oneux | designing experiences

meet customer needs to get ahead of the pack

 
A blog entry in HBR today outlines three questions companies need to ask themselves to see if they are heading the right direction, that towards the head of the pack. Unsurprisingly question no 1 is: '

• Would you say your company is becoming more effective at meeting customer needs?'

It is not 'is your company effective at selling more?', or even 'is your company effective at telling your customers what they want?'. It is increasingly becoming clear, even to the MBAs, that the key success differentiator is whether companies a)understand their customers' needs and b) find innovative ways to fulfil those needs. Questions 2 and 3 continue on the themes of innovation and collaboration. They read:

• Has your company recently implemented a significant innovation campaign or launched numerous small-scale innovation pilots?
• Is your company becoming more collaborative with outside firms? 

Both these two last questions point to a kind of business that is outward looking, confident, and one that places the creation of value for its customers at the core of its strategy.

pop up garden

 

Now that pop up shops have become a norm among brands that want to experiment with new formats or simply follow a fashionable trend, the Prinzessinnengarten  urban farm in Berlin adds a new dimension to this retail trend. Temporary by nature,  the gardening season last till about November, and by circumstance, the farm will need to move as soon as the space is sold off, Prinzessinnengarten is set up by non gardeners as a way to support knowledge exchange and work with the local communities. Interestingly ,the founders see this as a business venture, determined to make a profit by selling produce and running a cafe. The farm, with it sown resident beekeeper, seems to have  proven a success with different social groups and cultural backgrounds. It also stays true to the notions of provenance and traceability.

Have a look at this video by Monocle

starting with those that your designs affect

How the people at Continuum approached the design of a hospital room for Herman Miller: They began by interviewing and observing everyone in the hospital spectrum--patients, doctors, janitors, visitors, administrators--to discover inefficiencies and learn how infection spreads throughout a room. “A lot of times, especially as caregivers, they don’t often even know why they do certain things,” Beth Nickels, president of Herman Miller Healthcare, says. “And when you listen to their answers, you might be able to point out a better way to do things.” (From FastCompany)

innovate or.... how Moleskine are embracing the digital future

It is true that new technologies are causing us all to change or adapt our behaviour which in turn means that old and established industries are being disrupted. I have always loved my Moleskine diary but since I got an iPhone I am afraid I have not found a need for it. The iPhone's intuitive UI and integration with my Mac means I do no longer need to carry a paper version with me.

This may soon be true for notebooks, though at the moment  I am staying loyal to my Moleskine. So what does a company that specialises in old paper technologies do when the new mobile silicon competition comes along? In the case of Moleskine it embraces the disruption and tries to make themselves relevant in this new digital future. The new Kindle Cover is a great example of a company that has decided not to retreat into what they've always done and feel comfortable in and have taken the brave step to challenge themselves and their offering. So what a great idea to create a cover for your eBook that includes a paper notebook for those great ideas you might have.

Business Week Innovation Topics

Here is a list of innovation topics on Business Week on Wed 12 May 2010.

   

Well, as I mentioned in the past we have well and truly been discovered by the business world.

Design Thinking and the MBA

User-centred design (UCD) practitioners complain that the approach has never really been taken seriously by the business school establishment and business in general. UCD has at best been seen as a nice to have, a nod to creativity and ‘soft’ approaches to doing business that added a bit of excitement to an otherwise uneventful day at work.

UCD and ROI have always had an uncomfortable relationship.  Managers who have been used to backing every decision on hard numbers found it – and still find it - difficult to make decisions based on an approach that depends on qualitative research, observation, and intuition. Their decisions demand faith, and an ability to envision a different future, skills that management schools tend not to focus on.

Despair not, because we’ve been discovered! UCD in the form of Design Thinking is becoming part of the business school curriculum and yes; it is becoming the thing managers in the know start to explore. Recent articles in the Business Week, The New York Times, and podcasts from the Harvard Business School are treating Design Thinking as a legitimate approach to innovation.

Still in its infancy, even though the approach has been around for decades and introduced to the Rotman Business School in the 90s , Design Thinking attempts to combine analytical and intuitive thinking  in producing business systems for future innovation.

