This talk was originally presented at the 2019 Information Architecture Conference on March 15 in Orlando Florida. The presentation examines how design leaders need to evolve their approach to leadership, elevate design maturity, and examine how their org prioritizes and launches new products in an increasingly complex business environment where many organizations are conducting large transformation efforts.

1. THERE'S A SEAT AT THE TABLE:
ARE YOU AND YOUR ORGANIZATION READY
FOR DESIGN TRANSFORMATION?
CHRIS AVORE
@EROVA
AVORE@EROVA.COM
LINKEDIN.COM/IN/CHRISAVORE
SOURCES: EROVA.COM/IAC19.HTML
THERE’S A SEAT AT THE TABLE:
ARE YOU AND YOUR ORGANIZATION READY
FOR DESIGN TRANSFORMATION?

2. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA

4. THIS ISN’TATALKABOUT IA
IT’SA TALKABOUTWHEREYOU CAN TAKE IA
IT’SA TALKABOUTWHERE IACAN TAKEYOU

5. WHATISALLTHE HYPEABOUT TRANSFORMATION?
WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DOWITH DESIGN?
ANDWHYAREWE TALKINGABOUTITATIACONF?

10. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
DESIGN TRANSFORMATION
HUMAN RESOURCES
PROCUREMENT
OPERATIONS
SALES
MARKETING

11. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
DESIGN TRANSFORMATION
MANAGEMENT
AGILE
DEV OPS
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

12. 1. DEFINE THE DAMN THING
2. WHYNOW: ROOTCAUSES
3. WHAT NOW: THE CURRENTSTATE
4. HOWTO ENABLE TRANSFORMATION

13. DEFINE THE DAMN THING
#DTDT

14. Digital transformation is the evolving
pursuit of innovative and agile business
and operational models — fueled by
evolving technologies, processes,
analytics, and talent capabilities — to
create new value and experiences for
customers, employees, and stakeholders.
#DTDT

15. #DTDT
Design transformation is how
we evolve our approaches to
product development—such as
the teams we work with, when
we work with them, and the
journeys we design—to enable
an organization-wide digital
transformation.

16. TRANSFORM
FROM TO
Single channel
Single market
Single competitors

17. TRANSFORM
FROM TO
Saddled with legacy, stand-alone software
Teams doing same work over and over
Messaging and missions disjointed internally and externally

18. TRANSFORM
FROM TO
Linear Processes
Eliminate Risk
Hierarchical
Siloed
Complicated
Fragile
Circular Approaches
Mediate Risk
Networked
Connected
Complex
Resilient

19. Digital transformation is the evolving
pursuit of innovative and agile business and
operational models — fueled by evolving
technologies, processes, analytics, and
talent capabilities — to create new value
and experiences for customers, employees,
and stakeholders.
#DTDT

20. ROOTCAUSES
WHYNOW?

21. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
• Improve quality of products & services
• Reduce costs
• Identify new opportunities for growth
• Increase margins
• Increase productivity
• Reduce churn
BOTH LEGACYAND MODERN ORGS STILL HAVE SIMILAR CHALLENGES

22. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
The linear approach of the industrial era is
struggling to keep up with exponential
innovation enabled by vast improvements
in core technologies and new approaches.
THE DIFFERENCE IS IN HOWTHESE ORGS DEALWITH IT

23. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
Which means the current business
environment is a pressure cooker of never-
before experienced complexity
THE DIFFERENCE IS IN HOWTHESE ORGS DEALWITH IT

24. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
• Digitization of massive amounts of information
• Smart systems that communicate
interdependently
• Decreasing cost of computing power
• Increasing ease of sharing rich content across
distances
• Increasingly wealthy population
• Wholesale rewriting of industry norms and
business models

25. “
(drag image here)
Businesses that used to be
separate are now
interconnected and
interdependent, which means
these systems are now more
complex.
Columbia Business School
Rita McGrath

26. Most companies’ successes
have been built on delivering
predictable products by
repeatable means—focused on
one small part of a larger
whole.

