This document discusses the importance of acknowledging complexity when designing solutions. It notes that we naturally try to simplify complexity through cognitive biases. The document recommends embracing complexity rather than oversimplifying, in order to arrive at better solutions. It also stresses the importance of understanding current user behaviors through methods like observing and having people trial activities. The goal is to design something of better value that enables positive behavior change. Research should combine different methods and acknowledge the influence of cognitive biases.
This is a thought piece and call to action for product managers in the software industry. Leverages principles from Lean Startup, Agile, and other modern software methods.
TDAmeritrade Holiday Spending and Behavioral EconStephen Wendel
How can get through the holidays without blowing you budget and stressing out over money? Here are the slides from a webcast with TD Ameritrade that shows you
1) Tips you can use to keep yourself on track
2) How to outsmart the tricks retailers use to make you spend more
3) What the research shows about what gifts are effective and memorable.
Enjoy!
Making Elephants Dance -- How corporates can lean into the future with Lean S...Janice Fraser
The greatest risk to business today is the pace of change, and entrepreneurship is the solution. This talk provides a preview of Eric Ries' Leader's Guide, which provides a framework for implementing Lean Startup throughout a company.
In Agile we like to deliver valuable software to our customers on a regular basis. However, while it’s pretty clear what “software” means, we cannot really say the same about “valuable”.
The definition of Value in a project (with an uppercase “V”) is frequently fuzzy and confused. Even within the same project, asking different stakeholders what Value means to them produces different answers; and the same stakeholder will likely provide different definitions of Value, depending on their perception and role in the project.
Most stakeholders will naturally associate Value to money, sometimes through surprisingly creative correlations; but there are other dimensions, equally valid, such as strategic positioning, company image, innovation and learning, and so forth.
Understanding the multidimensional nature of Value becomes therefore critical to drive the project to success. In this talk we’ll address what Value means in Agile for different stakeholders; how to map and categorize the stakeholders; how to describe Value on different dimension and how to track it. We’ll also see what happens when we don’t do that.
Also, assuming different stakeholders on the same project have different and multifaceted perceptions of Value, how can we coordinate the production effort in a balanced way? Which kind of corporate culture and corporate values (plural) support that?
This is the handout that we used during the first-ever workshop based on Eric Ries's Leader's Guide. This work is based on a pre-release draft of the book, and includes many hands-on activities for putting the Leader's Guide into practice. Consider this Iteration Zero.
This is the Introduction To Lean Startup that has been presented at the Lean Startup Conference since 2012. It presents the key concepts of Lean Startup in a succinct and memorable way, with a few graphs and charts.
Intersection18: When a Framework Meets a Roadmap, New Vistas Open - Curtis Mi...Intersection Conference
Presented at Intersection18 Conference - intersectionconf.com
A Dive into Delivering Strategic Value To Business And Customers
Enterprises face constant pressure to innovate on their products and services, while also adapting and evolving their organizational cultures. Despite an array of methods and approaches, there is a disturbing rate of poor performance and an even poorer success rate at balancing innovation across short, medium and long-term time horizons. The need to deliver more products or features and business changes in quicker cycles, has resulted in excessive focus on short-term innovation, and sometimes the delivery of the wrong things faster.
This is a thought piece and call to action for product managers in the software industry. Leverages principles from Lean Startup, Agile, and other modern software methods.
TDAmeritrade Holiday Spending and Behavioral EconStephen Wendel
How can get through the holidays without blowing you budget and stressing out over money? Here are the slides from a webcast with TD Ameritrade that shows you
1) Tips you can use to keep yourself on track
2) How to outsmart the tricks retailers use to make you spend more
3) What the research shows about what gifts are effective and memorable.
Enjoy!
Making Elephants Dance -- How corporates can lean into the future with Lean S...Janice Fraser
The greatest risk to business today is the pace of change, and entrepreneurship is the solution. This talk provides a preview of Eric Ries' Leader's Guide, which provides a framework for implementing Lean Startup throughout a company.
In Agile we like to deliver valuable software to our customers on a regular basis. However, while it’s pretty clear what “software” means, we cannot really say the same about “valuable”.
The definition of Value in a project (with an uppercase “V”) is frequently fuzzy and confused. Even within the same project, asking different stakeholders what Value means to them produces different answers; and the same stakeholder will likely provide different definitions of Value, depending on their perception and role in the project.
Most stakeholders will naturally associate Value to money, sometimes through surprisingly creative correlations; but there are other dimensions, equally valid, such as strategic positioning, company image, innovation and learning, and so forth.