Though some may feel that the Management School establishment and the business world are hijacking the approach we have all been working on for quite some time, I’d like to see it as an opportunity to help them first understand the approach and also be part of its future direction. Getting business leaders to see a customer centred approach as a way to maintain their competitive advantage is definitely a great starting point

folding plug system

One more of those design archetypes that hasn't been updated since its first appearance following the second world war, the UK plug. A recent RCA graduate offered a refreshing point of view with his design for a folding plug system.

traffic lights: a different take on an old design

We get used to seeing things the way they are and forget that they either were not always like that or that they do not have to be the way they are in the first place. it just makes it easier to keep them the same, that is until we see what Serbian designer Damjan Stankovic' take on traffic lights.

The design featured in Core77  shows the red light surrounded by circular countdown display (shown below). The designer claims it will make drivers' lives less stressful as they do not have to keep their foot on the pedal and they could even turn the engine off.

I'd like to see this for pedestrians.

needs first, technology last

I have just finished reading Donald Norman’s article ‘Technology First, needs Last’. The premise of his essay is that design research is useless when it comes to ‘revolutionary innovation’ while it can be useful when applying incremental improvements to existing products. It also helps, wait for this,  to make products ‘ever more attractive [!!!]’.

I could complain that Norman’s argument reduces design research to a superficial, cosmetic element of the innovation process, but I won’t. Instead I’d argue that his essay really lends to the argument that design research and especially design thinking is absolutely crucial, if not critical to designing in our time.

Norman’s essay focuses on products and how technological innovation can make them possible. He argues that technological revolution, i.e. the invention of new product categories has never been the result of a ‘detailed consideration of human needs’. To support his argument he lists a range of products invented in the last century. These range from the airplane to the cellphone, or mobile phone for us Europeans.

He must be right, but then so what? Is it not the case that products are dead? Is it not true that we are shifting our attention from product development to service development? If this is the case – and it is – then technology cannot in itself and by itself solve the challenges we are facing. As Tim Brown puts it ‘a purely technocentric view of innovation is less sustainable now than ever’. Services are centred on people’s needs, not technology.

Of course the technology needs to be there but can we really depend on the technologists to come up with the right invention before we start tackling both minor every day and major global challenges? Is it not also possible that design research can unearth needs that will help change the application of existing technologies? If this is possible, then can we really call these improvements ‘incremental’? Creating a new category of products as part of a service ecosystem, is design revolution no matter if the products are based on existing technologies.

In a service economy needs come first and technology second, well no, actually technology comes third, after needs and service innovation. Technology enables innovation it does not drive it. I would however agree with Donald Norman that we better leave technological inventions to lone inventors, but then again are they ever lone?

data or insight?

A few months ago Douglas Bowman, the lead visual designer at Google (now at Twitter) quit his job and used his blog to explain why. Basically he was fed up with the data-led approach to design. He argued that at Google 'data eventually becomes a crutch for every decision, paralyzing the company and preventing it from making any daring design decisions.' A recent article in the NY Times debates the argument for and against user involvement in making design decisions. While on the surface the Google approach appears to be different to the one expressed by design and innovation experts quoted in the article, a closer look reveals that the differences are less pronounced. The argument for user insight, one that I strongly believe in, is relevant for all innovation firms including Google which I am sure runs a pretty good design research department.  The argument for data lead design is one that still has its place after design research has identified solutions, innovations, and new approaches. basically you do design research to develop insights and design ideas and then data can help refine the design. So as long as data helps refine the designs and  does not dictate it, I am fine with it.

getting users to pay for news online

The debate on how to charge users for online news content is going strong.  Most web versions of print media remain free but recent drop in online advertising revenue is forcing media companies to rethink their online strategies.  While people are getting used to paying for music, film etc. online, they are resistant to parting with their money to consume news, especially since news and online version of print publications have always been free to access. An article in today’s (9th April 2009) IHT suggests that it should be possible for the media industry to come up with a user-based revenue generating strategy if they find a way to add value to their offering.
While it is true that the music industry, well iTunes really, has successfully managed to change users’ attitudes towards paying for music, it is also true that paying for music online results in users owning that track, or album. It is theirs to share, cherish, copy, or pass down the generations. This sense of ownership is lacking in news consumption. I cannot really feel that I own an IHT, Esquire, or Times article. I simply consume it and then discard it.  At the moment I am reading a copy of the IHT, which soon I will bin. I certainly won’t bin the music on my iPod.
If media companies are to persuade users to pay for consuming news and print media online they need to address this lack of sense of ownership. Here are some ideas:

• Release content online well in advance of the print version. This should be possible for periodical publications. Users can then access content online before regular readers

• Only offer today’s issue for free. This is similar to me currently holding only today’s version of the IHT in my hands. This should make sense for daily publications.

