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IBM Design
Todd Wilkens, Design Principal
UX STRAT, Boulder, September 2014
IBM Design
Putting UX and Strategy at the heart of the Product Team

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
But on further thought…

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Todd Wilkens, Design Principal
UX STRAT, Boulder, September 2014
IBM Design
Killing UX Strategy to save UX and Strategy

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Challenge:
How do we create a sustainable culture
of experience-focused product
development that delivers great product
and solution outcomes at IBM's scale?

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
A small digression about large scale.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
IBM is B-I-G
6

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
— John Doe
“This is a quote that makes
a great point”
400,000+employees

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
— John Doe
“This is a quote that makes
a great point”
product teams
3,000

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
— John Doe
“This is a quote that makes
a great point”
product teams
3,000

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 10
100+years old

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 11

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Everything we do at IBM Design
requires equal parts
Audacity + Humility
12

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Core Beliefs
Agile/Lean/DevOps is also key because of the need
for speed, flexibility, and quality.
Experience-focused decision making and planning is
the key to delivering real value to market.
Whole organizations (not just designers) deliver great
experiences to market.
Creating great experiences requires a strong design
competency.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Experience-focused decision
making and planning is the key to
delivering real value to market.
Core Belief

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Experience-focused decision
making and planning is the key to
delivering real value to market.
Core Belief

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Corollary #1:
There is no such thing as enterprise
software anymore. There is just good
software and bad software.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Corollary #1:
There is no such thing as enterprise
software anymore. There is just good
software and bad software.

18.
IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Corollary #1:
There is no such thing as enterprise
software anymore. There is just good
software and bad software.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Corollary #2:
Focus on good experience and
design need to be in the DNA of your
company culture.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Corollary #2:
Focus on good experience and
design need to be in the DNA of your
company culture.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Good design is good business.
—Thomas Watson Jr.
Chief Executive Officer, 1973
“Good design is good business.”

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Studio Opening
“I believe, if I could be so bold, that the work done here will change the world. This
is a re-commitment to a heritage of innovation that has transcended IBM.”
– Ginni Rometty, CEO

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
An Historic Legacy

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
An Historic Legacy

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
An Historic Legacy

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
An Historic Legacy

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
An Historic Legacy

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM CorporationIBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: ©2013 IBM Corporation
An Historic Legacy

29.
IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation

30.
IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Creating great experiences
requires a strong design
competency.
Core Belief

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 23~300%Increase
overall UX
staff by

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Recruiting hundreds of talented designers
more than 200 since January 2013

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM CorporationIBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: ©2013 IBM Corporation 25IBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: ©2013 IBM Corporation
60designers started
the same day
(July 8, 2013)

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Whole organizations (not just
designers) deliver great
products to market.
Core Belief

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Whole organizations (not just
designers) deliver great
products to market.
Core Belief

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Corollary #1:
There is no such thing as UX Strategy
or Design Strategy. There is only
Product Strategy.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Corollary #1:
There is no such thing as UX Strategy
or Design Strategy. There is only
Product Strategy.

38.
IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Corollary #1:
There is no such thing as UX Strategy
or Design Strategy. There is only
Product Strategy.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Corollary #2:
Product Strategy is driven by product
management but only works when UX
is in the hearts, minds, and hands of
everyone on the team.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Corollary #2:
Product Strategy is driven by product
management but only works when UX
is in the hearts, minds, and hands of
everyone on the team.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
IBM Design is now responsible
for the product management
practice for IBM as a whole.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
IBM Design is now responsible
for the product management
practice for IBM as a whole.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
But this isn’t about simply
about teaching PM’s
Design Thinking.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
But this isn’t about simply
about teaching PM’s
Design Thinking.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
We need Design Thinking++.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
We need Design Thinking++.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
We need Design Thinking++.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 32
“Design thinking” is a way of solving
problems that is especially helpful for
creating product and service experiences.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 32
“Design thinking” is a way of solving
problems that is especially helpful for
creating product and service experiences.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 32
“Design thinking” is a way of solving
problems that is especially helpful for
creating product and service experiences.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 33
But it isn’t necessarily an approach for
delivering products to market.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 33
But it isn’t necessarily an approach for
delivering products to market.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
A framework for whole teams to deliver great
experiences to market
IBM Design Thinking

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Prototype
Evaluate
Understand
Explore
Design Thinking

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Prototype
Evaluate
Understand
Explore
IBM Design Thinking

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Core Principles and Practices of IBM Design Thinking
Playbacks align your team, stakeholders,
and clients around the user value you will
deliver, rather than project line items
Sponsor Users help you design
experiences for real target users,
rather than imagined needs
Hills focus your project on big
problems and outcomes for users,
not just a list of feature requests

