The modern designer’s dilemma

Many designers today continue to push these elements around on the page or screen, thinking they are coming up with solutions. Instead, they develop outputs that do not often address the user’s or client’s problems. Many designers fail to realize they are accountable for solving problems for the business and creating meaningful solutions for users.

There are pluses and minuses to the democratization of the design practice. We now have a much more diverse and empowered group of designers contributing to the profession. Once relegated to design studios and in-house departments, technologies are now available to anyone with a tablet or a small start-up company. Consequences of the democratization of design have led to many business and user mistakes. Results include people making without considering inclusivity and accessibility, clients that don’t want to pay designers what they are due, designers lacking clarity about whom they are designing for, and a desire to make for likes on social media versus designing to solve a problem. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines design as “purpose, planning, or intention that exists or is thought to exist behind an action, fact, or material object.” It’s not just about pretty pictures or aesthetic arrangements, but much more.

We are problem solvers

What we need designers to do more today in the profession is think more critically. We need designers to think about who are the people that will use or interact with their product or service. What problem are they trying to solve? What does success look like for the business and the user?

The Enterprise Design Thinking framework helps designers and non-designers answer those questions.

Enterprise Design Thinking is not a process.
It is for more than just designers.
Enterprise Design Thinking is a framework.
A framework helping us get things done.
A framework helping us solve problems.
A framework helping us pursue opportunities.
A framework helping us innovate.
A framework helping us move things forward.
A framework helping us get things done.
A framework helping us get things done that enables speed, constantly delivering new value, and ensures minimal risk.

As an IBM design executive and Enterprise Design Thinking technical leader, my responsibility is to ensure that we deliver meaningful outcomes and develop trusting relationships with people who use our products and services. Delivering meaningful outcomes means restating the problem presented to teams, developing empathy for whom we are designing for, and inviting the people who use our product or service into the work.

Too often, innovation becomes stifled by clients and leaders when they approach designers and teams with predefined solutions. I assume they are expediting the work by telling them what to build. However, these preset outcomes corner them and do not encourage them to ask questions or think outside the box.

For example: “Design a website for our health clinic.”

This request automatically sets the team’s course of action. And depending on the team’s experience, you will get what you ask for.

Now, consider asking this question: “How might we design a better way for the local neighborhood to understand the services available to them at our health clinic?”

This question piques my curiosity. What neighborhood is this for? Who lives in that neighborhood? Are there unique services that the clinic is offering? What makes this clinic different from other nearby clinics, if any? What will success look like for the business and the residents in the neighborhood? All relevant questions to help the team determine what is the right approach to attract the people who live there.

The team would adopt different approaches to the opportunity depending on whether the neighborhood is affluent or low-income. In affluent areas, where people have access to advanced technologies and high-speed internet, the team would approach the problem differently than in low-income areas, where people might have limited access to technology, such as computers and smartphones, and might live in an internet desert. Additionally, having a team with diverse professions, socio-economic backgrounds, and educational backgrounds could generate various ideas for tackling the problem.

This method offers three key lessons:

1. Putting people first leads to more innovative ideas.
   We just learned that when we put people first and focus on their problems rather than technical solutions, we get a more comprehensive range of ideas and outcomes, and how important that is. A focus on user outcomes
2. Many perspectives generate multiple possibilities.
   We learned that we have a more comprehensive set of outcomes when we explore options with many different people from different backgrounds and experiences. If we had people in the room who all did the same thing and came from the same place, we probably wouldn’t get various options. So, diversity in teams is essential. Exploring a wide range of options leads to a better set of results. Diverse empowered teams
3. Sometimes, the best way to learn is to make mistakes.
   And we learned that making mistakes is okay, and doing so early and often saves time and money. We learned pretty early and admitted, “You know what? We’re solving the wrong problem here. Let’s start over and try something else. Let’s admit that we just made a mistake, and let’s do something else.” Restless reinvention

These three lessons are what we at IBM frame as the three principles of Enterprise Design Thinking:

• A focus on user outcomes
• Diverse empowered teams
• Restless reinvention

Change your mind(set)

There are multiple ways to adopt a design thinking mindset. It would help if you thought about how you and your team, designers and non-designers, think about which of these approaches or a combination of them work for you.

Tools + Space + Habits

Tools:
Tools enable collaboration, whether in person or remote.

Spaces:
Spaces shape behavior. Behavior shapes space.

