Welcometo our third MX conference

• Welcome to our third MX conference• Prior events last year in SF and on the east coast.• All new speakers, ideas, and programming — it’ll be better than every before

More to enjoyRecorded sessions and interviews

Graphic recordingBoxes & Arrows podcastsLonger afternoon breaks now with

longer

breaks!

• Hopefully you’ve enjoyed the book club, the MX social network, and the other things leading up to the conference• Here’s just a couple of the things to enjoy now...

• we’re recording videos of the sessions AND interviews with you• a team recording the themes that emerge from each session• B&A podcasts in the next 2-3 weeks• longer breaks!

Why MX?

• MX addresses a gap in the practice of User Experience and the conversations that surround it• UX practitioners have advanced

• often making it up as they go along; self-taught• It’s past time we started talking about what we in this room do as it’s own practice, skillset, discipline

• not all the personas in the world, usability report, or wireframes can address the challenges and opportunities we have ahead• MX is about the rest of the work that is the gap in conversation

What it takes to get great experiences out into the world

• MX is about what it takes to get great experiences out into the world• its about creative leadership• it’s about managing outward (to executive leadership), inward (to your team), and across (the organization)

The MX programPeople who are doing it

People who study itIdeas from neighboring fieldsWhat’s coming

• people who are doing it• helping organizations deliver and manage better experiences• from inside and outside the organization• new to their organizations and long-timers

• people who study it, who see it from different angles• making ideas stick, working with strategy teams, integrating business thinking

• ideas from neighboring fields• hospitality, brand, dinning + cooking

• what’s coming• new schools of thought, mobile, social, and new interactions

• But what we’re here to talk about is....

The Emerging Discipline of Creative LeadershipBrandon Schauer | Experience Design DirectorHenning Fischer | Design Strategist

• But what we’re here to talk about is... the Emerging Discipline of Creative Leadership• You who are here... you maybe:

• grew up into a position of creative leadership• you want to follow that path in your career• or you’re a manager or leader in your organization and your responsibilities relate to customer experiences• ...in some way, getting great experiences out into the world matters to you

• We believe that gap can only be filled if we start a discussion about a new discipline that’s already been forming...• ...about the Creative Leadership for User Experiences• SO LET’S START TALKING ABOUT IT.• [so Henning and I are going to frame a few questions to help drive some of the discussion for the next two days]

The new designer is adaptable across multiple media and multiple disciplines. She can design in a way that's truly native to the web, to mobile devices, to print, to environmental projects. And she can think in terms of concept, execution, and the business equation as well. She's used to doing it all herself, but she can reach out to others when she needs to‚ and orchestrate those teams to achieve her goals.

- Khoi Vinh

A conversation about leadership must almost by definition, begin with those that are being led. [click]

Design, like so many other professions, has become interdisciplinary.

[click] Khoi talks about web, mobile, print and environments. They all represent the same thing to the consumer. They represent you. People don't really make a distinction between which channel something is delivered through. So she had better know how to do that well, and that means taking other things into account.

[click] Khoi’s designer thinks in terms of concept, execution and business as well. That maps pretty directly to the mother of all Venn diagrams: users, technology and business.

[click] She’s also adept at working alone or in teams, as either a supporting player or leader.

Do you remember the hype about the iPhone? People we're calling it the Jesus phone because they expected so much from it. This designer might be the iPhone of designers.

But this combination is rare. I want to emphasize that. But you will see more of these people over the next five years.

Why has this designer emerged? Because we are being asked to do more by the people that employ us and the marketplace. And because we WANT to do more. It's in our nature.

The coming of this designer, and this perspective on design has meant that we have had to rethink the way that we manage and lead. The management practices of the industrial era were designed to address the exigencies of the manufacturing process. It took more than 60 years to define and articulate scientific management. But they don't quite work for the kind of work that we do, do they? Nor do they work for the kind of person that Khoi is talking about.

Because...

She combines the best parts of this...

With a bit of this.

And even if you by some miracle find this person, her job isn't going to be easy. There are some amazing opportunities out there, but some huge challenges as well.

Opportunities ChangesOpportunities Challenges

Coordinating channels

INC.

Coordinating channels

INC.