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Hills

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
COMMANDER’S INTENT
39

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
“a framework for freedom to act”
40

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Hills
Hills frame your releases and planning periods around user-centric
market outcomes, not feature requests.
Example from an internal project

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Hills
Hills frame your releases and planning periods around user-centric
market outcomes, not feature requests.
Deliver a custom wiki community
template to allow agile teams to
collaborate on client projects
Example from an internal project

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Hills
Hills frame your releases and planning periods around user-centric
market outcomes, not feature requests.
Deliver a custom wiki community
template to allow agile teams to
collaborate on client projects
A GMU-based sales leader can
assemble an agile response team
from across IBM in 24 hours
without management involvement
(Deliver by November 2014)
Example from an internal project

63.
IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Hills
Hills frame your releases and planning periods around user-centric
market outcomes, not feature requests.
Deliver a custom wiki community
template to allow agile teams to
collaborate on client projects
A GMU-based sales leader can
assemble an agile response team
from across IBM in 24 hours
without management involvement
(Deliver by November 2013)
Example from an internal project
Who What Wow

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Hills fill the gap between a
vision statement and a backlog.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
The “teeth” in Hills
Invest resources across three Hills + a Technical
Foundation to combat arbitrary features and reallocation
Hill
Hill
Hill
Technical Foundation
Hill 3
20%
Tech
15%
Hill 1
20%
Hill 2
45%

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Sponsor Users

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Sponsor Users
A set of real users recruited to “join” the product team
for a period and do participatory design.
Sponsor Users

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Playbacks

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 48
A picture is worth a thousand words.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 49
A prototype is worth a thousand meetings.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 50
The greatest value of a prototype is often how it
tells a story of user value.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
What is a Playback?
In a Playback, the user experience for a defined
scenario is “played back” to stakeholders to foster
collaboration, feedback, and alignment.
!
All conversation and alignment is around the user value
that the team will deliver, rather than project line items.

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Playbacks
<This space intentionally left blank.>

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
A culture of showing versus telling

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Educating and activating teams
IBM Designcamp

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
— John Doe
“This is a quote that makes
a great point”
IBM Designcamp
Accelerating projects through experiential, multi-
disciplinary learning & IBM Design mentoring

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM CorporationIBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: ©2013 IBM Corporation 56
Designcamp for Product Teams

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 57
Designcamp for Product Managers

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 58
Designcamp for IBM Executives

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM CorporationIBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: ©2013 IBM CorporationIBM Designcamp :: IBM Confidential :: ©2013 IBM Corporation 59
Designcamp for New Hires

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM CorporationIBMDesign::IBMConfidential::©2013IBMCorporation
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380780791526451751322215548156318121779308932615517690180367291298220696233426103111864758787052014558663426687826083379872745704728
543722459530690452807339757157557855312261486638894554999021994630915218892566159193904789656190968399518575513807807915264517513222
155481563181217793089326155176901803672912982206962334261031118647587870520145586634266878260833798727457047285437224595306904528073
397571575578553122614866388945549990219946309152188925661591939047896561909683995185755138078079152645175132221554815631812177930893
261551769018036729129822069623342610311186475878705201455866342668782608337987274570472854372245953069045280733975715755785531226148
663889455499902199463091521889256615919390478965619096839951857551380780791526451751322215548156318121779308932615517690180367291298
220696233426103111864758787052014558663426687826083379872745704728543722459530690452807339757157557855312261486638894554999021994630
915218892566159193904789656190968399518575513807807915264517513222155481563181217793089326155176901803672912982206962334261031118647
587870520145586634266878260833798727457047285437224595306904528073397571575578553122614866388945549990219946309152188925661591939047
896561909683995185755138078079152645175132221554815631812177930893261551769018036729129822069623342610311186475878705201455866342668
782608337987274570472854372245953069045280733975715755785531226148663889455499902199463091521889256615919390478965619096839951857551
380780791526451751322215548156318121779308932615517690180367291298220696233426103111864758787052014558663426687826083379872745704728
543722459530690452807339757157557855312261486638894554999021994630915218892566159193904789656190968399518575513807807915264517513222
155481563181217793089326155176901803672912982206962334261031118647587870520145586634266878260833798727457047285437224595306904528073
397571575578553122614866388945549990219946309152188925661591939047896561909683995185755138078079152645175132221554815631812177930893
261551769018036729129822069623342610311186475878705201455866342668782608337987274570472854372245953069045280733975715755785531226148
663889455499902199463091521889256615919390478965619096839951857551380780791526451751322215548156318121779308932615517690180367291298
220696233426103111864758787052014558663426687826083379872745704728543722459530690452807339757157557855312261486638894554999021994630
915218892566159193904789656190968399518575513807807915264517513222155481563181217793089326155176901803672912982206962334261031118647
587870520145586634266878260833798727457047285437224595306904528073397571575578553122614866388945549990219946309152188925661591939047
896561909683995185755138078079152645175132221554815631812177930893261551769018036729129822069623342610311186475878705201455866342668
782608337987274570472854372245953069045280733975715755785531226148663889455499902199463091521889256615919390478965619096839951857551
380780791526451751322215548156318121779308932615517690180367291298220696233426103111864758787052014558663426687826083379872745704728
543722459530690452807339757157557855312261486638894554999021994630915218892566159193904789656190968399518575513807807915264517513222
155481563181217793089326155176901803672912982206962334261031118647587870520145586634266878260833798727457047285437224595306904528073
397571575578553122614866388945549990219946309152188925661591939047896561909683995185755138078079152645175132221554815631812177930893
261551769018036729129822069623342610311186475878705201455866342668782608337987274570472854372245953069045280733975715755785531226148
663889455499902199463091521889256615919390478965619096839951857551380780791526451751322215548156318121779308932615517690180367291298
220696233426103111864758787052014558663426687826083379872745704728543722459530690452807339757157557855312261486638894554999021994630
915218892566159193904789656190968399518575513807807915264517513222155481563181217793089326155176901803672912982206962334261031118647
587870520145586634266878260833798727457047285437224595306904528073397571575578553122614866388945549990219946309152188925661591939047
896561909683995185755138078079152645175132221554815631812177930893261551769018036729129822069623342610311186475878705201455866342668
782608337987274570472854372245953069045280733975715755785531226148663889455499902199463091521889256615919390478965619096839951857551
380780791526451751322215548156318121779308932615517690180367291298220696233426103111864758787052014558663426687826083379872745704728
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155481563181217793089326155176901803672912982206962334261031118647587870520145586634266815631812177930893261551769018036729129822069
298493142
263
75
78751
36092
3587
5305
711
12
113
01
Designcamp
by the numbers

