Lead your organization to create better, more profitable products by expanding design and its methods to embrace, rather than avoid, complexity. This presentation investigates how business has changed drastically over the last 20 years, though many product development methods are still rooted in management philosophies of over a hundred years ago. Instead of relying on command and control and best practices of the past to prepare teams for what lies ahead, this talk will draw from fundamentals of systems thinking and design thinking to show managers, leaders, and practitioners how design can identify and create new opportunities to thrive in a complex, adaptive business environment.

1. Design upstream
Advancing strategic user experience to
thrive in complex connected markets
Chris avore
@erova
@invisionapp

3. More · Better · Faster

4. More · Better · Faster

5. Market-changing
opportunity
originalidea
Initialresistance

6. Mature industries that have
focused on
more, better, and faster
now need to adjust their
thinking to include design as
a key value differentiator.

7. Top companies are leading
with design. Others that
aren’t willing to invest in
design because they think it
can’t be measured or tied to
ROI will fall behind.

8. Business as usual is no
longer good enough.

12. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
But why do we have to rely on
external sources to validate a
need for design?

13. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
The current business environment is a
pressure cooker of never-before
experienced complexity

14. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
• Improve quality of products & services
• Reduce costs
• Identify new opportunities for growth
• Increase margins
• Increase productivity
• Reduce churn

15. Creative Destruction
Average company lifespan on S&P 500 Index (in years)
1960 2018

16. “
(drag image here)
- digitization of massive amounts of
information
- smart systems that communicate
interdependently
- the decreasing cost of computing power
- the increasing ease of communicating
rich content across distances
- an increasingly wealthy human
population, resulting in more
participation in the formal economy
- the wholesale rewriting of industry
norms and business models
Columbia Business School
Rita McGrath

17. “
(drag image here)
Businesses that used to be
separate are now
interconnected and
interdependent, which means
these systems are now more
complex.
Columbia Business School
Rita McGrath

18. “
(drag image here)
Not looking at the
interconnected bigger picture
means we make [design]
decisions in isolation, and that
isolation mindset means we
just shift burdens elsewhere
Unschool of Disruptive Design
Dr. Leyla Acoraglu

21. Effective design
addresses these
challenges,but we can’t
design the way we have
been for the last 100 years

22. Effective design
addresses these
challenges,but we can’t
design the way we have
been for the last 10 years

23. I D E AT I O N D E S I G N P R OTOT Y P I N G D E S I G N
M A N A G E M E N T
C O L L A B O R AT I O N D E V E LO P M E N T
This isn’t a tool problem.

25. Most companies’
successes have been
built on delivering
predictable products
by repeatable means—
focused on one small
part of a larger whole.

26. These companies
thrive on certainty
and minimizing risk.

27. predictable &
repeatable
==
complicated

28. predictable &
repeatable
!=
complex

29. predictable &
repeatable

30. analysis
synthesis
logic
rationality
empiricism
efficiency
elimination of waste
best practices

31. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Hierarchical
Only Senior design leads do this, Junior design leads do that
Linear
Step by step design process, often in separate silos
Specialized
Only visual designers are concerned with look and feel, only
Researchers talk to users
Risk averse
• Designing the planned thing
• Documentation Design specs must be heavily documented so
management approves and Dev builds to the plan
• Command and control
• Focus on the solution

32. Business
Product
Me
Dev
When will this ship?
How many designers
do you need?
How many releases will
this take?

33. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Design will slow us down
We know what our customers want
Dev has to stay busy
Design just makes it pretty
Dev can do the UX
Our clients don’t want design
Developers just need the colors
Just stay in your lane
“

34. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Design just makes it pretty
Marketing can do the UX
Dev can do the UX
I can do UX to it
Our clients don’t need design
Developers just need the colors
Design will slow us down
Why should I care about UX?
“This is the
mindset
we need to
change.

35. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
complex
In a complex world,
depending on patterns of
the past can be expensive
and disastrous.
Complicated
In a complicated world, we
can look to the past to find
patterns and previous
solutions.

36. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
What got you here

37. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Probably Won’t Take You
There

38. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
To Where You
Need To Be
Probably Won’t Take You

39. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
To Where Your
Competitors
are Going
Probably Won’t Take You

40. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
To Where Your
Customers
are Going
Probably Won’t Take You

41. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Succeeding in complex environments
will require us to change how we
work with our colleagues, our
partners, and our customers.
This will fundamentally change how
we position user experience and the
culture in which it must thrive.

42. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Let’s position our teams to
thrive in uncertain unpredictable
complex environments

43. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Let’s create an expectation that
a lot of ideas can lead to a
great idea

44. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Let’s plan to be wrong early,
but right when it counts.

45. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Let’s empower
innovation and experimentation
through Design together.

46. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Design?

47. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA

48. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Design Thinking?
Lean UX?
Agile?
Design Ops?
Balanced Team?
Jobs to be Done?
Design Sprints?

49. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
• Thr ive in u nc er tain,
u np red ic ta b le
env iro nm ents
• Favo r i n g i d e a g e n e ra t i o n
in lieu o f f ixating o n the
f ir st id e a
• Create a c ulture of
exper im entatio n
• Mitigat e risk w ith out
strangling innovatio n
} Designers
design
product
engineering
marketing
strategy
corpdev
commercial
sales
support

50. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
The next few minutes are
techniques and tactics that
enable better Design, but
can only succeed if everyone
—not just designers—
actively participates
together.

51. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Ta ct ics 1. O b s er va ti o n: Kn ow the Cu rrent State
2. In s p i ra ti o n: Set the Vision
3. Fo rma ti o n: Build Coalitions
4. Agitatio n : Create a Sense of Urgency
5. C el eb ra t i o n: Shor t term wins
6. Exp l o ra ti o n: Aligning teams via journeys

52. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Before you can move
forward you have to
know where you are
today
O B S E R VAT I O N : K N O W T H E C U R R E N T S TAT E
WHERE ARE YOU TODAY?

53. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
O B S E R VAT I O N : K N O W T H E C U R R E N T S TAT E
Before you can move
forward you have to
know where you are
today
WHERE ARE YOU TODAY?

54. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Constrained resources
Risk averse culture
Firm release dates
and feature sets
O B S E R VAT I O N : K N O W T H E C U R R E N T S TAT E
What impedes your
organization from
being more
innovative?
WHERE ARE YOU TODAY?

55. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
• What is?
These questions focus on facts
and as-is situation
• What caused?
These questions get at the root of
a problem
• Why? Why Not?
This type reflects the rationale
behind a given problem space.
• What if?
These are the questions that point
to a different future and lead to
real innovation.
O B S E R VAT I O N : K N O W T H E C U R R E N T S TAT E
What impedes your
organization from
being more
innovative?
WHERE ARE YOU TODAY?

56. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
O B S E R VAT I O N : K N O W T H E C U R R E N T S TAT E
WHERE ARE YOU TODAY?
Why are resources
constrained year
after year?
What caused a risk-
averse culture?
What if
feature sets
were defined
later in the
process?

57. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
O B S E R VAT I O N : K N O W T H E C U R R E N T S TAT E
Before you can move
forward you have to
know where you are
today
WHERE ARE YOU TODAY?

58. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
O B S E R VAT I O N : K N O W T H E C U R R E N T S TAT E
We can only
understand where
we are if we know
how far we’ve come
WHERE ARE YOU TODAY?

59. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Once you know where
you are you can set
course for where you
want to go together.
I N S P I R AT I O N : S E T T H E V I S I O N
SET THE VISION

60. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Once you know where
you are you can set
course for where you
want to go together.
I N S P I R AT I O N : S E T T H E V I S I O N
SET THE VISION

61. “
BUILD YOUR COALITION OF
ADVOCATES AND ALLIES
Selecting the right challenge is
paying attention to who else
cares about it
J E A N N E M . L I E D T K A
FA C U LT Y, I N N O VAT I O N & D E S I G N
D A R D E N S C H O O L O F B U S I N E S S
U N I V E R S I T Y O F V I R G I N I A
F O R M AT I O N : C O A L I T I O N B U I L D I N G

62. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Importance
Political
support
ResourcesExpertiseSame team
F O R M AT I O N : C O A L I T I O N B U I L D I N G

63. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
F O R M AT I O N : C O A L I T I O N B U I L D I N G
• Don’t stop at 1
• Diversify your allies
• Your directs may be
change agents
#protip

64. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
#proprotip
F O R M AT I O N : C O A L I T I O N B U I L D I N G
Don’t ever assume your
allies will always be there

65. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
• Too much past success
• Lack of visible crises
• Low performance standards
• Insufficient feedback from
external, trusted sources
A G I TAT I O N : C R E AT E A S E N S E O F U R G E N C Y
CREATE A SENSE OF
URGENCY

66. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
• Find external data to refute a
comfortable status quo
• Talk to unhappy or former
customers
• Show how profitable future
opportunities are unobtainable
• Show the cost of doing nothing
A G I TAT I O N : C R E AT E A S E N S E O F U R G E N C Y
CREATE A SENSE OF
URGENCY

67. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
• Visible to outsiders
• Unambiguous
• Tied directly to change effort, vision
• Promote your allies
C E L E B R AT I O N : S H O R T T E R M W I N S
PROMOTE
SHORT TERM WINS

68. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Customer interviews showed us
how we can reduce the account sign-
up process from 5 to 3 steps…
C E L E B R AT I O N : S H O R T T E R M W I N S
PROMOTE
SHORT TERM WINS

69. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Customer
interviews showed us how we
can reduce the account sign-up
process from 5 to 3 steps…which
reflects our commitment to
effortless customer experience
C E L E B R AT I O N : S H O R T T E R M W I N S
PROMOTE
SHORT TERM WINS

70. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
The best wins showcase
Outcomes, not Output
C E L E B R AT I O N : S H O R T T E R M W I N S
#protip

71. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
E X P LO R AT I O N : A L I G N I N G T E A M S V I A J O U R N E Y S
Journey exercises reveal
what matters most to
customers* and why
Customer journeys don’t have to be
focused on just the end customer.
*

72. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
E X P LO R AT I O N : A L I G N I N G T E A M S V I A J O U R N E Y S
• Keep personas at heart of the
exercise, including buyer or
secondary personas
• Different teams write questions
or facts for each step of the
workflow
• Teams dot-vote what is most
important
• Repeat the exercise for multiple
touchpoints, workflows, journeys

73. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
E X P LO R AT I O N : A L I G N I N G T E A M S V I A J O U R N E Y S
• Analyze & segment customer base
• Determine which journeys matter most to
key segments
• Link the most important journeys to current
financial performance
• Track performance across journeys
#protip
Businessify your journeys

74. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
1. Observation: Know the Current State
2. Inspiration: Set the Vision
3. Formation: Build Coalitions
4. Agitation: Create a Sense of Urgency
5. Celebration: Promote Short Term Wins
6. Exploration: Aligning Teams via Journeys
}
Create the
environment to
embrace
and
design
for
complexity

75. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA

76. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
• Frequent feedback from different teams
• Little division of roles: more generalists and cross-pollination of work
• See themselves as interconnected parts of a broader team
• Emphasize a clear vision and north star
• Understand how the design team’s work contributes to that vision
• Interview more than just direct users—include 2nd & 3rd roles
• Map multiple touchpoints of the larger ecosystem
• Knowledge and power are distributed
• Focus on the problem, not the solution

77. Complicated
O B S E R V E G E N E R AT E
I D E A S
A N A LY Z E
& D I S C U S S
T E A M
D E C I S I O N
D E S I G N
P R O D U C T
B U I L D
P R O D U C T
L A U N C H
& M A R K E T
C U S TO M E R
R E S P O N S E
$ $ $ $$
T R A D I T I O N A L I N N O VAT I O N C Y C L E
O B S E R V E G E N E R AT E
I D E A S
D E S I G N P R OTO .
A N D T E S T
C U S TO M E R
R E S P O N S E
I N N O VAT I O N B Y R A P I D E X P E R I M E N TAT I O N
C O S T O F
L E A R N I N G
$
$
Complex

78. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
}
Change the
mindset to
embrace
and
design
for
complexity
See your diverse teams as a part of an
interdependent system
Appreciate and expect ambiguity
Account for non-linear progress
Replace scarcity-driven approaches with
creating abundance
Embrace grassroots/bottom-up ideas &
projects
Learn from experience, not just training
Strive for influence, not control

79. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
}
Change the
mindset to
embrace
and
design
for
complexity
Position user
experience as a
key driver of top-
line business value

80. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
}Design Upstream
Enable Better
Design Together

81. Chris avore
@erova
linkedin.com/in/chrisavore
@invisionapp
Thank you,
Vancouver!

82. Design upstream
Advancing strategic user experience to
thrive in complex connected markets
Chris avore
@erova
@invisionapp