Back to Basics: What is Design Thinking?

by Robyn Bolton | Jun 3, 2020 | Innovation, Tips, Tricks, & Tools

Last week, I published a post with a very simple goal – define innovation so we can stop debating what it means and start doing it.

The response was amazing. So, I figured that this week I would tackle another buzzword – Design thinking.

We’ve all heard it and we’ve probably all said it but, like “innovation’ we probably all have a different definition for it. In fact, in the last few months alone I’ve heard it used as a synonym for brainstorming, for customer interviews, and for sketching while talking. Those things are all part of Design thinking but they aren’t the entirety of Design thinking.

What I tell my clients

When a client asks if we’re “doing Design thinking,” here’s what I say;

“Yes, because Design thinking is a way of solving problems that puts customers and stakeholders, not your organization, at the center of the process and seeks to produce solutions that create, capture, and deliver value to your customers, stakeholders, and your company.”

The Basics

What: One could consider the official definition of Design thinking to come from Tim Brown, Executive Char of IDEO, who stated that “Design Thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success”
Why: Useful in solving “wicked problems,” problems that are ill-defined or tricky and for which pre-existing rules and domain knowledge will be of limited or no help (or potentially detrimental)
How:
- Inspiration: Understand the problem by building empathy with stakeholders (deeply understand their functional, emotional, and social Jobs to be Done) and document that understanding in a brief that outlines goals (ideal end state), bounds (elements to be avoided), and benchmarks against which progress can be measured
- Ideation: Generate ideas using brainstorming to develop a vast quantity of ideas (divergent thinking) and then home in on the ideas at the intersection of desirability, feasibility, and viability that best fit the brief (convergent thinking)
- Implementation: Prototype ideas so that they can be tested, evaluated, iterated, and refined in partnership with customers and stakeholders, ensuring that humans remain at the center of the process.
When: At the start of any R&D or development process
- Traditionally, design was involved only in the late stages of development work, primarily to improve a solution’s functionality or aesthetic. Design Thinking’s ability to pull the designer mindset into the earliest phases of development is, perhaps, one of the biggest impacts it has made on business and technical fields
Where: Can be done anywhere BUT, because it is a human-centered approach, it must involve multiple human beings through the process
Who: Anyone who is willing to adopt a “beginner’s mind,” an attitude of openness to new possibilities, curiosity about the problem and the people with it, and humility to be surprised and even wrong

Important Points & Fun Facts

Design Thinking IS a human-centered design approach. This means that it seeks to develop solutions to problems by involving the human perspective at every single step of the process
Design thinking is NOT synonymous with user-centered design though user-centered design could be considered a subset of Design Thinking because it gives attention to usability goals and the user experience

Design Thinking was NOT invented by IDEO, but I would argue that they have done more to popularize it and bring it into the mainstream, especially into business management practices, than any other person or firm.
Design Thinking IS the product of 50+ years of academic and practical study and application. Here’s some fun facts:
- 1935: The practice of Design thinking was first established by John Dewey as the melding of aesthetics and engineering principles
- 1959: The term “Design thinking” was coined by John E. Arnold in his book Creative Engineering
- 1991: the first symposium on Design Thinking was held at Delft University in the Netherlands
- 2000s: Design thinking is widely adopted as an innovation approach thanks to books by Richard Florida (2002), Daniel Pink (2006), Roger Martin (2007), Tim Brown (2009), and Thomas Lockwood (2010)
- 2005: Stanford’s d.school begins teaching Design thinking as a general approach to innovation

Design Thinking is NOT just for radical/breakthrough/disruptive innovation
Design Thinking IS useful for all types of innovation (something different that creates value) resulting from wicked problems. In fact, as far back as 1959, John E. Arnold identified four types of innovation that could benefit from a Design thinking approach:
1. Novel functionality, i.e. solutions that satisfy a novel need or solutions that satisfy an old need in an entirely new way
2. Higher performance levels of a solution
3. Lower production costs
4. Increased salability

If you want to learn more…

As noted above, there are lots of resources available to those who are deeply curious about Design thinking. I recommend starting with Tim Brown’s 2008 HBR article, Design Thinking, and then diving into IDEO’s extremely helpful and beautifully designed website dedicated entirely to Design thinking.

