What does it really mean to design with humans in mind? And how can you make human-centered design part of an organization’s problem-solving DNA? Listen in as our experts discuss the value of human-first, integrated approach to customer experience and how the profession of design can have impact on business outcomes. Featured experts: Sarah B. Nelson, Chief Design Officer, Kyndryl Vital, Kyndryl Tom Rourke, Global Leader, Kyndryl Vital, Kyndryl
Companies can get caught in a loop of fast fixes and just-in-time problem-solving. The approach can help keep the lights on, but when leaders need to solve their most complex business challenges, it falls short.
Advocates for a human-centered design espouse an intentional and structured approach to problem-solving that puts people squarely at the center of decision-making. McKinsey has found that companies investing in experience design have been shown to increase their revenue and shareholder returns at twice the rate of competitors — and board rooms are listening. Designers' unique approach gets to the heart of the problem and brings people together to realize imaginative and practical solutions.
But what does it really mean to design with humans in mind? And how can you make human-centered design part of an organization’s problem-solving DNA?
Listen in as our experts discuss the value of human-first, integrated approach to customer experience and how the profession of design can have impact on business outcomes.
Nel Akoth 00:02
Hello and welcome to season two, episode one of the Progress Report. I'm Nel Akoth, Kyndryl's Chief Transformation Officer. On today's episode, we will be discussing why implementing a design approach beats a whack-a-mole solutioning, every time. When I think of design, the picture that paints in my mind is one that is organized, that is attractive. We all experience design, whether it's in the fashion that you wear, the phone that you're holding, the car you drive, the house, you name it. All of these have one thing in common, and that is it was thoughtfully crafted. Someone has thoughtfully put it together. Simple definition for design is the process of envisioning and planning creation. Now, research has found that companies investing in experience design have been shown to increase their revenue and shareholder returns at twice the rate of competitors. And of importance to note, boards are listening. So joining me today to discuss what design means for Kyndryl and our customers are two great leaders in this space. Sarah B. Nelson, Chief Design Officer and Distinguished Designer, and Tom Rourke, Global Leader, Kyndryl Vital. Sarah and Tom, thank you for joining me as we explore this topic where designers bring a unique approach and curiosity uncovering the core of problems, and then bringing people together to create innovative and practical solutions. Let me start with you, Sarah. Design comes in several variations. And when we talk design, what does that mean to you? How would you break it down for our listeners?
Sarah B. Nelson 01:58
In your introduction, one of the points you made was it's about creating something intentionally. And that's how I think about design is that our primary goal is to create something relevant and elegant with purpose that solves a real problem. There are many different kinds of design and one of the reasons for that is that it's a human, fundamental activity to design. Humans design, we do that by nature. We're making things to solve problems. In the profession of design, we bring a lot of rigor and craft to that same impulse. So you can see this in things like you mentioned, there may be, in terms of interior design, or architecture, or industrial design, the design of objects and phones, folks may be familiar with user experience that something in the world of design has become much more recognized amongst people outside of design. So I can say that one of the things that has fundamentally changed for me is that if I'm on an airplane, and someone asked me what I do, and I say design, they actually start with user experience. Whereas it used to be, "Oh, fashion design? Are you a fashion designer?" It's interesting to see the growth of the impact and the awareness of design, not just in the design community, but actually in the world at large.
Nel Akoth 03:22
And, Tom, I want to ask you the same question, but I'm going to ask you to kind of tackle it from the angle of how a design approach expands what is possible.
Tom Rourke 03:31
So I guess the first thing I gotta say is that I'm not personally a designer, but I am a really strong design advocate. And the reason for that has been the exposure that I've had to people like Sarah who had helped me, in my first kind of real engagement with design, change things that I was already doing. Who helped me see things that I was already working on or ways that I was working in a completely different way. And if I can share a little anecdote, my first exposure to design and the profession of design and design thinking was when I went to a really engaging event in New York a number of years ago where I was educated on some of the fundamentals of design, design thinking, and so on. I came back from that experience absolutely energized and I was describing it with my team when I came back to Dublin. I was talking to my boss at the time who set me a goal within a matter of days that in the coming year, I would redesign all of the things that we've been working on in the office informed by design thinking. And I said no. And he kind of reacted to me going, "Why is that?" And I said, "Because that's what I spent the weekend doing. It's not a goal for next year. I've done it now." So for me, the value of design is about a mindset, which is then brought into being through a set of skills, right. So I see I see design first and foremost as a mindset as a way of sort of seeing the world of like understanding the world. And then bringing various kinds of forms of design into translating that in understanding into real things, right, so into the creation of real things. So the beginning of all of that is that mindset to be curious about the ultimate need we're addressing. To have some facility in identifying the right problem or right outcome to focus on, and then focusing on that in new and creative ways.
