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A collection of articles, insights, provocations and trends on the latest in design, technology, business and culture

Views from the pond

How companies like Amazon, Apple and Disney accelerate decision-making for innovation and make the most of their meetings.

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8 Ways to Hack Analysis Paralysis

I was once working with a client who wanted better decision making in their organization. Partway through the effort, he exploded in exasperation, “You’re creating meeting design when I asked for decision-making design! Why are we spending so much time figuring out meetings?!” My response was, “Where do decisions get made?” He sheepishly replied, “Meetings.”
Now, this is not always the case. In some organizations, decisions are made in the meeting before the meeting. In some they are made in the meeting after the meeting. In some, they are made in the break room, on the golf course, social hour at church, or on the sidelines of a youth soccer game. Study this in your <a href="https://www.frogdesign.com/services/org-activation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">organization</a> to get past ‘<a href="https://www.frogdesign.com/designmind/design-mind-frogcast-ep-8-three-pitfalls-of-innovation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis paralysis</a>’ and design more effective decision-making moments.
We do know that the most challenging innovation behavior is decision-making. Whether it is to determine the next large-scale investment area, or which feature to prioritize, lacking rigorous decision-making design can contribute to <a href="https://www.frogdesign.com/designmind/innovation-swirl-try-frogs-innovation-accelerator-canvas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">swirl</a>, waste, frustration and lack of competitiveness. Standing up committees are a very common approach to solving decision making, however without clear objectives and accountability, committees often do not serve their constituents and can even prevent progress.
Beginning with a primary ‘servant leadership’ approach (i.e., the committee serves the business, not vice versa), we design committees that are guided by eight principles to help overcome these challenges.

<a href="https://www.adamgrant.net/book/originals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Research</a> reveals that the quality of ideas is directly correlated to the quantity of ideas. If you want one good idea, you need 10 bad ideas. If you want 10 good ideas, you need 100 bad ideas. Getting comfortable with giving voice to bad ideas is a muscle that can be developed. At frog, we design collaborative work sessions, research, user testing and a myriad of activities to accelerate getting to the best answers through this principle.

Suspend judgment: Separate sense-making and decision making (AKA “diverging and converging” in design thinking).  

When two or more people are together, they form a new entity that has its own personality, inseparable from the individuals. Embracing this principle means understanding that all ideas generated in a group are borne from the collective. This principle also shifts behavior away from individuals attempting to be the “smartest person in the room” to attempting to solve and create something collectively. This applies both to teams and decision-making bodies. The objective is not for “my idea” to win but for “the best thinking of the group” to win.

Collective wisdom: The idea of the group will always be superior to the idea of the individual. 

This is one of the most challenging behaviors that we see in an organization. There is often one or more executive “decision makers” that is involved in the work, causes unnecessary re-work and deck-making activities, and has no practical or emotional incentive to move with speed or in ambiguity. Instead, ensure that business is involved and enrolled, learning together with the innovation team and aligning on choices together, but the people closest to the work should ultimately be making the decisions.

Work proximity: The people closest to the work make the decisions.  

The sponsor’s primary role is to remove blockers, not to create approval cycles. Instead, the sponsor should accelerate the solution by creatively and collaboratively helping navigate requirements, context and constraints.

Get me outta the way: The sponsor as removal blocker. 

Predetermined investment moments are the only times that require structured reviews and approvals by the business. Other key reviews are for information and alignment purposes only. What this looks like, as an example: “We believe the opportunity for us is $10M. We are 20% confident of this, and with an investment of $100,000 ($X/100) we can prove this to 50% certainty.”

Funding gates: Define the decision-making checkpoints in advance. 

In combination with points 3, 4 and 5, decisions are made at the principal level in a cascading format (e.g., “We will proceed with funding the best solution, and those doing the work will be the ones to determine which is the best solution.”)

Make space for debate: Decisions by committee need time and space. 

Leaders can unintentionally sabotage innovation efforts when they mumble behind the scenes or otherwise send signals that they aren’t completely behind decisions. When hard conversations have already had a “Can you live with it?” moment, don’t double back and re-visit decisions unless major, significant, new data is brought to light.

Disagree and commit: As the good book says, “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no.’” 

Finally, even taking into considering all of the above and our behavioral model, at the end of the day we value progress over process. The best way to demonstrate that we are capable of change is to show outcomes.

Progress over process: Foreword movement trumps all else. 

