1 Creating the Next iPod Creating the Next iPod I’m really sick of hearing about the iPod You can’t have a discussion about design today without someone bringing up the iPod It seems every company wants to create the iPod of whatever product category they’re in Consumer electornics ERP software Dental chairs Industrial abrasives So why are so few companies achieving it?
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Transcript
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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
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