The document outlines the principles and applications of design thinking for decision makers, emphasizing its role in driving innovation and meeting complex customer needs. It details various methods, case studies, and lessons learned from utilizing design thinking in technology and business transformation projects. Key areas include process optimization, channel expansion, and cognitive insights, all aimed at enhancing business value and customer satisfaction.

1. EXECUTIVE BRIEFING
DESIGN THINKING FOR DECISION MAKERS
cognition studio
Reimagine. Redefine. Rewire.

2. “We cannot solve our problems
with the same thinking we used
when we created them.”
- Albert Einstein

3. WHAT WE’LL COVER TODAY
• Provide mentorship to onboard new capabilities
• Help redefine channels to market
• Drive differentiation through introducing cognitive insights
• Define new ways of creating business value
• Establish sales enablement programmes to accelerate growth
• Rise to the challenge of meeting increasingly complex customer
needs and rising threshold of customer expectation
• Realise the value of a relationship between IoT, data and cognitive
ecosystems

4. What is the most common
reason IT projects fail?

5. DESIGN THINKING PRIMER
• Design thinking is often described as being founded in the art of the
possible
• It draws on human capacities such as empathy, logic, imagination,
curiosity and systems thinking
• It minimises risk by testing ideas quickly and efficiently through
prototyping – via paper or digital design tools
• And it requires deep end-user intimacy to seek insights to identify
unarticulated or unmet needs…
• Which allows design thinking to be a compelling competitive
differentiator

6. COGNITION BACKGROUND
• Founded 2016
• Innovation practice, access to over 600 customers
• Technology agnostic
• Inception and validation
• Presence in Auckland, Wellington, Sydney & Melbourne
• Over 40 engagements completed
• Access to over 200 consultants in our partner ecosystem

7. METHODOLOGY

8. IDEATE
EXPLORE. PREPARE. DISRUPT.
> Futureproofing
> Uncover potential
> Cover story vision
> Scenario planning
> Business model canvas
> Context Canvas
> Riskiest Assumption
> EERC Matrix
> World Café
> Value chain analysis
> Getting to Scale
> Strategic Alignment Matrix
AUDIT. SCOPE. PLAN.
> Map approach &
design workshops
> Agree Scope of
Work & Design Brief
> Agree investment,
roles & processes
> Articulate goals
> Team Charter
> Digital Analytics
> DTMA
> SWOT Matrix
> Estimate timing
> Benchmarking
OBSERVE. EMPATHISE. LEARN.
> Innovation Mindset
> Ethnographic Research
> Digital Ethnography
> Ecosystem Mapping
> Personas
> Empathy Map
> User Journey Map
> Service Map
> Archetypal lens
> Affinity clusters
> POV Want Ad
> Value proposition canvas
> Design challenge
> Collage / Visual story
ARCHITECT. DEVELOP. TEST.
> User Story
> MoSCoW
> Planning Poker
> Application & integration
requirements
> Platform ID
> Minimum Viable Product
> Sprint Planning & backlog
> Sprint Review
> Technical migration plan
> Testing Plan & Strategy
> Budget confirmation
> Release Planning
> Final architecture
STORYTELLING. PILOT. RUN.
> Back-end integration
> System testing
> User Acceptance Testing
> Concept Poster
> Launch checklist
> Release notes
> Iterative release plan
> Communications plan
> Engagement Strategy
> Activation Roadmap
PROTOTYPE. TEST. DESIGN.
> Design Sprints
> Process Flow
> Brainsteering
> Storyboarding
> Divergent Connections
> Collaborative Sketching
> Prioritisation Matrices
> Importance/Difficulty matrix
> MVP Concept
> Concept Testing
> Wireframe
> UX/UI Design
> Prototype
> User testing

9. HOW DESIGN THINKING DRIVES INNOVATION
Business
Mobilisation
Fleet Management
Cognitive
apps
Agriculture
Business
Transformation
Media
Channel
Expansion
Healthcare
Process
Optimisation
Telco

10. EXPANDING SPHERE OF INNOVATION
Discover
Articulation of the compelling issue to address as
a Design Challenge
Understand & Ideate
Understanding of unmet needs, ideation of
potential solutions
Build & Deliver
Build out a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and
prioritise roadmap to continually deliver
Futuring
Discover and validate incremental value from
unintended findings

