A World of Increasing Expectation: 10x Engineers and Unicorn Designers

Throughout my career, I have enjoyed working across a number of disciplines. I began as an engineer who gravitated to digital in the early to mid-90’s where I worked (as many did in those days) across multiple disciplines; mine being project management, development and design. I later settled on design as it gave me the… Continue reading A World of Increasing Expectation: 10x Engineers and Unicorn Designers

When transforming your organisation, who should lead your value streams?

Cool group of people, woman and man thinking and looking up expressing doubt and wonder

Many times in my career, I’ve had the chance to experience exactly the kind of transformation that’s so often talked about: re-shaping a team into journey-focused value streams (or squads, themes, or whatever term you prefer). And in the process, I’ve repeatedly witnessed a decision-making process that confuses and confounds me. Let me set the… Continue reading When transforming your organisation, who should lead your value streams?

Understanding the importance of environment on People and Culture

Let’s consider for a moment how many large organisations are coming to the realisation that their size, legacy and ways of working have industrialised the ability to think and act creatively out of their businesses. They study start-ups and create innovation teams to try and emulate some of the practices they deploy to disrupt service,… Continue reading Understanding the importance of environment on People and Culture

Can teams “innovate” in organisations that aren’t design-led?

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Over the years I’ve seen the approach to innovation vary in organisations. Where organisations are design-led an innovative approach is part of the cultural fabric or ethos of the organisation. This can be seen in organisations like Apple and Tesla. It can also be seen in many start-ups, where a founder, in pursuit of defining… Continue reading Can teams “innovate” in organisations that aren’t design-led?

Conduct user research WITH – not ON – your Customers

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We all like to think of ourselves as responsible designers and researchers. We follow design methods that take into account our experience, we analyse data and we follow user-centred design methods that involve testing with our Customers. But designers who follow design methods don’t commission ALL research that is conducted. Research is often commissioned by… Continue reading Conduct user research WITH – not ON – your Customers

On being good Digital Neighbours: Transformation vs. BAU

Angry little boy glaring at the camera, fighting with his brother who is screaming

Having worked as a consultant and contractor on both sides of the Transformation/BAU fence, there is often present a divide in ethos, ego and perception. In digital, People who work in the BAU arena typically optimise and maintain live websites, apps and software. BAU teams are predominantly made up of permanent members of staff because… Continue reading On being good Digital Neighbours: Transformation vs. BAU

Delivery, inertia and the micro-experience in UX

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Micro experiences can be delightful artefacts to design and use. They are designed with care and crafting and seen as completely standalone pieces of functionality that are meant to delight in their simplicity and usefulness. But how standalone are most pieces of functionality? How often are these small, simple pieces of functionality part of a… Continue reading Delivery, inertia and the micro-experience in UX