Closing Keynote: Design at Scale
Summary
More than 50 years ago, Thomas Watson Jr., the second President of IBM declared, “Good design is good business”. Today, the global company continues to operate on the belief that human experiences drive business. Doug Powell, Distinguished Designer at IBM, will expose what it means to practice design at the global tech company, exploring the inner workings of the largest UX design operation in the world. He will also elaborate on a new Forrester Research study examining the value of design and the design thinking practice at IBM.
Key Insights
-
•
Design leadership is shifting from earning a seat at the table to proving design’s strategic business value.
-
•
IBM employs a decentralized design model with 1,800 formally trained designers embedded in 25 semi-autonomous businesses.
-
•
Design thinking is taught to everyone at IBM, with over 140,000 employees trained via an online platform since 2016.
-
•
Cross-disciplinary collaboration around design thinking significantly improves team alignment and agility.
-
•
Measuring design impact requires a multi-metric approach including designer-to-developer ratios, seniority balance, attrition, and user sentiment.
-
•
Business leaders at IBM are data-driven, competitive, and have a finely tuned bullshit meter, requiring clear and evidence-based communication.
-
•
A 2018 Forrester study found teams with the right design conditions deliver 2x faster to market and 300% ROI.
-
•
Strong relationships between design leaders and business leaders accelerate executive buy-in and resource investment.
-
•
Diversity is a critical design ops challenge as teams must reflect the diverse users they serve to create effective experiences.
-
•
IBM’s App Connect team turned complex workflows into intuitive apps, winning the iF Design Award and validating IBM's design investments.
Notable Quotes
"We are truly in a golden age for our profession."
"Design thinking is for everybody. It’s collaborative, inclusive, and cross-disciplinary."
"Everything is a prototype."
"Business leaders are super busy, data-driven, competitive, and have a finely tuned bullshit meter."
"When the whole team is trained in design thinking, they are measurably more aligned, more efficient, and more agile."
"The user experience will allow us to win."
"There’s no faking it with this crowd."
"We have over 140,000 IBMers who’ve completed design thinking online training."
"Diversity is beyond just the right thing to do. Our teams must reflect the world we’re designing for."
"Good design is good business."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Inviting other teams into research sessions lets us triangulate findings by combining interviews, observations, and focus groups."
Joanna Vodopivec Prabhas PokharelOne Research Team for All - Influence Without Authority
March 9, 2022
"People like us—having a community—is imperative to not feel alone and to sustain in this space."
Louis Rosenfeld Lashanda Hodge Senongo Akpem Chris HodowanecBecoming a Civic Designer: Making the Move from Private to Public Sector
November 17, 2022
"Lauren Cantor is our house librarian and has made an outstanding contribution to the conference."
Bria AlexanderDay 3 Welcome
September 25, 2024
"Lauren Cantor is a heavy hitter gathering all the really good resources and putting them together."
Uday Gajendar Louis RosenfeldDay 2 Welcome
June 5, 2024
"We often say don’t make me think. When that’s not possible, reuse and recycle those learnings."
Sam ProulxOnline Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience
June 7, 2023
"Day one is a commencement, a graduation from candidate to employee, not a paperwork slog."
Russ UngerOnboarding: The Ecosystem, not the Afterthought
November 7, 2017
"Being able to see faces and first names of people we're learning from makes those users tangible to the team."
Catherine DubutBridging Physical and Digital Spaces: Approaches to Retail Service Design
March 18, 2021
"In-painting allows precise, targeted edits that don’t disturb the rest of the content."
Josh Clark Veronika KindredSentient Design: New Postures for AI-Mediated Experiences (2nd of 3 seminars)
January 29, 2025
"Every manager who works with me knows their responsibility includes sourcing candidates for diverse backgrounds."
Dantley DavisLeadership & Diversity—A Fireside Chat with Dantley Davis
September 17, 2020