11. CASE 1: PROCESS OPTIMISATION
Futuring
Process mapping identified a number of unnecessary cross-channel hand-offs
Build & Deliver
Team Charter, prioritised roadmap of business improvements to reduce handling times,
introduce process optimisation and drive adoption of digital services
Understand & Ideate
Opportunity for CRM upgrade to reconsider way partners engaged, staff work together,
customers communicated to, which led to process optimisation, review legacy comms
Discover
Reduce the average business fibre installation time by 75%

12. CASE 1: PROCESS OPTIMISATION
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
​ Big Hairy Audacious Goal: Reduce business time to connect from 59.7 to 15 days by 31 March
REALISING YOUR BHAG MEANS….
…driving confidence and commitment by truly
having each other’s backs.
…remaining open to insights, opportunities and
creative connections while practicing the
suspension of judgment.
…articulating clear boundaries, milestones and
KPIs in advance.
…facilitating the discipline of collaboration by
breaking ‘business as usual’ meeting and process
norms.
AREAS WE EXPLORED
• Factors affecting time to
connect, kinds of problems,
unintended consequences
• Communications with RSPs and
Field Force
• Time taken and number of
people involved to gain
consents and/or solve a problem
• The actors in the journey
• Underlying sources of problems
• Opportunities to improve the
delivery of service
• The remit of the working group
• Convert business orders to
connections more seamlessly
• Reduc time to connect to 15 day
average lead time
• Increase customer satisfaction
• Decrease RSP escalations
Easy to say. More challenging to do.
GOAL
15 days

13. CASE 2: CHANNEL EXPANSION
Futuring
Comparison with NZBS app, weather/traffic result in 4X likelihood of not showing up for
donation appointments
Build & Deliver
Design and development of native mobile apps, architecture and integration into five
core platforms
Understand & Ideate
Mobile app with appointment scheduler, align with new parallel online portal, save
preferences, confirm when donation used and virtualise donor card
Discover
Drive engagement for 500,000 blood donors

14. CASE 2: CHANNEL EXPANSION

15. CASE 3: BUSINESS MOBILISATION
Futuring
Provides comparative data on fuel usage and predictive maintenance based on model of
car, and proportion of time over speed limit
Build & Deliver
Design and development of hybrid mobile app utilising IBM MobileFirst platform and IBM
Cloud, architecture and integration into legacy platforms
Understand & Ideate
Mobile app – utilise GPS/telematics to create Uber-like experience, leverage cloud-hosting
and middleware platform for added security
Discover
Replace paper-based collection of FBT info for 40,000 drivers

16. CASE 3: BUSINESS MOBILISATION

17. CASE 4: COGNITIVE INSIGHTS
Futuring
Attract incremental funding from relevant industry groups for creation of richer data
insights on farm productivity
Build & Deliver
Design and development of hybrid mobile app utilising to leverage AI-based eradication
plan
Understand & Ideate
Cognitive app to leverage cognitive insights to identify weeds and capturing of real-time /
near real-time pastoral information to improve farm productivity
Discover
Help pastoral farmers identify and manage a range of weeds

18. CASE 4: COGNITIVE INSIGHTS

19. CASE 5: NEW BUSINESS MODEL
Futuring
Introduction of intelligent search, new ways to consume content based on time and
audience and new ways to distribute content
Build & Deliver
Utilise video virtualisation to prevent piracy
Understand & Ideate
Mobile/web app to select, pay, view latest movies, design pilot and support
Discover
Provide a highly differentiated, direct-to-consumer solution for film distribution

20. CASE 5: NEW BUSINESS MODEL

21. TOP 5 LESSONS LEARNT
• Mentoring is critical when experimenting with new technology
• Your culture must embrace risk of failure and embrace rapid change
• Workshops + Post-its ≠ Design thinking
• It’s all about your Customers, not You
• Having engaged stakeholders and quality of participants is key

22. “Self-disruption is extremely difficult.
The day after you decide to set up the
disruptive business as a separate unit,
the illogic of the new business to the
mainstream business is not magically
turned off.
Rather, second-guessing about the
initiative persists, because the logic is
embedded within the resource
allocation process itself. That second-
guessing must be overcome every day.”
- Clay Christenson, founder of Innosight,
author of The Innovator’s Dilemma
CLOSING THOUGHT

23. Question time