Introduction of Patterns for IBM Client Engineering Design

Introduction

I am an Innovation Designer in IBM’s Client Engineering department (CE), which is an IBM Technology pre-sales team. More specifically, we offer design thinking workshops and build minimal viable products (MVP) with companies to create value in a tangible way.

Just over two years have passed since CE (formerly known as Technology Garage) in Japan finished preparations and officially started operations. This year, we welcomed our first batch of new graduates to our team. Exciting! Preparing the enablement program for the new members gave the existing designers an opportunity to step back and dive deep into one of the many training programs for designers at IBM, called the Patterns for CE Design. In this article, I wanted to share what this unique program is all about. I’ll also share some challenges we encountered along the way to implement this recently-renewed program in Japan.

What is the IBM Patterns for CE Design?

The Patterns for CE Design includes materials for understanding IBM’s products and strategies, as well as resources for designers to grasp the fundamentals of IBM Design. This program ran alongside a separate Design Bootcamp, focusing more on practice and hands-on experience. In terms of designing a training program for the new designers, the Patterns for CE Design and Design Bootcamp complemented each other well, as it enables a combination of theory and hands-on experience.

IBM has a rich history of design, spanning from traditional design artifacts to more contemporary initiatives. The IBM logo designed by Paul Rand, typewriters with a typeball, and the design of the ThinkPad are a few examples of some iconic design artifacts. More recently, IBM developed the Carbon Design System and is increasingly practicing more modern design frameworks, learning from initiatives such as the application of design thinking to improve MRI experiences for children.

For designers, the Patterns for CE Design plays a crucial factor in understanding the history and role of designers at IBM and what they can achieve through IBM’s technology.

Recently, the IBM Patterns for CE Design was revamped under the leadership of former General Manager Katrina Alcorn. The aim of this renewal was to foster a startup-like innovation culture that starts by uncovering latent user needs and discovering insights through observation by applying design and design thinking methodologies. Another core aim of this renewal is to further develop design practices and acquire the following core skills.

As I understand it, there are three pillars and three abilities that are key to achieve this goal:

Pillars

• Understanding the significance of design in the IBM brand
• Understanding why IBM values design
• Understanding the strategy that connects IBM’s technology and design

Abilities

• The ability to effectively solve problems
• The ability to strive for better outcomes
• The ability to make user-centric recommendations

Considering these new goals of the renewal, let me explain how our team implemented the Patterns for CE Design in Japan.

Preparing for the new Patterns for CE Design in Japan

*Contributors at this stage: Hiroki Masunari, Shiho Onodera, Shuhei Takeda, Ayako Moritomo

In Japan, the fiscal year begins in April. Therefore, discussions regarding the enablement for newcomers started around the fall of last year under the leadership of Masunari-San, the Design Lead in Japan. During this time, Onodera-san, who has been collaborating with the global team on various initiatives, heard about the renewal of the Patterns for CE Design and initiated discussions with the team members.

During these discussions, we encountered four challenges:

• The first challenge was that we needed to decide how to separate the Patterns Design Program for CE and Design Bootcamp, since in Japan, we had been combining the two into one large training program.
• The second challenge was time. The Patterns for CE Design consists of three phases: “Getting Started,” “Amplified,” and “Next Level.” Providing the necessary content for the “Getting Started” phase in Japan would take some time.
• The third challenge was that we needed to launch the program earlier than the global schedule, given that the Japanese fiscal year starts in April.
• The fourth challenge was that the Patterns for CE Design is done in English. Accommodating members with varying English-levels and at the same time, dealing with time zone differences made it impractical to implement the global version of the Patterns for CE Design in Japan.

Therefore, we explored ways to adapt the existing content for the new Patterns Design Program, such as videos and documents, to suit our situation in Japan.

We first established the following guidelines :

• Identify the overlap between the new Patterns Design Program and the Design Bootcamp.
• Prioritize the learning content for the newcomers, according to their needs, from the pool of nearly 100 videos and materials in the new Patterns Design Program.
• Provide the chosen content as self-paced material (as real-time response is not required) in English, along with a brief explanation in Japanese. The aim was to empower new graduates to understand the content independently, as in many cases, IBM resources (including videos and documents) are available in English only.
• Ensure advisors provide support to alleviate any concerns that may arise during their learning journey through the extensive English content.
• Offer content in Japanese for activities within the new Patterns for CE Design that are not provided in the Design Bootcamp.