27. These companies thrive on
certainty and minimizing risk.

28. predictable &
repeatable
==
complicated

29. predictable &
repeatable
!=
complex

30. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
In a complicated world, we
can look to the past to find
patterns and previous
solutions.
complex
In a complex world,
depending on patterns of
the past can be expensive
and disastrous.
Complicated

31. THE CURRENTSTATE OF
DIGITALTRANSFORMATION
WHATNOW?

32. ANDWHY US?
WHATNOW?

34. 62%
27%
Information technology
Innovation

35. 76%
30%
Information technology
Innovation
30% CX
Marketing/Digital/Advertising
37%

36. 51%
41%
Growth in new markets
Increased competitive pressure
12% Decline in performance
Evolving customer behaviors
46%

38. We can already see that digital transformation is happening, and
it’s happening in our own
backyards.

39. It’s up to us to position ourselves to embrace this opportunity by
applying our methods, approaches, and proximity to our customers
to elevate our practice and drive digital transformation.

40. Because if we don’t drive transformation,
Someone else will.

41. ENABLING TRANSFORMATION
HOWTO START

42. You: Evolve Design Leadership
Your Team: Elevate Design Maturity
Your Culture: Eliminate the Threats
Your Company: Examine the Process

43. 1
EVOLVE
DESIGN LEADERSHIP
EVOLVE

46. FIXED GOALS
•Risk averse
•Designing the planned thing
•Research only confirms decisions or suggests cosmetic changes
FIXED TASKS
FIXED DELIVERABLES
PREDICTABLE
• Specs must be heavily documented so management approves and
development teams begin work
• Linear approach: Step by step design process, often in separate silos
• Only focused on delivering something on time and to spec
•Deliverables don’t change based on what teams learn
• Rote methods prioritizing consistency in approach and execution

47. • Did the boss like it?
• Does it meet all the requirements?
• Did we hand it off on time?
• Did dev have to make changes?
DETERMINE SUCCESS BY:

48. Business
Product
Me
Dev
When will this ship?
How many designers
do you need?
How many releases will
this take?

49. Not looking at the
interconnected bigger picture
means we make [design]
decisions in isolation, and that
isolation mindset means we
just shift burdens elsewhere…
Unschool of Disruptive Design
Dr. Leyla Acoraglu
“

52. INTERCONNECTEDNESS VS DISCONNECTION
CIRCULAR VS LINEAR
EMERGENCE VS SILOS
• Emphasize a clear vision and north star
• Show how design work drives business value
• Diverse teams involved sooner
• Monitor behaviors that change over time via multiple feedback loops
• Review research with cross-functional teams to make sure findings
reflect reality
• Promote—not just tolerate—new or unexpected outcomes when co-
designing with colleagues, partners, customers
• Map experiences beyond just the perceived
beginning and end of use

53. WHOLES VS PARTS
SYNTHESIS OVER ANALYSIS
RELATIONSHIPS INSTEAD OF ISOLATION
• Interview more than just direct users—include 2nd & 3rd roles
• Map multiple touchpoints of the larger ecosystem
• Monitor organizational alignment goals, priorities, and milestones
• Self-aware of their own position relative to others
• Cognitive humility: asking questions is ok
• Foster psychological safety
• Embrace individual ideas to be evaluated by the group
• Promote double-loop learning

54. • Did it create positive business value?
• Does it create an impact?
• To whom are these results important?
• Did we learn anything unexpected we must address now?
• Where else can we drive change?
DETERMINE SUCCESS BY:

55. Include diverse teams
sooner in kickoffs,
research, vision
exercises, journeys
Share research across
projects, teams and
timelines
Monitor ethical inflection
points through multiple
methods throughout
product development, not
just at the start or end
Map goals that
stakeholders want,
that they’re measured
by, and tailored to
your culture
(engineering, sales,
product, etc)
3 421
STARTING MONDAYSTARTING MONDAY

56. 2
ELEVATEELEVATE
DESIGN MATURITY

60. Companies with high design maturity…are more
likely to see cost savings, revenue gains,
productivity gains, speed to market, and brand
and market position improvements through their
design efforts.
“

61. But more importantly than just being a better asset
for business to improve shareholder returns,
elevating design maturity means we as design
leaders are more influential to the business.
We can shape things for the better.

62. Design is
decoration
Design is what
happens in a workshop
Design is a
standardized
scalable process
Design is a
hypothesis followed
by experiments
Design is
business strategy
3 4 521
40% 21% 21% 12% 5%

63. Incorporate more
user research and
collaboration into
digital product
design.
3 4 521
Streamline
repeatable processes
and scale the
practice of design via
design operations
and design systems
Strengthen
experimentation
practices by
committing to
developing hypothesis,
running tests, and
measuring results.
Apply design
methods to new
challenges in the
business, bringing
design thinking into
the boardroom and
employing design
exploration to
discover the next
business opportunity.

