UADE Connect 6: Value Innovation
The Big Umbrella of Agile Methoologies:
Approaches to use Agile Methodology:
DO-TRY-IMPLEMENT Circle is the origin of almost everything when we talk about agile
methodologies.
The purpose of any Agile Methodology is to know:
How can we shorten whatever is needed dorpping out all the unecessary steps in order
to go as fast as we can to solve the solution our customers are demanding.
How to solve any complaint they are having in a fluid manner.
To simplify the idea of Agile Methodology as a process:
1. Plan
2. Design
3. Test
4. Launch
5. Review or Learn
6. Implement
SCRUM Methodology:
SCRUM is an agile framework used for managing and completing complex projects. It is
characterized by fixed-length iterations called sprints, usually lasting 2-4 weeks. A SCRUM
team includes roles such as the Product Owner, SCRUM Master, and Development Team.
Key ceremonies include sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives.
XP Methodology (Extreme Programming):
Extreme Programming (XP) is an agile software development methodology that emphasizes
customer satisfaction, continuous feedback, and adaptive planning. XP practices include
pair programming, test-driven development (TDD), frequent releases in short development
cycles, continuous integration, and a strong emphasis on code quality and collaboration.
KANBAN Methodology:
KANBAN is a visual workflow management method that aims to improve efficiency by
managing work in progress (WIP). It uses a Kanban board to visualize tasks and their
progress through columns representing different stages of the workflow. The focus is on
continuous delivery, reducing lead times, and optimizing the flow of work through the
system.
L M h d l
Lean Methodology:
Lean methodology focuses on maximizing value by minimizing waste and optimizing
processes. Originating from manufacturing (Toyota Production System), Lean principles are
applied to software development to improve efficiency and deliver value faster. Key
principles include value stream mapping, continuous improvement (Kaizen), eliminating
non-value-adding activities, and empowering team members.
What about Design Thinking?
Design thinking is a process for solving problems by prioritizing the consumer's needs above
all else.
It relies on observing, with empathy, how people interact with their environments, and
employs an iterative, hands-on approach to creating innovative solutions
They are not the same but their fundamental principles overlap as they both focus on
finding solutions for customers.
The Explainer: What Is Design Thinking? https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=_WI3B54m6SU
When companies set strategy they often stumble, which doesn´t tell them what future
customers really want or they make risky bets based on instinct instead of evidence.
Design Thinking is a strategy-making process that avoids these mistakes by applying tools
from the world of design and shifting the focus to human behaviour.
Popularized by David M. Kelley and Tim Brown of IDEO and Roger Martin of the Rotman
School, design thinking has three major stages:
Stage 1: Invent The Future - Find out and observe what customers really want.
From theories about what customers might wnat but don´t have by immersing yourself in
their life instead of polling them about specific products or services, observe and ask
questions about their behavior.
Stage 2: Test Your Idea - Use prototyping and experiment based on the market's respond,
then adjust it.
U P h d h d d d f k
Use irterative Prototyping with good enough products or services and conduct a few quick
experiments to se how consumers respond.
Adjust the product the pricing or the positioning accoridngly.
Stage 3: Bring the new porduct or service To Life - Identify the activities, capabilities, and
resources to mass produce it.
When you´ve got a winner, identify the activities, capabilities and resources your company
will need to actually produce, distribute and sell it.
By using imaginative human-centered problem solving, Design Thinking can help you
unlock new markets and indentify new strategies.
For example, when senior managers at Procter & Gamble wanted to turn around the skin
care brand Oil of Olay, they began by observing shoppers at both mass retail channels and
high-end department stores.
They realise that their industry have been primarily targeting women over 50 who were
worried about wrinkles. Ignoring those in their 30s and 40s who were concerned about other
issues.
This was a huge market to be captured so P&G experimented with new formulations that
would tackle multiple skincare goals; then tested different prototypes, price points and Store
displays.
