Make.
Why is there an Artist/Design Professor on an Innovation team for Health Insurance?
Matt Templeton, Senior Director of Innovation
Painters, poets, educators, engineers, entrepreneurs, designers, strategists, researchers and developers; these are some of the various backgrounds innovators have and share on the innovation team at Blue Cross Blue Shield Massachusetts. The common thread through these backgrounds is the ability to see and understand the landscape we are playing in and the ability to make something new and useful out of these parts. Maybe this creation will even bring beauty into this new experience for someone.
Design Thinking, Lean Startup, Human Centered Design, Agile, User Experience Design, Service Design and Customer Experience; these are some of the various processes used to innovate. A common thread in these processes are mindsets such as understanding user needs, rapidly validating assumptions, and making something to show which can then be iterated and built at scale.
It’s a great time to be a maker. My training as an artist and a designer prepared me for the business world. I didn’t know going into it that I would end up with business skills in addition to learning how to make things really well. I learned about the romantic fallacy of the lone wolf artist, alone in their studio, working at their canvas in isolation. Most artists don’t work like this and those that do probably don’t become successful through their own volition. Artists and Designers work best collaboratively and are great storytellers in not only making their creations, but also finding a place for them in the world. These skills are shared by those trained in business. This is different from marketing, although that is important and necessary once something has been made.
We aren’t making jeans here. (Don’t get me wrong — I like jeans. I wear them often and I appreciate their design.) What’s so cool about working in an industry like healthcare or financial services is that when our users need us they really need us. Someone is going to be born, someone is going to die, someone has been injured, or someone is planning for college. These are some of the examples where we might enter people’s lives. It is a great responsibility and privilege to be a designer in these moments.
Design Thinking has become a very popular term and a popular approach to doing business. It is deceivingly simple and fun upon introduction. If you look closely when you are first exposed to it, you will see the skills that take years to master and are hard to teach. These skills of need-finding, synthesis and making are mastered over years of experience. We like to say that it’s not just about building the thing right, it’s first about building the right thing. Not everyone on an Innovation team needs to be a an expert in everything, but a key is to have a radically collaborative team with players from different backgrounds who share passion around their cause.
Design can be dangerous. I like to say when design is done poorly people can get hurt. When design is done right it can save lives. (First, do no harm.) It’s an invisible art. When done right, the user doesn’t consider the people who created this experience. You take the correct medication at the time you are supposed to take it. Designers love hard, messy problems. Organization sets us free. We love bringing order to chaos and creating great experiences and products that improve lives.
It is an honor and a joy to be on the innovation team at BCBSMA and to be creating beautiful experiences for our members with our “limited medium” of health insurance. It really is a great time to be a maker.
