the design services team
How SAP is using design thinking to change its DNA
Matthew Holloway
Vice President, Design Services Team
Office of the CEO
13 June 2006
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“companies are accelerating efforts to change
their cultures, foster innovation, and serve
customers more effectively. Innovation, or
"design thinking," is, we believe, something
truly important and enduring”
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The ultimate defense against
complexity
David Gelernter
Professor of Computer Science, Yale
Simplicity is the ultimate
sophistication.
Leonardo da Vinci
Design is a way of changing life
and influencing the future
Sir Ernest Hall
Pianist, Entrepreneur, and Philanthropist
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Design Services Team
Corporate Strategy Management
Chairman of the Supervisory Board
HASSO
Corporate Consulting Team
Office of the CEO
Research
& Breakthr.
Innovation
PETER
HENNING
Product
Production
Global Svc
& Support
SHAI
CLAUS
GERHARD
Finance & Administration
Human Resources & Processes
CSO
LÉO
Biz. Process Renovation Mgmt
Top Talent Management
WERNER
CLAUS
Global Communications
Global IP
Global Internal Audit
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Accelerate adoption of Design Thinking as
the process for innovation and development
of internal and external SAP products and
services in all areas of the SAP Value Chain.
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Design
Services
Team
Traditional
Design
Teams
DST
Generative
Sustaining
Agent for Change
Functional Design
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design
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why design thinking?
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so what?
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Design Thinking
A Focus on Customers/Users.
Broad, Multi-Disciplinary Influences.
Ideation with Prototyping.
Finding Alternatives.
Wicked Problems.
Emotion.
No more “so what?”
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Must do: Best Practices and
Continuous Innovation
Left Brain Says:
To Win: Differentiation and
Breakthrough Innovation
Right Brain Says:
“These crazy guys will never
deliver a product”
“If we don’t change now it will be
too late”
“Give me the budget and I will
deliver whatever you want”
“We have to stop living in the past
regardless of the success we had”
“We have to concentrate on what
we are good at”
“New things are possible, we only
have to have the will to want
them”
“The new ideas are interesting but
we don’t have the time or
necessity”
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“There are better ways to do it”
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Innovation = Invention x Execution
Validity
Reliability
from “Innovation by Design” by Gerard H. Gaynor
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Validity
vs. Reliability
• Produces the right answer
for the current context
• Produces consistent and
predictable results over and over
• One must consider a wide
array of relevant variables
• Requires a reduced number of
variables considered
• Substantiation is based on
future events
• Uses quantitative, bias-free
measurement
• Uses inductive, deductive
logic and abductive logic
• Uses inductive & deductive logic
From “Validity vs. Reliability, Implications for Management” by Roger Martin
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•Does the solution
show empathy for
end-users?
•Is this the simplest
solution that gets
the job done?
•Is it elegant?
•Is it useful?
desirability
viability
human needs
business needs
•Can we afford it?
•Does it make me
more profitable?
•Do we have the
skills?
•What is my ROI?
feasibility
technical needs
•How quickly can I configure the solution to suit my needs?
•Is the solution easy to maintain?
•Is it consistent with my current system landscape?
•Can the solution be easily supported?
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Design
Results
What
Scope Project
Understand
& define
objectives and
outcomes
Project Plan
Resources
Interview &
Observe
Observe
End Users in
their work
place
Identify Needs,
Synthesis
Motivations
&
Ideas for
Solutions
Results of the
Research,
Artifacts,
Pictures
Needs &
Motivations
User profiles
Use cases
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Develop iterative
Prototypes and
test with Users
Assess &
Refine
Rough
Prototypes
Feedback from
users &
stakeholders
Deliver a
Prototype
prototype
to
Solution
Development
Work with
Implementto
Development
build the final
design
Low-fidelity
Prototypes
Feedback from
users &
stakeholders
High-Fidelity
prototypes
and/or design
specifications
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Interviews
Market
Step 1: Explore the
problem space through
fact finding and then
assemble a 360º view.
Objectives
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Desirability
Market
Interviews
Step 2: Reduce the solution
space through decisions that
balance desirability,
viability, and feasibility.
Objectives
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The Rules:
1. One Conversation
2. Stay Focused
3. Encourage Wild Ideas
4. Build on the Ideas of Others
5. Defer Judgment
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Desirability
Interviews
Market
Step 3: Create relevant
Prototypes
prototypes quickly
and
iteratively.
Objectives
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Sketches
Mock-ups
Wire Frames
HTML
Flash
Functional Code
PROTOTYPES:
• Must evoke an emotional response
• Must be technically relevant
• Fail early, fail cheaply
Effort
High Effort
• Low
Communicate
the vision
Low Fidelity
High Fidelity
• Short
Become
a model for realization Long Cycle
Cycle
Generic Feedback
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Specific Feedback
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Multiple iterations continue the
dialog between the design team
and the end-users
The prototype must communicate
design intent to both internal and
external constituencies
Prototypes are effective for
communicating intent &
feedback with everyone.
Design
Rapid End
User
Feedback
Packaging the
design for
sharing
Prototype
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Design intent must not be lost
when design models are converted
to engineering models
Some of the most valuable
feedback to inform future designs
is only received after the solution
has been released to the market
Handing off the design to
engineering and walking away does
not work!
In re-design, the hardest part is to
leave the beaten track
Design must remain engaged and
empowered to weigh-in on every
significant engineering trade-off
Existing solutions must not be
allowed to dominate the redesign
discussions.
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Designers & MBA’s
Creativity & Innovation
Empathy & Passion
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…ask ‘em if you got ‘em
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