Whether it be people and culture experience or customer experience the one thing that is fundamental to all these is in the title...experiences
However, to build great experiences we need more than just Experience Design which we will get into soon.
Two weeks ago I shared with you an introduction to my design flow, which is a remix of things I have personally tried and tested over time and where needed tweaked them.
To see the introduction head over here
However, it occurred to me that before we go through this end to end I have to address two major problems.
You see it’s important to understand that using design to fix business problems is more than just a flow, it’s a mindset, hence the term I use which is Design “As” Thinking and while over the next few weeks I will break down my flow in detail it truly is only one side of the coin… the other side is human curiosity and well you!
Callout 1 - Ego is the enemy, care about the people and they will care about the solution
It is super easy and in the past, I HAVE done this myself, I have rushed in thinking I know best and built a solution for a problem that didn't exist or mattered to anybody but myself.
The first huge tripwire to get over before we even begin is you… well, your ego.
You see if we don’t acknowledge our ego and realize when it is at work for our own gain, then how are we ever going to do something that fixes other people’s problems.
Repeat after me, I am not a unique snowflake, nor am I the fountain of knowledge…. If I don't care about the people at the start, they won’t care about the solution at the end.
Callout 2 - Design "As" Thinking
Design as a mindset is everything and whether you follow d.school, IDEO, design sprints, system thinking or insert any other terminology the main goal of creating experiences is for the human needs to be front and centre. The only way we do that is by applying design as a way of thinking, this means not being a purest to any one thing but allowing it to be antifragile and grow from shock and change. I have reworded some elements in my phases and remixed others with the hope that the focus doesn’t become an xyz framework but more on the business and peoples’ challenges.
Pick your Poison
What I would love for you to do is pick out a specific business problem (poison), maybe it’s Employee Experience (one near and dear to me) or maybe it’s a choke point in the customer experience, or maybe a challenge you as a learning function is facing.
Throughout the next few articles, as we go through the flow end to end together, I would love to hear where you get with applying this flow, what successes you have and trip-ups along the way… it could be a thought experiment or something you are going through at the moment in the business
In Summary
Design is a mindset first
Apply design "as" thinking not design thinking this will remove any blinkers
Your ego is the enemy, care about the people's problem and they will care about your solution
First posted: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/creating-experiences-before-we-begin-danny-seals/
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