Scaffolding Innovation Through Human-Centred Design

SCAFFOLDING INNOVATION THROUGH
HUMAN-CENTRED DESIGN
By Jacqueline Wechsler
University of Technology Sydney, Australia
Jax@jaxinteractive.com

Wednesday, 17 April 13

Post-graduate Research

Masters of Information Technology (Research)
University of Technology Sydney, Australia.

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/remeya/1671158725/

Professional Experience


HCD & Artefacts

• Human-centred Design used by : service designers, UX designers, ‘design
thinkers’, strategic designers, interaction designers etc.
• Artefact Examples : proto-types, personas, journey maps, process-ﬂows,
wire-frames, service blue-prints, conceptual designs etc.

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/7317295@N04/6868882248/sizes/k/in/photostream/

Innovation & Artefacts : Literature

• Collaboration - ‘design language’ (e.g. Sanders 1999), ‘Boundary
Objects’ (Star & Greismeyer 1999), ‘Mediating Artefacts’ (Engestrom 1999)
• Communicate design knowledge
• Probes / things to think and talk with (e.g. Gaver 1998, Goldschmidt 2003).
• Conscription & persuasion devices: (e.g. Henderson 1999, Wenger 2000).

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/34791101@N07/4259105924/

Innovation Work is Social

Innovation requires collaboration & advocacy from multiple
actors within the organisation across different organisational
boundaries (e.g. Fagerberg, Mowery & Nelson 2005).

Fagerberg, J., Mowery, D.C., & Nelson, R.R (eds.) (2005), The Oxford Handbook of
Innovation, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

Scaffold noun

“A temporary platform, either supported from
below or suspended from above, on which
workers sit or stand when performing tasks at
heights above the ground.”

SRC: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 2000

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/7317295@N04/6868882248/sizes/k/in/photostream/

Innovation

Radical “a change of frame (‘doing what we did not do before’)”

vs.

Incremental “improvements within a given frame of solutions”

Norman, D. A., & Verganti, R. 2012, "Incremental and Radical Innovation: Design Research Versus
Technology and Meaning Change” http://precipice-design.intuitwebsites.com/
Norman___Verganti__Design_Research___Innovation-18_Mar_2012.pdf

96% of radical innovation
initiatives fail
- Larry Keeley, President of the Doblin Group

Norman, D. A., & Verganti, R. 2012, "Incremental and Radical Innovation: Design Research Versus
Technology and Meaning Change” http://precipice-design.intuitwebsites.com/

Innovation

Radical “a change of frame (‘doing what we did not do before’)”

vs.

Incremental “improvements within a given frame of solutions”

Norman, D. A., & Verganti, R. 2012, "Incremental and Radical Innovation: Design Research
Versus Technology and Meaning Change” http://precipice-design.intuitwebsites.com/

Design-led Innovation

In 2011 the European Commission launched the European Design
Innovation Initiative (EDII) stated:

““by 2020, design is a fully acknowledged, well-known,
well-recognised element of innovation policy across Europe”

Peter Droll, European Commission, speaking at the SEE conference, 29 March 2011
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/toasty/1540997910/

Todays’ Designer

The ‘objects of design’ (Dorst 2008) are changing (e.g. Buchanan 2009).

The new role for the designer:
“…connectors and facilitators, as quality producers, as
visualisers and visionaries, as future builders (or co-producers).
Designers as promoters of new business models.
Designers as catalysers of change”
(Manzini, 2009, p. 11).

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/bikolabs/3194572584/sizes/l/in/photostream/

New Types of Design Knowledge

“to stimulate and steer strategic discussions, to be applied in a
variety of speciﬁc projects, to help understand what we are doing or
could do. This knowledge has to be explicit (to be clearly expressed
by whoever produces it), discussable (to permit the exchange of
opinions among many interested interlocutors), transferrable (to be
applicable by other designers) and possible to accumulate (to form a
reservoir of design knowledge that could be the starting point for
producing further knowledge by other researchers).”
Manzini, E. 2009, "New Design Knowledge.”, Design Studies, vol. 30, no. 1 , p. 12.


Design Practice


Design Practice
is social

e.g. Bucciarelli, L.L. (1994), Designing Engineers, MIT Press Cambridge MA, USA


Design Practice
requires the production of artefacts


Design Practice is Contextual

CONTEXT Project Context
Designers Experience
ARTEFACTS
CONTECT
Audiences
Organisational Context


An Opportunity?

Can designers help to scaffold innovation
within organisations through the delivery of
consciously crafted design representations
which can be used by staff members to enable
and facilitate service improvement initiatives?


