NewWayToWork

A3: This was something we very deliberately built into the IBM Design Language.

A3: We came up with this concept to help explain to others that there needs to be intent behind being honest with authenticity

A3: Being authentically thoughtful requires a certain about of soul searching, as there are often competing priorities in any design situation, but really, the most direct and actionable way is to just elicit honest feedback from your customers.

Focus on human needs, not customers or clients. The authenticity comes from an honest understanding of knowing people as people and the thoughtfulness comes from knowing that you took the time to craft something just for them.

A3: Companies can only if their people can. Empathy can't be faked.

A3: Being authentically thoughtful requires a purposeful consideration for the needs of others through empathy.

"ability to empathize" is something that should be measured and incorporated in HR hiring as well as annual evaluations/talent reviews.@IBMSocialBiz

A3 Creating a set of grounded Design Principles helps guide an organization to be authentic.

A3: Shared magical experiences: created experiences should be the ultimate goal in business and life.

It seems like these concepts could easily be forgotten about in a dev/design process so I love that there'sa mechanism to ensure they are paid their due.

@junkfishjordan +1 nor can it be bought. This is the birthplace of authenticity

A3: But there are other ways to do this that are often important cross-checks. One is maintaining a prioritized understanding of customer needs and checking against it regularly. Another is asking for truly independent reviews of design.

@junkfishjordan not only can't be faked. The company's that can't do it don't even try. HUGE gap.

Re Thinking what the NEW customer experience is today and will look like tomorrow requires trust and listening with the customer and community!

A3 Authentically thoughtful is an attitude and a state of mind, one that focuses on serving people and making the work you do always for a purpose that's in service of others

I just received a personalized chocolate bar at #IBMInterconnect from @ibmsocialbiz and it blew me away. A thoughtful unexpected moment in my day!

@danielkdtwt Exactly why we placed the concept of right up at the top of the site!

@Adam_Cutler Nice! Very inspiring.

. @IBMSocialBiz In the moment magical & memorable experiences are hard to predict but happen when the right people and content come together; like #aerosmith on stage when it happens it should be captured

this is going to be super nerdy and tactical, but workback calendars. scheduling time to sit down, talk, evaluate is incredibly important.

Design Thinking is so fluid and fuzzy ... hard to imagine a "best practice".

A6: The best thing to do is to just start and experiment along the way. Teams find their own rhythm once they get comfortable with design thinking.

@daveixd i disagree! practice is one of constant evaluation!

- A6: Create a culture of sharing

They can't ensure! They have to design this practice and try it on and on.

Well, you'll probably guess what I'll suggest is the best way to exchange points of view: Adopt the methods of social business. Community-based approaches are the most powerful way to drive positive change and create alignment. #socbiz

A6: Worth noting, #designthinking isn't a process or methodology, it's not a take it or leave it option. It's a framework for thinking.

Define a process so it can be repeatable

Exercise your ideation muscles. Get all the ideas out on the wall. Start by giving everyone a voice in the room.

@tron I'm not saying there isn't practice. I'm saying there isn't "best practice". Design Thinking is more a mindset than anything else, so I'm not even sure there is agreement on what the practice(s) would even be.

(disclaimer: I work for a collaboration software company focused on design thinking and innovation) Using software to connect people asynchronously can help, as can providing loose process templates for teams to follow.@IBMSocialBiz

but people have to buy in to collaborating and working in new ways before any software can make a difference.

@bryankramer to what end? it's very rare to have lightning strike in the same place twice.

Keep in mind that design thinking isn't exclusive to designers. One best practice is just making your process inclusive and allowing all stakeholders to participate and get engaged.

@daveixd understood. I'm 80% sure post-it notes are involved, though.

I really enjoy the concept of Flat Organizations. I recently read Vala Afshar and Brad Martins book. Pursuit of social business excellence.

@hayleychughes this can't be said enough #designthinking is for all, not just for designers.

. @IBMSocialBiz I've found that having a "guiding set of principles" then shortening the "milestones" is best way to be agile and productive; iterate iterate and iterate

@Adam_Cutler To the point where design thinking becomes a part of what we do each time

Let me answer question with question. If you're NOT trying to understand/empathize, what ARE you trying to do?

A4: It's critical. However empathy maps are just one of many activities to understand user needs

Absolutely Essential. If you don't take the time to know the people you're designing for - interview them over a cup of coffee, stand in their environment, walk in their shoes and really see the context where they work, you end up designing in a vacuum.

It's not just important, customer-centric design is vital. It's one of the signature lessons in technology design, that users count most. This was the realization in agile: Involve customers constantly, and get the feedback as continuously as possible.

A4: Without empathy you're only guessing at what people need to be successful.

. @IBMSocialBiz semantic insights on what's on the mind of the customer makes a huge difference in "aligning" with them to "connect" in a meaningful way #NewWaytoEngage

@tron Good question. If a company's answer is "sell product," they will crash and burn.

A4: yes, critical, awesome, great - but not everything. Constraint is probably just as important and many of those constraints are well beyond the end user's purview.

The bottom line is that non-empthatic design approaches aren't grounded to reality. Great design is profoundly empathetic users and their needs.

@Adam_Cutler No excuse today for people not listening, engaging and leveraging technology and data to understand build relationships that allow you to build a more complete and sound empathy map!

Without empathy, you'll have a bunch of hunches for what you might design and end up making assumptions that aren't grounded in anyone's lived experience. You won't have research around a real problem on which to translate your solution into an experience.

A4: Further, even within empathy the real issues that keep end user experiences from being successful are with non-end users. Empathizing there is important.

@daveixd agreed. designing within constraints is what keeps us grounded while understanding where our users are coming from.

it's only important if you want customers to actually buy or use what you create :-) For consumer products, it is essential. For enterprise products that employees are forced to use anyway, it often is ignored.

It's crucial - design empathy is a mental habit and a cultural value for uncovering people's unspoken needs.

A4: The delightful side of humanity holds with it empathy, understanding, and forgiveness, and when remembered in our communication, it ties us together as a common group.

A4: The complete outcome of project depends on our understanding about the project in the beginning.

I believe we'll see empathy, which really became central to design in the #designthinking movement, move even more into core practices like #agile, #EntArch, #devops, IT #strategy, and many other domains.

Ok, to keep it going. How many companies have you personally experienced actually practicing design empathy?

@junkfishjordan Definitely often ignored, but as end-users are expecting consumer experiences in everything they use, this is changing and the orgs that take experience/empathy serious up front are going to win the enterprise.