UX STRAT USA: Sean Rhodes, "UX Strategy For Increasingly Disruptive Futures States And Behaviors"

1. SEEING AROUND THE CORNER
UX STRATEGY FOR INCREASINGLY DISRUPTIVE FUTURE
STATES AND BEHAVIORS
September 16 2016
Sean Rhodes, Executive Creative Director, @917K

2. 2
May you live in interesting times
– “Chinese” curse
Source: BloombergSource: Economist

3. Designers are now responsible for
impacting customer behavior
through the creation of products
and services.
3

4. 4
Then, we were invited to help mold
our client’s cultures and the way
their people work together.
Often times to be more like us.

5. 5
Origin story:
“We’re the world’s 14th
largest software company.
Now what?”
– Jeff Immelt , CEO GE

6. 6
Something big was happening:
The data captured by the technology
running GE’s industrial equipment is
becoming as valuable as the
equipment itself.

7. 7
Ergo:
GE needed to make great software to
capture that data value, or someone
else would.

8. 8
To pull this off they just need to
change the whole $270B company.
And move HQ to Boston.
“If we can’t pull this off, we’re toast”

9. 9
Lorem
GE as we knew it, was among
the last great apex predators
of the industrial epoch.
Adapt or die.
If GE can do it, so can we.
CHALLENGE

10. 10
OUR OPPORTUNITY
Use design to help organizations to adapt
to the new reality of transient advantage.
Structured, Hardwired,
Siloed, Deliberate, and
Built-to-Last
Networked, Dynamic,
Interdependent, Predictive
Destined-to-Change

11. 11
Credit: Buster Benson and John Manoogian 3

12. 12
ARE WE UP TO THIS?
“Recognizing the need is the
primary condition for design”
– Charles Eames

13. 13
CALL TO ACTION
From problem solving to problem framing

14. 14
OUR PROCESS
Understanding human’s unmet
needs has been a primary method
to frame our design objectives.

15. 15
CALL TO ADAPT
“Understanding and meeting
human’s needs is only 10% of
what makes us successful.
So what else you got for us?”
– Super Successful Frog Client

16. SEEING AROUND THE CORNER
TWO STORIES OF UX STRATEGY
ADAPTATION IN ACTION
16

17. 17
FUTURECASTING
01
FOR USE WHEN
Solving for current pain points
may be irrelevant because the
context is evolving so rapidly.

18. 18
OUR MISSION
Transform of the way the
world buys, sells and
owns cars in 5-10 years.
Only 17 out of 4023 folks
dig it today. But who the
heck knows what it’s going
to be like in 10 years?!

19. 19
How do we strip away
preconceived notions of
the future, not so we can
predict it, but so we can
understand and act
against the underlying
forces that shape it?
KEY FRAMING

20. 20
FUTURE CASTING OVERVIEW
RESEARCH DEFINE IDEATE
Identify the critical questions
stakeholders are seeking to answer
about the future. Begin to explore the
potential forces that will shape that
future context.
DEFINE THE FOCUS
Identify driving forces behind
potential future events and define the
frameworks to look at them.
DEFINE DRIVING FORCES
FOR THE FUTURE
Flesh out potential futures that are
both compelling and adequately
divergent. Optionally craft singular
events that act as tell tale signs for
potential futures.
CREATE POTENTIAL
FUTURES
Create workshop activities to explore
and craft optimal company strategies
and/or products and services in light
of potential futures and the shared
values of all stakeholders.
EXPLORE FUTURE-FACING
COMPANY STRATEGIES AND/OR
PRODUCTS & SERVICES

21. 21
DEFINE FOCUS
01

22. WILL SERVICES AND
PLATFORMS DISPLACE
CARS AS THE PROFIT
CONCENTRATORS IN
TRANSPORTATION?
OUR FOCUS

23. ¿Que onda?
PROVOCATION

25. SMART CAR
18 YEARS
1M
CARS SOLD
CARS2GO
6 YEARS
1M
CUSTOMERS
*Sources: DaimlerAG and Cars2Go as of 2014

26. SMART CAR
18 YEARS
1M
CARS SOLD
CARS2GO
6 YEARS
1M
CUSTOMERS
SERVICED BY
12K CARS
*Sources: DaimlerAG and Cars2Go as of 2014