Understanding the multidimensional nature of Value becomes therefore critical to drive the project to success. In this talk we’ll address what Value means in Agile for different stakeholders; how to map and categorize the stakeholders; how to describe Value on different dimension and how to track it. We’ll also see what happens when we don’t do that.
Also, assuming different stakeholders on the same project have different and multifaceted perceptions of Value, how can we coordinate the production effort in a balanced way? Which kind of corporate culture and corporate values (plural) support that?
This is the handout that we used during the first-ever workshop based on Eric Ries's Leader's Guide. This work is based on a pre-release draft of the book, and includes many hands-on activities for putting the Leader's Guide into practice. Consider this Iteration Zero.
This is the Introduction To Lean Startup that has been presented at the Lean Startup Conference since 2012. It presents the key concepts of Lean Startup in a succinct and memorable way, with a few graphs and charts.
Intersection18: When a Framework Meets a Roadmap, New Vistas Open - Curtis Mi...Intersection Conference
Presented at Intersection18 Conference - intersectionconf.com
A Dive into Delivering Strategic Value To Business And Customers
Enterprises face constant pressure to innovate on their products and services, while also adapting and evolving their organizational cultures. Despite an array of methods and approaches, there is a disturbing rate of poor performance and an even poorer success rate at balancing innovation across short, medium and long-term time horizons. The need to deliver more products or features and business changes in quicker cycles, has resulted in excessive focus on short-term innovation, and sometimes the delivery of the wrong things faster.
Aubrey Smith, early member of GE’s FastWorks initiative, will leverage her experience working with large, F500s on innovation transformation to talk through what it takes to drive a large-scale change within a complex enterprise. During this session, the audience will have the chance to work with expert coaches on exercises focusing on Portfolio Management (believe it or not, everyone has an innovation “portfolio” to govern) and Cultural change.
The Leader's Guide Workshop - Pivotal Labs TokyoJeana Alayaay
These are the slides that were used for the 3rd Leader's Guide Workshop that was help at Pivotal Japan on Friday, 6/17/16. The content was developed by Janice Fraser, the Director of People for Pivotal. It is based on The Leader's Guide by Eric Ries and is officially endorsed by him.
A lot of companies make the mistake of thinking that just hiring Data Scientists will lead to increased revenue or increased profit. For a company’s investment in Data Science to be successful the Data Scientists need to work on the right problems, with the right people, and with the right tools. In this presentation, I will talk about the lessons I have learned, and mistakes made in applying Data Science in commercial settings over the last 10 years. I will highlight what processes can increase the chances of Data Science investment being successful.
Morgenbooster - Dynamic Roadmap: Bridging the gap between strategy and execution1508 A/S
This is the slides for an online webinar regarding how you can implement strategy in a way relevant for the users. The presentation talks about the tool dynamic roadmap.
Austhink design, and develop, specialist software and training to improve and communicate complex reasoning, making it appear simpler.
These tools assists professionals, from all business backgrounds, to quickly capture, clarify and communicate their thinking and recommendations to others.
Going from Good to Great with Concept TestingAtlassian
Running experiments in your product will tell you what your customers are doing, but they don't often tell you why they're doing it. So even after experimenting, you can be left wondering: which option would be better to ship? One way that Atlassian has tackled this is by taking the "concept testing" technique to a whole new level. Get a first-hand look into how we run concept tests to extract the right insights – before a single line of code has been written. You'll learn how they can work side-by-side with quantitative experimentation to help you get smarter metrics, and have greater confidence in knowing how to take your product from good to great.
Does your organization suffer from Shiny Object Syndrome? This is the tendency to pursue every idea that seems good without prioritizing, seeing it through to a reasonable return on investment, or deciding to abandon it when it doesn’t deliver. Sound familiar?
In this presentation, I'll walk you through the 4-part cure for this disease with examples of how we did it at my company and ended up selling for $125 million.
Jason Fraser - A Leaders' Guide to Implementing Lean Startup in OrganisationsLean Startup Summit EMEA
The Leader's Guide Workshop walks through the 8 Sections of Eric Reis's Leader's Guide, breaking out each section into actions that you can take as a leader to bring Lean Startup to your organization. We'll cover some of the basics of Lean Startup and how to reframe them for easier consumption in your organisation, then delve into the difficult areas of people, money, and scale.
For all human history, mankind has looked for "innovative" new answers to new problems. We have conquered, constructed, created and made more and more to satisfy our needs. But this approach just can't last. It's just simply not the most sustainable or efficient way of problem-solving. Instead of looking outwards for the answers we believe it's time to look within. It's time to "innervate": to be more creative with the untapped psychological power of all that exists.
