Salesforce Design Research | Part 1

This is part one of a four part series about a research arc conducted for Salesforce Design in 2021. In part one we’ll establish the context of this research, define design and the design process, and speak to the importance of design. In part two we’ll discuss how architects, admins, developers, and designers in the Salesforce ecosystem think about and practice design. In part three we’ll outline three Salesforce Designer archetypes. Finally, in part four we’ll introduce a paradigm for how Salesforce can support design and designers in the Salesforce ecosystem, along with some reflections on where design may be heading in the future.

Introduction

Anecdotally, design has long been part of the Salesforce ecosystem, but not formally recognized. There was an assumption that design was being overshadowed by more functional work, such as declarative processes, architecting systems, and coding. This idea that design was “in the shadows” is now being brought to the forefront, as having fluent design amplifies, augments, and improves the overall experience for Salesforce users.

In 2021, Halibut Flats Research was commissioned by Salesforce to define and formally name the impact of design when working in the Salesforce ecosystem. Through a rigorous blend of human-centered qualitative and quantitative methods, the role and impact of design in Salesforce was explored. A large-scale survey was deployed, and interviews were conducted with Admins, Developers, End users, Architects, and Designers. Each interviewee described the fundamental meaning and power of design in their work as they built systems and services in Salesforce.

We learned a lot, and the value of design among those building Salesforce products crystallized around a set of key principles:

1. Successful design is always in service to the humans using the systems, making it easier, more beautiful, more efficient, and delightful
2. Design debt is more risky than technical debt
3. Regardless of role, there is a universal definition of design as a process and an outcome. Additionally, there is a common articulation of the design process itself regarding the sequence of activities involved in good design (see part two for further detail regarding how Architects, Admins, and Developers understand design)
4. Architects, Admins, and Developers all champion the role of design. Formalizing design processes, tools, and methods will empower all roles to better understand and practice design (see parts three and four for our suggestions regarding how Salesforce should empower designers and design)

Defining Design

For the purposes of discovery and exploration, it was important to establish a shared understanding of design, the design process, and why design is critical for Salesforce.

Design, in general, suffers from a wide array of assumptions regarding its definition. In 1947, the design pioneer and founder of the Bauhaus movement Walter Gropius spoke of design in this way: “The term ‘design’ broadly embraces the whole orbit of man-made, visible surroundings, from simple everyday goods to the complex pattern of a whole town.” This definition of design is still widely embraced today inasmuch as design is understood as the ‘outcome’ of a process, and not a process itself — this is a definition of design as ‘object.’

Thirty-eight years later, the American designer Victor Papanek popularized the idea that design was more than an object-based outcome; it was also the manner by which one created an outcome. He said in 1985; “Design is the conscious effort to impose meaningful order.” This definition of design ignited what we know today as ‘Design Thinking’ and other prominent design practices including ‘Human Centered Design.’ This paradigm of design is the predominant lens through which the findings of this research were interpreted.

The insights we outline in this four-part series, and the subsequent opportunities for Salesforce they illuminate, will make the most sense when design is not relegated to a narrow outcome-based definition, but is understood as “the conscious effort to impose meaningful order.”

“All that we do, almost all the time, is design, for design is basic to all human activity. The planning and patterning of any act towards a desired, foreseeable end constitutes the design process. Any attempt to separate design, to make it a thing-by-itself, works counter to the inherent value of design as the primary underlying matrix of life. Design is composing an epic poem, executing a mural, painting a masterpiece, writing a concerto. But design is also cleaning and reorganizing a desk drawer, pulling an impacted tooth, baking an apple pie, choosing sides for a back-lot baseball game, and educating a child. Design is the conscious effort to impose meaningful order.”

– Victor Papanek, 1985

The Design Process

The pattern of activities and behaviors that constitute the design process has been broadly observed and codified. For the purposes of our study we chose to use the Double Diamond Design Model popularized by the British Design council in the early 2000s. This design process model is inclusive of many other process models, and comprehensively accounts for the cognitive orientation of each activity throughout the process.

Additionally, the Double Diamond Model shares many universal heuristics of value creation found in software development, product engineering, and other innovation practices. The design activities, tasks, tools, and mindsets described herein will be framed within the context of this design process model.

*For a comprehensive review of design processes, see Hugh Dubberly’s comprehensive compendium of design models here.

The Importance of Design

Design is no longer frosting on the cake — design has matured over the last twenty years beyond traditional notions of graphic design, industrial design, and architectural design. With the proliferation of design software, the competitive advantage found in great experiences has seeped into all facets of business. A 2014 study published by the Design Management Institute and a 2018 study published by McKinsey both show that design driven companies outperform industry benchmark growth by as much as two to one. These same studies show that design driven performance is grounded is three primary characteristics of design:

1. Design breaks down functional silos.

In a world where hardware, software, and services are becoming evermore integrated, design acts as a universal and unifying language for all involved. This incentivizes cross-functional collaboration and cultivates a shared understanding of both the customer problem and the solution being developed. This makes a customer-centric approach to creating value everyone’s responsibility and democratizes input into the problem space.

2. Design centers the customer voice in decision making.

The customer-centricity of design ensures that the customer needs and aspirations are the primary drivers of product and service development. Additionally, centering the customer negates many of the conflicts that arise between teams regarding strategic directions, tactical approaches, and the ultimate impact all should be seeking to create. Ultimately, centering the customer ideally de-risks development cycles as all involved can be assured they are solving actual human felt needs.

3. Design impact can be measured.

Good design is more than a feeling or a subjective opinion, it is an objective asset that can be identified and its impact can be measured. Satisfaction ratings and usability scores among other metrics can easily show when design is effective and when it is not. This demystifies design and grants it equal footing among other product considerations when calculating product and business performance. There is a significant opportunity here for Salesforce to educate users as to how and where to measure design impact. Doing so may radically elevate design and business performance for those using Salesforce products.

“Good design is good business.”

– T. J. Watson Jr., President of IBM 1952–1971

Continue reading in part two where we discuss how Architects, Admins, Developers, and Designers in the Salesforce ecosystem think about and practice design.