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM CorporationIBMDesign::IBMConfidential::©2013IBMCorporation
Designcamps held
35+

83.
IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM CorporationIBMDesign::IBMConfidential::©2013IBMCorporation
Project Teams
75+

84.
IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM CorporationIBMDesign::IBMConfidential::©2013IBMCorporation
feet2 butcher’s paper
64,000

85.
IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM CorporationIBMDesign::IBMConfidential::©2013IBMCorporation
post-it notes
336,100

86.
IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM CorporationIBMDesign::IBMConfidential::©2013IBMCorporation
singing gorilla
1

87.
IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Agile/Lean/DevOps is also key
because of the need for speed,
flexibility, and quality.
Core Belief

88.
IBM Designcamp :: IBM Confidential :: ©2013 IBM Corporation
IBM Design Thinking is a
framework for
collaboration that helps
us create innovative
experiences with real

89.
IBM Designcamp :: IBM Confidential :: ©2013 IBM Corporation
DevOps is a framework
for collaboration that
delivers experiences to
market, evolving them
quickly and
responsively, and

90.
IBM Designcamp :: IBM Confidential :: ©2013 IBM Corporation
IBM Design Thinking +
DevOps
makes a truly modern,
iterative approach to
creating, delivering, and
evolving quality
experiences with market
69

91.
IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
IBM Design Thinking and DevOps
Three shared values
Outcomes
for users
Continuous
learning
Radical
collaboration

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
Continuous alignment
IBM teams take shared
ownership of user outcomes
Design
Code Product
Management
Ops
Test
Marketing
Inside Sales
Support

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 72

94.
IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 72

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 72

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 73
Outcomes

97.
IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
68+project teams have
participated in
Designcamp
IBM Design Thinking is now in wide use
500leaders participated in
two Leadership Summits
in 2014
70+software projects using
IBM Design Thinking
today

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 75
Two examples of success

99.
IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 76
IBM Mail Next

100.
IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 76
#IBMConnect
IBM Mail Next

101.
IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation 76
#IBMConnect
IBM Mail Next

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IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM CorporationIBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: ©2013 IBM CorporationIBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: ©2014 IBM CorporationIBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: ©2013 IBM CorporationIBM Design :: IBM Confidential :: ©2013 IBM Corporation 77
IBM BlueMix is a single
solution environment with
the instant resources and
infrastructure to develop
and deploy apps across
multiple domains. It offers
instant services, runtimes,
and infrastructure and a
catalog containing
everything you need from
IBM provided services to
third-party offerings like
Twillio.

103.
IBM Design :: ©2014 IBM Corporation
DESIGN
THAT MATTERS
FOR THE WORLD
@ibmdesign
ibm.com/design
toddwilkens@us.ibm.com