Nel Akoth 05:25
With that very thought process and that thread, Sarah, I want to bring it back to you and ask why is it so important to bring the right expertise and perspective to a challenge?
Sarah B. Nelson 05:37
I think one thing I want to do before I address that is I want to talk about some of the value of design to business, because I think that will inform on what kind of expertise you bring. So Tom talked about design and design thinking, and both of those are an orientation to the way you see the world. So it's about defining the right problem to solve. It's about being rigorous about the way that you develop your rationale for the kinds of ideas that come out. So there's a creative process that's built on top of the tools and mindset that designers have. In the profession of design, that's sort of a fundamental piece of it. But we take that to, let's just say "the next level", where we have this sort of deep, deep expertise in being able to really hone in on what the right business problem to solve is. And from that, we pull in information from what people really need, what business context, how technology works, and integrate that all into into solutions. The reason that's important is that when you arrive at something that is relevant to people, good for the business, and is technically organizationally feasible, you find a bunch of results that are really important. So one is that there's an increase in loyalty and engagement of customers. It also can open new markets, because if you really dig at what the problem to solve is, your goal is actually to come up with something that is really useful to people. In terms of bringing the expertise, there's a couple of different things. So when you're building a digital experience, you need to have design strategists. These are people who can integrate what people need with the business and the technology. They're great conveners of the right diversity of minds that need to be in the room to solve the problems.
Nel Akoth 07:29
You know, you touched on something that I could very easily relate to in the fact that design is slow, or it can be seen to be slow. And I can tell you, when I first experienced it, I felt, "My goodness, this is going to be a really long day". Because as it starts, it doesn't pique your interest immediately. But eventually, when you really are in it, you use the word engagement, yes, you start to drive a lot of passion and engagement around it. And Tom, you mentioned something that I'd like to go back into and that was curiosity. I want to couple that with storytelling. Now can you share with our listeners again, just really stretching a little bit on that curiosity, in what ways does curiosity, and even storytelling, play a role in design and moreso helping our teams understand what are the true challenges? And then from there, you know, trying to align it to an approach of that desired future state that we're trying to get to?
Tom Rourke 08:27
There's a phrase that I use, "curiosity professionalized", and the reason I use that phrasing is because there's a kind of a mixture of untapping people's curiosity, or unlocking people's curiosity if you'd like, but also then giving them some particular skills, approaches, methods, and depth to be able to take that to a sort of useful conclusion. You know, we've been having conversations around how do you help a customer with the things that we bring in our commercial lives, right? And actually, the really first step is to get people to be broadly curious about their customers world because that sort of helps you open up possibilities. Now, I'll come to the storytelling in a second, but actually, there's an example that I use around curiosity, and also understanding what's the right problem to solve. At a certain moment in my career, I was on a project in India, which was one of those projects where we kind of do some pro bono work and we were working in an Indian city with a team of people who were broadly consultants and IT experts. One of the problems was this idea of what they described as citizen complaints. So they were looking for something that would help them and make sure that they were responding to citizens on the complaints that they had raised, and communicating with them about the solution so, "We've heard your issue and we're communicating on your solution". So a bunch of IT people and consultants immediately jumped into developing solutions around, "How could we reduce the number of complaints? How we could we automate the solution to those complaints?" And I could see one of the public servants in the room, very politely not alarmed, but very politely not be comfortable with where the conversation was going. So we went for a stroll and what emerged out of that conversation was that actually, they were not at all interested in reducing the number of complaints because their city was a very, very, very popular city with very different communities from various ethnic backgrounds that had been through various periods of inter-ethnic conflict. And for them, citizens engaging with the city under complaints, was a way of making sure that the citizens engaged with the city and didn't drift away into these ghettoized kind of groups within the realm, whether it was religious or ethnic communities. And we could easily have pursued a path of solving the wrong problem. Now, you asked also about storytelling and again, you know, after a long career in IT, one of the things that I absolutely have confidence in is that the colleagues that I work with, when it comes to the technical things they do, that there's nobody better than in the world. These are amazing people who are rightly proud of the phenomenal technical achievements that they've had. But they often struggle to communicate their value in a way that actually engages with the customer or their need, right? Like, there is a reason why so many of our cultures are built on myths, stories, and things that get passed on from generation, because they actually allow us to kind of communicate a shared understanding and connect with people. A lot of what we do, you know, when you get to a certain point in the process, is being able to put it together as a story that is emotionally engaging for people and people can connect to, and then that helps them move forward.
