The Roadmap to Demonstrating Design's Impact / Ryan Rumsey / Ep. #206
Let's crack the code of proving design's impact on the bottom line... For this, we first have to go back to 2012. That year, a groundbreaking discovery was made at CERN. The existence of the Higgs Boson, a particle that had eluded scientists for over 40 years, was finally proven. You know what? I feel that this elusive quest is very similar to our own pursuit in the world of service design: proving the undeniable business value of design. We see its impact all around us, but providing it with hard evidence remains a struggle. Our guest this week, Ryan Rumsey, may hold the key that gets us closer to unlocking this mystery. One reason the Higgs Boson took so long to find was that the researchers were unsure where to look. As former Apple executive, author of "Business Thinking for Designers," and founder of the Chief Design Officer School, Ryan proposes that we, just as the researchers at CERN, may have been looking in the wrong place all along. Many companies, he argues, don't actually need (good) design to turn a profit, which makes it difficult to isolate its added value. But fear not, there are tested and tried methods to uncover the correlation between our work and its impact on the bottom line. As you'll hear in this episode, it might not be as complex as we sometimes are made to believe; it could simply be a matter of putting in the work.
The discovery of the Higgs Boson faced similar challenges, requiring unwavering determination and persistence. This is an episode about business speak, statistics and our self-worth. And somehow, it's still quite entertaining if you ask me. So if you're even remotely interested being able to clearly articulate the value you bring to your organization, you don't miss out on this one! I echo Ryan's argument that every design professional, even those in-house, should embrace an entrepreneurial spirit. Understanding marketing, positioning, and even sales can be immensely beneficial. Ryan is truly one of a kind, and I'm always grateful to be able to learn from him. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did. ~ Marc
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00:00 Welcome to Episode 206
07:00 OKRs & KPIs
13:00 Rethinking Measurement
16:00 Strategy Mapping
22:00 Statistician Thinking
29:30 Measuring Impact
32:00 Google's Money Machine
33:30 The Implication
37:00 Beyond Best Service
37:30 Apple vs Dell: Design?
42:00 Management & Narrative
48:30 Design vs. Innovation
49:30 Minto Pyramid
52:30 EasyJet Example
57:30 Defining Good Work
1:02:45 Community Matters
1:08:00 Key Takeaways
1:09:30 How You Can Help Ryan
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