Exposing the myths of design by showing how those myths are overcome through effective design practise.

1. Ron Gagnier 2013

2. Ron Gagnier – Senior Experience Designer & Educator
Ron 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.
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4. BAD DESIGN is so Prevalent
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5. 5
Start a car company in Ottawa
• Decide what car to build
• Present your plan to the Board of
Directors in 90 days

6. 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 byToyota this year pick one and copy it.
F. Buy a report from consumer reports about the latest trends in
automobiles.
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7. 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
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Product satisfactions depends on many factors including:
Aesthetics, Quality, Craftsmanship, Features, Price
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kano_model

9. Design is aTeam 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!
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10. 10
Yours
Mine
Customers’
Opinions do not discuss the
situation, behavior,
expectations, and values of
the market

11. 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.

12. 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.

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14.  Deep understanding
of their users
 Passion for good
design
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15.  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 ‘GettingThings Done’

16.  Conducting research to generate Empathy
 Synthesizing that research to gain Insight
 Using insight to generate Ideas
 Exploring ideas through Concepts
 Evaluating concepts to determineValue
 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…
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17.  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
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19. 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 Users
External:
Tourists / Citizens
Group tours
Educational tours: Students
Tour marketing companies
Parliamentary Business
Guests of MPs, Senators
Internal:
1-800 staff
Security
Parliamentarians - MPs, Senators
VIPs, Dignitaries and Diplomats
Potential:
Protestors
Media or production related professionals
30+ sets of interview notes
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20.  Affinity diagrams, Card Sorting, Personas, Scenarios,
Artifacts, …
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21. 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
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22. Visitor Information Banner
Welcome to the Parliament Hill Visitor Information Site
I am a Tourist Planning a Visit
Parliament 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
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23. Visitor Information
I am aTourist Planning aVisit
This 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 Overviews
Group Tour
Centre Block Guided Tour
East Block Guided Tour
Educational Tour
Outdoor Tour & Activities
Public Galleries
Peace Tower & Memorial
Chamber
Souvenirs
Doing Business
Attending Debates
Attending Committees
Meeting Parliamentarians
Seasonal Attractions
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Map of Parliament Hill
Centre Block
East Block
West Block
National Capital Region
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26. 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
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27.  Capture the opportunities (both market and user)
 Plan & prioritize
 Decomposition
 Traceability
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
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28. 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?
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29. 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
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30. “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
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31. Ron Gagnier
 M- 613 315-7892
 rongagnier@yahoo.com
 ca.linkedin.com/pub/ron-gagnier/1/1b0/729/