Here’s what I’d like to learn…

Was this helpful in clarifying what Design Thinking is?
What, if anything, surprised you?
What else would you like to know?

Drop your thoughts in the comments or shoot me an email at robyn@milezero.io

Back to Basics: What is Innovation?

by Robyn Bolton | May 27, 2020 | Innovation

When I worked on P&G’s WalMart sales team, one of my bosses was a big guy with an even bigger personality. He shared his opinions loudly and broadly and one of his opinions was that we needed to stop using the word “breakthrough.”

“If I have to hear one more time about some new ‘breakthrough’ soap, I will throw you out of this office myself!” he would bellow.

Years later, I can’t help but wonder what he would think of the word “innovation.”

In May 2012, The Wall Street Journal published an article positing that, as the word “innovation” increased in usage, it decreased in meaning. The accompanying infographic said it all:

33,528: Times “innovation” was mentioned in quarterly and annual reports in the previous year
255: Books published in the last 90 days with “innovation” in the title
43%: Executive who say that their company has a Chief Innovation Officer or similar role
28%: Business schools with “innovation,” “innovate,” or “innovative” in their mission statements

That may seem like a lot but, remember, that data is nearly 8 YEARS OLD!

The desire for and investment in Innovation in all its forms – accelerators, incubators, startup/venture studios, corporate venture capital teams – has only grown since 2012.

While this may seem like a good thing, the fact that the success rate of innovations hasn’t changed, means that most people react to “innovation” the same way my boss reacted to “breakthrough” – if you bring it up, they throw you out.

To avoid getting thrown out of offices, one of the first thing I do with my clients when we begin working to build innovation into an enduring capability within their companies, is re-establish what innovation is and is not.

Innovation IS something different that creates value.

When people hear the term “innovation,” they tend to think of new-to-the-world gadgets that fundamentally change how we live our lives. Yes AND it’s many other things, too. Let’s break down the definition:

“Something” includes products and technology, it also includes services, processes, revenue models, and loads of other things. Consider this, many would argue, quite convincingly, that the Toyota Production System was one of the biggest innovations of the 20^th century
“Different” often surprises people. After all, even Merriam Webster defines innovation as “something new.” But here’s the thing, one of the most commonly cited innovations, the iPhone, wasn’t “new.” Even Steve Jobs admitted it when he said, in his keynote speech, that Apple was introducing three products – a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a mobile phone, and an internet connected device. The iPhone was, however, different because it combined those three devices into one.
“Creates value” is probably the most important part of the definition. All innovations solve problems. Solving problems creates value. If you solve a big problem, either because it’s a problem lots of people have or it’s a very painful problem a few people have or something in-between, you create a lot of value for others and for yourself.

Innovation IS NOT a one-size-fits-all term.

Think of it this way, both a Kia and a Maserati are cars, but you wouldn’t expect to pay Kia’s price tag and get a Maserati (and vice versa). Similarly, both a convertible and a pick-up truck are automobiles, but you wouldn’t use your convertible to carry building equipment to a construction site.

With a definition as broad as the one above, it’s possible for “innovation’ to become even more meaningless as it gets applied to more things. That’s why it’s important to identify different types of innovation.

There’s no universally accepted set of innovation types, which is why I recommend companies consider defining at least three types that reflect their business and forward-looking strategies.

One of the most common set of innovation categories is based on the degree of change required for implementation:

Core Innovation requires minimal or no change to the current business model (customers, offerings, revenue model, resources and processes). Also known as Continuous or Incremental Innovation, this is the unglamorous but deeply important work of constantly improving what you do and how you do it.

