Robin Duffy Reﬂection Assignment January 17, 2017

Challenge: Getting our technology organization moving to experiment with  design thinking   I work for a large Fortune 500 company, and in our technology organization, we  have been transforming our approach to developing software and systems that  support our business to be more agile and more product-oriented.  We have  worked to change our vocabulary to talk more about the business value of our  initiatives.  I was the architect of a business value model that helps us to  consider the needs of diﬀerent stakeholders and the diﬀerent kinds of value that  can be created for them.   But our eﬀorts to date have not been as clearly connected to customer needs as  we would like, and we need to develop a stronger discipline around  experimentation and speed to insight.  We have had some of the right ideas for  what is needed, but not enough customer-centric focus and insight to inform  and prioritize our eﬀorts and place our bets most eﬀectively on the technologies  that will make the biggest diﬀerence for our customers.   My challenge has been to engage the key technology leaders in our business to  understand and embrace the use of design thinking approaches and tools, and  to agree to practice them on key strategic initiatives in their business and  technology areas.   Selection:    What I discovered in this course, that was most helpful to me, are some ways to  articulate to these key business leaders why design thinking is important, which  kinds of business initiatives will most beneﬁt from using these tools, and an  introduction to tools for visualization.  Because we are just beginning, the part of  the course that beneﬁted me most was the information in Week 1, speciﬁcally  the “Introduction to Design Thinking”, the “Challenges Best Suited for Design  Thinking” and the “Visualization Tool” segments.   Application:   I took the key information from those segments and developed Power Point  slides to tell the story of why using design thinking will help us to be more  customer-centric, better focused on the most important items, and quicker to  learn through experimentation and adjustment.  In particular, I highlighted which  kinds of business initiatives we should lean into ﬁrst, where the tools would be  of most beneﬁt.  I demonstrated the use of several visualization tools on our own  eﬀort to improve customer centricity – personas, customer journeys, “jobs to be

Robin Duffy Reﬂection Assignment January 17, 2017

done”, a lean business canvas, as well as tools to pin down key shared  assumptions and potential economic value.   Insight:   The key insight that I gained, both from selling design thinking to these business  leaders, and from applying some of the visualization tools, is just how varied the  needs of various “customers” or stakeholders are, and how certain types of  business needs lend themselves mostly eﬀectively to design thinking – human- centered, “wicked problems” without easy solutions, little relevant historical  data, and lots of possible solutions to consider.  Working with these leaders, we  identiﬁed several pilot areas that met this proﬁle, where these tools can help  save time by pinning down exactly what we’re trying to solve, and then iterating  to ﬁnd the best route.   Approach:   I think the approach that we took to selling the design thinking approach and  use of the tools to our key technology leaders was eﬀective, and I wouldn’t have  changed much, except to perhaps approach those leaders sooner with the  same information.  One improvement that we could have made was presenting  an end to end example of a live business problem, using all the tools in  question.  We illustrated the use of several of the tools with a live business  example, but could have extended it a little further into a few more of the tools,  which we illustrated conceptually.


Robin Duffy Reﬂection Assignment January 17 , 2017 Challenge : Getting our technology organization moving to experiment with design thinking I work for a large Fortune 500 company , and in our technology organization , we have been transforming our approach to developing software and systems that support our business to be more agile and more product - oriented . We have worked to change our vocabulary to talk more about the business value of our initiatives . I was the architect of a business value model that helps us to consider the needs of diﬀerent stakeholders and the diﬀerent kinds of value that can be created for them . But our eﬀorts to date have not been as clearly connected to customer needs as we would like , and we need to develop a stronger discipline around experimentation and speed to insight . We have had some of the right ideas for what is needed , but not enough customer - centric focus and insight to inform and prioritize our eﬀorts and place our bets most eﬀectively on the technologies that will make the biggest diﬀerence for our customers . My challenge has been to engage the key technology leaders in our business to understand and embrace the use of design thinking approaches and tools , and to agree to practice them on key strategic initiatives in their business and technology areas . Selection : What I discovered in this course , that was most helpful to me , are some ways to articulate to these key business leaders why design thinking is important , which kinds of business initiatives will most beneﬁt from using these tools , and an introduction to tools for visualization . Because we are just beginning , the part of the course that beneﬁted me most was the information in Week 1 , speciﬁcally the “ Introduction to Design Thinking ” , the “ Challenges Best Suited for Design Thinking ” and the “ Visualization Tool ” segments . Application : I took the key information from those segments and developed Power Point slides to tell the story of why using design thinking will help us to be more customer - centric , better focused on the most important items , and quicker to learn through experimentation and adjustment . In particular , I highlighted which kinds of business initiatives we should lean into ﬁrst , where the tools would be of most beneﬁt . I demonstrated the use of several visualization tools on our own eﬀort to improve customer centricity – personas , customer journeys , “ jobs to be Robin Duffy Reﬂection Assignment January 17 , 2017 done ” , a lean business canvas , as well as tools to pin down key shared assumptions and potential economic value . Insight : The key insight that I gained , both from selling design thinking to these business leaders , and from applying some of the visualization tools , is just how varied the needs of various “ customers ” or stakeholders are , and how certain types of business needs lend themselves mostly eﬀectively to design thinking – human- centered , “ wicked problems ” without easy solutions , little relevant historical data , and lots of possible solutions to consider . Working with these leaders , we identiﬁed several pilot areas that met this proﬁle , where these tools can help save time by pinning down exactly what we ’re trying to solve , and then iterating to ﬁnd the best route . Approach : I think the approach that we took to selling the design thinking approach and use of the tools to our key technology leaders was eﬀective , and I would n’t have changed much , except to perhaps approach those leaders sooner with the same information . One improvement that we could have made was presenting an end to end example of a live business problem , using all the tools in question . We illustrated the use of several of the tools with a live business example , but could have extended it a little further into a few more of the tools , which we illustrated conceptually .