People First: Human-Centered Innovation, Transformation & Iteration

PEOPLE FIRST: Human-Centered Innovation, Transformation & Iteration| © XD Go, LLC Confidential | p. 1. @uxpaMN | @matthewjdoty | @weareXDGO
PEOPLE FIRSTHuman-Centered Innovation, Transformation & Iteration
Matthew Doty
Founder/Principal Consultant
XD Go, LLC
matthew@xdgo.io

GOALS FOR TODAY
This presentation examines how to apply the principles and
techniques of Human-Centered Design to:
• Envision the experiences your audience will expect in the future
and prioritize your investments.
• Make the organizational and cultural changes necessary to deliver
the caliber of experiences outlined by your vision
• Make rapid, iterative, human-centered progress as you design
and launch products, services, and technology.

HUMAN-CENTERED
INNOVATION
Envision the experiences your audience will expect in the future and
prioritize your investments.

MY “FAVORITE” DEFINITION
in·no·va·tion
/ˌinəˈvāSH(ə)n/
noun
the action or process of innovating

MY REAL FAVORITE
The ability to create new and potentially
valuable ideas.
The process of transforming these ideas
into viable reality.
https://drkenhudson.com/best-way-define-innovation/Adapted from:

HUMAN-CENTERED INNOVATION
Creating new ideas and transforming
them into a viable reality in a way that
puts the people we’re designing for
at the center of attention throughout
the entire process.

Applying the principles and
techniques of Human-Centered
Design to the innovation process.

THAT ALL SOUNDS GOOD,
BUT WHAT DOES THAT
REALLY LOOK LIKE?

Discover the audience
and the context.
• Understand the
audience
• Understand the
business
• Understand the
external environment
Envision the future.
• Facilitate ideation
• Synthesize and
describe concepts
• Craft a vision for the
future experience
• Create design
concepts
Evaluate and evolve.
• Prioritize
• Create testable
models
• Gather customer and
stakeholder input
• Explore viability
• Refine
Frame the problem
and opportunity.
• Describe the
problem space
• Identify opportunities

COMMON INNOVATION PITFALLS
Adapted from: https://hbr.org/2015/06/the-6-most-common-innovation-mistakes-companies-make
Expecting experiments without providing
access to a well-stocked laboratory
Pushing for answers without defining
problems worth solving
Urging risk-taking while punishing
commercial failure
Insisting on revolutionary breakthroughs
without allocating A-team resources
Demanding disruptive ideas, without
dedicating (and protecting) time and
people for the task
Generating ideas without mechanisms to
do something with them

KAREN

IDENTIFY 3-5
STRATEGIC
GROWTH
OPPORTUNITIES

Insisting on revolutionary
breakthroughs without
allocating A-team resources

Human-Centered Skill-Sets

Design
Design
Research
Experience
Strategy

Human-Centered Skill-Sets
Design Research
Experience Strategy
Design

Pushing for answers without
defining problems worth solving

Human-Centered Problem Definition

Audience
Ideation
Audience
Observation
Secondary
Research

Human-Centered Problem Definition
Secondary Research
Audience Observation
Audience Ideation

Generated ideas without
mechanisms to do something
with them

with them
Human-Centered Mechanisms

Concepts
Confidential
Idea
Backlog
Concept
Testing
Prioritization
Workshops

with them
Human-Centered Mechanisms
Idea Backlog
Concept Testing
Prioritization Workshops

Discover the audience
and the context.
• Understand the
audience
• Understand the
business
• Understand the
external environment
Envision the future.
• Facilitate ideation
• Synthesize and
describe concepts
• Craft a vision for the
future experience
• Create design
concepts
Evaluate and evolve.
• Prioritize
• Create testable
models
• Gather customer and
stakeholder input
• Explore viability
• Refine
Frame the problem
and opportunity.
• Describe the
problem space
• Identify opportunities

HUMAN-CENTERED
TRANSFORMATION
Make the organizational and cultural changes necessary to deliver the
caliber of experiences outlined by your vision

TRANSFORMATION = CHANGE

“Without change
something sleeps
inside us, and
seldom awakens.
The sleeper must
awaken.”
- Dune (Film) 1984

CHANGE IS HARD

REALLY HARD!