Spaces and behaviors reinforce each other. Adopt a space that you can use as a team collaboration space.

Habits:
Habits are small, repeatable actions that add up to a lot.

Empathy

Ultimately, we must have empathy if we can’t do anything I’ve just mentioned. It’s the first step to thoughtfully designed products and services. We all have varying degrees of empathy. We all can improve our ability to empathize as a soft skill. Everyone on a team will have preconceived ideas about the many situations people face as users. It’s unavoidable — we all bring our life experiences into our work. Therefore, you should always adopt a beginner’s mindset to objectively view and analyze the problems presented to you with people in mind.

This article was originally written and published for the 2021 Paul Rand: The Idealist/Realist Conference in Cairo, Egypt at the American University in Cairo.

Oen Michael Hammonds is a Distinguished Design Executive at IBM based in Austin, TX. The above article is personal and does not necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

The Designer’s Dilemma was originally published in IBM Design on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

“It is a pleasure and an honor to be with you all today. Many have been waiting for this moment for an additional one or two years. To finally cross the stage as a finish line to the first leg of your road trip.

During your time at the Art Institute, you have gone through all levels of emotions: from humor to anger, from joy to misery, from feeling accomplished to feeling defeated, from happiness and to now sadness as you go your separate ways. BUT I tell you to turn that sadness back into joy because you all MUST reflect on your accomplishments at the Art Institute.

You have formed bonds and connections that will last longer than you think.

You have learned more about yourself and your discipline than most people.

And you have met and faced more challenges than most.

But, you have one more challenge to face, yourself. As you go out to the world, your biggest challenge isn’t someone else. It’s the ache and burning in your heart, and the little voice inside your head yells, “I CAN’T.” But you don’t listen.

YOU just push harder.

And then you hear the voice whisper, “I CAN.”

You will discover that the person you thought you were is no match for the person you really are.

I can provide many words of wisdom that I hope will stick with you. But, these are three words that I carry with me every day from my moms, who raised three kids in inner-city Projects of Louisville, KY:

The first is grit.

Toughness and resolve are a requirement. The work you do will be highly challenging but equally rewarding.

The second is love.

The world needs more people with heart and with empathy.

You must love what you do and who you’re doing it for.

But we also need folks who can balance that with a healthy dose of humility.

We need people who can be curious and vulnerable — who aren’t afraid to say, “I don’t know.” Who isn’t too proud to ask for help or consider that someone else’s idea might be better.

Be bold.

Be proud.

Never doubt yourself. Walk boldly on that road ahead no matter where it takes you. It’s now on you to spread what you have learned.

Congratulations, graduates, on what you have accomplished, and good luck on your road ahead.”

IBM is thrilled to announce a new partnership with Texas State University Communication Design program to offer an exciting two-day virtual conference: Black Design: Past, Present, and Future. The April event will bring together aspiring designers, academic and industry professionals for select networking opportunities, career development workshops, and important panel discussions with leaders in the field.

What is Black Design: Past, Present, and Future?

On April 9–10, 2021, this two-day virtual conference will provide networking, development, and career opportunities for young designers, with a focus on student designers of color. The event will be split into four categories: Honoring Our Ancestors, Honoring Our Present, Honoring the Diaspora, and Honoring Our Future.

The conference will also feature a career fair, which intends to connect numerous designers of color to employers who seek to hire them. The career fair’s success will be a targeted effort to increase diversity in professional practice. Simultaneously, the presentations will be a safe space where the intersection of race and practice overlap.

Why IBM as a title sponsor?

The frustration of racial inequity has been cast under a stark spotlight that no one can ignore, and the reality is, things aren’t going to change unless we take concerted steps to change them. Enough is enough. We have to do better. It is time we challenge the systems in place and design a better future.

IBM is committed to creating a culture of racial equity for designers at our company and across the industry. We envision a culture where Black designers and Black lives are respected, celebrated, and able to bring their full selves to everything they do.

How will IBM show up to the conference?

Attendees of the conference will interact with designers from IBM who are slated to moderate sessions and participate on panels. IBMers will share what design means to the company, and you will also get an understanding of how IBM Design is contributing to the industry and fiercely acting upon Racial Equity in Design for all.

For the career fair, we will have representatives from multiple design roles available to network and answer questions from attendees. Students and professionals who are interested in roles at IBM, head over to ibm.com/employment.