Aubrey Smith, early member of GE’s FastWorks initiative, will leverage her experience working with large, F500s on innovation transformation to talk through what it takes to drive a large-scale change within a complex enterprise. During this session, the audience will have the chance to work with expert coaches on exercises focusing on Portfolio Management (believe it or not, everyone has an innovation “portfolio” to govern) and Cultural change.
The Leader's Guide Workshop - Pivotal Labs TokyoJeana Alayaay
These are the slides that were used for the 3rd Leader's Guide Workshop that was help at Pivotal Japan on Friday, 6/17/16. The content was developed by Janice Fraser, the Director of People for Pivotal. It is based on The Leader's Guide by Eric Ries and is officially endorsed by him.
A lot of companies make the mistake of thinking that just hiring Data Scientists will lead to increased revenue or increased profit. For a company’s investment in Data Science to be successful the Data Scientists need to work on the right problems, with the right people, and with the right tools. In this presentation, I will talk about the lessons I have learned, and mistakes made in applying Data Science in commercial settings over the last 10 years. I will highlight what processes can increase the chances of Data Science investment being successful.
Morgenbooster - Dynamic Roadmap: Bridging the gap between strategy and execution1508 A/S
This is the slides for an online webinar regarding how you can implement strategy in a way relevant for the users. The presentation talks about the tool dynamic roadmap.
Austhink design, and develop, specialist software and training to improve and communicate complex reasoning, making it appear simpler.
These tools assists professionals, from all business backgrounds, to quickly capture, clarify and communicate their thinking and recommendations to others.
Going from Good to Great with Concept TestingAtlassian
Running experiments in your product will tell you what your customers are doing, but they don't often tell you why they're doing it. So even after experimenting, you can be left wondering: which option would be better to ship? One way that Atlassian has tackled this is by taking the "concept testing" technique to a whole new level. Get a first-hand look into how we run concept tests to extract the right insights – before a single line of code has been written. You'll learn how they can work side-by-side with quantitative experimentation to help you get smarter metrics, and have greater confidence in knowing how to take your product from good to great.
Does your organization suffer from Shiny Object Syndrome? This is the tendency to pursue every idea that seems good without prioritizing, seeing it through to a reasonable return on investment, or deciding to abandon it when it doesn’t deliver. Sound familiar?
In this presentation, I'll walk you through the 4-part cure for this disease with examples of how we did it at my company and ended up selling for $125 million.
Jason Fraser - A Leaders' Guide to Implementing Lean Startup in OrganisationsLean Startup Summit EMEA
The Leader's Guide Workshop walks through the 8 Sections of Eric Reis's Leader's Guide, breaking out each section into actions that you can take as a leader to bring Lean Startup to your organization. We'll cover some of the basics of Lean Startup and how to reframe them for easier consumption in your organisation, then delve into the difficult areas of people, money, and scale.
For all human history, mankind has looked for "innovative" new answers to new problems. We have conquered, constructed, created and made more and more to satisfy our needs. But this approach just can't last. It's just simply not the most sustainable or efficient way of problem-solving. Instead of looking outwards for the answers we believe it's time to look within. It's time to "innervate": to be more creative with the untapped psychological power of all that exists.
¿How do we evaluate our designs?
Design is a continuous process, so being able to see whether a project is moving in the right direction & accurately evaluating progress, being able & ready to re-direct resources & efforts in order to respond creatively to surrounding co-designs & changing circumstances ... is an essential part of the whole.
In this class we look at how to develop these crucial skills & explore some of the tools we use for creating flexibly with complex & ever-changing Life forces.
An Introduction to Applied Behavioral Science, for Project ManagersStephen Wendel
A talk I gave for the Future of Work group, on how to apply behavioral science to project management and product development. It's based on the 2nd edition of Designing for Behavior Change. See www.behavioraltechnology.co for more info, and the (free) workbook that accompanies it.
There's lots of talk about behavioural economics. But how do you practically apply it to sustainability?
Many books and presentations focus on specific aspects and heuristics, such as social norms and reframing.
This deck doesn't attempt this. Instead it provides initial guidance and suggestions for CSR and Sustainability professionals who want to start applying behavioural economics within their organisations. What should they do differently? Which practical steps should they take?
We hope it gets you thinking.