• Charge for searching. A lot of the value in accessing news online is the ability to look for ‘old’ articles. While allowing users free access to today’s paper, charge them for searching and accessing existing content.

And finally,

• Get Apple to build an iPod for print media

for all the young MBAs out there

"How ignorant most of us are by contrast, surrounded by machines and processes of which we have only the loosest grasp; we who know nothing about gantry crane and iron-ore bulk carriers, who register the economy only as a set of number, who have avoided close study of switch gears and wheat storage and spare ourselves closer acquaintance with the manufacturing protocol for tensile steel cable".  From  The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain de Botton.

Also check the Harvard Business IdeaCast 138: Rethinking the MBA, featuring Henry Mintzberg, Cleghorn Professor of Management Studies at McGill University, who criticises management schools for educating out of context.

Podcast also available on iTunes and at Odeo

where does your food come from? #2

Since I wrote the post on food traceability/provenance a couple of days ago, I started noticing this trend more. Jordans, the cereal manufacture's new TV advert, makes direct reference to the fact that they know the farmers the work with, it's Rob by the way,

while Muller, again through their new 'Made in Shropshire' campaign, celebrate the fact that 90% of their milk comes from within 30 miles of  their dairy and it takes 24 hours to get from the farm to their yogurts.

where does your food come from?

Traceability: here is a trend among some food makers and one that is backed by food connoisseurs, environmentalists, and those behind ethically produced consumables. The idea is that the distance between farmers and consumers is reduced to, well, a website away.  Stone-Buhr,  a flour manufacturer in the US is using the brand as a way of bringing together wheat producers and end consumers. Through the Find the Farmer website, Stone-Buhr flour customers can enter a code found on the flour pack and see who the wheat producer is. They can then eat their bread or cakes with a clean conscience or start a conversation with the farmers asking them question about, well, all things wheat.

This trend, which others simply call provenance, is what lies behind farmers markets and initiatives like Souk el Tayeb in Lebanon founded by Kamal Mouzawak. In a recent Monocle Weekly podcast, Kamal described what drives this need to reconnect consumers with the source of their daily meal: "food is not a commodity... food is a living item, food is something that you produce, fifty or a hundred years ago [we] used to produce eighty or a hundred per cent of our food... today you have to make many and buy food. We can not ask people to go back to their gardens, to their fields and plant again, unfortunately, but at least [we can hep then] be in touch with those who produce their food.

Read more on Stoine-Burh in the NYTimes or listen to the Monocle Weekley podcast for the interview with Kamal Mouzawak.

know your customer

It's been a while since I read an inspiring book. That is, until I got my hands on Wired to Care,  by Dev Patnaik, director of Jump Associates. The book was a pleasure to read and I found myself agreeing with almost everything Dev  had to say. Admittedly in the last two chapters he enters some arguments on morality etc. which I am not sure I fully buy into.

Anyway, his argument that corporations need to develop empathy with their customers and employees to both innovate and deliver products and services their customers really need while somewhat improving their lives along the way, is one that resonates with my approach to user-centred design.

As user experience professionals, be it researchers, designers or architects, we are in the business of bridging the gap between producers and consumers; between customers' needs and expectation and the reality of  their product or service experience. Through a process of observation, questioning and understanding, we develop insights that enable our clients to see beyond their corporate back garden and into their customers' world.

Google is releasing a free speech recognition application for the iPhone

The IHT reports today that iPhone users will be able to download a free Google application from iTunes that allows them to speak rather than type their search terms on Google. The application, though not perfect yet, will take advantage of the iPhone's GPS capabilities and return location specific results. This should be great whew looking for a local taxi service at 3 in the morning when  typing your search terms could be rather tricky.

user observations. making sense of it all: After the sessions

So, all the sessions are now complete and you have a wealth of notes, pictures, blog posts, recordings, and even video footage. Now what? How do you make sense of it all? This can be quite a daunting experience especially when you jump from session to session without any time to reflect on the findings.