Meetings

.com

eTools

Books and tracking

materials

mobile tools

Food

Coordinating channels

INC.

Opportunities ChangesOpportunities

Coordinating channels

Experience!+ =

INC.

It’s really hard!

INC.

Challenges

Pedometer

Running shoes

iPod nano

Nike+ website

Tracking tools

Music

Voiceover feedback

Synched tracking

Powersongs

Sport iMixes

Collaborative running

Networked running eventsNike+

sportsband

Experience!+ =

Desktop widgets

Opportunities ChangesOpportunities

Coordinating channels

Experience!+ = + =? ? ?

INC.

It’s really hard!

INC.

Flexibility

Challenges

Flexibility

Flexibility

Opportunities ChangesOpportunities

Coordinating channels

Experience!+ = + =? ? ?

INC.

It’s really hard!

INC.

Flexibility

Challenges

Choose wisely.

How do we lead in an environment of changing demands?1

Skills are not enough.

We all know technically brilliant designers that can't manage. We all know great managers that know nothing about the design process.

The next two days will help us begin to answer this.

But we do know a few things already...

The most important job of any manager is to break down a situation into challenges that subordinates can handle. In essence, the manager absorbs a good chunk of the ambiguity in the situation and gives much less ambiguous problems to others.

- Richard Rumelt

Opportunities ChangesYour Organization The World

Opportunities ChangesYour Organization The World

OpportunitiesYour Organization The World

The job we are hired for. The job we need to do.

How do we balance the need to do our jobs better AND the need to do new jobs?2

Management is only one part of our job. Leadership is the other. And that presents a different challenge:

The NEED to do our job is the necessity of keeping the shop open.

The need to do NEW jobs is the necessity of doing the right thing.

The more benchmarking companies do, the more they look alike... Competition based in operational effectiveness alone is mutually destructive, leading to wars of attrition that can be arrested only by limiting competition.

-Michael Porter

I think there is a natural instinct among human beings to look and see what the other guy is doing. You find yourself in a new place, going to an event, you look to see which way other people are going.

The same holds true in user experience. And that's ok, up to a point. We're all trying to figure this thing out. But as we all know, looking to see what the other guy is doing has its pitfalls. Especially when you base your strategy around things like benchmarking. [click]

Now Michael Porter is the godfather of business strategy, so it's worthwhile to look a little further into what he is saying. [click]

ChangesYou Your Boss

We’re doing the same things the same

ways as others!

Cost center!

For the sake of argument, let's say Michael Porter is your boss...

You attend conferences

You read blogs

You adopt best practices

And Michael Porter says...

So you decide to get strategic.

And thus begins the management consulting visual aide death match: value curves, 2x2s, different kinds of value curves, product matrices and all that.

And yet you're still doing the exact same thing that everyone else is doing. The fact that I got a lot of these off the internet is a testament to that.

And after throwing those things around for a while, you come to the realization that Khoi, and a whole lot of other smart people have come to. Experience could be a differentiator. Now the only problem is convincing everyone else... [click]

ChangesYou Your Boss

We’re doing the same things the same

ways as others!

Cost center!

For the sake of argument, let's say Michael Porter is your boss...

You attend conferences

You read blogs

You adopt best practices

And Michael Porter says...

So you decide to get strategic.

And thus begins the management consulting visual aide death match: value curves, 2x2s, different kinds of value curves, product matrices and all that.

And yet you're still doing the exact same thing that everyone else is doing. The fact that I got a lot of these off the internet is a testament to that.

And after throwing those things around for a while, you come to the realization that Khoi, and a whole lot of other smart people have come to. Experience could be a differentiator. Now the only problem is convincing everyone else... [click]

ChangesYou Your Boss

We’re doing the same things the same

ways as others!

Cost center!

For the sake of argument, let's say Michael Porter is your boss...

You attend conferences

You read blogs

You adopt best practices

And Michael Porter says...

So you decide to get strategic.

And thus begins the management consulting visual aide death match: value curves, 2x2s, different kinds of value curves, product matrices and all that.

And yet you're still doing the exact same thing that everyone else is doing. The fact that I got a lot of these off the internet is a testament to that.