For a copy of the deck, please get in touch via: http://prime-decision.com/contact/
Human Factor of Technology Deployment - Accellos & Columbia Colstor IARW-WFLOaccellosinc
Presentation on The Human Factor of Technology Deployment - Driving Value through Partnership and Organizational Change Management by Joe Couto of Accellos and Blake Barthlemess of Columbia Colstor given at the 123rd IARW-WFLO Convention and Expo 2014
Navigating complexity groups a set of principles and activities into a compass. It helps leaders and agilists at any level of the organisation. Apart from inhouse solutions, you can explore the compass in a 3 day public training offer.
If you are working for making a change in your business or organization, you need to know that making plan for change requires both effectiveness and efficacy. effectiveness would be an external parameter and the other is internal. you lead the organization to an improvement for having a more effectiveness, but you need to work on its efficacy which maintain the effect of change more stable and also help them to make a new mindset which they need to make more changes by themselves.
The world of search engine optimization (SEO) is buzzing with discussions after Google confirmed that around 2,500 leaked internal documents related to its Search feature are indeed authentic. The revelation has sparked significant concerns within the SEO community. The leaked documents were initially reported by SEO experts Rand Fishkin and Mike King, igniting widespread analysis and discourse. For More Info:- https://news.arihantwebtech.com/search-disrupted-googles-leaked-documents-rock-the-seo-world/
Premium MEAN Stack Development Solutions for Modern BusinessesSynapseIndia
Stay ahead of the curve with our premium MEAN Stack Development Solutions. Our expert developers utilize MongoDB, Express.js, AngularJS, and Node.js to create modern and responsive web applications. Trust us for cutting-edge solutions that drive your business growth and success.
Know more: https://www.synapseindia.com/technology/mean-stack-development-company.html
Improving profitability for small businessBen Wann
In this comprehensive presentation, we will explore strategies and practical tips for enhancing profitability in small businesses. Tailored to meet the unique challenges faced by small enterprises, this session covers various aspects that directly impact the bottom line. Attendees will learn how to optimize operational efficiency, manage expenses, and increase revenue through innovative marketing and customer engagement techniques.
Discover the innovative and creative projects that highlight my journey throu...dylandmeas
Discover the innovative and creative projects that highlight my journey through Full Sail University. Below, you’ll find a collection of my work showcasing my skills and expertise in digital marketing, event planning, and media production.
Remote sensing and monitoring are changing the mining industry for the better. These are providing innovative solutions to long-standing challenges. Those related to exploration, extraction, and overall environmental management by mining technology companies Odisha. These technologies make use of satellite imaging, aerial photography and sensors to collect data that might be inaccessible or from hazardous locations. With the use of this technology, mining operations are becoming increasingly efficient. Let us gain more insight into the key aspects associated with remote sensing and monitoring when it comes to mining.
Business Valuation Principles for EntrepreneursBen Wann
This insightful presentation is designed to equip entrepreneurs with the essential knowledge and tools needed to accurately value their businesses. Understanding business valuation is crucial for making informed decisions, whether you're seeking investment, planning to sell, or simply want to gauge your company's worth.
Putting the SPARK into Virtual Training.pptxCynthia Clay
This 60-minute webinar, sponsored by Adobe, was delivered for the Training Mag Network. It explored the five elements of SPARK: Storytelling, Purpose, Action, Relationships, and Kudos. Knowing how to tell a well-structured story is key to building long-term memory. Stating a clear purpose that doesn't take away from the discovery learning process is critical. Ensuring that people move from theory to practical application is imperative. Creating strong social learning is the key to commitment and engagement. Validating and affirming participants' comments is the way to create a positive learning environment.
India Orthopedic Devices Market: Unlocking Growth Secrets, Trends and Develop...Kumar Satyam
According to TechSci Research report, “India Orthopedic Devices Market -Industry Size, Share, Trends, Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2030”, the India Orthopedic Devices Market stood at USD 1,280.54 Million in 2024 and is anticipated to grow with a CAGR of 7.84% in the forecast period, 2026-2030F. The India Orthopedic Devices Market is being driven by several factors. The most prominent ones include an increase in the elderly population, who are more prone to orthopedic conditions such as osteoporosis and arthritis. Moreover, the rise in sports injuries and road accidents are also contributing to the demand for orthopedic devices. Advances in technology and the introduction of innovative implants and prosthetics have further propelled the market growth. Additionally, government initiatives aimed at improving healthcare infrastructure and the increasing prevalence of lifestyle diseases have led to an upward trend in orthopedic surgeries, thereby fueling the market demand for these devices.