Finally the company launched a series of new premium yet broadly distributed products
that were well received by a wide range of consumers.
By using imaginative human centred problem-solving, design thinking can help you unlock
markets and identify new strategies channels.
Questions?
1. WHAT TYPE OF MISTAKES IS DESIGN THINKING HELPING TO AVOID?
Design Thinking helps to avoid two main types of mistakes:
Misjudging Future Customer Needs: Traditional strategy-making can lead to errors in
understanding what future customers truly want, often due to assumptions and lack of
real insight into customer behavior.
Making Risky Bets Based on Instinct: Companies sometimes make strategic decisions
based on intuition rather than evidence, leading to potentially risky and uninformed
bets.
2. WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF THE PROBLEM?
The source of the problem lies in the traditional strategy-making processes which:
Lack Deep Customer Insight: Companies often rely on surface-level data or generic
market research rather than immersive observation and understanding of customers'
actual behaviors and needs.
Over-reliance on Instinct: Managers might rely on their instincts and past experiences
instead of gathering and analyzing concrete evidence, leading to strategic missteps.
3. WHY DO MANAGERS OPT TO SKIP EVIDENCE?
Managers might skip evidence for several reasons:
Time Pressure: The urgency to make quick decisions can lead to shortcuts, where thorough
research and evidence-gathering processes are bypassed.
Overconfidence: Managers may have a strong belief in their own experience and instincts,
leading them to trust their gut feelings over empirical data.
Resource Constraints: Conducting in-depth research and iterative testing can be resource-
intensive, and managers might feel they lack the necessary time, budget, or manpower.
4. IS GOING SIMPLE A PROPER SHORTCUT?
Going simple is not necessarily a proper shortcut in the context of strategic decision-making.
Simplifying processes and decisions without adequate evidence and understanding can lead to the
same mistakes that Design Thinking aims to avoid. Effective shortcuts should still incorporate:
Evidence-Based Insights: Even simplified processes should be grounded in real observations
and data about customer behavior.
Iterative Testing: Prototyping and experimenting, even on a smaller scale, are crucial to refine
ideas and avoid costly missteps.
1. What Are the Steps Listed in the Explainer?
The video lists three major stages of Design Thinking:
Stage 1: Invent The Future
Objective: Understand what customers really want.
Method: Observe and ask questions about customer behavior by immersing yourself in their
lives instead of just polling them about specific products or services.
Stage 2: Test Your Idea
Objective: Refine your idea based on market feedback.
Method: Use iterative prototyping and quick experiments to see how consumers respond.
Adjust the product, pricing, or positioning based on this feedback.
Stage 3: Bring the New Product or Service to Life
Objective: Successfully launch the product or service.
Method: Identify the activities, capabilities, and resources needed to mass produce, distribute,
and sell it.
2. What Is the Logic Behind Design Thinking?
The logic behind Design Thinking is to:
Focus on Human Behavior: Understand and empathize with customers' needs and behaviors.
Use Iterative Prototyping: Continuously test and refine ideas based on real feedback.
Reduce Risk: Make decisions based on evidence rather than intuition, leading to more
informed and less risky strategic choices.
3. How Can Managers Create the Proper Atmosphere for Design Thinking?
Managers can create the proper atmosphere by:
Encouraging Open Communication: Create an environment where team members feel
comfortable sharing insights and ideas.
Promoting Empathy: Emphasize the importance of understanding customer needs deeply.
Supporting Experimentation: Allow room for prototyping and testing without fear of failure.
Providing Resources: Ensure the necessary time, budget, and tools for thorough research and
iterative testing.
4. Do These Steps Work Only for Designing Products?
No, these steps are not limited to designing products. Design Thinking can also be applied to:
Service Design: Enhancing customer experiences in various service industries.
Business Strategies: Developing new business models or improving existing ones.
Process Improvement: Streamlining operations and workflows within organizations.
