As a designer, creative or user experience expert you may ask: Why do large organisations act in a certain way? What are the drivers for that? How do managers think? What does that mean for me as designer? How can I react on this? The presentation will give some answers to the questions above, some strategies for your basic decisions and techniques for the daily business. The presentation was held at the UX Camp 2014 in Berlin.

1. SURVIVAL STRATEGIES & TECHNIQUES FOR
DESIGNERS IN LARGE ORGANISATIONS
Mark König, UX Camp Berlin, June 2014

2. 2. UNDERSTAND
1. (WATCH you did)
STRATEGIES
TECHNIQUES
3. LEARN & APPLY

3. UNDERSTAND

4. Commons?
IN COMMON?

5. ANNUAL
REPORT
(BALANCE
SHEET)
PROFIT &
LOSS
STATEMENT

6. MANAGERS THINK IN TIME SLICES

7. 3 WAYS TO MAKE MONEY
AMOUNT PRICEX MONEY=
1 piece 10 million € 10 million €X =
Luxury
approach
10 mn barrel 100 € / barrel 1 billion €X =
Sheikh
approach
1 billion
call minutes
1 ct / minute 10 million €X =
Masses
approach

8. MANAGER‘S INTERPRETATION
OF PLAIN DESIGN THINKING
TARGET
GROUP
NEEDS CONCEPT …
Shareholder Value max.
Stock course &
dividend
Boss /Mgr Bonus max.
Max. individual
targets

9. „IWO“ – A BASIC THINKING
INPUT WONDER OUTPUT
Buy
Sources
Spend money
Rod & Worm
Work / create
Services
Spend money
Time
Sell
Products
Earn money
Fish
Buy
Sources
Spend money
Rod & Worm

10. IWO PRINCIPLES
INPUT WONDER OUTPUT
Mini-max at same level will not work!
Most companies do Maximum Principle at budget overall.
For this reason they do Minimum Principle at single orders.
Maximum
Principle
fix / given manage MAX!
Minimum
Principle MIN! manage fix / given
Conclusions

11. STRATEGIES

12. CHOOSE YOUR ENVIRONMENT
* Take care to choose company in which specialists can become top level without becoming a manager (if
you are career oriented), e.g. IBM, agencies, … if you still want to work on real stuff later on.
In which INDU S TRY do you want to create?
Which CUS T OMERS does the company serve (B2B vs B2C)?
Which P R ODUCTS are created in which depth and value chain?
What is the TE A M constellation (organisation & reporting line)?
What SE T UP you will be involved in (collaboration & decision making)?
What BUD G ET is invested in experience and design?
How EXP E RIENCE and design are understood in the company?
What RESPONSIBILIT Y will you have now and in the future*?

13. CLARIFY GOVERNANCE FOR DESIGN
Purpose of Design:
Delivery versus Strategy?
Corporate guideline & decision
competence?
UX team: Must-use or optional?
Who decides on procurement?
Skills, pricing & effort
decisions?
Accountability & responsibility
for related functions, e.g. brand,
products, marketing, research
ACCOUNTABILITY RESPONSIBILITY
FAIRNESSTRANSPARENCY

14. VALUE PROPOSITION
Profile: Create your own „brand“ / in
the company: For what do you stand
for?
Deliver what you promise! May be
always a little more.
Do not say „yes“ to everything: Fight
relevant fights – in the meaning of
the company.
Surprise people e.g. with real content
and no ppt.

15. C-HARBOUR STRATEGY
Make UX a CEO topic?
Take care: Not sufficient!
Top managers change every
3-4 years. Example Telekom:
5 responsibles for innovation
in Executive Board between
2009 and 2014.
Management direction can
change from one day to
another.
Politics: Do not become part
of a manager’s deal.

16. BETTER CREATE A NETWORK
Identify relevant stakeholders & needs
Establish personal & valuable relation
Do little pleasures BUT don‘t do everything

17. LONGTERM TWO WAY APPROACH
Year 4Year 3Year 2Year 1 2016
Strategy topics must be relevant on corporate level (e.g. corporate style guide)
Must be mission critical for company‘s success (to be proven)
Must be financed by the company (no cross-charging)
Should be tangible for the whole company and for deciders
Concentrate on top priority delivery
Choose places to win
Delivery shall partly x-finance also strategy or new future initiatives
Source of illustration: Deutsche Telekom Design

18. COMMUNICATION
Communicate what you do (also
your services) and the benefit of it
Create, claim & communicate
successes
Become owner of a trend / topic
Communicate internally as a
designer: create desire by using
videos & demos, mockups, etc.
Use externals in the right way
(press, blogs, social, …)
Participate in awards (even you
hate to do it) & communicate them

19. TECHNIQUES

20. CHOOSE
THE RIGHT
PEOPLE
Create definition of „right“
“Right” may not mean “like”
Created success earlier
OR convinces by brain /
intelligence
Trust your stomach
No compromises

21. AGREE EARLY WHO DECIDES WHAT

22. AGREE ON COMMON AMBITION & KPI
1,520 Ratings
3.8
Google Playstore
1,437 Ratings
Apple Appstore
4.5
Is this good or bad?
Depends on what
was planned, or?

23. DO NOT PLAN 100% OF YOUR TIME
Plan reserves for future development
Plan enough time to keep creativity
Plan time to organize yourself
Plan time to document & communicate

24. CRY ON CUTS

25. LEARN & SPEAK THE LANGUAGE
CAPEX
OPEX
GM1
TMN*
SAC
ARPU
EBITDA
WACC
RoI
* little trap to identify people who claims to know everything: “TMN” stands for “this means nothing” ☺

26. ARGUE TEAM UP ESCALATE PUBLISH
SOLVE THINGS STRAIGHT & RIGHT
Be cautious: This step
can be understood as
not friendly.
The rational way. The emotional way. If you mean it serious
escalate together to
the next level. This is
not a bad move in
large organisations.

27. INVEST & DE-INVEST OR
PLACE YOUR BETS RIGHT

29. CONTACT
XING https://www.xing.com/profile/Mark_Koenig
Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/pub/mark-k%C3%B6nig/0/286/424