Appunti - Management of Design and Innovation Projects

Management of Design and Innovation Projects (A.Y. 2020/2021)

Management of Design and Innovation Projects

NOTES AND SUMMARY

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Prof. Claudio Dell’Era and Stefano Magistretti

MSc in Management Engineering

Politecnico di Milano (A.Y. 2020/2021)

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All the material included in this paper is related to the notes taken during the

lectures of the course (no copyrights have been infringed)

also for the “Design Thinking for Business”

These notes can be used course

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Management of Design and Innovation Projects (A.Y. 2020/2021)

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Lecture 01 Design Thinking as Creative Problem Solving

Creative Problem Solving and Sprint Execution are the 2 methodologies that will be adopted during this

course. We start saying that the context is crucial to analyze user needs and to start building empathy:

have to put themselves in people’s shoes when they are

designers, managers and, more broadly, innovators

gifting them with an innovation (see the video “Liter of Light”, presented during this lecture).

We need to immerse ourselves in the (digital) experience and this is all about mindset and attitude, not just

about tools: we have to train ourselves!

Two fundamental concepts are frame and reframe:

• →

Frame It means to organize complexity (i.e., what is there) and knowledge in something we can

When we’re able to absorb and give a meaning to information we are

digest. framing.

o It answers to the question: what is happening there? Different competitors can frame in the

same way.

• →

Reframe When we give a new understanding to the information in order to create new knowledge

(i.e., when we frame multiple times).

o When we really put ourselves into the problems: same information, same challenge, but

framed in a different way; a new way of looking at problems, from a new perspective.

Frame and reframe are not the same thing, but they both start from a deeply understanding of the problem,

then the solution will come, based on creativity and originality. Framing problems in a different way allows

us to reach and find different solutions, moving from naïve solutions to creative solutions.

We need to say that Design Thinking can be considered an innovation approach with a strong focus on

understanding problems, but what is a problem? A problem is not something we can find: we can only find

the symptoms and people’s interpretations. Problems are linked to Creative Problem Solving that states

It’s crucial to look at problems with

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that the ability to interpret the problem is linked to how you will solve it

different lenses!

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Lecture 02 Empathize and Define

While in the Design Strategy course the focus was on Innovation of Meaning, this course will focus, as we

already mentioned, on Creative Problem Solving and Sprint Execution.

Creative Problem Solving

This approach was mainly conceived by Tim Brown at IDEO and moves from inspiration (outside in

practice) and ideation (opportunity for design) to implementation (innovative solution). Roger Martin

transformed this concept into theory: this approach mixes analytical thinking (studying the reality and find

potential relationships we are investigating) and intuitive thinking (that comes from the gut, not following

processes or strict methods). In Creative Problem Solving we continuously move from concrete experience

that deals with analysis to abstract conceptualization that deals with intuition and also includes reflective

observation and active experimentation.

Coming back to the concept of Design Thinking, we can stress the fact that it aims at creating not only

it’s crucial to interpret the

original solutions, but also at fostering creativity: signals coming from the

market and frame them in a new way… The solution that will come maybe is already out there and create

something completely new can be a mistake! Signals can be weak or strong:

• Small indicators of something that might emerge as a potential greater change: it’s

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Weak signals

not easy to imagine the consequences of their expansion.

• Trends easy to be identified and be aware of: we’re able to consider their

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Strong signals

consequences and be prepared for them as we approach the future

In this scenario, we consider two pillars:

• and in the user’s shoes.

Be human centered: immerse yourself in the context Be empathetic: look

at the reality from user’s eyes, changing your own perspective. Be prepared about the topics you will

face during the interviews: users should feel confident!

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Management of Design and Innovation Projects (A.Y. 2020/2021)

• Reframe (applying a search and recombination logic) the problems (cognitive representations of

Don’t take for granted what is already

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signals that you can retrieve) in a personal/team-based way

out there, but reframe it!

This course will use the framework of the Standford Design School, in which the first two blocks relate to

the problem space, while the others relate to the solution space. It has to be mentioned that all the models

that’s why usually some phases in the models are down,

rely on divergent and convergent thinking, while

others are up.

Let’s now have an overview of the different stages:

Frame what the market is conveying to you, adopting users’ perspective.

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1. Empathize In this stage

we adopt an analytical attitude, finding signals.

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2. Define We now forget the outside perspective and we use our own perspective, putting our talent

looking at something other people have already seen. In this stage we adopt intuitive thinking,

reframing the reality.