Key Considerations

• Considering the context surrounding innovation initiatives

• Making deliverables use-ful for others


The Case-Study Project

Project Brief: Improve the ordering capabilities for a group of B2B customers
through the online channel using human-centred design approaches.

Organisation: • Large Australian organisation with 40,000 staff
• Strategic drive to be more customer-centred
• Heavily silo-ed with distributed work-force

My Role: Lead designer on project on a 6 month contract


Research Data

CONTEXTUAL
FACTORS

Participant Observations Qualitative Interviews
> Rationale for design decisions > Other practitioners
> Inﬂuential factors ARTEFACTS > Recipients of the artefacts

The different sources of data used within this inquiry


Activity Theory

Model of an Activity System (adapted from Engestrom’s model in Engestrom, Y.
1999, Perspectives on Activity Theory, p.30)


Artefacts as mediating objects

Considering the artefacts in relationship to
inter-linked Activity Systems i.e.

> individual
> project
> team
> organisational activity systems


Artefact Examples (www)

Video Prototype
Research Videos Customer Journey Maps
(Animated wire-frames)

Christian [ Strategic IT Partner ] PRODUCT TYPE

“As IT partners we need different processes to simplex (traditional) complex (data)
traditional dealers...there is money in data solutions.”
SPECIFIC PRODUCTS
Age: 32 TIPT, TID, Next IP, T-Suite, Video Conferencing, MDN,
Role: Data Sales Specialist at Futureproof IT NCS, Cloud
Residence: Westend, Brisbane. TELSTRA SYSTEMS
Family Status: Single no kids (lives with girl-friend) eForm, DTP, Retail Live, Netcracker, All4Biz., CustData

“Customers [via AEs] come to us Goals Pain-points
with a problem...we design and + Increase sales (and increased commissions) + Ordering process is too manual and time-consuming
implement a solution to solve it.”” + Growth of his own client portfolios + Inefficient pre-sales support
+ Provide value and expertise for his clients + Manual management of opportunities (lack of a CRM )
“We have excellent technical + Awareness of new IT/comms technologies/products + Payment of commissions is poor
knowledge...we train Telstra more + Lack of access to customer information
than they train us.” Needs: + Getting blamed by Telstra for issues when it is their fault
+ Information, training and collatoral about Telstra products
+ Passwords to Retail Live expire every 30 days
“ICT channel managers really hold + Streamlined ordering and provisioning of products
things together as there is a real + Visibility of order related information (tracking, status etc.)
lack of support from within Telstra.” + A way to easily manage commissions Work Responsibilities
+ Better pre-sales support / CRM capabilities + Recommend and sell data solutions
“The majority of my sales leads + Easy collaboration with Telstra and other vendors to manage + Technical design of data solutions
come from Telstra...We see Telstra projects + Management of integration of multiple products from
as a partner not as a competitor.” multiple vendors utilising Telstra infrastructure
Telstra Touch Points + Stay up to date about new products
+ Telstra AEs and Project Managers + Keep up to date with trends in IT business solutions
Employer: Futureproof IT + ICT Channel Manager
+ Distributors (utilsed for provisioning)
Futureproof are a strategic IT partner How Telstra Can Support Him Better
+ Telstra Technical Communication Consultants (TCC)
based in Brisbane. They partner with + Marketing collateral and training for new products pro-
+ Retail Live
Cisco, Mircrosoft and Dell. They offer @ vided before or at time of product launch
clients integrated cloud based busi- Touch-points + CRM tool to help him manage Telstra sales leads
ness solutions providing network, (customer information, the associated AE, TB /TEG? etc.)
infrastructre and IT design expertise. PRE-SALES X X X X + More streamlined and less manual ordering processes
Their primary sales leads come from SALES X X X X + Improved commission processes / faster payment
Microsoft and Telstra and their clients
are mainly assigned medium to en-
ORDERING X X X X + Tracking capability for orders
+ Make it easy to for him to collaborate & manage de-
terprise business customers.
PROVISIONING X X pendencies with Telstra and other vendors for his orders
COMMISSIONS X X X

Personas Info-graphics

Example : Research Videos

What?
Animated videos showing verbatim quotes gathered from interviews about the
experiences of customers with current ordering processes

Why?
Communicate to the organisation that there was a need for improvement.

Use:
• Shown to a senior executive mid-way through the project
in order to get engagement from him and his staff.
• Shown to the CEO and executive members as a
persuasive device to gain buy-in for the initiative.
• Shown to new call centre staff to increase empathy for the
customer.