Adjacent Innovation changes a significant change to at least one element of your business model. It could be changing who you serve, like expanding from interventional cardiologists to general cardiologists, what you offer, like P&G’s expansion into “durable goods” when it launched Swiffer, or how you offer or deliver it.
Radical innovation is the stuff that gets all the press. These innovations fundamentally change the business, like IBM moving from computers to business services. These innovations are high-risk and require a lot of time, money, and patience to see to fruition. This type of innovation is also called “Breakthrough” but, for obvious reasons, I shy away from that term.

There are many things that need to be done to shift innovation from buzzword to business capability. Defining innovation AND at least three different types is only the first step in moving from innovation theory and theater to building innovation into a true capability that drives sustainable growth.

Or, as I would tell my old boss, “It’s the first step. But it’s a breakthrough one.”

Originally published on December 30, 2019 on Forbes.com

10 Moments of Innovation Zen: Military

by Robyn Bolton | Apr 16, 2020 | Stories & Examples

Innovation is something different that creates value. Sometimes it’s big, new to the world, world-changing things. Sometimes it’s a slight tweak to make things easier, faster, cheaper or better.

Sometimes, it’s both.

It’s no secret that the military and NASA are birthplaces of incredible inventions (something new) and innovations (something different that creates value). Most people know that Velcro, nylon, and powdered drinks (Tang!) originated at Nasa, and that Jeep, GPS, and the internet come to us from the military.

But did you know that these 10 everyday innovations have their origin in the military?

Duct Tape

Invented in 1942 to seal ammo boxes with something that could resist water and dirt while also being fast and easy to remove so soldiers could quickly access ammunition when they needed it. Originally, it was made by applying a rubber-based adhesive to duck cloth, a plain and tightly woven cotton fabric, and has evolved over the years to be used for everything from repairing equipment on the moon to purses.

Synthetic Rubber Tires

Speaking of rubber, prior to WWII, most rubber was harvested from trees in South America and shipped to southern Asia where the majority of rubber products were produced. When the Axis powers cut-off access to Asia, the US military turned to Firestone, Goodyear, and Standard Oil to create a replacement substance. The recipe they created is still used today.

Silly Putty

Like most inventions, there were a lot of failed experiments before the right synthetic rubber recipe was found. Silly Putty is the result of one of those experiments. A scientist at GE developed the strange substance but quickly shelved it after it became clear that it had no useful military application. Years later, GER execs started showing off the novelty item at cocktail parties, an advertising exec in attendance saw its commercial potential and bought the manufacturing rights, packaged it into eggs and sold it as a toy. 350 million eggs later, we’re still playing with it.

Superglue

The result of another failed experiment, Superglue came onto the market in 1958 and has stuck around ever since (sorry, that pun was intended). Military scientists were testing materials to use as clear plastic rifle sights and created an incredibly durable but impossibly sticky substance called cyanoacrylate. Nine years later it was being sold commercially as Superglue and eventually did make its way into military use during the Vietnam War as a way to immediately stop bleeding from wounds.

Feminine Hygiene pads

Image Credit: Museum of American History

Before Superglue was used to stop bleeding, bandages woven with cellulose were used on the battlefields and hospitals. Seeing how effective the bandages were at holding blood and the convenience of having so many on hand, US and British WW1 nurses began using them as sanitary napkins and bandage makers adapted and expanded their post-War product lines to accommodate.

Undershirts

Image Credit: Foto-ianniello/Getty Images

While people have been wearing undergarments for centuries, the undershirt as we know it — a t-shaped, cotton, crewneck — didn’t come into being until the early twentieth century. Manufactured and sold by the Cooper Underwear Co., it caught the Navy’s eye as a more convenient and practical option than the current button-up shirts. In 1905, it became part of the official Navy uniform and the origin of the term “crewneck.”