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3. Ideate From reframe to embryonic solutions, we now use creativity to generate stuff.

It’s the embodiment of the best ideas of the “ideation” phase:

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4. Prototype here, we make

hypothesis, test, learn and prototype ideas. This phase is related to something we’re not sure about

(prototypes are tools to learn!).

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5. Test We test prototypes and our assumptions.

Empathize we’re looking for during interviews and understand

In this phase we should be able to find out the signals

of users’ reactions (both positive and negative).

the reason why Be curious and go deeper in understanding

Also, it’s important to build up users’ stories and engage people, trying always to adopt a

during this phase!

kid’s attitude. Empathize is divided in different stages that we are now going to analyze one by one:

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(1) Exploring In this sub-phase we broad the context, looking at competitors: what are the differences?

What are the similarities?

We interpret the signals coming from the environment: which of them will become knowledge to frame

Find these signals and interpret them from the user’s perspective:

problems? why are they communicating in

this way? Why things are exposed in this way? Why are they partnering with these firms?

An example is provided by Nespresso: this brand uses details to create a story that people will live when

they are in the shop, dealing with luxury and premium items. The company is closer to a jewelry shop rather

than a grocery (look for example at how products are displayed both in the digital and in the physical

environment). It’s like a in which they’re selling not only the capsules, but also screens that

home experience

you can use in your home. It’s like a boutique: it deals with exclusive distribution and selective channels.

The small signals refer to the way in which products are displayed and to the different processes in relation

in which there’s a sort of ritual of

to other coffee shops: Nespresso is closer to a wine bar a boutique. In the

Nespresso boutiques people are “forced” to taste the coffee before buying it: coffee becomes no more a

commodity product and people feel like “coffee experts” (the names of the coffee make people feeling like

experts, like it happens with the wine). In this specific case, the reason why is not completed connected to

the good that people buy, but it goes beyond coffee… Nespresso brings people from small signals to stories

that the retail brand wants the user to live, making them understand that particular kind of experience.

know what they’re eating (the

Another example is Eataly: the first thing they sell are books, so that people

origins, how to cook…) and they also organize courses. This brand is all based on discovering food culture.

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Both Nespresso and Eataly based their experiences on clues They are particular surprising facts: what

kinds of stories do they want to communicate? The final goal should be to build up small signals to deliver a

story/experience.

Another example is Starbucks, in particular, the one placed in Milan. This is a monumental store that aims

at showing that, in the country of coffee, the American company can sell its coffee, too. But the store is not

just about selling coffee: also, people can see the process of coffee-making and the employees call people

by name when they give them the coffee (like it happens with Italian baristas). Thus, the strategy was to

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Management of Design and Innovation Projects (A.Y. 2020/2021)

adapt to the Italian culture and display the whole process. Starbucks store in Milan is becoming the brand

in the world: the company was able to enter the Italian market, in the country of coffee…

icon And they are

perfectly legitimized to be there!

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(2) Knowing This sub-phase deals with the explicit needs: people are able to tell these needs to you, but

these can be very superficial. Tools that can be used in this scenario are interviews (what people say) and

focus groups. →

(3) Immersing This sub-phase deals with the observable needs: people are not aware of them, but you

can observe users and their reaction. Tools that can be used in this scenario are ethnography (i.e.,

observing people and analyzing their needs in the context of use) and Netnography (basically, an

ethnography done online in blogs, social media, apps, mobile applications… analyzing users in the digital

environment where they don’t know they are observed, for example following influencers and looking at how

people react to their posts).

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(4) Discovering This last sub-phase deals with tacit and latent needs, in which innovators give users

opportunities to design and create what they need or see what people have already built. Tools related to

this practice refer to co-creation platforms, user toolkits and lead user analysis.

Let’s have now a focus on →

interviews They are a qualitative methodology to gather data from the users

(we always should start from qualitative tools to gather data). You start defining a various sample of users

(i.e., different categories of users) and be aware that every person might have its own story to tell, but

don’t have to waste time in things

remember that you you are not interested in (keep the focus on the topic)!

Which are the different categories of users that we can interview?

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Representative users They represent the average users (try to avoid this kind of users, they are

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not so suitable for innovation) Ex. core drivers.

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New potential users These people will become users of your brand Ex. not wealthy users.

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Precursory users They are able to anticipate what will come Ex. teenagers.

• They are users that don’t buy and use things from your brand –

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Non-users Ex. non-drivers.