“Anyone who
says differently
is selling
something.“
- The princess bride (Film) 1987

KEYS TO EFFECTIVE CHANGE
1. Identify what you want to change
2. Pinpoint critical behaviors
3. Experience critical behaviors

KEY # 1:
IDENTIFY WHAT YOU WANT
TO CHANGE

COMMON XD CHANGES INCLUDE…
• Learning more about XD (e.g., awareness)
• Learning how to do specific XD techniques
• Hiring XD talent
• Implementing human-centered thinking
• Changing your culture or process to become more human-centered
• Establishing an XD practice, team or department
• Maturing your XD capabilities

KEY # 2:
PINPOINT CRITICAL
BEHAVIORS

CRITICAL BEHAVIORS ARE…
• Small/Simple
• High impact
• Yield desired results

“SIMPLE” DOES NOT MEAN “EASY”

FOR EXAMPLE…
The Critical behaviors for
Establishing and XD
Practice are…
• Experience your audience
• Make your thinking tangible
• Take a collaborative stance
• Practice “tactful persistence”

KEY # 3:
EXPERIENCE CRITICAL
BEHAVIORS

“There are 3 kinds of
[people]. The one that
learns by reading. The
few who learn by
observation. The rest of us
have to pee on the electric
fence for ourselves.”
- Will Rogers

VICARIOUS EXPERIENCE
When we observe
someone doing
something, we are
more likely to do
the same thing
(especially if that
person is like us and
they get rewarded).

TWO FOUNDATIONAL QUESTIONS
Can I do it?
Is it worth it?

HUMAN-CENTERED
ITERATION
Make rapid, iterative, human-centered progress as you design and
launch products, services, and technology.

LET’S DO SOME MYTH-
BUSTING

MYTH:
A human-centered approach takes too
much time!

MYTH:
A human-centered approach takes too
much time!
FACTS:
• A human-centered approach can be
flexibly adapted and applied to almost
any situation, timeline, or budget.
• A human-centered approach ends up
saving time.

MYTH:
A human-centered approach
doesn’t work with agile.

MYTH:
A human-centered approach
doesn’t work with agile.
FACTS:
• A human-centered approach is
the best way to “do agile”
because it results in minimum
products that are more likely to
be genuinely viable.

THE AGILE MINDSET
“When you face uncertainty, try
something you think might work,
get feedback, and adjust
accordingly.”
https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/

AGAIN, THAT ALL SOUNDS
GOOD, BUT WHAT DOES IT
REALLY LOOK LIKE?

I’M SO GLAD YOU ASKED

HUMAN-CENTERED ITERATION
ENVISION
“A common understanding as
to the scope of what you're
trying to accomplish”
http://agilemodeling.com/essays/initialRequirementsModeling.htm

ENVISION
Experience Audits
Stakeholder Interviews
Primary Research
Secondary Research
Competitive Analysis
Persona Definition
Conceptual Diagrams

Sprint
0
Sprint
1
ENVISION
Detailed Diagrams
User Flows
Prototypes
Audience Feedback

Detailed Diagrams
User Flows
Prototypes
Audience Feedback
Sprint
0
Sprint
1
ENVISION
Design QA
Audience Feedback
Consultation
Sprint
1
Sprint
2

Sprint
0
Sprint
1
Sprint
2
Sprint
3
Sprint
4
Sprint
N
Sprint
1
Sprint
2
Sprint
3
Sprint
4
Sprint
N
ENVISION

SOME THOUGHTS ON
VIABILITY

VIABILITY
“A product, service or technology
cannot be considered minimally
viable unless...
• The people we're designing for are
likely to want it and will use it
• The people trying to make a living
from it will likely see the results
they hope for”
https://www.xdgo.io/post/viability-the-missing-ingredient-in-most-mvps

CUSTOMER VIABILITY
“The product must be considered by
the customer to be minimally...
• Desirable - Customers want the product (or
they will in the future).
• Useful - The product fills customer needs and
helps them achieve something.
• Usable - Customers can use the product
easily, naturally, intuitively.
• Valuable - The benefit of using the product
outweighs the cost.”

BUSINESS VIABILITY
“The business must regard the product
as minimally...
• Feasible - It's possible for the business to do
relatively easily/conveniently/successfully.
• Sustainable - The business can regularly provide
the product with reasonable consistency.
• Scalable - The business can expand its ability to
provide the product where it makes sense to do so.
• Valuable - The benefit of providing the product
outweighs the cost.

WHEW!
LET’S TALK!

Matthew Doty
Founder/Principal Consultant
XD Go, LLC
matthew@xdgo.io
THANK YOU!

People First: Human-Centered Innovation, Transformation & Iteration

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