27. 27
RESEARCH DRIVING
FORCES
02

28. 28
Taken together STEEP forces provide a big-
picture view of how the world is changing. They
span multiple spectrums and exist in
combination with each other, not isolation.
RESEARCH FRAMEWORK
STEEP FRAMEWORK
POTENTIAL
FUTURES
ECONOMICALENVIRONMENTAL
POLITICAL
SOCIAL
TECHNOLOGICAL

29. 29
DEFINE DRIVING
FORCES & FUTURE
STATES
03

30. 30
Events are sign posts along a road that helps us
identify characteristics of a potential future.
Plan to create 40-50 events that cover a range
of different themes.
CONTENT BUILDING BLOCKS
EVENTS

31. 31
EVENT EXAMPLE
TITLE
SUPPORTING
IMAGERY
FEATURE
PARAGRAPH
LIKELIHOOD
EVENT YEAR (+/- 2020)
Likely Unlikely Uncertain

32. 32
“Potential futures” are the content backbones
of the workshop activities. A typical workshop
entails creating 3-4 potential futures. Posters
are a great format, because they facilitate group
activities and share outs.
CONTENT BUILDING BLOCKS
POTENTIAL FUTURES

33. 33
THE WORKSHOP
04

34. 34

35. 35
IMMERSIVE FORMAT EXAMPLE
This diagram below represents how
a room environment can be crafted
to create an immersive experience in
support of a Futurecasting
Workshop

36. 36
Events are sign posts along a road that helps us
identify characteristics of a potential future.
Plan to create 40-50 events that cover a range
of different themes.
WORKSHOP
EVENTS TO POTENTIAL FUTURES
TODAY
POTENTIAL
FUTURES

37. 37
IDEATION ACTIVITIES
An overview of ideation and concepting
activities for a product strategy
workshop after potential future
QUICK SYNTHESIS
FINAL CONCEPTING
Teams work together to
refine their final concept
and to create a pitch for
selling the concept during
the group readout.
4.
Teams synthesize the
learnings from their
potential future
immersion to identify
opportunity areas and
capture initial ideas.
1.
RAPID IDEATION & VOTING
Taking the output of the
synthesis activity, the
team generates as many
ideas as possible using
worksheets that get
pinned on the poster.
2.
Team members share
ideas and vote for the top
ones to take into final
concepting
3.

38. 38
INSTRUMENTED PROTOTYPING
02
FOR USE WHEN
The future behaviors we hope to
influence don’t currently exist.

39. “How do we know this thing is
going to work waaaaaaaay before
we built it?”
– Frog Clients
39

40. 40
THE PROBLEM
America has a savings problem.
And it’s getting worse.
1960
5%
10%
15%
2015
PERSONAL
SAVINGS
RATE

41. 41
THE PROBLEM
Bad saving behaviors will
critically affect future generations.
And in time blow up our client’s biz.
RETIREMENT
SAVINGS
MILLENIALS
25-34
GEN X
35-44
OLDER GEN X:
45-54
BABY BOOMERS
55-64
10% 5% 3% 2%
On track for
retirement
Off track for
retirement

42. THE OPPORTUNITY
We can change
that by reaching
kids and families
early to create
lifelong savers.
42

43. You just got $
20!
Where does it go?
My GoalsSpending
THE CHALLENGE
For something so
simple (on paper)
It’s really difficult
to understand
and effect
someone’s saving
behaviors.
43
Spend Save

44. 44
ADAPTING THE PROCESS
To better understand and effect
the saving behaviors we created a
prototype and used it for a
longitudinal in-home study that
provided a platform that supplied
usage data and the means to adapt
the experiment while in-flight.
Basically we folded Lean UX and
Agile on top of Design Thinking to
help define the problem space and
set goals..