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Fringe users They show strange behaviors in relation to a particular brand and adopt alternative

they don’t fit with the mainstream culture, but are

ways to live their relationship with it:

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unconventional and at the edge Ex. unconventional users.

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Advanced expert users Lead users: if interviewed and analyzed properly, they can suggest what

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the company should do Ex. modifiers.

Here’s some tips for good interviews:

• Be clear about the objectives before the interview starts.

• Remember that it’s a story to share, not just an interview to fill.

• Be welcoming at the beginning with easy questions to make the person feel confident and

appropriate for the interview.

• There’re no wrong answers: it’s just people’s view about the reality.

• Look for peaks, not for the average experience.

• “why”

Asking is the first thing you can do to move deeper in what people feel for a specific need and

why they behave in a certain way.

Once interviews are concluded you can move to more quantitative methodologies like surveys and

questionnaires.

Define we classify users’ needs, trying to recognize

In this phase clusters, and so similarities, in contents and

needs, which are classified in needs areas.

“how might we” questions

Define is based on that help to move from the problem to the solution space,

giving enough space to generate new solutions. Here’s some tips for better HMW questions:

• HMW questions don’t have to be too broad.

• They should come from your insights.

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Management of Design and Innovation Projects (A.Y. 2020/2021)

• Try to enlarge their scope to arrive at more solutions (generate more than one HMW at the beginning

of the process).

A crucial tool that can be used here is the Kano model, applied by designers and managers to shape

people’s experiences. According to this model, we have:

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Baseline expectations Things in an experience that must be there and are taken for granted by

the users.

• customers’ enjoyment

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Linear satisfiers Performance attributes that increase (they are known

attributes).

• Something that can surprise the users (customers don’t even know they want them).

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Delighters It’s the map of the user experience in

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To track user experience, one can use the Customer journey map

relation with the brand over time and it identifies relevant touchpoints, pleasure and pain points.

In Define, framing takes the floor: this means, as we previously mentioned, focusing on certain information,

what’s out of that frame. It’s crucial to select relevant information and start thinking about possible

forgetting

relations inside the frame, cutting out non-relevant information. what’s the core

Since the key is to start from the problem, we need to start from the problem statement:

problem of the brand you are consulting? What are the symptoms? What is the most relevant problem you

have identified? With the problem statement we try to answer these questions, putting in just one sentence

the target person, the need, the motivation and the friction. Please note that the problem statement is

referred to a persona, not to a specific interview!

In this phase, innovators introduce their viewpoint and talent in framing and interpreting the problem they

want to address. It includes 3 main activities:

• Classifying

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Framing Be concise and selective in choosing the information to define the problem in a

meaningful way. In this activity, we try to interpret what we see and give a reason why to the context.

• It’s a search and recombination process:

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Reframing innovators should look for signals that then

should be recombined in an original way in order to creatively frame the problem they want to

address. Remember: it’s an interpretation, not just an analysis! Reframing allows to think original and

creatively frame the problem you are addressing. Creative logics support reframing (see lecture

03).

Note that the Define phase is not only a matter of analytical thinking, but also a process of sense-making

and interpretation of what we see.

Let’s now spend some time to stress the difference between needs and insights:

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Needs They are facts and evidences from reality: thus, we can retrieve them from the reality

itself. People are able to show needs through their behaviors.

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Insights They are the reason why a need is emerging and is becoming an evidence. They are the

reason that led to a specific need, what’s behind it. Basically, it’s the interpretation of all the stuff that

you can collect during the empathize phase. They help the innovators to move from the problem to

the solution space.

TALK: Alessandro Confalonieri (Head of Service design at Doing)

We report here some key messages from his speech:

• It’s a Service Design driven company.

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At Doing they design for the people

• They design experiences, not just interfaces.

• At Doing they care about People, Experience and Process.

• Surveys can be better to cluster different types of people.

• They always start from the users to gain insights that then they transform when it comes to the

ideation and prototyping phases.

• Design is not just a matter of workshops.

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Management of Design and Innovation Projects (A.Y. 2020/2021)

• Always try to exchange information with managers and engage them in the innovation process (if

needed, explain why the design driven process can be relevant for a company).

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Lecture 03 Design Thinking and Digital Transformation

As we already mentioned, creative logics support reframing and several kinds of reasoning exist to reframe

needs. We are going to analyze abductive (1), associative (2) and speculative (3) thinking: they

represent alternative ways of thinking for an original interpretation of phenomena that