<h3>How the Amazon ‘6-Page Memo’ Applies the Principles</h3>
Take the famed <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/23/what-jeff-bezos-learned-from-requiring-6-page-memos-at-amazon.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amazon 6-page memo</a> as an example of these principles in action. Why is this mechanism like this so powerful and effective? It applies the principles in a simple, elegant, dummy-proof format.
My favorite part of the 6-page memo format is when all the people in the room sit in silence for 30 minutes reading the memo. Why? Because we all know about the “curse of the pre-read.” Have you ever, like me, received pre-reading in the form of a 200-page slide deck at 11 pm before the 8 am meeting? That certainly doesn’t lend itself to priming me for productive decision-making.
Regardless of the length of the pre-reading, your meeting is bound to have three types of people:
<ol type="a">
<li>Those who completed the pre-reading, took copious notes and have an opinion about what should happen next</li>
<li>Those who admit they did not complete the pre-reading or did not read it thoroughly</li>
<li>Those who did not complete the pre-reading, but lie and say they did</li>
</ol>
Now you have a situation where some are trying to make sense of the information (diverging), while others have already made sense of it. All the while, the group is trying to move toward a decision (converging) and you are caught in a big fat, as we call it, ‘swirl.’ Making the pre-reading time a part of the agenda gives everyone the time to read it, suspend judgment, and makes no assumptions as to who are the responsible, truthful adults who came prepared. It also prevents the author from having to turn in the memo a week in advance so that everyone has adequate time to read it, in which time parts of the memo itself may have become obsolete.
&nbsp;
<h3>How Will You Hack Your Decisions?</h3>
In following the principles, we can come together, bring our collective wisdom and make space for debate. Once we have had an opportunity to disagree and commit, we can get outta our own way while those with the closest work proximity get through this pre-determined funding gate and we know that we have made way for progress over process.

Linda Quarles

Author

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Our guest: Dave Lankford, VP of Product, Disney Streaming

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Design Mind frogcast Ep. 17 – The Magic of Storytelling

On this episode of the Design Mind frogcast, we ask Dave Lankford, VP of Product at Disney+, what it means to design products that tell stories. 
Listen to the podcast episode and find transcripts below. You can also find us on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/design-mind-frogcast/id1541644073">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5mxbuRY6KtBwIrNhWhu0sx">Spotify</a> and anywhere you listen to podcasts.

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Elizabeth Wood

Audio Production by

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Navigating the newrealities of leadership

ChiefChallenges

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In the era of digital disruption, we moved fast and broke things. But as consumers and workers seek a purpose beyond disruption, business leaders face difficult questions about the true value of purpose-led brands. We ask Jeremy Heimans, CEO of Purpose, and marketing expert Mark Ritson: Can brands ever serve a purpose beyond profit?

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DisruptionFatigue

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For years, brands across industries have adopted the mantras and mindsets of tech entrepreneurs, fighting to disrupt the market as fast as possible. 

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In the coming era of socially and environmentally conscious business, disruption alone won’t be a sufficient differentiator. Instead, organizations will compete on transparency and trust by identifying and communicating the fundamental promise and purpose of their brand, then seeking strategically disruptive innovations that embody and advance that purpose. 

After a decade or more in which disruption seemed like an end in itself, both business leaders and consumers are feeling fatigued.

It's not possible to be everything to everyone, but it is imperative to be exactly what you say you are to the people who matter most: your employees and customers. Tomorrow’s leading brands will be those that meet the expectations of shareholders, stakeholders and consumers while serving a purpose beyond their bottom line—by leveraging the power of purposeful, human-centered strategy and innovation. 

believe that private companies have a larger societal role than looking after their own self-interests

of consumers

Does business need to evolve? Beth Comstock (former CMO & vice chair, GE) shares her view.

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Informed by her diverse background in everything from fashion to finance, we ask Leanne Fremar how purpose influences decision-making in her role as Chief Brand Officer at JPMorgan Chase.

Listen to the Design Mind frogcast with Leanne Fremar 

What All Good Brands Must Have

Chief Brand Officer, JPMorgan Chase

Purpose over perception

Instead of demonstrating their value with meaningful, purposeful and CX-driven brands, many businesses have focused their efforts on convincing consumers of their value with vague, purposeless and aesthetic-driven branding. Fixing their eyes on the next competitor, the next quarter, the next disruption, many brands have completely lost sight of their core purpose.

Perceptions have always been important, but in the past decade organizations have pushed “perception is reality” to its breaking point.

To avoid the pitfalls of purposeless disruption, business leaders must follow three key strategies:  

#000

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Tell the truth

Align

The values, philosophy and mission of your business should be embodied in the experiences it provides to both customers and employees. If those stakeholder groups disagree on what your brand stands for, and if neither can articulate its values, it’s time to reassess the foundations of your brand strategy. 

When customers, employees and leaders are aligned on a brand&#8217;s core mission, organizations can focus less on managing appearances and focus more on delivering value.

At frog, we partner with organizations to help them identify the fundamental purpose of their brands and evaluate whether their resources are being spent in ways that further that purpose. 

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Alto is redefining the ride-hailing industry by focusing on a single purpose: delivering remarkable journeys defined by safety, quality and consistency.

frog’s full-stack creative and technology teams supported Alto in designing their revolutionary CX and building the technology required to deliver it on an ambitious timeline. The collaboration leveraged frog’s expertise in design and development to create early momentum for Alto as it carves its space in a booming industry. The result is a differentiated digital venture that offers a uniquely elegant way to ride. 