64. • De-risk development by continually listening,
testing, and iterating with end-users.
• Measure and drive design performance with
the same rigor as revenues and costs.
• Break down internal walls between physical,
digital, and service design.
• Make user-centric design everyone’s
responsibility.
• Strengthen experimentation practices by
committing to developing hypothesis,
running tests, and measuring results.
• Incorporate more user research and
collaboration into digital product design.
• Streamline repeatable processes and
operationalize design.
• Apply design methods to business
problems such as customer journeys &
discovery research to evaluate new
business segments or acquisitions

65. 3
EXAMINE
THE PROCESS
EXAMINE

67. • How well do you know where change is occurring?
• Do you know which customer journeys matter?
• How inclusive is your design process with other teams?
• Do you have a disciplined ‘learn and test’ approach?
• Do you have methods to challenge ideas?
• Are your people empowered to act?
EXAMINE THE PROCESS
ENABLING TRANSFORMATION

68. • How well do you know where change is occurring?
• Do you know which customer journeys matter?
• How inclusive is your design process with other teams?
• Do you have a disciplined ‘learn and test’ approach?
• Do you have methods to challenge ideas?
• Are your people empowered to act?
EXAMINE THE PROCESS
ENABLING TRANSFORMATION
1. Design multiple feedback
loops throughout the
product development
process
2. Don’t just interview primary
users of your systems,
interview secondary and
tertiary people to better
understand the larger
system
3. Ask your executive
leadership (or the highest
you have access to) to force
rank perceived threats and
monitor change over time

69. • How well do you know where change is occurring?
• Do you know which customer journeys matter?
• How inclusive is your design process with other teams?
• Do you have a disciplined ‘learn and test’ approach?
• Do you have methods to challenge ideas?
• Are your people empowered to act?
EXAMINE THE PROCESS
ENABLING TRANSFORMATION
1. Which journeys are most
important to the business?
2. Tie journeys that are most
aligned with business and
user goals to financial
performance.
3. Invite senior stakeholders to
review journeys to see if
they agree with the team
assessment of what’s
important.

70. • How well do you know where change is occurring?
• Do you know which customer journeys matter?
• How inclusive is your design process with other teams?
• Do you have a disciplined ‘learn and test’ approach?
• Do you have methods to challenge ideas?
• Are your people empowered to act?
EXAMINE THE PROCESS
ENABLING TRANSFORMATION
1. Note how many non-
designers participate in:
1. Discovery research
2. Usability testing
3. Kickoffs/Vision
exercises
4. Design studio
2. Use that as a baseline and
target improvement for
greater inclusion of diverse
teams

71. • How well do you know where change is occurring?
• Do you know which customer journeys matter?
• How inclusive is your design process with other teams?
• Do you have a disciplined ‘learn and test’ approach?
• Do you have methods to challenge ideas?
• Are your people empowered to act?
EXAMINE THE PROCESS
ENABLING TRANSFORMATION
1. Similar to applying multiple
feedback loops to monitor
change, continue going
back to customers, users, &
prospects to learn and size
opportunities.
2. Create stagegate-like
hypotheses throughout the
customer journey to see
what you need to learn now
before you can commit to
doing something else in the
future.

72. • How well do you know where change is occurring?
• Do you know which customer journeys matter?
• How inclusive is your design process with other teams?
• Do you have a disciplined ‘learn and test’ approach?
• Do you have methods to challenge ideas?
• Are your people empowered to act?
EXAMINE THE PROCESS
ENABLING TRANSFORMATION
1. Try less brainstorming ideas
where groupthink and bias
runs rampant, and where
group ideas are judged by
an individual.
2. Coach up all design-studio
participants how to
communicate via critique.
3. Can persona non grata or
designated dissenter roles
surface unexpected or
unintended consequences?

73. • How well do you know where change is occurring?
• Do you know which customer journeys matter?
• How inclusive is your design process with other teams?
• Do you have a disciplined ‘learn and test’ approach?
• Do you have methods to challenge ideas?
• Are your people empowered to act?
EXAMINE THE PROCESS
ENABLING TRANSFORMATION
1. If you’re leading teams,
embrace delegation so your
teams see empowerment
firsthand.
2. Make sure your teams know
the thresholds of involving
you or other senior leaders.
3. Give more latitude around
spinning up learning
opportunities, such as
discovery interviews or live
landing page experiments to
measure interest.