And after throwing those things around for a while, you come to the realization that Khoi, and a whole lot of other smart people have come to. Experience could be a differentiator. Now the only problem is convincing everyone else... [click]

ChangesYou Your Boss

We’re doing the same things the same

ways as others!

Cost center!

For the sake of argument, let's say Michael Porter is your boss...

You attend conferences

You read blogs

You adopt best practices

And Michael Porter says...

So you decide to get strategic.

And thus begins the management consulting visual aide death match: value curves, 2x2s, different kinds of value curves, product matrices and all that.

And yet you're still doing the exact same thing that everyone else is doing. The fact that I got a lot of these off the internet is a testament to that.

And after throwing those things around for a while, you come to the realization that Khoi, and a whole lot of other smart people have come to. Experience could be a differentiator. Now the only problem is convincing everyone else... [click]

How do you sell experience to your boss and how to build it with your team?3

You believe that an experience oriented approach is a differentiator. You have found a way to tackle the pesky, confusing world that exists past the boundaries of your company's org chart.

There's only one small hitch.

This isn’t in the doctrine of management. An experience oriented approach hasn’t been scientifically PROVEN. But there evidence out there.

So you decide to try something new- designing for experience. Trying something new is about leadership. And leadership means changing the way that things are currently being done, both above and below.

And changing the way things are currently being done means talking to people.

An organization struggles with internal and external challenges. To remain profitable and competitive, it seeks to gain efficiencies. To become increasingly efficient, it narrows the language it uses. To become effective in new domains, it must expand the language it uses.

- Dr. Michael Geoghegan

Opportunities ChangesThe Manager The Entrepreneur

seeks efficiency

works inside(within the organization)

applies Six Sigma(dogma)

W. James McNerney, Jr.CEO, Boeing

David NeelemanCEO, Jet Blue

seeks opportunity

works outside(in the environment)

tackles problems(taste)

The tension between the manager and the entrepreneur:

The manager seeks efficiency. The entrepreneur seeks opportunity.

The manager works inside the organization. The entrepreneur works outside the organization.

So these are CEOs, but they aren’t that different from you.

Creative leaders, by their very nature, are on the front line and face fundamental operational and strategic choices. With our challenges, in leadership and management, what is the balance of hard deliverables versus empathetic insight what we should deliver?

You have to do both of these jobs. Your job is hard. There are no easy answers. But there are the things we all do in our day to day jobs that help us deliver great experiences consistently. Our speakers are going to talk to you about that.

How do we do the things we ought to do while doing the things we must?4

INC.

+

So let’s quickly recap...

We face a lot of complex problems in our jobs.

Designing for experience is a good thing.

We’re still going to be measured by traditional methods.

We’re being asked to think more strategically.

The world has gone multi channel.

Some of our bosses are still catching up.

But we have to be flexible in our approaches.

And everyone is expecting us to change the way things get done.

Welcome to our world.

So what do we do? Some say, get a seat at the table. Others say smash it. There might be a third option...

INC.

+

So let’s quickly recap...

We face a lot of complex problems in our jobs.

Designing for experience is a good thing.

We’re still going to be measured by traditional methods.

We’re being asked to think more strategically.

The world has gone multi channel.

Some of our bosses are still catching up.

But we have to be flexible in our approaches.

And everyone is expecting us to change the way things get done.

Welcome to our world.

So what do we do? Some say, get a seat at the table. Others say smash it. There might be a third option...

As a class, we designers long to wrap ourselves in the bulletproof cloak of our profession, thinking that if "a place at the table" is reserved for something called "design," maybe we can slide into that empty seat. But the game doesn't bring the player; the player brings the game. Every great designer I've ever met has gotten respect the old fashioned way, by earning it. The means to that end are glorious in their variety. There is no one true path to victory, no silver bullet... It's time to stop being defensive. You may never find that silver bullet. But you can always improve your aim.

- Michael Bierut

But you can always Improve your aim.

How do we lead in an environment of changing demands?1How do we balance the need to do our jobs better AND the need to do new jobs?2How do you sell experience to your boss and how to build it with your team?3How do we do the things we ought to do while doing the things we must?4

• And so to help us start to address two of these questions, I’d like to introduce our next speaker.• When I first heard him talk in a podcast months ago, I knew he had some important insights for us all to hear.