Tag Archives: testing

Great Design Requires Great Testing

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Great Design Requires Great Testing

GUEST POST from Mike Shipulski

When you design something, you create a solution to a collection of problems. But it goes far beyond creating the solution. You also must create objective evidence that demonstrates that the solution does, in fact, solve the problems. And the reason to generate this evidence is to help the organization believe that the solution solves the problem, which is an additional requirement that comes with designing something. Without this belief, the organization won’t go out to the customer base and convince them that the solution will solve their problems. If the sales team doesn’t believe, the customers won’t believe.

In school, we are taught to create the solution, and that’s it. Here are the drawings, here are the materials to make it, here is the process documentation to build it, and my work here is done. But that’s not enough.

Before designing the solution, you’ve got to design the tests that create objective evidence that the solution actually works, that it provides the right goodness and it solves the right problems. This is an easy thing to say, but for a number of reasons, it’s difficult to do. To start, before you can design the right tests, you’ve got to decide on the right problems and the right goodness. And if there’s disagreement and the wrong tests are defined, the design community will work in the wrong areas to generate the wrong value. Yes, there will be objective evidence, and, yes, the evidence will create a belief within the organization that problems are solved and goodness is achieved. But when the sales team takes it to the customer, the value proposition won’t resonate and it won’t sell.

Some questions to ask about testing. When you create improvements to an existing product, what is the family of tests you use to characterize the incremental goodness? And a tougher question: When you develop a new offering that provides new lines of goodness and solves new problems, how do you define the right tests? And a tougher question: When there’s disagreement about which tests are the most important, how do you converge on the right tests?

Image credit: Pexels

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Five Keys to Leading Creative Teams Successfully

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Five Keys to Leading Creative Teams Successfully

GUEST POST from David Burkus

Creativity is a team sport.

It’s been that way for a long time. But the level of teamwork required to solve problems and find innovation has increased over the last decade and even century. Most of the simple problems of the world have been solved, and the ones that remain are too often too complex to be solved by any lone, individual genius.

But not all teams fair equally when it comes to creative tasks, because many team leaders are better prepared to lead teams where the work is simple and easy to define. When reaching team goals is ambiguous and requires more creative thinking it also requires a different type of leadership.

In this article, we’ll outline those differences. We’ll cover five ways to lead creative teams.

1. Show Them the Constraints

The first way to lead creative teams is to show them the constraints. It may sound a little counterintuitive—after all aren’t we supposed to “think outside the box”? But one of the first things creative teams need is an understanding of the constraints of the problem—of the box their answer needs to fit inside. Research suggests creativity is more activated when people understand the constraints of the problem. Constraints aide in the convergent thinking of sifting through ideas that needs to accompany the divergent thinking of generating lots of ideas. You need both. But you need constraints first so that people know ahead of time how to judge the ideas they generate.

2. Support Their Ideas

The second way to lead creative teams is to support their ideas. Nothing stops the creative flow of ideas on a team more than hearing “That’ll never work” or “That’s not how we do things around here.” Leaders need to champion the ideas their team puts forward, at least until the idea generation phase is complete. When people think their leadership isn’t going to consider their ideas, they stop sharing them. Leaders need to not only support ideas when the team is discussing them, but also support ideas when it comes to selling them up the chain of approval needed to implement the idea. Without that support, people just stop trying.

3. Teach Them to Fight Right

The third way to lead creative teams is to teach them to fight right. We like to think of creative teams as fun and cohesive. But the opposite is true. There’s a lot of friction on a creative team. And research suggests that the most creative teams leverage task-focused conflict to generate more and better ideas. But those teams also know how to keep it task-focused and keep it from devolving into personality fights and hurt feelings. And often that requires leaders who can demonstrate and teach their people to fight for their ideas, but not fight their teammates.

4. Test What You Can

The fourth way to lead creative teams is to test what you can. Ideally, teams are going to generate a lot of different ideas. And it’s a bad idea to chase consensus and settle on an idea too soon. Instead, the most creative teams test out multiple different ideas to learn more from what worked and didn’t work, and then combine those lessons into a new and better idea. But too often, leaders facilitate a brainstorming session, circle the idea they like best, and that’s the end of it. Instead, the best leaders test as much as they can as often as they can.

