Everyone’s talking about innovation, but how do you know if you’re actually doing it? What are the ingredients for successful innovation? In this talk, Holly will describe how the right combination of people, place, practices, and platform can lead to some pretty impressive outcomes. She’ll also answer questions, such as ‘what happens when we think about our user first?’, ‘is there an app for that?’, ’can a computer really tell dog breeds apart?,’ how can I tell if my idea is great or terrible?’, ’how long does it take to build a minimum viable product?’

1. IBM Bluemix Garage | 2017
Innovation Stories
From The
IBM Bluemix Garage
Holly Cummins
Technical Lead, European Garages
@holly_cummins

2. @holly_cummins

3. @holly_cummins
I’m an IBMer.

4. @holly_cummins
I’m an IBMer.
I’m a techie.

5. @holly_cummins
I’m an IBMer.
I’m a techie.
I like doing things which have
never been done before.

6. @holly_cummins
The world’s most computationally advanced hat.
(It can serve web pages.)
I’m an IBMer.
I’m a techie.
I like doing things which have
never been done before.

7. IBM Bluemix Garage | 2017 3
I think about technology a lot …
… but even I know technology should be
about making things better for people.

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I’m from the Bluemix Garage.

9. What is a Bluemix Garage, anyway?

10. IBM Bluemix Garage | 2017 6
The Bluemix Garage is IBM’s
consultancy with a startup DNA.

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The Bluemix Garage is IBM’s
consultancy with a startup DNA.
(We don’t really work in a garage.)

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… but we are unique.
People | Places | Platform | Practice
7

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People
8

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People
8
Designer

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People
8
Developer
Designer

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People
8
Developer Architect
Designer

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People
8
Developer
Customer
Architect
Designer

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People
Collaborate
• across disciplines
• with clients
8
Developer
Customer
Architect
Designer

19. IBM Bluemix Garage | 2017
Places
We are embedded in startup communities.
We believe in creating intentional spaces for
innovation.
9
New York City / San Francisco / Melbourne / Nice /
Austin / Toronto / London / Tokyo / Singapore

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Platform
10

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Platform
Bluemix is the platform that enables us.
10

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Platform
Bluemix is the platform that enables us.
• Cognitive.
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Platform
Bluemix is the platform that enables us.
• Cognitive.
• IoT.
10

24. IBM Bluemix Garage | 2017
Platform
Bluemix is the platform that enables us.
• Cognitive.
• IoT.
• Analytics.
10

25. IBM Bluemix Garage | 2017
Platform
Bluemix is the platform that enables us.
• Cognitive.
• IoT.
• Analytics.
• DevOps.
10

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Practice
11

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Practice
11
We blend three effective methodologies.

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Practice
11
We blend three effective methodologies.
• Design Thinking

29. IBM Bluemix Garage | 2017
Practice
11
We blend three effective methodologies.
• Design Thinking
• Lean Startup

30. IBM Bluemix Garage | 2017
Practice
11
We blend three effective methodologies.
• Design Thinking
• Lean Startup
• eXtreme Programming

31. Lean Startup.

32. Release early. Release often.
Unreleased development effort is waste.

33. Minimum Viable Product.
The smallest thing you can build to test your hypothesis.
You do not want to invest until you are sure you are
building what you know your users want and will use.

34. Minimum Viable Experience

35. IBM Bluemix Garage | 2017 Confidential

36. Minimum Viable Product.
It’s not just the same amount of function, for less budget.

37. Goal

38. Goal
Business Opportunity
We will improve the wedding cake
experience by means of the icing for
couples getting married.

39. Goal
Business Factors
Expensive market to enter,
low volume, high cost to
produce

40. Goal
Assumption
Icing quality influences buying
decisions on wedding cake.
Hypothesis
If we make a better icing, people will
buy our wedding cakes.

41. Goal
Problem
How do you figure out the best icing
in a low volume business?

42. Goal Minimum,
but not a product
Minimum Viable
Product

43. The MVP may not share
code with the final product.
Experience is similar, technical underpinnings may not be.

45. An MVP is not a prototype.
It needs to be viable.
… but we can talk about ‘viable for what’?

46. Pre-totype
Do you need to build anything at all,
to test your hypothesis?
Or can you just tell people about it
and see what the market reaction is?

48. “Pay no attention to that
man behind the curtain!”

49. Wizard of Oz

50. Lean Startup tells us to build the smallest
thing to answer our business question.
But what’s the right question?

51. Design Thinking.

52. Innovation is not achieved
simply by writing an app.
It has to solve a real problem for a real user.

53. IBM Bluemix Garage
“Designers…don’t try to search
for a solution until they have
determined the real problem,
and even then, instead of solving
that problem, they stop to
consider a wide range of potential
solutions. Only then will they
finally converge upon their
proposal. This process is called
‘design thinking.”
DON NORMAN

54. IBM Design Thinking is a framework for
delivering user-centered outcomes at
speed and scale.
Observe Reflect Make

55. IBM Bluemix Garage
Observing is
about immersing
yourself in your
users’ world.
Meaningful outcomes come from an
understanding of the real problems your
users have.

56. IBM Bluemix Garage
Reflecting is about
converging on a
point of view.
Good decisions begin with an understanding
of your situation, your purpose, and how you
can make a difference for your users.

57. IBM Bluemix Garage
Making is about
giving form to ideas.
You can’t know everything but you do know
some things, so jump right in. The earlier you
make, the faster you’ll learn.

58. IBM Bluemix Garage | ©2017 IBM Corporation
?How Can We Know How Much
Stock We Have In Our Shop?

59. Manual stock checks can be very expensive.

60. RFID can be a great
solution.

61. But … some stock is too
squishy for RFID tags.

62. IBM Bluemix Garage | ©2017 IBM Corporation
!
What If A Computer Could
Understand What It Sees?
And Count It?

63. We can train Watson to understand our business domain.

64. IBM Bluemix Garage | ©2017 IBM Corporation
?How Can I Make My Product
More Rewarding To Use?

65. We always start by
thinking about the
user.
We align on one user to focus our efforts.

66. We generate a lot of ideas.

67. Then we refine
and align.
Everyone draws. Even the
developers.

68. Then the Garage
delivers it.
This is where the collaboration
between developers, designers, and
architects pays off.
The savings app was developed in 8
weeks, and released in 1Q 2017.

69. IBM Bluemix Garage | ©2017 IBM Corporation
? How Can I Engage
More With My Users?

70. Sunaas Rehabilitation Hospital

71. Opportunity
P a t i e n t s w h o n e e d
rehabilitation and physical
therapy forget how to do
their exercises.
Follow-up appointments
are inconvenient.

77. IBM Bluemix Garage | ©2017 IBM Corporation
? How Can I Take
Control Of Our Email?

78. A big retailer … with a lot of employees and systems.

79. All help requests were sent to a centralised email address.

80. Several full time staff had the job of reading the
emails to route them to the right team.
Creative Commons 2.0, Toms Bauģis from Galway, Ireland

81. IBM Bluemix Garage | ©2017 IBM Corporation
! What If A Computer Could
Triage Emails?

82. This is a perfect job for machine learning.

83. Watson was able to classify
85% of the emails correctly.
When it didn’t understand an email, it
knew it didn’t know.

84. IBM Bluemix Garage | ©2017 IBM Corporation
? Any Questions?
Come see the IBM stand (with the car!)
@holly_cummins