Going Lean - Let's talk tangibles

Going LeanLet’s talk tangibles

@saracowles

They had a vision

They had surveys and focus groups

They were prepared

They knew their stuff

agile

devopsuser-centered

designcontent strategy

test-driven development

The stars were aligned

On time and under budget

Build it and… they will come?

Familiar?

It’s broken

Customer reaction to hotdog wrapped in bacon and topped

with macaroni & cheese and popcorn

How is it broken?

1. Customers are notoriously bad at predicting what they will want

How is it broken?

1. Customers are notoriously bad at predicting what they will want

2. Our vision is a guess

How is it broken?

1. Customers are notoriously bad at predicting what they will want

2. Our vision is a guess

3. So much waste

How is it broken?

1. Customers are notoriously bad at predicting what they will want

2. Our vision is a guess

3. So much waste

4. We’re not focused on what matters

https://hbr.org/2014/09/the-industries-plagued-by-the-most-uncertainty/

Lean { Startup || Enterprise || Other }

–Voltaire

“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd”

So much waste opportunity

1. Identify assumptions & falsifiable success criteria

2. Design/build simplest experiment necessary to test

3. Get out of the building

Customers are notoriously bad at predicting what they will want very good at telling us what they don’t

want when they experience it.

–Douglas Hubbard

“If you have a lot of uncertainty now, you don’t need much data to reduce uncertainty

significantly.”

4. Learn, share, adjust

http://www.amazon.com/Running-Lean-Iterate-Works-Series/dp/1449305172

Innovation shouldn’t be relegated to a lab

Good stuff. Get back to me when this will work for my organization.

Challenges

1. We’re too big and fragmented

2. This won’t work for our existing processes/culture

3. We’re not empowered

4. We have technical debt

5. We’re too small

Challenge: We’re too big &

fragmented

“If you can’t feed a team with two pizzas, it’s too

large.”

- Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon

http://blog.idonethis.com/two-pizza-team/

Share liberally

Challenge: This won’t work in our

existing process/culture

Case Study: Intuit’s transformation to a

design-led org

Challenge: We’re not empowered

Challenge: We have technical/

process debt

Challenge: We’re too small

-Don’t Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug

“Testing one user is 100 percent better than testing none.”

We fell on our face

sometimesBut it was worth it

“Practice trumps theory”

–Ash Maurya, Author of “Running Lean”

Thank you!@saracowles

Director of UX & Engineering Dell Cloud Manager

Resources (p1) • The Lean Startup - Eric Ries: http://www.amazon.com/The-Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-

Continuous/dp/0307887898

• Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience - Jeff Gothelf: http://www.amazon.com/Lean-UX-Applying-Principles-Experience/dp/1449311652 and http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/03/07/lean-ux-getting-out-of-the-deliverables-business/

• Lean Enterprise: How High Performance Organizations Innovate at Scale - Jez Humble, Joanne Molesky & Barry O’Rielly: http://www.amazon.com/Lean-Enterprise-Performance-Organizations-Innovate/dp/1449368425

• Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works - Ash Maurya: http://www.amazon.com/Running-Lean-Iterate-Works-Series/dp/1449305172

• Google Venture Design Sprints: http://www.gv.com/sprint/

• Keynotopia for rapid prototyping: http://keynotopia.com/guides/

• Design Studio Workshops: http://www.uie.com/articles/design_studio_workshop/

• Remote design studios (I believe we’ve improved on this at Dell Cloud Manager): http://www.jeffgothelf.com/blog/remote-collaborative-brainstorming-and-sketching-part-i/#sthash.k9tmuI3d.N0pUGPam.dpbs

Resources (p2) • Harvard Business Review: The Innovation Catalysts: https://hbr.org/2011/06/the-

innovation-catalysts

• Two books: “Business Model Generation,” which is focused on the bigger picture and how to create value for your business, and “Value Proposition Design” that is focused on how to create value for your customer: http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/

• Alternatively: http://practicetrumpstheory.com/why-lean-canvas/

• How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business - Douglas W. Hubbard: http://www.amazon.com/How-Measure-Anything-Intangibles-Business/dp/1452654204

• Don’t Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug: http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758

• The science of two pizza teams: http://blog.idonethis.com/two-pizza-team/

• http://www.fastcodesign.com/3026287/study-good-design-really-is-good-for-business#5