Here’s What You Should Learn
- Designers should be customer-centric first and last
- Continually look to reinvent how you approach design projects
- Have a Rapid Process Of Iteration – Observe, Reflect, and Make
- Get continual customer feedback
IBM has been an industry leader since the 1980’s. They have transformed their business model and customer approach in positive ways many times over the years and reading their Enterprise Design Thinking perspective has made me see why. It’s all about the user!
It’s all about the user!
Brands and brand perceptions are no longer controlled by large marketing teams in high-rise buildings. They are now driven by customers who decide which brands meet their needs where they are. Knowing, accepting, and utilizing this truth is what drives the IBM Design philosophy.
“Design thinking shouldn’t be controversial—it’s simply the idea that everyone on a team should be focused on their users, first and foremost.”
Research and collaboration seem to be the ongoing IBM Design themes that carry throughout their design workflows. Including customer feedback early and often are crucial. Questions like: “Who are we designing for?” and “When was the last time we rethought what we are making?” keep the design team constantly challenging complacency.
Constant iterations.
Observe, reflect, and make are the words IBM Design use to describe continually striving for better results and better user experiences (UX). Observe by putting yourself into the user’s space. Understanding their pain points and trying to reach solutions that they want and need. Reflect by bringing in others to confirm the observed data that a designer has gathered. This data can be viewed differently from one person to the next. Continually and rapidly prototype potential solutions and then iterate on them.
The last critical component of IBM Design is being able to scale this mentality across its organization.
“We built on that idea, adding strategies, tactics and activities to create a framework that uniquely scales design thinking across teams of all shapes and sizes, whether they are co-located or widely dispersed.”
This can be harder than it sounds but getting designers to drink that Kool-aid will be easier after they see the success this process brings. I know I’m sold.
Conclusion
Being customer-centric is key to developing effective design in any organization. Understanding where customers are and how you can benefit them should be the beginning and end of the design process. IBM Design has mastered this mantra. They should know, they’ve been doing for 111 years.
You can read more about IBM Design Thinking here.