Cracking the Workplace Discipline Code Main.pptxWorkforce Group
Cultivating and maintaining discipline within teams is a critical differentiator for successful organisations.
Forward-thinking leaders and business managers understand the impact that discipline has on organisational success. A disciplined workforce operates with clarity, focus, and a shared understanding of expectations, ultimately driving better results, optimising productivity, and facilitating seamless collaboration.
Although discipline is not a one-size-fits-all approach, it can help create a work environment that encourages personal growth and accountability rather than solely relying on punitive measures.
In this deck, you will learn the significance of workplace discipline for organisational success. You’ll also learn
• Four (4) workplace discipline methods you should consider
• The best and most practical approach to implementing workplace discipline.
• Three (3) key tips to maintain a disciplined workplace.
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Unveiling the Secrets How Does Generative AI Work.pdfSam H
At its core, generative artificial intelligence relies on the concept of generative models, which serve as engines that churn out entirely new data resembling their training data. It is like a sculptor who has studied so many forms found in nature and then uses this knowledge to create sculptures from his imagination that have never been seen before anywhere else. If taken to cyberspace, gans work almost the same way.
5. We need to step away from the simple and obvious,
embrace and work through the complexity, to get to
the right solutions
1 | Theor etic al fr amew or ks 2 | Pr ac tic al applic ation
6. What does c omplex ac tually mean?
Involvi ng a lot of different but related parts
Difficult to under st and or find an answer to becaus e of having many different parts
S o u r c e: C a mb r i d ge D i c t i o nar y
9. Large numbers of interacting
elements
1 N
Interactions are nonlinear
2
N
Conditions and systems constantly
change
3 N
Minor changes can produce
disproportionately major
consequences
4
The fundamentals of a complex system
10. Large numbers of interacting
elements
1 N
Interactions are nonlinear
2
N
Conditions and systems constantly
change
3 N
Minor changes can produce
disproportionately major
consequences
4
Almost impossible to predict what’s next
12. Cognitive Biases
Shortcuts we've inherited through
past generations
Help us to survive
Make things simpler
Boil down the complex into
something usable
15. What we see may not always be a true reflection of reality
We don’t look for information that contradicts our information
We don’t often challenge ourselves
CONFIRMATION BIAS
16.
17. Unordered
Ordered
C o mplic ated
S i mple
C a u se… Effe ct?
P re d icta ble
C o mplex
C h a otic
C a u se… Effe ct?
In h i nds ight o n l y
18. Ordered
C o mplic ated
S i mple
C a u se… Effe ct?
P re d icta ble
Briefing
19. Unordered
C o mplex
C haotic
C a u se… Effe ct?
In hi ndsight onl y
Move it
back here
22. Counter-briefs
Stakeholder interviews
Hypotheses workshop
What’s the business background? What’s
driving it?
Why are we doing this now? Have we tried
before and what was the outcome?
What’s a successful outcome? How do we
measure it?
Who is the target customer?
What do we know about the customer from our
internal data or existing research?
What’s the behaviour change we desire or
require for success?
24. Collaborative session to create a shared
understanding about our customer
Focus on human behaviour.
Not solutions
Current experience and future experience
Hypotheses used for subsequent research
Counter-briefs
Stakeholder interviews
Hypotheses workshop
27. Be them Observe them
Get them to trial it Talk to them
RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES
28. Be them Observe them
Get them to trial it Talk to them
Do it yourself
Get stakeholders
involved
Take detailed notes
29. Be them Observe them
Get them to trial it Talk to them
1-2 days
Different times of the day
Capture all the context
30. Be them Observe them
Get them to trial it Talk to them
Recruit people who don’t
do it
Get them to document in
detail
Meet and interview
afterwards
31. Be them Observe them
Get them to trial it Talk to them
Keep it close to the
action
From broad to specific
No leading questions
32. Cognitive Biases
Biases are always with us
Some are more prevalent in certain
categories
Combine it with your other research
work
33. We need to step away from the simple and obvious,
embrace and work through the complexity, to get to
the right solutions
34. Acknowledge that we are all naturally trying to make sense of the
complexity, by making it simpler, which often happens unconsciously
through our cognitive biases.
Be mindful of your own biases when you set up projects or propose
solutions, you might oversimplify it.
Move projects back into the complex, the unordered world, ask why and
crystallise the problem.
35. Most of what we design requires behaviour change, therefore, you
need to understand the current behaviour, and then create something
of better value.
We don’t remember past events perfectly,
our memories are less accurate than we think.
