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Creating the Next iPodCreatingthe Next

iPod

I’m really sick of hearing about the iPodYou can’t have a discussion about design today without someone bringing up the iPodIt seems every company wants to create the iPod of whatever product categorythey’re in

Consumer electornicsERP softwareDental chairsIndustrial abrasives

So why are so few companies achieving it?

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Design Reflects Culture

They’re focusing on the wrong thing…the design of the product itself

There are a lot of good designers out there. The design process is well understood

Great design is culturally relevantIt mirrors peopleʼs passions and desiresGreat design does not follow a formulaCreating breakout products takes more than talented designers and goodmethodology; it takes the right culture

A product’s design reflects the culture in which it is formedMost corporate cultures arenʼt right for creating great products

Many companies would love to create “the iPod” of their product category, but arethey willing to do what it takes? They first need to create the right culture

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I Will Talk About…• Three conditions necessary for

culture change• What to expect during culture

change• Things that drive culture change

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My Experience

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Three Necessary Conditions

• A critical business need• A committed leader• A compelling vision

Let’s start out with the three conditions necessary to achieve culturechange

Unless these three conditions are present, you cannot change yourculture

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A Critical Business Need

The first condition is a critical business need

What is the relationship between design and business?

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Design is business• Design is the application of

creative expertise to solve aproblem

• Whose problem?• The one who has money

Design is the application of creativeexpertise to solve a problem.

Whose problem?

Design can be defined as the application of creative expertise to solvea problem

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But whose problem are you solving?The end user’s?

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Whoever has the money.

Whoever has the money

Could be a client, your manager, or the CEO of your company

There’s a name for design that’s not connected to a business problem,it’s called fine art

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Recognizing you have a problemis the first step towards recovery.

In order to solve the problem, the people with the money need torecognize that they have one

Let me give you three examples:Apple had a problem in the mid-90s

listening to criticism of being non-standardme-too product strategybloated product linefailed OS strategy

<Large internet portal> wanted to redefine the Web experienceCisco achieved success in business VoIP

Why did it take Microsoft 5 years to come out with Vista?Because they could get away with it

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A Committed Leader

The second condition necessary for culture change is a committedleader

You may recognize this leader from Chip’s talk…

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Satoru Iwata“If you are simplylistening to requestsfrom the customer,you can satisfy theirneeds, but you cannever surprise them.”

Satoru IwataCEO, Nintendo

Do you recognize this person?

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At 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo Nintendo revealed a tiny non-functional version of a device it saw as the future of gaming1/10 the power of the Playstation 3Nowhere near the online features of the Xbox 360It would be the last to market of the three game consolesPress was underwhelmed, the catcalls only grew louder when laterNintendo announced the device would be called the “Wii”

Iwata was concerned about the state of the gaming industryFocus on faster processors and better graphics would only appeal tofewer and fewer peopleIwata advocated simplicity at a time when games were getting morecomplex and that games should be healthy fun

Iwata didn’t listen to critics, in fact he didn’t even listen to his customers

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This is one of my favorite quotes…

Iwata went on to say:Existing customers--hard core gamers--could never have imagined theWiiThe hard-core gaming community is extremely vocal--they blog a lot--but ifNintendo kept listening to them,hard-core gamers would be the only audience it ever had. "[Wii] wasunimaginable for them," Iwata says."And because it was unimaginable, they could not say that they wanted it.

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Iwata stuck to his vision of game design and:

The Wii sold out immediately upon launch and 18 months later remainsin high demandIn 2007 it passed both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in unit salesNintendo makes $50 on every console, unlike Sony and Microsoft, whosubsidize their consoles through game licensingNintendo’s stock has soaredNintendo now has the second-highest capitalization in Japan, behindonly Toyota

Iwata solved Nintendo’s business problem in a big way by sticking withunconventional design ideas

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A Compelling Vision

Finally, the most important thing a leader can do to drive a culturechange is paint a compelling vision

I want to expand on what Chip said earlier about JFK…

This is the quote that everyone remembers:“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving thegoal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon andreturning him safely to the Earth”

If you look at the context of this quote it wasn’t about just landinga man on the Moon and returning him to Earth,It wasn’t about the science or technology, but about the futurefreedom of mankind

He didn’t use PowerPointHe didn’t refer people to a white paper or requirements document

He appealed to people’s aspirations and emotions by painting a vividpictureThe vision was clear and simple. The simpler the vision, the better

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Build a prototype.