Aerosol Big Spray

Soldiers fighting in the Pacific theater of WWII had a lot to worry about, so they were eager to cross mosquitos and malaria off that list. In response, the Department of Defense teamed up with the Department of Agriculture to find a way to deliver insecticide as a fine mist. The first aerosol “bug bomb” was patented in 1941 and, thanks to the development of a cheaper plastic aerosol valve, became commercially available to civilians in 1949.

Canned Food

Image Credit: Pacific Paratrooper — WordPress.com

While it’s not surprising that canned foods were originally created for the military, it may surprise you to learn that it was Napoleon’s armies that first used the concept. In response to the French Government’s offer of a large cash reward for anyone who could find a way to preserve large quantities of food, an inventor discovered that food cooked inside a jar wouldn’t spoil unless the seal leaked, or the container was broken. But glass jars are heavy and fragile, so innovation continued until WW1 when metal cans replaced the glass jars.

Microwave

RadaRange on the Nuclear Ship NS Savannah

This is another one that you probably would have guessed has its origins in the military but may be surprised by its actual origin story. The term “microwave” refers to an adaptation of radar technology that creates electromagnetic waves on a tiny scale and passes those micro-waves through food, vibrating it, and heating it quickly. The original microwaves made their debut in 1946 on ships but it took another 20 years to get the small and affordable enough to be commercially viable.

Wristwatches

Watches first appeared on the scene in the 15th century but they didn’t become reliable or accurate until the late 1700s. However, up until the early 20th century, wristwatches were primarily worn as jewelry by women and men used pocket watches. During its military campaigns in the late 1880s, the British Army began using wristwatches as a way to synchronize maneuvers without alerting the enemy to their plans. And the rest, as they say, is history.

So, there you have it. 10 everyday innovations brought to us civilians by the military. Some, like synthetic rubber, started as intentional inventions (something new) and quickly became innovations (something new that creates value). Some, like superglue and silly putty, are “failed” experiments that became innovations. And some, like undershorts and feminine products, are pure innovations (value-creating adaptations of pre-existing products to serve different users and users).

Sources: USA Today, Pocket-lint.com, and Mic.com

Creative or Reactive: Which One Are You Right Now?

by Robyn Bolton | Mar 19, 2020 | Stories & Examples

Creative and Reactive

Same letters.

Different order.

Very different results.

These are strange times.

A relentless stream of news and updates are coming at us, warning us about COVID-19, a declining stock market, rising unemployment, and the financial crunch facing millions and millions of individuals and families.

On the other hand, we’re also getting daily notifications from companies about what they’re doing in the face of all of this news, tips for working from home and maintaining our mental health, and encouragement to support our friends, families, neighbors, and strangers in new ways.

Should we be scared or stoic? Isolated or connected? Hoarding or sharing?

Whatever you choose (and it is your choice), I encourage you to also be creative.

I’m not talking about being creative in the capital C way and take up painting, sculpting, composing, or any of the other activities we typically associate with the fine arts.

I’m talking about calmly assessing your situation, clearly acknowledging the constraints that are requiring change, and then exploring the “new normal” you can create.

This is what innovators do and you, yes YOU, are an innovator.

Innovators know that creativity thrives within constraints. If anything is possible and everything is permissible, you can do whatever you want! But that’s not how the world is. Not now and not before COVID-19.

We, people and businesses, have always faced constraints because we’ve never had infinite resources, money, or time. But we acknowledged the constraints and created within them. That’s what we have to do now.

Here’s some inspiration:

Businesses

Devil’s Food Catering: From event caterer to consortium offering takeout meals

Caterers have to order food well before events take place so when events are cancelled, caterers are left with a lot of food that they’ve already paid for and without the event income that was going to cover their costs.

Devil’s Food Catering in Portland OR faced exactly this situation. Instead of letting the food go to waste or trying to become a take-out shop on their own, they created Handbasket by teaming with other with other Portland area restaurants, breweries, distilleries, bakeries, and other providers to create “handmade menus for quality in-home dining experiences during this of social distancing.”

Gyms, Fitness Studios, and Personal Trainers: From in-person to on-line communities

Some people are gifted with the motivation to workout and some of us, well…aren’t.