Example : Info-graphics
What?
An info-graphic was delivered which illustrated:
• the number of in-coming support calls that came to the call centre that serviced these
customers,
• information about the ﬁnancial revenue this group brought into the organisation per
product, and
• the number of members of this group per state.

Why?
• To illustrate the importance of this customer group in relation to
revenue generation as well as the potential to reduce order related
enquiry to the call-centre.
• Change internal perception : Internally these customers were not
valued by staff as they were seen as competitors to the internal
sales team.
Use:
• This info-graphic was shared by some managers to their staff via email
(PDF format).
• It was used within a road-show to sales staff that manage these
customers.


The artefacts were described as: Re: [i.e. videos & info-graphic]
“succinct”, “visually memorable”, “fresh “It’s almost viral in a sense because you
and accessible” and can be “used by any have a snack sized asset you can pass
stakeholder at any level” around to people. So in terms of changing
the culture that’s a very nice way to do it.”

ARTEFACTS : STAFF PERCEPTION

“they help to bring not only awareness but
to create interest and it may help to
! “Using these kinds of artefects and inﬂuence stakeholders in the right way.”
frameworks could possibly help keep the
customers and the users front of mind…”


Artefact Qualities

• Useful - effective boundary objects / mediating artefacts
• Accessible - understandable by broad audiences
• Shareable - easy to share and re-use
• Relevant - relevant to broad audience groups
• Communicative - represent current state and illustrate possible improved states
• Persuasive - enlist participation & generate interest for the initiative in order to
get funding for the initiative.


Scaffolding Innovation

It can be advantageous to consider design artefacts as
mediating objects that can inform innovation initiatives in various ways.



• These include;
• the provision of models and frameworks for collaboration and
conversation between members of different functional groups;
• as mechanisms to bring the perspective of the customer into the
organisation;
• as well as the provision of visualisations that make complex
non-tangible systems and services seem more tangible.

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/vroomvroommm/3543724889/


By considering the context in which a design artefect functions, artefects
can be crafted by designers to support and scaffold the innovation efforts
of individuals and groups within organisational settings.

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/bikolabs/3194572156/sizes/l/in/photostream/

The Opportunity

A real opportunity exists for designers to help facilitate and support
innovation within organisational contexts through the delivery of
consciously crafted design artefects.

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/alveart/6346803873/in/photostream/

QUESTIONS?

jax@jaxinteractive.com
http://jaxinteractive.com
twitter: @jacwex http://cocreatingchange.com
au.linkedin.com/in/jacquelinewechsler/


References
Bucciarelli, L.L. (1994), Designing Engineers, MIT Press Cambridge MA, USA.
Dorst, C H. (2008), “Design Research: A Revolution-Waiting-To-Happen", Design Studies, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 4-11
Droll, P. (2011), European Commission, speaking at the SEE conference, Retrieved 03 29 2011, from http://
www.seeplatform.eu/
Engeström, Y. (1999), “Innovative learning in work teams: analysing cycles of knowledge creation in practice”, in
Enegström, Y., Miettinen, R., Punamäki, R.L., (eds.), Perspectives on Activity Theory, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, USA, pp. 377-406.
European Commission (2009), Challenges for EU support to innovation in services - Fostering new markets and jobs
through innovation, Commission Staff Working Document, SEC(2009)1195,
Fagerberg, J., Mowery, D.C., & Nelson, R.R (eds.) (2005), The Oxford Handbook of Innovation, Oxford University Press,
Oxford, UK.
Houghton Mifflin Company (2000), Fourth Edition, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Houghton
Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009.
Manzini, E. (2009), "New Design Knowledge.”, Design Studies, Vol. 30, No. 1 , pp.4-12.
Margolin V. (2002). The Politics of the Artificial: Essays on Design and Design Studies, University of Chicago Press,
Chicago, USA.
Norman, D. A., & Verganti, R. (2012), "Incremental and Radical Innovation: Design Research Versus Technology and
Meaning Change”, Retrieved 05 03 2012, from http://precipice-design.intuitwebsites.com/
Sanders, E.B.N. (1999), “Design for Experiencing: New Tools” in Overbeeke, C.J. and Hekkert, P. (Eds.), in Proceedings of
the First International Conference on Design and Emotion, TU Delft.
Sanders, E B N. (2006), "Design Research in 2006." Design Research Quarterly, Vol.1, No. 1, pp 1-8.
Star, S.L., and James R Griesemer, J.R., (1989), "Institutional Ecology, 'Translations' and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and
Professionals in Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology”, Social Studies of Science, vol. 19, no. 3, pp 1907-39.


Scaffolding Innovation Through Human-Centred Design

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