Going Lean: Let's Talk Tangibles

by Sara Cowles | at MinneBar 10

We've heard the buzz, read the articles, skimmed the books. Lean, design thinking, fostering a culture of innovation—it all makes sense. And we know this. An analysis by the Design Management Institute identified design-driven companies as measured by the level of senior-level representation and commitment. They found that the design-driven companies outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 by a whopping 228%.

Count us in. But what are the tangible steps we can take to actually effect change? How can we start to make a positive difference within our own organizations?

We’ll discuss core principles, tangible steps and common hurdles that we face along the path to joining this revolution.

Common hurdles:

  • We’re a start-up. We have no resources or experience with UX.
  • We’re an enterprise. We have too much bureaucracy.
  • We have a distributed team. How can we possibly build shared understanding?
  • We’re measured by different metrics. How can we convince the leadership to get behind this?
  • This is new and unfamiliar. How do we actually make it happen?
All levels

Sara Cowles

An advocate for the power of design thinking to help companies innovate and thrive, Sara leads design and engineering teams to collaborate, experiment, and learn toward a better understanding of the humans we serve.

Currently Director of Product Design at When I Work. Formerly Director of UX and Engineering at enStratus and Dell Software.