45. 45
Clarify the audience…
Clarify the audience
Sensorimotor
0 to 18-24 months
Infant
Aware of what is
immediately
in front of them
Object
Permanence:
develops memory
Imitation
achieved,
engagement in
“self talk”; starts
counting
Inductive
learning through
experience;
learns that
merchandise
requires
payment
Learns about
money in 1st
grade
Develops ability
to control cognitive
processes and inhibit
behavior — the root
of financial concepts
like saving
Applies complex
math to real
world problems
using money in
5th grade
Abstract
concepts
including
algebra taught in
7th/8th grade
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Pre-Operational
18-24 months to 6-7 years
Concrete Operational
6-7 years to 11-12 years
Formal Operational
11-12 years +
Toddler Preschool Elementary
School
Tween
Develops autonomy,
ability to plan ahead
and self efficacy i.e.
the confidence to
achieve goals
Opportunity
Short term goals, extrinsic
incentives, simpler education,
more physical/tangible
Longer term goals, intrinsic
incentives, more complex financial
concepts, more software
Opportunity
Able to think about things symbolically and further
develop language
Demonstrate logical, concrete reasoning and
realizes thoughts are their own
Clear understanding
of abstract concepts,
hypotheticals
and metacognition
(learn to learn)
Age:

46. 46
…and get specific about desired behaviors.
TARGET
BEHAVIORS
COMPARE VALUES
OCCURS
View relative value of
savings and/or goal.
Opportunistically / during goal pursuit.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Understand value of savings relative to other
measures, e.g., products, time, peer behavior.
OCCURS
Opportunistically / during goal pursuit.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Attend to and understand saving behavior patterns.
OCCURS
Opportunistically / during goal pursuit.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Understand how long it will take to reach savings
milestones relative to current and alternative
saving patterns.
OCCURS
Opportunistically / adjacent to allocation and
goal setting.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Provide an alternate evaluative context for near
term saving decisions and goal setting.
AUDIT TRANSACTIONS
Review deposits and
withdrawals.
FORECAST VALUE
Project value of savings in
some future state.
PLAY-ACT
Role play to inform
near-term behavior.
SET A GOAL
PURSUING GOALS
HANDLING MONEY
UNDERSTANDING VALUE
OCCURS
Identify a goal and input it
into the system.
Whenever kid wants to make a purchase they cannot
afford.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Understand explicit value of stated goal. Understand
time to goal and optimal savings behaviors.
OCCURS
When a goal is set / opportunistically.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Understand value relative to other goals.
Understand different paths to achievement.
OCCURS
Whenever kid has money and is motivated to
contribute.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Understand current status, behavior-to-date and
level of accomplishment. Understand remaining
time to goal and potential improvements to
savings behaviors.
OCCURS
When kid has reached their initial stated goal.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Understand behaviors that lead to their
accomplishment. Get a sense of adjacent goals.
PRIORITIZE GOALS
Identify one goal as more
valuable than another.
PROGRESS TO A GOAL
View progress toward goal
during a transaction.
ACHIEVE GOAL
Update to more ambitious
goal or withdraw savings.
DEPOSIT
OCCURS
Put money in savings.
Whenever kid has excess money and is
inclined to deposit.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Put money in the bank whenever it is possible
to do so.
OCCURS
Whenever kid receives money (e.g., allowance, receiving
gifts, rewards or payments).
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Understand impacts of different savings ratios.
OCCURS
Opportunistically / during goal pursuit.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Understand current saving status via various
metrics (i.e., not just the numbers).
OCCURS
Whenever kid wants to make a purchase they can
afford, outside the bounds of a stated goal.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Understand impact of withdrawals, especially
when compromising goals.
ALLOCATE
Split money into saving, spending
and/or other groupings whenever it
is received.
CHECK BALANCE
Check amount saved.
AVOID WITHDRAWALS
Refrain from
withdrawing savings.
Behaviors that cultivate understanding of current, comparative and future value of savings.
Desirable behaviors are split into three groups that
build upon one another. Foundational behaviors are at
the base, more complex behaviors stack on top.
UNDERSTANDING
VALUE
Behaviors associated with planning and achieving savings goals.
Foundational behaviors such as depositing, allocating money and avoiding withdrawals.
PURSUING GOALS
HANDLING MONEY
ARGET
EHAVIORS
COMPARE VALUES
OCCURS
View relative value of
savings and/or goal.
Opportunistically / during goal pursuit.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Understand value of savings relative to other
measures, e.g., products, time, peer behavior.
OCCURS
Opportunistically / during goal pursuit.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Attend to and understand saving behavior patterns.
OCCURS
Opportunistically / during goal pursuit.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Understand how long it will take to reach savings
milestones relative to current and alternative
saving patterns.
OCCURS
Opportunistically / adjacent to allocation and
goal setting.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Provide an alternate evaluative context for near
term saving decisions and goal setting.
AUDIT TRANSACTIONS
Review deposits and
withdrawals.
FORECAST VALUE
Project value of savings in
some future state.
PLAY-ACT
Role play to inform
near-term behavior.
SET A GOAL
PURSUING GOALS
HANDLING MONEY
UNDERSTANDING VALUE
OCCURS
Identify a goal and input it
into the system.
Whenever kid wants to make a purchase they cannot
afford.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Understand explicit value of stated goal. Understand
time to goal and optimal savings behaviors.
OCCURS
When a goal is set / opportunistically.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Understand value relative to other goals.
Understand different paths to achievement.
OCCURS
Whenever kid has money and is motivated to
contribute.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Understand current status, behavior-to-date and
level of accomplishment. Understand remaining
time to goal and potential improvements to
savings behaviors.
OCCURS
When kid has reached their initial stated goal.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Understand behaviors that lead to their
accomplishment. Get a sense of adjacent goals.
PRIORITIZE GOALS
Identify one goal as more
valuable than another.
PROGRESS TO A GOAL
View progress toward goal
during a transaction.
ACHIEVE GOAL
Update to more ambitious
goal or withdraw savings.
DEPOSIT
OCCURS
Put money in savings.
Whenever kid has excess money and is
inclined to deposit.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Put money in the bank whenever it is possible
OCCURS
Whenever kid receives money (e.g., allowance, receiving
gifts, rewards or payments).
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
OCCURS
Opportunistically / during goal pursuit.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
Understand current saving status via various
OCCURS
Whenever kid wants to make a purchase they can
afford, outside the bounds of a stated goal.
EDUCATIONAL GOALS
ALLOCATE
Split money into saving, spending
and/or other groupings whenever it
is received.
CHECK BALANCE
Check amount saved.
AVOID WITHDRAWALS
Refrain from
withdrawing savings.
Behaviors that cultivate understanding of current, comparative and future value of savings.
behaviors are split into three groups that
UNDERSTANDING
VALUE
Behaviors associated with planning and achieving savings goals.
Foundational behaviors such as depositing, allocating money and avoiding withdrawals.
PURSUING GOALS
HANDLING MONEY