In my experience, an effective way to deal with a mountain of data is to prepare for the analysis during the fieldwork:

• Debrief after every session: Always make sure there is sufficient break between sessions. You will need about an hour to go back through the session and identify key points and areas. if you do this after each session you will see patterns emerging that will help with preparing for subsequent sessions
• Compare notes with partners and observers: During those debrief sessions make sure you compare notes with other researchers and clients to make sure that you have not missed anything and that your understanding of what took place during the session is correct.
• Write up stories at the end of each day: This is probably the most crucial element of getting ready for the analysis. Stories will help with creating personas and also help define areas of interest

If you start the analysis having clearly and concisely documented what happened in the field will help focus on developing your deliverables, whether they are mental models, personas, user journeys, etc.

user observations. challenge #6: observation not appropriate

There are times when while you are all prepared to meet users and gain great insight, you realise that the situation forbids you from any useful observation. There can be a number of reasons for that:

• No space for observation. Here I mean physical space and you can read more on this in a previous post.
• Participant not properly briefed . It is true that sometimes, for whatever reason, participants have not been properly communicated the purpose and format of the  session. As a result you are faced with a situation where you simply cannot observe.
• Atypical behaviour. This is an interesting one. You may come across users that represent extreme cases of the subject matter you are researching. This is absolutely fine if you are looking at extreme cases - this sometimes can be extremely useful  -

Despair not. While you may need to abandon any hopes of observation, you can still use the time available for an unstructured and flexible interview. During a project in Europe, I came across a participant who invited us to meet him in town and brought some of his friends along. While the situation did not facilitate meaningful observation we used it as an opportunity to conduct an extended couch session. There is no need to tell participants that you need to adapt your approach, at best they will feel bad and at worse, offended.

So, some ideas:

• Adapt your approach
• Small talk helps
• Flexible  interviewing. Not standardised
• Allow participants to join in time outs

user observations. challenge #5: Sesions in an other language

I know I know... one of  the key principles of ethnography is that the ethnographer speaks the language of the people he is observing and does not use translators, ideally yes. However, when you do research across locations you need to ensure a) continuity and b) consistency on the method and approach, which more than not means that a researcher is present in all locations, even though he may not run all the sessions.

In my experience I was responsible for the research approach and results across multiple locations across countries and languages. Not being a polyglot, meant that I had to rely on local facilitators to extract knowledge. What is important here is that I worked with researchers not mere translators. My role was to ensure continuity and consistency and guide/help the local facilitator, not run the sessions.

Not knowing the language freed me to observe different things to the locall facilitator and regular time outs allowed us to compare notes and ensure we are on track. While not speaking the language I was still able to tell if the local facilitator was following the approach. For example, if the facilitator talks more than the participant, then you know that is something is not right. 

Anyway, one of the side effects of being present in sessions that were conducted in a language other than English, was that some participants were keen to talk in English. here are tips on how to deal with this:

Participant not fluent in English

• Thank them
• Encourage them to speak in local language
• Local facilitator has language skills
• It is ok to ask a question in English and have the participant reply in local language

Participant  fluent in English

• Do not force local language on them, it may insult them
• Ask them to use local terms where they need
• Do not pretend you understand everything they say
• Ask for clarification if necessary
• Local facilitator is there to help

user observations. challenge #4: Group discussions

Sometimes it is useful to conduct couch sessions and the end of the observation. These usually take the form of informal chats  around the coffee table with the participants and a few friends or family. Couch sessions help clarify observations and give you the chance to talk to others apart from the participant. Keep it informal and allow all to discuss new issues or go back to issues that have been raised during the observations.

Some guidelines:

• Couch sessions help clarify observations
• Chance to talk to friends and family
• They allow participants to raise new issues
• They support flexible interviewing
• Bug lists are participants’ favourite subject
• Do not invite more than 3-4 participants
• Incentivise main participant
  
• Clarify purpose of visit
  
• Be clear about offering food, drinks etc.