74. Examining the processes, approaches, and culture of
your organization will give you a leg up in the
conversations you’ll be having with leaders and
decision-makers you may not have previously had
access to before you started leading
design transformation.

75. 4
ELIMINATE
THE THREATS
ELIMINATE
!

77. 29%
26%
Lack of ROI
Resistance to Change
Viewed as Cost Center
28%

78. • Lack of Return on Investment or quantifiable data
• Perception as cost center
• Resistance to change
ELIMINATE THE THREATS
ENABLING TRANSFORMATION

79. • Lack of Return on Investment or quantifiable data
• Perception as cost center
• Resistance to change
ELIMINATE THE THREATS
ENABLING TRANSFORMATION
1. Don’t fall into playing follow
the dollar.
2. Map design & product
successes to corporate
goals and priorities
3. Show quantitative and Voice
of Customer improvements
from pre-transformation
baseline

80. • Lack of Return on Investment or quantifiable data
• Perception as cost center
• Resistance to change
ELIMINATE THE THREATS
ENABLING TRANSFORMATION
1. Consider the source
2. Show how product
development investment
has led to top line growth
3. Show how discovery
research leads to new
business opportunities
4. Show how creating a ‘test
and learn’ approach saves
costs and mitigates risk
5. Stress the right kind of
optimization and efficiency
6. Never sleep on just saying “I
know you are but what am I”

81. • Lack of Return on Investment or quantifiable data
• Perception as cost center
• Resistance to change
ELIMINATE THE THREATS
ENABLING TRANSFORMATION
1. Establish a clear vision for
what your transformed
organization will look like
2. Celebrate short-term wins to
show your transformation
efforts are working
3. Create a sense of urgency if
skeptics are complacent
4. Create a diverse network of
allies and champions

82. These threats are all connected by a single thread.
FEAR

83. ENABLING TRANSFORMATION
HOWTO START

85. • Learn if other transformation efforts are underway
• Start small
• Establish a clear vision of what ‘done’ may look like
• Sandbag: start with something with high level of success
• Balance data with stories
HOWTO START
ENABLING TRANSFORMATION

86. Long Island Iced Tea Corp. shares rose as much
as 289 percent after the unprofitable Hicksville,
New York-based company rebranded itself Long
Blockchain Corp. It’s the latest in a near-daily
phenomenon sweeping the stock market, where
obscure microcap companies reorient to focus
on some aspect of the mania sparked by bitcoin’s
1,500 percent rally this year.
December 21, 2017, 9:06 AM EST
NOT
TRANSFORMATION

87. 1. DEFINE THE DAMN THING
2. WHYNOW: ROOTCAUSES
3. WHAT NOW: THE CURRENTSTATE
4. HOWTO ENABLE TRANSFORMATION

88. DEFINE THE DAMN THING
WHYNOW: ROOTCAUSES
WHAT NOW: THE CURRENTSTATE
HOWTO ENABLE TRANSFORMATION

89. C H R I S AV O R E · @ E R O VA
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
DESIGN TRANSFORMATION
HUMAN RESOURCES
PROCUREMENT
OPERATIONS
SALES
MARKETING

91. The design industry is in great position to lead
organizations through transformation to deliver
better, more useful, sustainable products while
generating improved benefits for the business and
our communities because of the methods we use to
innovate and our proximity to the customer

92. But it won’t be our Dribbble posts,
our usability testing reports, or our
Medium posts written to each
other that will get us here.

93. Driving digital transformation by
evolving how we lead, by elevating
design maturity, examining the
process, and eliminating the threats
will get us that seat, and keep us there.

94. ARE YOU AND YOUR ORGANIZATION READY
THERE'S A SEAT AT THE TABLE:
ARE YOU AND YOUR ORGANIZATION READY
FOR DESIGN TRANSFORMATION?
THERE’S A SEAT AT THE TABLE:
FOR DESIGN TRANSFORMATION?

95. HOW WILL YOU LEAD YOUR COMPANY’SHOW WILL YOU LEAD YOUR COMPANY’S
DESIGN TRANSFORMATION?
CHRIS AVORE
@EROVA
AVORE@EROVA.COM
LINKEDIN.COM/IN/CHRISAVORE
SOURCES: EROVA.COM/IAC19.HTML
DESIGN TRANSFORMATION?