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SURVIVAL STRATEGIES & TECHNIQUES FOR DESIGNERS IN LARGE ORGANISATIONS Mark König, UX Camp Berlin, June 2014
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Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

Nov 22, 2014

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Business

Mark Koenig

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.
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Transcript
Page 1: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

SURVIVAL STRATEGIES & TECHNIQUES FOR

DESIGNERS IN LARGE ORGANISATIONS

Mark König, UX Camp Berlin, June 2014

Page 2: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

2. UNDERSTAND

1. (WATCH � you did)

STRATEGIES

TECHNIQUES

3. LEARN & APPLY

Page 3: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

UNDERSTAND

Page 4: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

Commons?

IN COMMON?

Page 5: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

ANNUAL

REPORT

(BALANCE

SHEET)

PROFIT &

LOSS

STATEMENT

Page 6: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

MANAGERS THINK IN TIME SLICES

Page 7: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

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 minutes1 ct / minute 10 million €X =

Masses

approach

Page 8: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

MANAGER‘S INTERPRETATION

OF PLAIN DESIGN THINKING

TARGET

GROUPNEEDS CONCEPT …

Shareholder Value max.Stock course &

dividend

Boss /Mgr Bonus max.Max. individual

targets

Page 9: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

„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

Page 10: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

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

Principlefix / given manage MAX!

Minimum

Principle MIN! manage fix / given

Conclusions

Page 11: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

STRATEGIES

Page 12: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

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*?

Page 13: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

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

Page 14: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

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.

Page 15: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

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.

Page 16: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

BETTER CREATE A NETWORK

Identify relevant stakeholders & needs

Establish personal & valuable relation

Do little pleasures BUT don‘t do everything

Page 17: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

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

Page 18: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

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

Page 19: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

TECHNIQUES

Page 20: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

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

Page 21: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

AGREE EARLY WHO DECIDES WHAT

Page 22: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

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?

Page 23: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

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

Page 24: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

CRY ON CUTS

Page 25: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

LEARN & SPEAK THE LANGUAGE

CAPEX

OPEX

GM1

TMN*

SAC

ARPUEBITDA

WACC

RoI

* little trap to identify people who claims to know everything: “TMN” stands for “this means nothing” ☺

Page 26: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

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.

Page 27: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

INVEST & DE-INVEST OR

PLACE YOUR BETS RIGHT

Page 28: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations
Page 29: Survival strategies & techniques for designers in large organisations

CONTACT

XING https://www.xing.com/profile/Mark_Koenig

Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/pub/mark-k%C3%B6nig/0/286/424