Organizing and sharing the new Patterns for CE Design

*Contents provider: Stacey Seronick, Nicole Umphress
*Contributors at this stage: Shuhei Takeda, Ayako Moritomo

Next, let me introduce how we organized and prioritized content in the new Patterns Program for our new graduate members of CE Japan.

IBM Design and its history

Materials designed to comprehend IBM’s historical background, strategies, and philosophies in delivering services.

• History
• IBM product strategies
• Fundamentals of design, provided tools, and resources
• Ethics and philosophy

These materials were shared to all of the innovation designers in Japan, as it provides fundamental knowledge about IBM.

User Research

Materials for understanding research and knowledge related to co-creation in service delivery.

• Research
• User testing

We also introduced Enterprise Design Thinking (EDT), which is IBM’s approach to workshops for enterprises, as well as the individual activities associated with EDT, as required content.

Prototyping

Materials for understanding tools necessary to produce outputs and general knowledge about building prototypes.

• Introduction to the Carbon Design System
• Prototyping
• Understanding accessibility
• Building with and evaluating heuristic knowledge

We shared a substantial amount of content focusing on technical skills the new graduates will need right from the start, excluding any content covered in the Design Bootcamp.

Presentation

Materials and tips, including dos, don’ts, and other considerations, to help us create proposals that are easily understood by clients and stakeholders.

We primarily introduced these as “Nice to have” since some aspects might be easier to comprehend after the new graduates have started their roles.

Team Building and Communication

Materials aimed to understand how to create a good team and environment.

We introduced these materials to new graduates, and they reviewed their plans with senior designers as need it. This was based on an idea that it would be better if new members can check the content together with the senior designers and that way, they can also check the content whenever they are interested, at their own convenience.

Preparing activities

*Contents provider: Stacey Seronick, Nicole Umphress, Tom Dayton, Robin Rock, Ann Scanlan, Katrina Alcorn
*Contributors at this stage: Sayoko Iijima, Hyunmin Kim, Ayako Moritomo

There are three activities we conducted from the new Patterns for CE Design.

Introducing the Purpose of the New Patterns for CE Design

We introduced Katrina-san’s intentions behind the new Patterns for CE Design at the beginning of the activity.

Activities for Enterprise Design Thinking (EDT)

Thinking about what needs to be delivered from the perspective of creating an experience, rather than focusing on the output.

In line with the content provided by the global team, we had participants consider what kind of experience should be delivered when someone “wakes up in the morning”. They came up with an ideal experience, based on not only surface-level requirements but also the underlying reasons (latent needs).

Active Listening Activity

Practicing active listening to enhance mutual understanding of user experience and customer perspectives included:

• Interviews with “aliens”: Asking questions to understand the other party when no prior information is available and having them experience what it feels like to be asked.
• Ideal home interviews: Understanding the request and gathering information for requirements definition for output.

Iijima-san organized and conducted these two activities, considering and consolidating methods that had also been provided in the past Patterns and other training. Her explanations and guidance were very clear and helpful.

Progressive Disclosure Activity

Implementing iterations to improve the final deliverable based on the fundamentals of UI and heuristic issue identification.

Hyunmin-san provided a thoughtful interpretation of various UI pattern functionalities created by the global team (by Tom Dayton) in Japanese. Using these insights as a reference, he also offered a practical approach for identifying issues on Japanese websites.

In addition, in the Design Bootcamp, participants were provided with content by Shingo Takahashi-san and Hyunmin kim-san, Sayoko Iijima-san, Toshihiko Okamoto-san to learn how to use Figma and create prototypes.

Our CE team in Japan prepared and provided the Patterns for CE Design to new graduate designers as I introduced in the article. We are grateful for the opportunity to reflect on the content at this point.

Additionally, I personally take longer to read and write in English, so this article was created with the assistance of Akari Takada-san and Masayo Joutsu-san, who excel in English. Thank you to everyone who contributed.

Furthermore, I would like to express our gratitude to Fujieda-san, who provided the initial Patterns for CE Design and the Design Bootcamp when the CE organization was established in Japan.