How might we apply human-centered design to new product development within B2B tech startups?
I’m looking for the answer to this question and I need your help.
TL;DR: jump to the conclusion.
During the first part of my MA in Digital Media Management at Hyper Island, I spent 6 months using design thinking and human-centered design to approach (and hack) the briefs given to us by the clients. This new approach to problem solving was an eye opener and a pain reliever.
But before diving into that story, let’s start from the beginning.
What is human-centered design (HCD)?
According to IDEO, human-centered design “is a creative approach to problem-solving (…) a process that starts with the people you’re designing for and ends with new solutions that are tailor-made to suit their needs”.
Academics seem to agree with practitioners like IDEO and define it as an “approach [that] aims to design products suitable for their intended users by involving them in the design” (1).
As is evident in these definitions, the continuous focus on users and their needs is an obvious characteristic of HCD, however, it also has other key characteristics:
- It involves the users in the design and development of a solution to their problem
- It’s an iterative process, with plenty of prototyping and feedback loops
- It’s done by multidisciplinary teams in which different perspectives contribute to a rich and holistic view of the problem and solution
Ultimately, this approach is what “transforms a bundle of technology with ability to provide functionality into a product that people desire to interact with and from which they derive benefits” (2).
Back to the story
As I mentioned earlier, HCD was the basis to all projects we’ve developed at Hyper Island.
Before joining Hyper Island, I had never heard about this approach. Instead, during my Business Management degree and my previous jobs I applied the traditional analytical thinking and approach to solve the problems and challenges I faced.
I’ve always felt frustrated about the way I was expected to have all the answers to a problem.
I’ve always felt frustrated about the way I was expected to have all the answers to a problem only based on the quantitative information available (which made me feel I was missing something when my solutions didn’t work) or simply based on my own assumptions (which weren’t validated). Looking back on those days, I can remember the feeling of wanting to know more about how the users of a specific service, product or marketing campaign wanted it to work or how they wanted to interact with it. At that time, I didn’t have the right tool or framework to go talk to them or even validation that that was the right thing to do.
At that time, I didn’t have the right tool or framework to go talk to them or even validation that that was the right thing to do.
But now I do. And so do AirBnb, Uber, Warby Parker and many others. These products and services are great examples of how HCD can be a precursor to success.
Based on these learnings and reflections, when I started working as a Product Manager I was eager to apply the same principles and approach to my new job.
This is when I started realising something was missing from my knowledge.
At the moment I’m responsible for the product management of an Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS), targeting mid-size businesses in the retail sector. Think Zapier or IFTTT on steroids.
This is a highly technical and complex software development challenge. It’s also a B2B product. These are the key characteristics that forced me to take a step back and rethink how HCD could be integrated into my product management efforts.
What makes it harder for HCD to thrive in a B2B context?
Indeed, the benefits of HCD have been recognised in the development of B2C products, but the adoption of its principles in the B2B context has been slower.
From a business perspective, the HCD approach is contrary to the established thinking and waterfall methods of business and project management. HCD:
- Relies on qualitative data, instead of quantitative (3)
- Focuses on finding solutions, not solving problems — in contrast to analytical thinking, the dominant approach in a business setting (4)
- Incentivises mistakes and imperfect execution (in the early stages) (5), in the form of quick prototyping which has to be made with the assumption that it might be wrong
- Embraces the fact that the business doesn’t know the answers to their problems, or even what the problems are
- Although it is in its design to consider multiple stakeholders, in a B2B setting the number and complexity of stakeholder relationships (both internal and external) makes this task a key element of success.
From a design perspective, there has been a lack of dedication from the design community to look beyond B2C.
HCD involves a steep learning curve to understand a whole new business vocabulary of the specific domain. Indeed, the learnings from a B2C context can’t be directly applied to B2B product development, as these will have different goals and KPIs. For example, it might be desirable that users spend as much time as possible engaging with a platform like Twitter, but the same can’t be said about a time tracking tool or an accounting platform — within a business, efficiency is key.
Why I decided to approach B2B product development in the context of tech startups
Tech startups are disrupting established industries, such as finance. These new businesses take advantage of their agility and young age to take risks that enterprises wouldn’t dream of taking. These risks are mostly associated with jumping on new technology trends (e.g.: blockchain) with little to no validation, which presents numerous new product opportunities.
This is where HCD comes back into the picture. The adoption of these new technologies and products is dependent on their orientation to real user needs. Indeed, new product development requires a process that benefits from the interplay between “user-oriented” and “technology-driven” factors (2).
B2B + tech = gold, so we better do it right
B2B startups aren’t as glamorous as the new uber-for-X or airbnb-for-Y, but there is a gap in the market, which represents a giant opportunity.
If you (like me) come from a business background and need to see a number put on a statement like “giant opportunity”, Gartner reported that the global enterprise software spending forecast for 2016 is $326 billion, a 5.3% increase from 2015.
Additionally, Reuters has reported that “tech startups aimed at businesses rather than consumers are winning more funding from increasingly wary venture capital investors who want to see a return on their cash sooner rather than later”.
If B2B is the way forward, the opportunity and need to reproduce the successes of HCD is here.
“Yes! How can I help?” — I’m glad you asked!
I want to find the blockers that are preventing B2B tech startups to take full advantage of human-centered design and find ways to remove them.
To do this, I’m looking for startups and agencies working in these fields who would be willing to talk to me about their processes — HCD or not — so that I can learn what their challenges are and the results they’re getting from their current approach to product development.
If this sounds like you or if you simply want to have a chat about this topic, get in touch and let’s meet for a coffee — in person or over Skype.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post!
Cheers,
Sara
Email: sara.ramos@hyperisland.co.uk
Twitter: @saranramos
—
Academic references
Säde, Simo 2001, Towards User — Centred Design: A Method Development Project in a Product Design Consultancy, The Design Journal, 4:3, 20–32
Veryzer, R, & Borja de Mozota, B 2005, The Impact of User-Oriented Design on New Product Development: An Examination of Fundamental Relationships, Journal Of Product Innovation Management, 22, 2, pp. 128–143
Brown, T. & Katz, B. 2011, Change by Design, Journal of Product Innovation Management, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 381–383.
Liedtka, J. 2014, Innovative ways companies are using design thinking, Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 42 Iss 2 pp. 40–45
Olsen, N.V. 2015, Design Thinking and food innovation, Trends in Food Science & Technology, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 182–187.
Note: I’ve decided to follow the recommendation of the ISO 9241–210:2010 and use the term “human-centred design”, rather than “user-centered design”. According to ISO “the term human-centred design is used rather than user-centred design in order to emphasize that this part of ISO 9241 also addresses impacts on a number of stakeholders, not just those typically considered as users. However, in practice, these terms are often used synonymously”. For this reason, I’ve cited papers to support my research on human-centered design, even when the authors used the term “user-centered design”.