Social Innovation: Addressing complex social issues by focusing on human needs.
1. How Did Observation Help P&G?
Observation helped P&G by:
Identifying Untapped Market Segments: By observing shoppers, they realized they were
missing a significant market segment—women in their 30s and 40s who had different skincare
concerns than those over 50.
Understanding Customer Behavior: They gained insights into customer preferences and
behaviors by watching how shoppers interacted with products in both mass retail channels and
high-end department stores.
Developing Better Products: These insights led to the creation of new formulations that
addressed multiple skincare goals, tailored to the needs of a broader audience.
Improving Marketing Strategies: By testing different prototypes, price points, and store
displays, they could optimize their marketing approach to appeal to a wider range of
consumers.
2. What Is the Logic Behind Design Thinking?
The logic behind Design Thinking is to:
Focus on Human Behavior: Understand and empathize with customers' needs and behaviors
to uncover real problems and opportunities.
Use Iterative Prototyping: Continuously test and refine ideas based on real feedback, which
reduces the risk of failure and ensures the final product meets customer needs.
Make Evidence-Based Decisions: Base strategic decisions on concrete observations and data
rather than intuition, which leads to more informed and less risky choices.
3. How Can Management Replicate That Attitude?
Management can replicate the attitude of Design Thinking by:
Encouraging Empathy and Observation: Promote a culture where team members spend time
observing and understanding customers' lives and behaviors.
Supporting Experimentation: Create an environment where iterative prototyping and quick,
small-scale experiments are encouraged and valued.
Allocating Resources: Provide the necessary time, budget, and tools for thorough research and
iterative testing.
Fostering Open Communication: Encourage open communication and collaboration among
team members to share insights and ideas freely.
Emphasizing Learning from Failure: Treat failures as learning opportunities and encourage a
mindset of continuous improvement.
4. Do These Steps Work in the Entire Company?
Yes, the steps of Design Thinking can be applied across the entire company, not just in product
design. They can be used to:
Enhance Service Design: Improve customer experiences and service delivery.
Develop Business Strategies: Create and refine business models and strategies.
Improve Internal Processes: Streamline operations and workflows for better efficiency.
Drive Social Innovation: Address complex social issues by focusing on human needs and
behaviors.
1. Is Design Thinking Really Changing Companies?
Yes, Design Thinking is changing companies. It helps organizations understand their customers
better, innovate more effectively, and make more informed decisions.
2. In Which Way?
Customer-Centric Innovation: Companies develop products and services that better meet the real
needs and desires of customers.
Enhanced Problem Solving: Design Thinking encourages creative and effective problem-solving by
focusing on human needs and iterative testing.
Reduced Risk: By testing ideas through prototypes and gathering customer feedback, companies
can avoid costly mistakes and reduce the risk of failure.
Improved Collaboration: It fosters a culture of collaboration and open communication, breaking
down silos within organizations.
New Market Opportunities: It helps identify and capitalize on new market opportunities, as seen
in the example of P&G with their Oil of Olay brand.
3. How Is Management Affected?
Decision-Making: Management decisions are more evidence-based and customer-focused, reducing
reliance on intuition and guesswork.
Leadership Approach: Leaders adopt a more empathetic and supportive approach, encouraging
experimentation and learning from failures.
Strategic Planning: Strategic planning becomes more dynamic and adaptive, allowing companies
to pivot quickly based on customer feedback and market changes.
Resource Allocation: Resources are allocated more efficiently towards initiatives that have been
validated through iterative testing and prototyping.
4. Do These Steps Work in Every Company?
Versatile Application: Design Thinking principles can be applied in various industries and company
sizes. Whether in product design, service improvement, process optimization, or strategic planning,
the human-centered approach can yield positive results.
Cultural Fit: For Design Thinking to be effective, the company culture needs to support innovation,
experimentation, and open communication. Organizations resistant to change or with rigid
hierarchies may face challenges in implementing these principles.