Don’t just interview people, get them to do the activity, try to keep it
as close the the action as possible.
Good morning everyone. How is everyone? First of all, thanks for coming. My name is Robert Homberger and today I will talk about ‘Designing for messy behaviour in a complex world’.
Almost 15 years ago I stepped on a plane in Munich, flew to Melbourne….and then kind of got stuck here. It’s not hard as you know […]. Since I arrived I have consulted and worked for many large organisations here in Australia from Telstra, to TAL, CBA and now ANZ in Melbourne. Most of my work was in the research, innovation, and design space.
At the moment I work at ANZi and lead a team of designers across different projects. ANZi is a fairly young business at ANZ […] we are the New Business Innovation Lab and Venture Capital arm of ANZ - building and investing in new businesses. It’s a pretty exciting time, and it’s a great team.
[click]
At heart, I’m a Designer, Researcher, and Strategist.
Before I start I’d like to find out who’s here…show off hands:
Any designers here?
Product Owners or Managers?
Developers?
Anyone from start-ups?
Anyone from overseas?
Great, what a mixed crowd.
But, let’s get back to the presentation.
Today I will deep dive and connect 2 topics: Human behaviour & Complexity.
Topic 1 is Human Behaviour
I want talk about us, humans, our often irrational behaviour and how we make decisions [PAUSE] … I was looking for a picture and when I came across this one, I knew that was it. There is so much going on, so much symbolism [PAUSE] … What is driving this person? I’ve got so many questions…for me it perfectly depicts the depths of human behaviour.
Topic 2 is Complexity
I want to focus on our increasingly complex and fast changing world. We are in a period of rapid change, from an economic perspective, the exponential growth of new technologies, threats to the environment and society in general.
They are big macro trends, and they have an impact on the work we do, and on our behaviour.
We need to acknowledge that we operate in complex environments, and to deal with all this complexity, we simplify things, sometimes even oversimplify.
Underlying these 2 topics, human behaviour and complexity, I want to pose one argument today
[click]
We need to step away from the simple and obvious, embrace and work through the complexity, to get to the right solutions.
[click]
The first part of the presentation will draw on some theoretical frameworks around complexity and human behaviour, and in the second part I will demonstrate how they apply to our work.
Complex is a big word…I want you to take a moment and think about it. What does it mean? When was the last time you dealt with something complex?
Here’s how the dictionary defines it:
[click] Involving a lot of different, but related parts
[click] Difficult to understand or find an answer to because of having many different parts
Complexity comes to live much better, as everything else, when we move away from the theoretical construct and provide real examples.
I want you to close your eyes and listen for a few seconds…
[click]
[Play rainforest sounds]
[click]
[Show rainforest]
Open your eyes please. What noises did you hear? Where were you?
Yes, that’s the rainforest. My wife and I went on our honeymoon to Central America and spent most of our time in Costa Rica, and most mornings we woke up to this incredible loud noise. I can highly recommend going to Costa Rica.
But why do I talk about the rain forest?
[Rainforest image, no sound]
It is the perfect example of a complex system. There are so many things going on:
a species becomes extinct,
weather patterns change,
a project reroutes a water source,
the rain forest is in constant flux.
Let’s look at the fundamental elements of a complex system.
[click] Involves large numbers of interacting elements
[click] Interactions are nonlinear
[click] Conditions and systems constantly change: The system is dynamic, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
[click] Minor changes can produce disproportionately major consequences
Though a complex system may, in retrospect, appear to be ordered and predictable, the external conditions and systems constantly change…
… and it’s almost impossible to predict what will happen next.
The rain forest is just one example. The world around us gets more complex, our work gets more complex.
How do we navigate through the world? How do we approach projects and problems we need to solve?
How do we deal with all this complexity?
Cognitive biases help us dealing with it.
Quick show of hands…who has heard about cognitive biases and heuristics. Keep your hands up.
If I asked you now who could give me an example of one. Keep your hand up. [Let someone talk about one].
[click] Cognitive biases are shortcuts we've inherited through past generations.
[click] They are designed to help us to survive,
[click] to boil down the complex into something usable and actionable;
[click] ultimately, they help us make things simpler.
Nearly 200 cognitive biases affect our decision-making. Buster Benson, a marketing manager at Slack, decided to organize 175 known biases into a giant codex.
Benson grouped them into four larger categories.
I’ve re-framed them here slightly, and made them, a bit more action-orientated:
[click] Help us remember
[click] Help us act fast
[click] Help us process information, and…
[click] Provide meaning
According to Benson, "Every cognitive bias is there for a reason — primarily to save our brains time or energy."