5. Celebrate Their Failures

The final way to lead creative teams is to celebrate their failures. If you’re testing a lot of ideas, your team will fail. But if they fail small on a test, they’ll reduce the chances of failing big later. In addition, failures carry all sorts of lessons that can be learned to better understand the problem and generate even better ideas. That doesn’t happen unless the team understands that failure is part of the process, which is why the best leaders celebrate the risks that team members took and the learning moments their failures generated.

In fact, that’s why all five of these methods shouldn’t be looked at as a linear process. Creativity is an iterative process of ideation, testing, failure, learning, ideation, and more testing and failure. The best leaders know the goal isn’t to get it done, but to keep getting better. And that goes for the creative process, but also the team culture. The goal is to keep getting better until everyone can do their best work ever.

Image credit: Pexels

Originally published at https://davidburkus.com on May 24, 2022.

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Innovation Through Experimentation

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Strategies for Rapid Iteration

Innovation Through Experimentation

GUEST POST from Chateau G Pato

In today’s fast-paced and constantly evolving business landscape, innovation is the key to staying ahead of the competition. However, traditional approaches to innovation may not be enough to keep up with rapidly changing customer needs and preferences. To foster innovation, organizations must embrace a culture of experimentation and adopt strategies for rapid iteration. In this article, we will explore the importance of experimentation in driving innovation and discuss two case study examples to illustrate successful implementation.

Case Study 1: Google’s “20% Time”

One of the most famous examples of fostering innovation through experimentation is Google’s “20% time.” This initiative allows employees to spend 20% of their workweek, or one day, working on projects that interest them outside of their core responsibilities. This flexible structure encourages employees to explore new ideas and experiment with innovative solutions.

One notable outcome of Google’s 20% time is the creation of Gmail. Originally developed as an experiment by a Google engineer, the project emerged from the employee’s personal interest in improving email communication. Through rapid iteration and continuous experimentation, Gmail was refined and eventually launched as one of Google’s most successful products. This case study demonstrates how giving employees the freedom to experiment can lead to significant innovation and long-term success.

Case Study 2: Amazon’s A/B Testing

Amazon, the e-commerce giant, is renowned for its customer-centric approach and its relentless pursuit of innovation. One of the strategies Amazon uses to continuously iterate and improve its offerings is A/B testing. By testing different variations of a webpage, product listing, or feature, Amazon gathers quantitative data to make informed decisions about which version performs better. This data-driven approach allows them to quickly adapt and optimize their offerings to meet customer expectations.

An example of Amazon’s A/B testing is its product recommendation engine. By experimenting with different algorithms and design variations, Amazon continuously refines its recommendation engine to provide highly personalized and relevant product suggestions. This iterative process has played a significant role in enhancing the customer experience, boosting sales, and establishing Amazon as an industry leader.

Key Strategies for Rapid Iteration

1. Embrace Failure as Learning: Encourage a culture where failure is seen as an opportunity to learn and improve. Failure should not be punished but celebrated as a stepping stone towards success. By fostering an environment that values experimentation and risk-taking, organizations can encourage employees to think creatively and push boundaries.

2. Establish Rapid Feedback Loops: Implement processes that allow for quick feedback and iteration. Regularly gather feedback from customers, employees, and other stakeholders to identify areas for improvement. This feedback loop enables organizations to make iterative changes based on real-world data and inputs, leading to more relevant and effective solutions.

3. Set Clear Goals and Metrics: Clearly define innovation goals and establish measurable metrics to track progress. By setting concrete objectives, organizations can evaluate the success of their experiments and measure the impact on key performance indicators. This data-driven approach helps focus efforts on what truly matters and ensures that innovation initiatives align with overall business objectives.

Conclusion

Innovation through experimentation is crucial for organizations aiming to thrive in today’s rapidly changing business landscape. By adopting strategies for rapid iteration, businesses can foster a culture that encourages and celebrates innovation. The case study examples of Google’s “20% time” and Amazon’s A/B testing demonstrate how organizations can drive significant innovation by allowing employees to experiment and by leveraging quantitative data to inform decision-making. By embracing failure, establishing feedback loops, and setting clear goals and metrics, organizations can unleash their creative potential, adapt to evolving market dynamics, and stay ahead of the competition.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Braden Kelley’s Experiment Canvas™ can be a super useful FREE tool for your innovation or human-centered design pursuits.

“The Experiment Canvas™ is designed to help people instrument for learning fast in iterative new product development (NPD) or service development activities. The canvas will help you create new innovation possibilities in a more visual and collaborative way for greater alignment, accountability, and more successful outcomes.”

Image credit: misterinnovation.com

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