47. Develop concepts
and redirect
through brute force.
47

48. THE PRODUCT
We created a
digital
intervention that
sought to
empowered kids
to make this
choice…
48
Spend Save

49. THE PRODUCT
…and something
like this happened
when they saved.
With enough
features to
engage with it for
a week (or longer)
49
Spend Save

50. INITIAL VALIDATION
We gave it to 6 kids
for a week. They
saved an average of
xx% and every family
loved it.
“I loved the app. I know it’s getting built
but I really wish I wouldn’t have to wait.” —Matilda, 9
Age Range Avg Time
Spent in App
8-11 xxm
Met xx%
Savings Target
xxx%
# of
Interactions
xxxx
50

51. Software stability
Experience depth
Client readiness
Team willingness
51
THIS WAS CHOCKFULL OF RISK

52. “When the rate of change on the outside is
greater than the rate of change on the inside
the end is near.”
– Jack Welch
52
BUT THE RISK OF DOING NOTHING WAS GREATER…

53. “MOST OF MY MONEY
COMES FROM BETS
AND THE TOOTH FAIRY.”
— BECKETT, 9
KIDS AS THE DARNEDEST THINGS

54. frog is a company of Aricent © 2016 frog design inc.
Thanks!
Sean Rhodes | sean.rhodes@frodgesign.com | @917K