There are many biases around. I’d like to briefly highlight 3 biases which are important when it comes to design, but by no means the only ones…
[click]
Sunk Cost Effect:
We’re reluctant to pull out of something we’ve put effort into;
Spotify is a great example. Once you’ve created your playlists you’re less likely to change provider and more likely to upgrade. Another example I can think of are online shopping lists.
[click]
Peak-end rule:
Experiences are mostly judged by their end or peaks…
Amazon’s new retail experience Amazon Go is a great example. No more lining up or scanning items at the check-out. You just walk out. How good is that?
Now let’s have a look at a short video that explains the third bias I want to highlight. The confirmation bias. Play video, next slide.
There are 3 things I want to focus your attention on…
[click] What we see may not always be a true reflection of reality
[click] We don’t look for information that contradicts our information
[click] We don’t challenge ourselves
The confirmation bias is a dangerous one, and this bias often has a large impact how work gets done in organisations. Let’s keep this in mind.
Has anyone seen this before? Quick show of hands please. [wait and ask]
The Cynefin (KUN-iv-in) framework is a complexity framework used to help with decision-making. It was created in 1999 by Dave Snowden when he worked for IBM. It should allow managers to see things from new perspectives, deal with complex concepts, to address problems and opportunities.
I don’t want to go into detail on the model as I wouldn’t do it justice. I met Dave once and I have a lot of respect for him. The model will help me to illustrate how I approach projects.
So, let’s remove all the noise.
There are 2 main domains: Ordered and Undordered.
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In the ORDERED domain, a relationship between cause and effect exists. It’s predictable, we can apply best practice or good practice.
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When it comes to the UNORDERED domain, cause and effect are only obvious in hindsight, there is no causality.
I want to focus on the ORDERED world for now.
We are often briefed as if the project operated in the ORDERED DOMAIN.
When we design, when we work on delivering features or products, we usually work for someone. So, that someone we deliver the work for has certain ideas and I’m sure everyone has been briefed on “Can you please design and ship feature x for me” or “Can you please fix this part in the process” with the hope that this will solve a bigger problem.
Who has either given that directive or been given that directive…SHOW OF HANDS PLEASE. Yes. I thought so.
This is where we come back to the confirmation bias we just discussed. Our stakeholders are acting out of their personal preferences, they are not necessarily looking for us to challenge them, some of you want the team to deliver, and not start to question the intent of the project.
This is not just coming down the confirmation bias, most larger companies have an emphasis on fast delivery, not on discovery phases that try to explore further, and crystalize the problem, ask why.
So, if we believe it’s not that simple…what should we do?
LET’S MOVE IT BACK TO THE COMPLEX, TO THE UNORDERED DOMAIN.
And just a quick note. Some projects operate in the ORDERED domain, where we know that x will deliver y. But a lot of strategic projects are very complex.
How do we bring it back to the complex?
Opher Yom-Tov, our Chief Design Officer at ANZ, talks about going through the fog, until finally things become clearer. The fog in my mind is the UNORDERED DOMAIN, where complex resides.
We need to embrace the fog, the ambiguity and make our way through it. There’s no way around.
Here are some tips how to move projects back into the complex.
There are 3 main techniques I have used in the past to re-scope work and move the project from a solution mindset to a more customer-centred mindset.
Counter-briefs
Stakeholder interviews
Hypotheses workshops
I will go into a little bit more detail around each of those.
A counter brief is basically a brief with a number of questions that seek more context around the background of the project. They are not any crazy out-there questions, they are questions I expect anyone of my designers to be able to answer. Some of the key questions are:
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- What’s the business background? What’s driving it?
- Why are we doing this now? Have we tried before and what was the outcome?
- What’s a successful outcome? How do we measure it?
- Who is the target customer?
- What do we know about the customer from our internal data or existing research?
- What’s the behaviour change we desire or require for success?
There are obviously a few more questions but they are really the key ones.
What am I not asking here? I’m not asking about the output, the features, the proposed solution. Because if we gather all the information above, we should try to define the best solution and it might be different, than the original one that was proposed.
Stakeholder interviews are something most of us are aware of, have done themselves or been the subject of the interview.
This interview is a more thorough version of the counterbrief, as you should use a similar line of questioning to understand from all your main stakeholders what we’re driving with the initiative.
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The first exercise is to define who your key stakeholders are, something we call Stakeholder map, and then spend a good 30 minutes with every single one of them, take thorough notes, ideally have a partner with you. And once you’ve spoken to everyone, synthesise the information and discuss with your team.