What outcomes do we hope to see?

This conference is a great way for communities of designers to come together, to listen, learn, and take action. One of our biggest outcomes we hope to see is increased representation in the field of design — at IBM and everywhere else. We want for those who come from non-traditional paths to find they have opportunities in design and that their lived experience is valued. We want to learn from the past and for new systems and new ways of working to emerge that will have a positive impact on us as humans.

Registration is now open!

👉🏿 Register for the Conference
👉🏿 Register for the Career Fair: Students // Professionals

For questions: email Omari Souza at blackdesign@txstate.edu.

Other resources:
👉🏿 Learn more about Racial Equity in Design
👉🏿 Learn more about IBM Design
👉🏿 Check out last year’s event: State of Black Design

The above story is personal and does not necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies, or opinions.

IBM Announcing title sponsorship of upcoming conference Black Design: Past, Present, Future was originally published in IBM Design on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States in 2020, designers in the IBM Austin Studios went remote to continue our work-life like everyone else in the world. We have been pushing through, begrudgingly, with virtual meetings and figuring out how to mentally and physically cope with the lack of face-to-face contact. We have been missing the casual hallway conversations, peaking into team workspaces, greeting new IBMers and guests wandering around for a dose of something different. We were planning, thinking, wishing to return to the studio we were so fond of in the back of our heads.

After almost a year of working remotely, I got the news that all of the IBM Austin Studio spaces were flooded due to winter storms Uri and Viola. Our IBM Studios were “destroyed,” said one IBMer who posted on Twitter. “A bit dramatic, but yes, it’s severely damaged. Our community is still strong.” was my reply to their post. At the time, I focused on my responsibilities: family, team, and work, in that order. I took care of my family and my team members based in Austin, dealing with the storms’ aftermath while still getting work requests. I had moved on past the studio.

It’s been a year since we have sat in the studio — less than a year since our team met to move our stuff out. But, what I said in the Twitter reply still stuck in the back of my head, “Our community is still strong.” And then it hit me. Like, hit me with a box of tissues, I’m crying, hit me. The IBM Studios Slack channel received a message from our sister studio in Böblingen, Germany. The studio leader had organized a Box folder of unscripted, personal, and heartfelt video messages from our studio mates. Many of them were people I trained, currently mentor, or leadership peers. The studio brought us together, yes. But, I realized through all of the virtual meetings, conversations, and late-night brainstorming that we formed a community.

And then it hit me. Like, hit me with a box of tissues, I’m crying, hit me.

Community is about growing with others. At the studio, I was around a culturally rich and empowering community that shaped my identity and pride as a designer. I have been fortunate to be around people and families ever engaged in improving their community’s vitality. Even without the studio, every day, I get to meet new people. I have the opportunity to be there in their lives during some of their most proud and distressing moments. Because of who these people are and the kindness I have received, I strive to be the best designer I can be and serve those who need me most.

Want to read this story later? Save it in Journal.

So, why is community important? Because community saves us from the isolation and alienation we fear. Because the community is about finding each other and a place we can call home. Building a community is compelling. Not only because we are survivors in the existing world order, but because we bring differences to a society that erases our differences. By dealing with differences, we confront the question of the social and economic foundations of our society. By building community, we put some order in the fragmented world.

Now, more than ever, we need our design community to come together. I’m not looking for a community of sameness or reflections of myself, but a community of differences. We need to come together for reasons beyond our work requirements and do so by any means necessary.

I will miss the studio. I will miss it for so many reasons that I can’t list them all. But the next time you want to chat, shoot the bull, bounce an insane idea off someone, remember, your community is closer than you think.

📝 Save this story in Journal.

In September the Talent Team held its first session for Bootcamp for New Design Leaders. The week long session pulled together experts from around IBM and design leaders in the external community to speak to participants about awareness of themselves and their role, to communicate effectively to their immediate team and align with other partners and understand how to deliver great outcomes to their users and the market.

Awareness 🙇🏽
Designers taking on lead responsibilities need to have a better understanding of themselves, their role and their team. Design Practice Leader, Sarah Nelson, led the initial session to help participants understand not just what leadership type they are but what attributes challenges them the most.

There are several different leadership attributes, but the Authoritative one is the most challenging for most people. Just the word itself can have a negative mental connotation. At some point in time you will run into this type of leader, or you will need to be an authoritative leader for the benefit of the project, your team and the user. As leaders we must understand that we may have a core style of leadership but we need to be able to adopt or take on other attributes to achieve outcomes.