A great way to connect people emotionally to a vision is through aprototypeA prototype tells a story that people can see and touch and experience

You are putting them in the story

A shared design vision that people are excited about will take on its ownmomentumand be a powerful unifying forceIt also focuses everyone in the same directionIt makes people more willing to go through the pain of change to get tothe end goal

When people have a clear idea of the end goal, itʼs a lot easier to geteveryone moving toward it. It shifts the conversation from “What is ourvision?” which can sometimes go in circles, to “How do we achieve it?”

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What to Expect

So a:Crritical business needCommitted leaderCompelling visionare the three conditions necessary

This is only the start of changing a cultureWhat can you expect going into a culture change

These are things to prepare for

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You can’texpect

differentresultsdoingthings

the sameold way.

One thing to expect is corporate inertiaThe power of inertia is incredible

You can’t expect to get different results by doing things the way you have inthe past

At frog we saw great ideas and projects get bogged down in a company’sexisting culture

Gordon McKenzie wrote a great book “Orbiting the Giant Hairball”…

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You can change:• People• Process• Products

It’s easier to manage the status quo than to enforce change

You can change people, process, and products; most likely you’ll needto do all three

Processes accumulate over the years and can bog down innovationThey will likely need to be dismantled or reorganized

With the commitment of a strong leader, change can start with a smallgroup of dedicated people and eventually spread to the entireorganization.

At Cisco we’ve changed all three:Gone from three designers to over 15We revamped our product development process to include user research,design, prototyping and usability testing very early on, and used theseactivities to drive feature requirements and developmentScrapped existing product plans and developed a new technicalarchitecture to achieve the user experience we want to provide ourcustomers

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Change takes time.

People are resistant to changeChange takes time, persistence, and patienceand reiteratint the same message over and over again

One of the most surprising things I learned when we were designing thefirst release of Mac OS X was how resistant to change people could beStory of Apple OS X designers and initial reactions to Mac OS X

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Driving Culture Change

What are some things you can do to drive culture change?

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Top management must show visibleand consistent support for change.

Senior leadership must consistently show their commitment to making thetransition, with every decision, action, and communication

People will look for the first hint of wavering or back pedalingWhich can be used as an excuse for dragging their feet

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Over communicate.

Communicate objectives, reasons for, and benefits of change everychance you getThis helps the cultural change gain momentum

At Cisco, just about every communication that goes out to ourorganization mentions user experience, and that has made its way intoeveryone’s conversations

Reward steps in the right directionSeek opportunities to point out that the old way of doing things is notacceptable

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Stand firm and make anexample of somebody.

At some point you’re going to have to kick somebody’s assThe sooner you do this the better

Story of secrecy at AppleStory of canceling a product at Cisco

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Be a rebel.

Designers find ways to make things better in the face of conformity

To instigate culture change you need to be a rebelAnd you need to recruit other rebels to your causeChange can start with a small group of dedicated people and eventuallyspread to the entire organization

But not everyone is going to get on board…

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Those that fall behind, get left behind.

Follow the Pirate’s Code

Some people will be unwilling or unable to make the shiftThey need to leave the organization. Soon.In this case, it’s best to follow the Pirate’s Code: Those who fall behind,get left behind

You have to set and enforce high standards and new behaviorsThose who canʼt adapt to the changes need to move on

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Show, don’t tell.

The power of a prototype

200 page requirements document vs. a prototypeMonths vs. minutesStory of Cisco prototype

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If you want to create agreat product, first create a

great culture.

Although everyone would like to create the next iPod, you won’t do it byjust designing a product

You need to first create a great culture.

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Thank You