriesPeace Tower & Memorial ChamberSouvenirs

Doing Business

Attending DebatesAttending CommitteesMeeting Parliamentarians

Seasonal Attractions SpringSummerFallWinter

Map of Parliament HillCentre BlockEast BlockWest Block

National Capital Region

Sketches & Designs -2

23

Homepage (after redesign)

24

Homepage (Today)

25

So is there Magic?

Summary: Conducting research to generate Empathy Synthesizing that research to gain Insight Using insight to generate Ideas Exploring ideas through Concepts Evaluating concepts to determine Value

The Magic is in making Design a team sport:

Keeping everyone engaged and involved Creating a vision & sticking to it Staying on track during development

26

Capture the opportunities (both market and user) Plan & prioritize Decomposition Traceability

Create a Release Plan…

Priorities

Goals

Scenarios

Epics & Stories

Release Plan

Everyone involved must know how their work is contributing to the vision

A Release Plan defines the vision

27

Business Perspective What market?

Market size? Market growth? What urgency surrounds this

opportunity?

Who competes in this market? How successful are we? How successful are they? Key differentiators

What are the success metrics for this project?

User Perspective What is the opportunity?

Why is it important to the user? What advantage does it provide the

user? Why?

What industries care about this problem? Who are the key users for each industry? What are the key users goals? What are their use scenarios?

Opportunities? Two Perspectives

28

A Release Plan Works:

Creating a Release Plan Include only the 3 things you plan to deliver during the release

& why?

Why only 3? Allows a team to focus Forces a team to prioritize and agree on what’s important Customers and analysts have short attention spans

29

“The question ‘What is our business?’ can, therefore, be answered only by looking at the business from the outside, from the point of view of customer and market. All the customer is interested in is his own values, his own wants, his own reality. For this reason alone, any serious attempt to state ‘what our business is’ must start with the customer, and her realities, situation, behavior, expectations, and values.”

Peter F. Drucker – Management 2008 pg101

Sage Advise: Peter F. Drucker

30

Design Training & Consulting Contact Me

Ron Gagnier M- 613 315-7892 rongagnier@yahoo.com ca.linkedin.com/pub/ron-gagnier/1/1b0/729/