We once were briefed on a project and we did around 6 interviews, we realised that there is much more going on that what we were initially briefed on. We then went back to the main stakeholder and re-scoped the work.
I started introducing Hypotheses Workshops at the start of projects while working in the Human Centred Design team at CBA.
The intent of the workshop is to gather all existing information about the customer in a human-centred, collaborative way to get some more richness and context around the behaviour change that we desire and the challenges we’re dealing with.
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Again, it is key to have all the Senior stakeholders in the room as the outcome of the session would often help frame the opportunity better. Basically, everybody got some homework and had to write a number of hypotheses around certain behaviours. For example, people had to think about ‘what’s driving behaviour x’, and ‘what’s stopping behaviour x’. So, let’s just assume that we want businesses to deposit money at the ATM instead of going to the counter. We need to understand and analyse what’s driving the behaviour (i.e. drivers) and what’s stopping the new behaviour (i.e. barriers).
So, what do counter-briefs, stakeholder interviews, and hypotheses workshops help us with?
They help change the focus from solution (click 1) to (click 2) a stronger focus on problem solving and behaviour change. We will spend more time exploring and questioning the world around us, defying the strong confidence bias…but ultimately, (click 3) this will help us design the right thing.
Now that we have set up the project for success let me give you some practical tips for gaining insights that drive design decisions.
What do I mean by research? Research is not just talking to users…Research is getting closer to the understanding of existing behaviour. How do we get closer to the existing behaviour?
Let’s use Self-check-in at airports as an example. What could we do to gain better insights?
We want to understand the actual experience but we need to understand all the context around it as well, such as what’s happening before, what’s happening after, [click]
and a clear understanding of the user.
You can approach that in a few different ways, you can…
‘be them’, ‘observe them’, or ‘get them to do trial it’ and ‘talk to them’.
Whatever you do, we know from scientific experiments that our memories are less accurate than we think. Our memories can be contaminated by outside forces, internal biases, and even our own thoughts, so the closer to the action, the better.
Let’s be them first.
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That is pretty straight-forward. If you’re designing or improving a service that currently exists, you just do it yourself. To capture the information accurately I recommend to take a notepad and write down every little detail of the interaction. Also, make sure that you get other people involved as well, such as your stakeholders.
Observe them.
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I prefer to spend a couple of days observing people as time of the day might change the behaviour, you might have more business travellers in the morning and more leisure travellers throughout the day. Stand in enough distance that people don’t notice you and make sure you take detailed notes. Make sure you capture the context, particularly the type of user, for example a family, single person, you get it. Context matters.
Get them to trial it. This is one of my favourite activities.
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Recruit a bunch of people that currently don’t do the behaviour that you want to encourage. Then incentivise them to do this new behaviour. Get them to document it in detail, same as you would do. It’s best to give them a diary with the questions you need them to answer. Then meet them a few days later to discuss the experience focusing in on what they would do in the future.
This exercise works best when it’s a frequent activity, let’s say depositing money, to allow them to do it more than once. Might be a bit harder when it comes to flying but maybe you can set up a lab environment that reconstructs the experience?
Talk to them about it.
I often run a traditional face to face interview very shortly after they have done the activity. If you’re running a traditional interview there is a few things to consider…
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Keep it closer to the action - the fresher the recollection is, the better
When recounting events get them to go from broad to specific
Drawing it or acting it out can stimulate their memory
And, try to avoid leading questions. Many researchers have conducted studies showing false memories can be implanted into someone's mind by asking suggestive, leading questions.
Let’s come back to the Cognitive Biases we discussed earlier. Remember they are always with us. They are a great starting point to look at behaviour.
Some are more prevalent in certain categories.
And it can be very effective to combine them with your insights from other research work.
Let’s come back to the original argument I posed:
We need to step away from the simple and obvious, embrace and work through the complexity, to get to the right solutions.
I’ve got 6 points for you to take away…
[click] Acknowledge that we are all naturally trying to make sense of the complexity, by making it simpler, which often happens unconsciously through our cognitive biases.
[click] Be mindful of your own biases when you set up projects or propose solutions.
[click] Move projects back into the complex, the unordered world, and crystallise the problem (if required).
[click] Most of what we design requires behaviour change, therefore, you need to understand the current behaviour, and then create something of better value.
[click] We don’t remember past events perfectly; our memories are less accurate than we think.
[click] So, don’t just interview people, get them to do the activity, try to keep it as close the the action as possible.
