Business: Culture Change

In this edition of Ask UXmatters, our experts discuss whether they are seeing companies’ business models change from being engineering driven to being design driven. In addition, our experts explore what it means to be a design-driven organization and how all members of a product team can impact a product’s UX design.

While some of our experts believe that we are seeing a shift to design-driven organizations, others on our expert panel think we’re actually observing a very different phenomenon. Several of our panelists encourage UX designers to acknowledge the equally important roles of Engineering, Design, and Business, or Product Management, in designing optimal product user experiences. Read More

Failure. Not many people savor it or seek it out. But instead of focusing on disappointing outcomes, we should consider viewing failures as opportunities to learn and improve. One principle of agile software development is failing fast. Of course, the goal is not to aim for failure, but to recognize that failure is a necessary and beneficial part of the development process if you approach it properly. Research and development depends on iteratively generating, inspecting, and evaluating ideas, designs, and products. Great products aren’t miraculously conceived—they’re built, refined, and enhanced iteratively.

Learning About Others’ Failures Improves Persistence and Performance

Professors from Teachers College, Columbia University, and University of Washington wanted to see whether exposing students to stories of the intellectual or life struggles of famous scientists such as Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, and Michael Faraday would impact their own scientific achievements. They found that the performance of students who heard stories about others’ intellectual or life struggles in science classes actually improved, unlike that of students who were exposed only to stories of successes. Read More

Shifting trends are forcing technology companies to reimagine their value proposition. IBM has chosen to create disruption through design. In embracing the future, the company is essentially invoking its past. Back in 1956, IBM was the first large company to establish a corporate-wide design program. But this time, the company’s goals are more ambitious.

Recently, we interviewed Karel Vredenburg, Director of IBM Design’s worldwide client program and head of IBM Studios in Canada, who told us, “We’ve put everything into this transformation.” The company is investing more than $100 million in becoming design centered. Read More