Process Innovation
I'm always looking for ways to improve. This applies as much to achieving design excellence as to optimizing the design process. Here are some examples of process innovations that I've achieved for design teams I have led.
The result of these improvements is better outcomes through better project collaboration and higher designer retention, motivation, engagement, productivity, and design excellence.
Visual storytelling
Problem
Context of use matters - a lot - but often is not taking into account, resulting in experiences that aren't optimized for those contexts of use.
Solution
Visual step-by-step walkthroughs of current and future experiences allows designers to take context into account and create optimized experiences.
Design Spikes
Problem
Adoption of the agile design & development process has a detrimental effect on the delivered design quality as it easily stifles creativity.
Solution
Introduced Design Spikes to explore a specific design problem. Spikes gives the designer more freedom to come up with solutions that more fundamentally solve the problem.
Continuous Research
Problem
Finding customers when they are needed is time-consuming. This jeopardized the quality and alignment of the designs to the user's needs.
Solution
Created a continuous research process tied to design efforts by signing up customers in advance for regular engagements, making it easier to do more research, ensuring high quality design.
Design Briefs with assumptions
Problem
Requirements are often provided by product managers in the form of user stories, but generally they are not enough to really understand the underlying user's needs.
Solution
Start any new design or feature with a design brief. This allows the designers to make the problem their own. Include all assumptions made in that brief and discuss them with the stakeholders to ensure buy-in and alignment.
Figma Lo-Fi components
Problem
Figma makes it too easy for designers to create high fidelity mockups from component libraries, suggesting the design is further along than it actually is.
Solution
Created a low fidelity Figma wireframe library to explore & share designs in line with exploratory design phases.
Minion Method
Problem
Design quality lacks when designers don't deeply and widely empathize with their users throughout their workflow. Common design methods like personas, empathy maps and Jobs-To-Be-Done do not achieve this empathy.
Solution
Created a method that drive empathy throughout the workflow, using the concept of minions. The Minion Method considers all stakeholders, achieves higher quality design work and provides a roadmap to future improvements.
DeciDays
Problem
Too many meetings, too little time to get into the flow of design, resulting in too many reviews and poor design quality.
Solution
Every other Friday (10% = deci) is set aside for professional development - and is designated a meeting free day - and communicated as such to the rest of the organization. Everyone can choose for themselves how to use that time.
Strategic side project
Problem
Feature backlogs are infinite, therefore making it hard to spend enough time on strategic initiatives.
Solution
Created a design process where multiple designers (usually 4-5) each spend 20% of their time on directed strategic envisioning. This creates a great opportunity for the design discipline to showcase their ability to drive strategy.