Nel Akoth 11:52
I want to shift a little bit and, Sarah, I want to go back to your point, because you talked a little bit about the human in mind. What value have our customers found when they engage in a human-centered design approach to overcome whatever business challenge they're tackling? Share some examples where you know companies that have applied it, and what kind of impact they had in the end from it.
Sarah B. Nelson 12:19
One of the things I think can be really helpful to wrap your head around what we mean by solving the right problem with a human centered approach. So you imagine, let's just take a drill, right? We have drills in our houses, construction folks use drills, drills are all around us. So as a company producing a drill, you can do a number of things. You can make different kinds of drills. You can make different powers of drills. You can make drills for different sized hands. You can make drills that have magnetic bits, and you can have them with bits that screw in. But if you think about the usage of a drill, and you think about the person who is actually holding the drill, right? What is it that they actually want? Do they want a better drill? Yeah, sure. But what they really want is the hole. Or even you go to the next step is they want to hang a picture or frame out a house. So as a company, when you look at the human need, and you say, "Okay, so how can I help someone hang a picture more effectively for some kind of a consumer market?" That question is very different from, "How do I make a drill go faster?" I like to use that analogy because when you think about it in the technology sphere, a lot of times that's how we work. We do things where we're very good at designing different kinds of architectures to solve different kinds of problems. So I'm gonna give you an example. I really love Kyndryl's Dow Chemical example. If anyone's interested in this, there's a great case study on the Kyndryl.com website about it. But what I love when I look at it, you know, it starts out as a business problem of we need to digitize information, and we need to move it from paper. They had an idea that maybe Wi Fi was the solution and, ultimately, I think that there's a 5g private network that was the ultimate solution. But there's other pieces to this. They looked at the people in the field, so this was actually around I think the largest chemical plant in the northern hemisphere. It is this massive plant. They looked at how the workers there would use and consume this information. And not just in this dashboard kind of a way, but actually looking at the physical environment that they were in. But in order to do their job, they're physically scaling large towers. And so the question then becomes how do you get the data to someone who's scaling a tower? So they actually came up with these rugged devices that would strap on, but they also just did an adaptation. I think it's a click to call function, so all they have to do is one press of a button while they're holding on to the scaffolding. There's no messing around with a phone interface. It's very simple. The other part of that is that if you look at how those devices are provisioned, there's different people coming in and out. So the solutions that we came up with were about rapid provisioning of that rugged toolset. But you can start to see how it's a complete solution then when you when you put the humans into it. Now you're understanding how they consume the data, how they need to consume the data, how to solve the business problems of getting that data digitized, and getting all of those workers home safe at night to their families. So when we talk about the impact of human centricity, that is the possibility of it.
Nel Akoth 15:43
Tom, co-creation. How does co-creation go beyond assembling the right people to tackling a challenge and developing a solution? And, again, I'm going to be probably piggybacking off what Sarah said, but let me bring in on what kind of a mindset should the people have when they are approaching co-creation?
Tom Rourke 16:06
One of the things that our designers bring on the approaches and methods they bring is a lot about the "how". And I think for me, one of the real benefits that the approaches that designers bring to the world helped with was it already existed in a world where we were bringing groups of people together, desiring to come up with something that was the solution or an answer. What I recognized was, that to get to those outcomes, there are probably three things you need to bring into the room. You need to bring the right insight. The experts, the people with the knowledge, right? And you need to bring in some method and approach. But you also need to bring in some level of, you know, facilitation and leadership. You need some skill. Because simply piling all the ingredients that you need for a cake into a bowl, we all know that doesn't get us the cake. There's methods to the sequence in which we add the ingredients. There's methods to the way that we mix the ingredients. There's a particular approach to how we heat those things and kick off all those chemical reactions. And there's a lot of things that go on in that room and in that space. You know, Sarah has spoken to me in various conversations in the past about how everyone is creative, and everyone at some level is a designer. But, in the same way, as we're probably all musical, there's a reason why we're not all, you know, topping at Spotify, right? But we can all do a lot more in concert with others with the appropriate help. I think what we found with our teams is that a lot of the skill they bring is giving people some space to be curious and explore within a structure to be creative. To be able to express their creativity, because again, go back to the storytelling, how do I get my ideas across to other people, so that they understand them, and they engage with them? And then we all come together to form a shared story.
Nel Akoth 18:03
This year for us as a company is all about accelerating progress. And I see design and co-creation as that catalyst of how our people, as well as technology, combined well, to solve business challenges and unlock opportunities. Now, I want to bring it down to just now how do I even get started? You know, I'm an employee, I'm listening. What am I listening to in this podcast and truly intrigued and excited about what design can do? But then how do I get started? So, Tom, again, I'm just going to start with you. What are some best practices that, you know, I as an employee can adopt in the way I think and the way I approach problem solving? And how do I stay curious, so that I can also have that story to tell?