In-person classes and personal training are often the solutions we rely on because we feel a sense of connection with our instructors, trainers, and classmates. As gyms close and social distancing becomes a way of life, the loss of live workouts can deepen our sense of isolation.

Recognizing this, local gyms, studios, and personal trainers in cities across the country are offering livestream classes so that we can continue to feel connected AND healthy AND active from the comfort of our own homes.

p.s. the link above is for the Boston area but I found similar articles for Philly, Washington, Houston, and even Wyoming

Speakers Who Dare: From Broadway event to Livestream to Movie

Spears Who Dare bills itself as TED meets Broadway, “a groundbreaking speaker series produced like a Broadway show, featuring speakers from around the world who want to ignite change and inspire new ways of thinking.”

Scheduled to take place on March 24, the organizers recognized that, like many other live events, their original plans for a live Broadway event needed to change. Last week, they shifted from live to livestream, planning a 6-camera shoot of each speaker and performer sharing their messages and art in an empty theater.

Then NYC closed the theaters. Within hours the organizers shifted again and asked each speaker to record a “mini-movie” that could be edited together to create “a full-blown Speakers Who Dare Film” to be shared with a global audience, viewing together on the original event date.

People

Seeing your coworkers when you can’t (or don’t want to) videoconference

Homemade games for when you’ve already played all the games you bought

More homemade games for when you really need to interact with people outside your own home

How and what will YOU create today?

Just in case you need a nudge…find the perfect gif starring the perfect celebrity expressing the perfect emotion and send it to someone who needs it

h/t to Kate Dixon and Megan Shea for sending their suggestions

5 Fave Innovators of 2019

by Robyn Bolton | Dec 3, 2019 | Leadership

It’s that time of year.

The time when we look back and take stock, and look forward and plan. So, it is in that spirit that I offer you my completely subjective list of the top 5 innovators of 2019.

Here’s the “criteria” for making the list:

Received media coverage (including traditional media, blogs, newsletters) BUT not so much that they’re amongst the “usual suspects” (e.g. FAANG CEOs)
Did, or currently doing, something different that creates value (i.e. innovation)
Exemplified the characteristics of an innovator including, but not limited to, courage, creativity, customer-centricity, perseverance, humility, and humor.

Without further ado, here’s my Top 5 Innovators:

Corie Barry, CEO of Best Buy

for exemplifying resilience and loyalty throughout her career

According to this fascinating Fortune article, early in her career, Corie Barry received a performance review that labeled her as a “risk to the organization.” Most people would take that as a sign that their days were numbered but Barry looked for the “nugget of truth” that contained the “things I need to work on” and “buckled down,” even creating her own development plan.

In 2012, when Best Buy seemed to be on its death bed, Barry buckled down again, choosing to stay with the retailer.

“If your purpose is stewardship, and leaving when things are bad is the ultimate crime,” she recalled.

Her perseverance, resilience, and loyalty paid off when, in June, she was named CEO of Best Buy and, at 44, the youngest female CEO in the Fortune 500. In September, she laid out a plan to Wall Street to grow her new charge from $43B in revenue to $50B by 2025.

That type of growth may seem like a long shot given all the talk of a “retail apocalypse,” but if her past is any indication, I wouldn’t doubt her for a second

Alex West Steinman, Bethany Iverson, Liz Geil, and Errin Farrell, Co-Founders of The Coven

for bringing inclusivity and diversity to a place where it’s not often found

I grew up in the Midwest (Cleveland, to be specific) and while I will be eternally grateful for that fact and will defend my Ohio roots (and sports teams) to the day I die, I will also be the first to admit that it’s not perfect.

And one of the Midwest’s many imperfections is it’s utter lack of diversity. That’s why Alex West Steinman makes this list.

In 2017, along with three other co-founders, Alex founded The Coven, a co-working space in Minneapolis. But The Coven is more than a local WeWork, it’s mission is to “economically empower women by providing safe, accessible space for personal and professional transformation.”