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Go beyond lip service

Activate

Many business leaders only consider the outward-facing aspects of their brand, but building a solid foundation for long-term growth and success requires that the internal structures and practices of the organization reflect the values it projects to the world. Especially as consumers become more attuned to brands’ internal culture and the talent market becomes more competitive, organizations must ensure that their systems, policies and governance are consistent with their expressed purpose.

How a brand translates its purpose into action depends on its specific goals, needs and values.

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The flagship product of the award-winning DLS is the mystc app—a new, personalized digital platform that empowers stc customers to take control of their telecom services. Informed by in-field research in cities across the Middle East, the frog and stc team together raised the standard for self-service telecom experiences, driving new engagement across the region. 

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Building on a long-standing partnership with stc, a leading telecom and technology service provider, frog designed a new company-wide design language system (DLS) to support stc’s massive rebranding effort and inform the design of new products and services.

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Keep your brand promise

Uphold

Once an organizational structure and strategy is aligned around a brand&#8217;s core purpose, brand-building becomes less about convincing customers of who you are than about showing them what you do. This demands collaboration across the C-suite. According to the <a href="https://www.capgemini.com/gb-en/research/a-new-playbook-for-chief-marketing-officers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CMO Playbook</a>, a new report from the Capgemini Research Institute, the CMO mandate has expanded far beyond brand-building to include shared accountability for customer experience, business growth and more. Uniting around a purpose is a clear way to prioritize opportunities for more meaningful disruption.

Instead of looking over your shoulder, shifting strategies and messages for short-term tactical gains, you can focus on improving the experiences and value you’ve promised to deliver. 

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For your customers to understand that you’re upholding your brand promise, they first need to understand what that promise is.

At frog, we assist organizations in crafting content and communications strategies that engage their target users and clearly express their values, building brand recognition and providing pathways for business growth. By designing distinctive brand experiences such as tailored loyalty and membership programs or cause-driven initiatives, you can reward the customers who have helped you reach your goals while strengthening trust and reinforcing the core purpose of your brand.

frog partnered with startup Dispatch Goods to create a brand to combat single-use takeout containers. After only a few short weeks, Dispatch Goods had deployed the new brand language and identity on their website, social media and delivery van.

With the massive proliferation of digital brands and services in the past decade, it’s harder than ever for focused, purposeful brands to set themselves apart from those who are simply riding the wave of disruption, relying on logos, taglines and aesthetics to create the appearance of value where there is none. In trying to compete with these brands on perception, even focused brands can lose sight of their true purpose.  If you’re ready to break free of the disruption cycle and realign your brand behind the core products, purpose and value it’s meant to deliver, frog can help. With the combined power of human-centered design and data-driven strategy, we support organizations of all sizes in defining and delivering on their purpose with brands built to stand the test of time. Ready to learn more? Take the new frog assessment: Does Your Brand Serve a Purpose?

Breaking the cycle of purposeless disruption

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Today’s businesses are challenged with serving business shareholders and societal stakeholders alike on environmental, social and climate issues. In this video, we ask sustainability experts Dr. Leyla Acaroglu (Disrupt Design) and Raz Godelnik (Parsons): Can businesses be leaders in sustainability?

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Going BeyondSustainability

Climate trends and social forces are converging to push us into the Next Economy. If the looming threat of ecological collapse weren’t enough, consumers and employees are demanding that brands address critical issues like the global climate crisis, social justice, workplace diversity, equity and inclusion. 

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Download the Business Value of Sustainability report to find strategies for creating value for your business, customers, communities and today’s most pressing client: Planet Earth. 

Across the globe, new standards and expectations are being set to reckon with the impact businesses have on their customers, their markets and the world at large.

Business as usual is over. 

 As companies increasingly pursue sustainable initiatives, they’re seeking not only to offset their impact, but to actively regenerate—to give back to people, planet and society. In the process, these businesses are earning trust with consumers, growing their customer base and inspiring pride in their employees. 

say that sustainability increases brand value 

of executives 

At frog, we define sustainability as the social, environmental and climate impact that a company can make in support of people and the planet. 

What does sustainability look like?

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frog’s Kara Pecknold, Global Sustainability Lead, and Andreas Markdalen, Global Chief Creative Officer, discuss the ethics and aesthetics of sustainable design.

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Take action by first making commitments to mitigate harmful business impact. 

Offset harm

Business as usual

Set business goals that reflect potential impact on society, environment and climate. 

Do No Harm/ Do Good 

Responsible Business

Seek business opportunities that actively improve life for people and restore the planet. 

  Capture and Regenerate 

Regenerative Business

Sustainable Transition

Design Mind | Thought Leadership blog | frog, part of Capgemini Invent

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