Before I joined the innovation team I was primarily a software developer. Although I did think about the end customer and contribute ideas and feedback during discovery phases, I also worked closely with designers, user experience architects and analysts. So a lot of ‘thought’ was provided by the time we got to the coding phase.
Since I’ve joined the innovation team here at John Lewis I’ve had to wear a lot of different hats. So I thought I’d share ten things I’ve learnt since joining from a developer’s perspective.
- Learn about your target customer.
Going back to my previous article on “Walking in your customer’s shoes.” You should always start with your customer. What problem of theirs are you trying to solve? What pains do they experience with that problem and what gains can be had? - Don’t start with a technology.
Ok this should probably be before number one, but the customer is just so important. But you shouldn’t start with a particular technology in mind. You’ll instantly constrain and stifle your creativity if you limit yourself to one particular device or platform. - Don’t limit yourself with technological constraints.
Following on from point two, when you’re coming up with ideas to solve your problem, don’t limit yourself with what’s currently feasible. This might sound counter-intuitive, but you can come up with a lot more ideas by doing this. The surprising thing is that once you have an idea down that you thought was stupid or not achievable, others might chime in with ways to build upon it, or potentially think of a workaround that makes tomorrow’s solution workable today. - Work in a silo in group brainstorms.
This one is more of a personal preference but I find it definitely helps in groups. When coming up with ideas you should all work silently, writing on sticky-paper. Write down all of your ideas without fear of having to speak up (or fear that you’re dominating a conversation by being the only one talking). This gives everyone in the session an equal playing field. After ten minutes or so you all place your ideas on a board together grouping similar themes and discussing every idea. This way everyone has a voice. Coming from a developer world I think this is great. I wasn’t afraid to speak up previously, but I know developers can be very opinionated sometimes. This allows everyone to be heard and doesn’t end in arguments. - Share.
When we have ideas we have a tendency to want to keep them to ourselves, for fear someone might steal them. But without sharing you get no feedback. You don’t have to share it with the world and this can be done confidentially. For instance we’ve started running ‘Innovation Kitchens’ again at John Lewis. They’re hour long sessions where we present what we’ve been working on with others in the business. This can include interactive prototypes but we always want to encourage questions. If something is confidential then stipulate that with your attendees upfront.
We’ve learnt some valuable insights from these sessions and the audience love being part of something new. Attendance is optional but we get a surprising number of people who aren’t involved in I.T. who are interested in what we’re doing and they may have other insights into the business that are key to improving what we’re doing. - Get up and do something.
When you’re a developer, other than meetings, you spend most of your time sitting at your desk coding. Whilst this can sometimes be great for productivity if you’re stuck into a meaty piece of work, it’s not always great for the creative side of your brain (at least in my opinion). Make sure you engage in work conversations, spend a bit of time reading new articles on Medium or elsewhere on the web. Learn about the new things others are doing. Sometimes you’ll just find something cool, other times you’ll stumble upon something that joins some missing dots in your current work.
One of the things I like to do at lunch is actually just leave the building and go for a walk. I’m not actively thinking about work, but quite often a solution to a problem I’ve been stuck on will present itself whilst I’m not thinking about it. Work for works sake isn’t always the most productive outcome. - Work in a stimulating environment.
This one isn’t always easy, especially if you’re in a hot-desking environment. But in my current role we’re lucky to have our own dedicated room. The walls are filled with our ideas and post-it notes. This might not be for you and you might find it distracting, but for us it’s great. You can look up and see something new or instantly be reminded of why you’re doing something or what the ultimate purpose is without having to flick through a load of windows on a computer. - Don’t be afraid to fail.
Ok so if I made a mistake as a developer in my old time it wasn’t the end of the world. But ultimately we had deadlines and were looking to ship code to customers. That’s not to say that isn’t the aim with the work we do in innovation, but we work a lot faster and that failure is always a viable option — provided we learn from it. Some of the best ideas are born out of the failure of others. Of course we’d love all our ideas to be a success from the get go, but we’re not afraid to trip up along the way. - Learn, Learn, Learn.
This is two-fold. Always be learning from what you’re doing and how you can improve what you’re working on. Think something is working perfectly? Test it out on some potential customers who haven’t been exposed to your concept before. How did they get on? Adapt and repeat.
Secondly learn yourself. I’m fortunate enough that in the innovation team we look at different technologies and this enables me to push myself. Whether that’s learning new coding languages or new ways of approaching problems, I’m always striving to expand my knowledge on a personal level, not just in relation to a single project. - Learn about your target customer.
This was number one on my list but it’s also number ten as it’s such an important point. The customer is key to whatever it is you’re trying to achieve. You could invent the most brilliant algorithm or app in the world but if it is of no use to your potential customers it’s going to flop. Work out exactly what your customers wants and needs are and deliver those in the most user-friendly way you can. Sprinkle on a bit of delight and excitement and you’ll hopefully have a winner.
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