Tom Rourke 18:49
You know, when you talk about us as a company, and you mentioned in your introduction, how boards are paying attention, right? And that is true of our organization and our colleagues. So one of the really amazing things that has been for me is in the course of us coming into being in a year, the one thing is not everybody necessarily fully understands design. Not everybody necessarily has the skill of design. But there's a real recognition across our leadership and our colleagues and our teams, that this is something that seems to be valuable, and I should learn more about it. Therefore, the getting started thing I would suggest to people is is not get too hung up on suddenly being able to do something. I think the first thing is to be able to understand it and how it might help me, why that might help me, and why that might apply. And to that end, and Sarah can expand upon this, Sarah and her team have been doing an amazing job building out an enablement and education program that we're on the brink of launching. The very first step on this is this idea of people being probably described as conversant. Do I understand it enough to be able to talk about it? Do I understand it enough to be able to know when it applies? And then there's a next step, which is taking people on a journey to becoming competent. How can I learn how to do useful things in concert with my colleagues? We're looking for people who are going to be the enthusiastic champions of this. And we know that they're going to need to be able to enjoy doing this. Now outside of the workplace, there's also a thing about having conversations with your local designer. So again, for the non-designers, I would suggest find your nearest designer, befriend them, and be curious about what they do, because they'll help you unlock your own curiosity.
Nel Akoth 20:35
Sarah I'd love for you to add because you actually also touched on this point that, and I think Tom reiterated it, everyone has a design in them. But I'm thinking as I'm sitting at my desk today, and I want to take an approach of thinking differently, what would be a tip for you in terms of just sparking that design element in me and in what I do. Is there a tip of some things I can start to practice every day and live by?
Sarah B. Nelson 21:02
I do have some tips. Before I get to that, though, I want to just talk about one thing. So there are two parts to bringing design into an organization. So one is design and the other is design thinking. I mean, co-creation is the act of creating something purposeful towards an outcome together. What I often say is that you want to have some questions in your back pocket. And one of them is what problem are we trying to solve? That will often turn the tide of getting at then consequently, what is the right solution? So that's number one question. Number two question is who are you trying to solve this for? And then number three is do we have the right people in the room? So I like to give people those questions as your sort of start for orienting your way around this way of thinking. What I would encourage people to do is think about where you bring professional designers to bear in your business. A lot of people will think about if there's some kind of apps or digital interfaces, that is a natural place for designers to come in. Other places that you can bring them is to the design of services or journeys. So looking for opportunities where a human centered point of view, a rigorous approach to to problem identification and solving is going to help you accelerate where your business needs to go to. So when I think about progress, those are the two areas you're working at. What your business produces, right? And then how people in your business think about and work around the "why" and the "what" of what you make.
Nel Akoth 22:35
So I want to wrap up on a high note. We're just beginning season two of the Progress Report. It is with such great pleasure that I share with all our listeners today the hosts of this coming season. Sarah B. Nelson and Tom Rourke will be the co-hosts of the Progress Report in season two. So thank you to both of you for stepping into this really important program that we've had going on. Tom and Sarah, as a preamble, being a distinguished designer and a design advocate, how will your perspectives help shape season two for our listeners?
Tom Rourke 23:13
Well, what I'm hoping for is actually to have the widest number of perspectives we can possibly bring to season two. And trying to build all sorts of interesting connections between their diverse fields and the work that they do.
Sarah B. Nelson 23:25
I'm really excited to figure out and really puzzle through some of these very deep technical problems, and look at how they impact people, and what kind of experiences that become possible when we balance the way we look at technical solutions from both a human perspective and from a technical perspective. I think we're in a period of time right now of the next huge transition and figuring out how to make sense of that. Making meaning out of that and how we're going to really shape the world as it goes forward. That's going to be my lens on a lot of our conversations, so I'm really looking forward to those
Nel Akoth 24:05
Absolutely exciting and I too really look forward to the real great topics and engaging discussions that both you, Sarah and Tom, are going to drive for our listeners. This is just the beginning. There's a lot more that we are going to benefit from as we continue down season two of the Progress Report. And I'd also like to take this big thank you to our listeners for learning alongside me today. And until next time, I'm Nel Akoth.
Sarah B. Nelson 24:33
I'm Sarah B. Nelson.
Tom Rourke 24:34
And I'm Tom Rourke.
Sarah B. Nelson 24:36
And don't forget to tune in next time.