The Coven’s business model reflects its mission — for every 5 memberships purchased, the business gives one to a member of the community that couldn’t afford it, “prioritizing people of color, folks from the LGBTQ community, those who are differently abled, immigrants, and veterans.”

Now boasting 2 locations, 600+ members (including 140 at no cost), The Coven is making important progress in bringing diversity and inclusivity to innovation, entrepreneurship, and its Midwest community

Marcela Sappone and Jessica Beck, Co-founders of Hello Alfred

for the courage to go against the grain and do the right thing

Hardly a week passes when we don’t hear of the legal, economic, and ethical problems of the giants of the Sharing Economy choosing to designate their labor forces as contractors instead of employees.

Every company except for one.

When Marcel Sappone and Jessica Beck founded Hello Alfred while getting their MBAs at Harvard Business School, they were the Alfreds — running errands, doing odd-jobs, and responding to requests at all hours of the day and night. And when they had proof of concept, they began to design a sustainable and scalable business model. One with W2 employees.

Yes, they met resistance from investors, even being turned down by some because of their choice but they remained committed to their model because they believed that the success of their business required relationships, not just transactions,

“There should not be a disconnect between the success of a company and the success of its workers. We believe treating our employees as our primary customer is how we can best satisfy our end users.”

Sappone lays out the full argument in this 2015 Quartz article and the benefit of her stick-to-it-tiveness is undeniable. Now in 20+ cities and with 200+ employees, Hello Alfred raised a $40M Series B round in 2018, giving it the highest valuation in its competitive set (e.g. Task Rabbit and Nextdoor)

Jean Brownhill, Co-founder of Sweeten

for solving two problems with one solution

For two years, we’ve need to repaint our house. We originally contacted the painter who painted the house when it was built in 2013. One year and no progress but lots of sketchy stories later, we gave up and called a 2nd painter. He looked over the job and called us back to say he wasn’t comfortable doing it because he was friends with the original painter. He referred us to a 3rd painter who also came to scope the work, only to engage in absurdly belligerent text messaging when trying to nail down the logistics of the job. We talked to a 4th painter in summer 2019 and he agreed to do the work in spring 2020.

Because of this experience, and far too many others like it, Jean Brownhill and the company she founded, Sweeten, are on my list of 2019 Faves.

An architect by training, Brownhill founded the company after her own frustrating experience with a contractor. The concept was simple — Sweeten would match home owners with renovation projects to vetted general contractors and would take care of all of the back-office work that customer service, documentation, and marketing.

Sweeten’s projects have grown from an average of $2000 to over $100,000 in the past eight years and the company now boasts $1B in construction business and 1,5000 vetted contractors in it’s pipeline, according to an article in Architectural Digest.

This success has led to the creation of Sweeten Accelerator for Women (SAW) and initiative to actively recruit female general contractors into the platform and redesign the matching algorithm to allow home owners to select the gender of their contractors.

In an industry in which women comprise only 3% of the workforce and make $0.91 cents on the dollar compared to their male counterparts (interestingly, one of the smallest gender pay gaps of any industry), the effort simply makes sense,

“A shift in the professional paradigm for general contractors would mean more opportunities for women to enjoy business ownership and greater wealth, and would diversify the client experience in important ways.”

Angela Ahrendts, former SVP retail at Apple

for following her heart

Much has been written about Angela Ahrendts — her childhood in Indiana, her education at Ball State, her early career in fashion in NYC through to her triumphant reign as CEO of Burberry, and her “shocking” move to tech when she joined Apple.

Yes, it is all amazing.

So was her decision to walk away from her role at Apple, where she was the company’s highest paid exec, earning 2x the salary of the CEO, and the company’s only female SVP. She walked away without apology or explanation.

Testament to the fact that, sometimes, leaving something is just as powerful and inspiring as starting something.

Hope you enjoyed my Top 5!

Who made your list? Who did I miss?

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