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Prototype Death Rate

2021-12-14 by cense

This simple metric can be a big determinant of innovation success.

A prototype is developed when you’ve developed an idea to the point where building a conceptual ‘mock-up’ to test and challenge is possible and desirable. A prototype is the conceptual realization of an idea and allows us to test its fit for purpose ahead of full release to assess bugs, defects, flaws, strengths, and gaps in our design and knowledge.

Persistence in design and development is among the top predictors of innovation success. As we’ve heard from others: fail often and fast to succeed sooner.

The Prototype Death Rate is a simple metric that captures innovation attempts, successes, and the responsiveness of an organization.

Simple Math

Divide the number of prototypes that are stopped by the total number of prototypes developed overall.

This metric forces us to ask: what is a prototype? Have we generated one? In many cases, organizations have not fully thought through what a prototype might actually look like. As the UN Refugee Organization writes, a prototype is not a pilot test. What we consider a prototype to be is something that can be debated, but whatever is agreed on must guide design strategy.

The number of prototypes developed can correlate with the amount of attempts and the effort used to bring new ideas into focus and eventual development.

By tracking what is generated and how it is used, we also create a mechanism for responsiveness. We can start to track our progress, our actions, and our outcomes by paying attention to our attempts and their usefulness in results.

Try it out. Start with defining prototypes. Then build an inventory of prototypes and projects. Then do the math.

If you want help setting up your innovation metrics and system for design, reach out to us. We can help — this is what we do.

Photo by Amélie Mourichon on Unsplash

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: design, design strategy, evaluation, innovation, learning, metrics, prototype, strategy, toolkit, tools

Five Why’s

2021-11-04 by cense

The Power of Why

Children learn a lot and quickly because they are curious. Children don’t stop asking questions, yet as adults we often do. The Five Why’s is a popular, simple, and powerful means to create that childhood sense of wonder and curiosity in your team. It is also a great means to do something called a root cause analysis.

The technique is said to have originated with Toyota, although the exact lineage is a little unclear. If you’ve spent any time around a 5-year old you know this technique by heart.

It starts out like this: Ask ‘Why?’ about something you encounter. Then repeat it for every answer you get up to or past five times.

The Five Why’s is a type of narrative interrogation that allows you to go deeper into understanding the motivations and actions of someone. The Five Why’s is a way for us to learn about what is behind a choice or decision so we can design better for it.

How to Use Five Why’s

The exchange below is based on a real-life example of using this technique. The context was part of a training activity for graduate students with the focus of inquiry on why students chose to pursue graduate studies in design. The program in question largely attracted mid-career professionals who were coming from a variety of different fields to study part-time while they completed their jobs.

Person 1: Question Asker (P1): Why did you choose to enrol in this graduate program?

Person 2: Question Answerer (P2): Because I generally have an interest in design and really wanted to do something that allowed me to be a little more creative.

Commentary (C) : This is the first exchange and focuses on the key question under consideration. Person 2 will respond with whatever they feel is appropriate and it is in this first response that Person 2 will find an aspect of the response that they want to focus on. The next ‘Why’ provides a chance for P1 to inquire about some aspect of this first answer to delve a little deeper.

Second Why

P1: Why is doing something creative important to you?

P2: I don’t have a lot of opportunity to do creative work in my job. I feel I just go through the motions with my job; it’s all very routine. I feel rather bored and unchallenged and I was hoping this program would help that.

C: In this exchange, Person 2 has introduced that creativity is an important part of their motivation to go back to school. The

Third Why

P1: Why do you want to be challenged in your work?

P3: I have a desire to accomplish something. I used to have dreams that I would make a difference in the world and do work that excited me and brought me joy. If I’m honest, I feel like I chose poorly with my career. I did what I was good at, not what I wanted to do.

C: We see here that this learner is addressing larger issues — much closer to the root cause.

Fourth Why

P1: Why was your choice a poor one?

P2: I kept pursuing what others expected of me. I do what others ask of me, not what I really want for myself. I saw this program and thought that this is something that’s important to me, not others.

C: What we see here is that the respondent is opening up about their reasons and connecting them to their career choices. Here, the questioner has many additional avenues to pursue

Fifth Why

P1: Why was it important to do what others wanted?

P2: I always felt I had to please people, especially my parents. They had a tough time and worked so hard to support our family. They were labourers — they didn’t see creativity as something that you could make a living at. I didn’t want to let them down. I felt perusing a creative career would do that and be seen as frivolous.

C: For this learner the choice to pursue graduate studies in design meant far more than a career change — it was a bold personal decision.

Practice Notes

It’s important to note that the pursuit of a root cause can yield some surprising results and that requires some caution. The above exchange got very personal quickly and this can yield some uncomfortable information for some participants. It’s important for facilitators to note that participants should only answer things that they feel comfortable with and should always have the right to pass on a cycle (e.g., do three Why’s instead of five).

Alternatively, there are times when responses do not get detailed and it may take more than 5 cycles to find something closer to a root.

With an understanding of those things that are closer to the root of a situation, the more options there are to design a program or service that meets more substantive needs. Using our example, the graduate program might seek to find ways to market its graduates in ways that can highlight the practical application of creativity. This would fit well with this students’ situation and more underlying motivations and needs.

The Five Why’s are simple to use and powerful in what they reveal. They can bring out your inner five-year old, too.

We can help you ask Why? What? How? and When? as part of our design process. Let us help you — contact us and we can help you implement this method in your work.

Photo by The 77 Human Needs System on Unsplash

Filed Under: Uncategorized

A New Year, A New Journey

2019-01-01 by cense

Light up your 2019

For some reason the number 2019 looks funny. It seems hard to comprehend that somehow we arrived at a calendar year that has these four numbers all together. It’s probably going to be even stranger to see 2020 come when we celebrate the new year at the end of this calendar, particularly when we look back on all those 20/20 plans that were generated to coincide with the year. How did they turn out?

As strange as this number is, nothing compares to the actual times we’re living in. Social complexity arising from human migration, transforming economies, technology, shifting social roles, climate change, and mass urbanization (to name a few contributors) means that we often find ourselves in places and times that feel strange. Strange-making is often considered to be one of the qualities of good design: it makes the familiar feel different by introducing new things — products, services, ideas — into our life.

For us, 2019 is going to be a very strange year for these reasons. We’ll be introducing a lot of new things that have been in the works for years. It’s time to — as Seth Godin implores any innovator, creator, or entrepreneur to do — ship.

We will be launching new products to help you understand, adapt, promote, and sustain positive change. There are going to be new ways to learn all about what change is and how to make it happen. We’ll also be providing new ways to get the support you need to do the work — to ship — your ideas and innovations (making change happen).

At Cense, change is what we’re all about. So as you change your calendar, your plans, even maybe make some new year’s resolutions, stay tuned and take us along with you.

Note: For anyone who’s looking to use the time that comes with the new year replacing the old, we’d like to recommend this simple, free downloadable booklet that is worth spending a couple hours with as you reflect on what you did last year and what you aspire to become this year. Thanks to the folk at Yearcompass.com for providing this resource. We hope it’s helpful to you.

Happy New Year and best wishes for a healthy, exciting, creative, and prosperous 2019 from us at Cense.

Photo by Ricardo Rocha on Unsplash

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2019, design, innovation, promotion

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