Resource Availability: Successful implementation requires commitment from management and
adequate resources (time, budget, and personnel) to carry out thorough research and iterative
testing.
Organizational Change / Processes Change ⟶ through Innovation Management and Design
Management
Which are the Processes that needs to change in order to think in a more customer-
centric Ponit of View? TOP-DOWN ⟶ Change the way a company make products, test
them, ship them and refine them. As products get more complex over time customers
demand simplicty on the experience.
The Necessary Steps ⟶ The BluePrint of Design Thinking:
The Ws
The Case Study:
Video Summary:
MIT IDM P dd db b b h
MIT --> IDM Program integrated design, engineering and business by combining these
disciplines they create new to the world products that are desirable feasible and
sustainable.
To develop a successful new product requires a Team with the Technical, Management and
Design Skills to create a competitive and human-centered offering in the global market of
goods and services. The Team takes care of gaining a deeper understanding of people to
identify and create more solutions that are successful for people, companies and society.
The important thing is to develop new smart connected products, services and business
models. The starting point for innovation truly understanding people and create meaningful
value.
IDM-Altitude Design Process of the Walker:
1- Research Existing Products and see them from the User Point of View.
Design Thinking is a human-centered approach, it is important to truly connect with the
people you are trying to serve and understand them in an emotional level --> Empathy
2- Stakeholder Research Retail: to understand what it is like to be someone buying a
walker you need to experience how they are sold, what are the people buying walkers
looking for.
3- Research Review: through the analysis of the previous interviews, some patterns emerge
that uncover meaningful insights and inform opportunity spots.
4- Buyer Persona + Journey Map: by creating a Buyer Persona of the interviewed people,
the design team paint a picture of how the Walker fits into their lives and maps their
journey over the time.
5- Need Identification and Needs List: once there is clearly articulated the target user
and established the emotional and functional requirements, the Team has to identify the
opportunity and reframe it to give the shape to the new product or service.
6- Concept Generation by Group Brainstorming: brainstorming brings fresh energy an
new and creative perspectives or ideas. By grouping ideas into common themes patterns
emerge and concepts develop
7- Individual Concept Generation: Many of the processes is about collaboration and
working together but focused exploration and individual deep thinking are also key and
critical to the development of meaningful concepts of products and services.
8- Don´t fall in love with ideas. Physical sketch modeling – quick prototyping is a great
form of experimentation. Building to learn helps the Design Team to fail early and fail often
significantly advancing the quality of ideas.
9- Concept Review: join the team again work and share the concepts to build on ideas or
bring two ideas together to make them even better.
10- User Feedback: ideas are only successful if they work for the people who use them.
Showing the Prototypes to potential users helps the team to see solutions though their eyes
and know what´s working, what´s not and why. Learn from the users, incorporate their
feedback into the designs.
11- Resonance Testing: to know what did they think of the Team ideas and prototypes.
Getting feedback is critical to understand where the users see the real value. Test to Learn
and to Understand which ideas can be improved.
R T D b f d Id f h K A b h h U l d
12- Resonance Testing Debrief and Identify the Key Attributes that the User values and
wants in the offering.
13- Design Refinement: address the feasibility of the ideas.
14- Proof of Concept Models: Creating a proof of concept model identifies the technical
problems. By building, testing and learning iterative Cycles build confidence in the concepts.
15- Design Review: designs are assessed for desirability by testing with real Customers.
Feasibility is checked by engineers through analysis and prototyping.
16- Viability Review: Then viability looks at the value proposition from a business
perspective. Make estimations of the costs and estimations of the revenues from product
sales. Build the business model for each product offering and assess which ones may be
viable from a business standpoint. Review the choices and implications and then choose a
final direction.
17- Alpha Prototype: fabricate the potential final product.
18- Final Customer Review: put the product in the hands of the people you are designing it
for.