But beyond just being aware of ourselves we need to:

• Be aware of the guardrails that our team is working in
• People actually work better within constraints, not competition
• We must be judicially transparent to build trust with our team
• Sweep away distractions so your team can focus on their goal
• And, lead as an advocate for their team

Communication 🎙
Along with different styles of leadership are different communication styles. Utilizing the Myers Briggs Type, workshop lead Kathryn McElroy helped the participants understand how we must look past the stereotypes and how our dichotomies can work better together. As Alvaro Soto, a communication facilitator, puts it: “Designers can vastly improve the acceptance of their message by tailoring arguments to the style of those who will make the ultimate decision.”

But, ultimately a good leader is a good listener. Fellow designer and workshop participant, Lara Hanlon says it best “To understand your team, stakeholders, and the marketplace, you must pay attention to the wants, needs, and concerns voiced by everyone involved. One simple way to gain empathy is to listen.” (Link to Lara’s Medium article.)

“Your role as a leader is to harness the power of your multi-disciplinary team.” ~Phil Gilbert

Delivery 📮
When delivering a product to market there are a lot of things to take into consideration, from the user needs, work flow prioritization, to who are the necessary people to engage to ensure alignment and support for great outcomes. All of these can be daunting for someone taking on new leadership responsibilities. We all must remember that we are not alone. IBM Design General Manager Phil Gilbert said it best, “Your role as a leader is to harness the power of your multi-disciplinary team.” Leaders need to utilize the strengths of their teammates to support the goal of the project. They must also realize that their “team” is much larger than the people that may sit next to them or who they IM or have phone conversations with daily.

“Find your hidden social network,” says Fahad Osmani, Director, Talent Strategy & Transformation. “Your goal should be to have a solid working relationship with every single person on your overall team that delivers the thing that our users/customers spend 8-hours on/pay-money-for. If you think this means your design team, think again.”

Design leadership can be hard; especially if you’ve not done it before. The best way to meet this challenge through this bootcamp is through the support of your peers, as you swap war stories, and build relationships we hope will last the rest of your careers. Bootcamp for New Design Leaders is just one part of maintaining a sustainable culture of design at IBM.

Thank you to all the co-facilitators who made this first prototype experience possible. I learned so much from putting this together for the participants. I look forward to iterating on future sessions.

Design Leadership: Maintaining a Sustainable Culture of Design at IBM was originally published in IBM Design on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I recently gave a talk at the xChange Austin workshop to talk about how IBM is using design thinking to change the way we work. This is a huge initiative for this 100+ year-old corporation to undertake, but there are some things that you as a leader in your company can do to quickly adopt this framework into your product, team and organization.

Radical Collaboration:
We need to break down silos and have constructive conversations with all team members and all disciplines that contribute to a project’s success. Practicing design thinking helps create a framework to have those conversations be more constructive. Also, the practice of working with sticky notes and markers allows everyone’s voice to be equal and heard.

Stop Saying “No.”
Instead, say “Yes, and…” encourage team members to build on the ideas of others. Make learning and exploration a necessity for everybody, including yourself. Create a safe environment and ask the team to come out of their comfort zone, explore, and learn. Also, enable them to do so by giving them the appropriate time and budget.

Making Mistakes Is Better Than Faking Perfection.
Design thinking is iterative, so teams DO fail early and move on to focus on the important new insights that come from those early failures. If you force a failed idea into the market, then you are forgetting the user, and eventually the user will say, “Forget you!”

Take risks. Iterate quickly. Fail fast. Learn well.

With Good Values Come Good People.
This does not have a direct connection to the practice of design thinking, but more to creating a culture of design where you work. No one wants to work in an office full of egotistical jerks, right? We find that there are a lot of really smart and talented people, but those are just prerequisites for the job. Look beyond expertise when hiring for your teams. We put our new hires through a rigorous hiring process, but at the end of the day the final question we ask ourselves is “Would you want to work with this person?”

These are just some small steps on how you can start creating a culture of design in your workplace. By mixing the proper tools and practices, providing an environment that cultivates creativity and top-notch talent, we can deliver experiences that work together, work the same, and work for you and I.

Simple Steps to Creating a Culture of Design was originally published in IBM Design on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.