We've heard the buzz, read the articles, skimmed the books. Lean, design thinking, fostering a culture of innovation—it all makes sense. And we know this. An analysis by the Design Management Institute identified design-driven companies as measured by the level of senior-level representation and commitment. They found that the design-driven companies outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 by a whopping 228%. Count us in. But what are the tangible steps we can take to actually effect change? How can we start to make a positive difference within our own organizations? We’ll discuss core principles, tangible steps and common hurdles that we face along the path to joining this revolution. Common hurdles: - We’re a start-up. We have no resources or experience with UX. - We’re an enterprise. We have too much bureaucracy. - We have a distributed team. How can we possibly build shared understanding? - We’re measured by different metrics. How can we convince the leadership to get behind this? - This is new and unfamiliar. How do we actually make it happen?

1. Going Lean
Let’s talk tangibles
@saracowles

2. They had a vision

3. They had surveys
and focus groups

4. They were prepared

5. They knew their stuff
agile
devops
user-centered
design
content
strategy
test-driven
development

6. The stars were aligned

7. On time and under
budget

8. Build it and… they will
come?

9. Familiar?

10. It’s broken

11. Customer reaction to
hotdog wrapped in
bacon and topped
with macaroni &
cheese and popcorn

12. How is it broken?
1. Customers are notoriously bad at predicting
what they will want

13. How is it broken?
1. Customers are notoriously bad at predicting
what they will want
2. Our vision is a guess

14. How is it broken?
1. Customers are notoriously bad at predicting
what they will want
2. Our vision is a guess
3. So much waste

15. How is it broken?
1. Customers are notoriously bad at predicting
what they will want
2. Our vision is a guess
3. So much waste
4. We’re not focused on what matters

16. https://hbr.org/2014/09/the-industries-plagued-by-the-most-uncertainty/

17. Lean
{ Startup || Enterprise || Other }

18. –Voltaire
“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty
is absurd”

20. So much waste opportunity

21. 1. Identify assumptions & falsifiable
success criteria

23. 2. Design/build simplest experiment
necessary to test

25. 3. Get out of the building

26. Customers are notoriously bad at
predicting what they will want very
good at telling us what they don’t
want when they experience it.

27. –Douglas Hubbard
“If you have a lot of uncertainty now, you don’t
need much data to reduce uncertainty
significantly.”

28. 4. Learn, share, adjust

29. http://www.amazon.com/Running-Lean-Iterate-Works-Series/dp/1449305172

30. Innovation shouldn’t
be relegated to a lab

31. Good stuff. Get back to me when
this will work for my organization.

32. Challenges
1. We’re too big and fragmented
2. This won’t work for our existing processes/culture
3. We’re not empowered
4. We have technical debt
5. We’re too small

33. Challenge:
We’re too big &
fragmented

34. “If you can’t feed
a team with two
pizzas, it’s too
large.”
- Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon
http://blog.idonethis.com/two-pizza-team/

35. Share liberally

36. Challenge:
This won’t work in our
existing process/culture

37. Case Study: Intuit’s
transformation to a
design-led org

38. Challenge:
We’re not empowered

39. Challenge:
We have technical/
process debt

40. Challenge:
We’re too small

41. -Don’t Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by
Steve Krug
“Testing one user is 100 percent better than
testing none.”

42. We fell on our
face
sometimes
But it was worth it

43. “Practice trumps theory”
–Ash Maurya, Author of “Running Lean”

44. Thank you!
@saracowles
Director of UX & Engineering
Dell Cloud Manager

45. Resources (p1)
• The Lean Startup - Eric Ries: http://www.amazon.com/The-Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-
Continuous/dp/0307887898
• Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience - Jeff Gothelf: http://
www.amazon.com/Lean-UX-Applying-Principles-Experience/dp/1449311652 and http://
www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/03/07/lean-ux-getting-out-of-the-deliverables-business/
• Lean Enterprise: How High Performance Organizations Innovate at Scale - Jez Humble,
Joanne Molesky & Barry O’Rielly: http://www.amazon.com/Lean-Enterprise-Performance-
Organizations-Innovate/dp/1449368425
• Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works - Ash Maurya: http://
www.amazon.com/Running-Lean-Iterate-Works-Series/dp/1449305172
• Google Venture Design Sprints: http://www.gv.com/sprint/
• Keynotopia for rapid prototyping: http://keynotopia.com/guides/
• Design Studio Workshops: http://www.uie.com/articles/design_studio_workshop/
• Remote design studios (I believe we’ve improved on this at Dell Cloud Manager): http://
www.jeffgothelf.com/blog/remote-collaborative-brainstorming-and-sketching-part-i/
#sthash.k9tmuI3d.N0pUGPam.dpbs

46. Resources (p2)
• Harvard Business Review: The Innovation Catalysts: https://hbr.org/2011/06/the-
innovation-catalysts
• Two books: “Business Model Generation,” which is focused on the bigger picture
and how to create value for your business, and “Value Proposition Design” that is
focused on how to create value for your customer: http://
www.businessmodelgeneration.com/
• Alternatively: http://practicetrumpstheory.com/why-lean-canvas/
• How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business - Douglas
W. Hubbard: http://www.amazon.com/How-Measure-Anything-Intangibles-
Business/dp/1452654204
• Don’t Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug:
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758
• The science of two pizza teams: http://blog.idonethis.com/two-pizza-team/
• http://www.fastcodesign.com/3026287/study-good-design-really-is-good-for-
business#5