Stephen Gay
Innovation Catalyst
@ Intuit
Design for Delight

Chat about...
• Why Design for Delight?
• Our Journey
• 3 Core Principles
• 6 Methods

Canadian living in Silicon Valley
15+ years of experience
@ Intuit
Design Strategist & Innovation Catalyst

Why
Design for Delight?

#1 driver of new customer
purchases of Intuit products
Word of Mouth

Delight promotes Word of Mouth

• Flawless planning
• Avoid failure
• Rigorous analysis
• Presentations
• Arm’s length customer research
• Periodic
• Thinking
• Enlightened TRIAL & ERROR
• Fail FAST
• Rigorous TESTING
• Lightweight EXPERIMENTS
• DEEP CUSTOMER IMMERSION
• CONTINUOUS
• DOING
TO: Designing for Delight
(aka Design Thinking)
FROM: Traditional
Thinking

TO: Designing for Delight
(aka Design Thinking)
4
+
4
=
8
8
=
4 + 4
2 + 6
12 – 4
4 x 2
24 / 3
Discovery of what
is “right”.
The so-called
“correct” answer
Discovery of
what WORKS.
An infinity of
POSSIBLE
answers
FROM: Traditional
Thinking

Our Journey

’07
Beyond Ease
NPS Flat

“Intuit is the most well run,
no growth company in the valley.”

’07
Beyond Ease
NPS Flat
‘08
Delight Forums

’09
Catalyst
& Session Pilots
’10
Innovation Catalysts
’07
Beyond Ease
NPS Flat
‘08
Delight Forums

FY ‘10
75 Catalysts
FY ‘09
10 Catalysts 120 Catalysts
FY ‘11
FY ‘12
170 Catalysts
FY ‘13
200 Catalysts
Cross functional group of D4D experts, working across the company to apply
D4D in the day-to-day to achieve Delight

’09
Catalyst
& Session Pilots
’10
Innovation Catalysts
’11
D4D Sessions
’07
Beyond Ease
NPS Flat
‘08
Delight Forums

’09
Catalyst
& Session Pilots
’10
Innovation Catalysts
’11
D4D Sessions
’12
Everyday D4D
’07
Beyond Ease
NPS Flat
‘08
Delight Forums

2012 #56
2011 #84
2010 ---

3 Core Principles

Know your customer
better than they know
themselves.

Observed customer pain...

...drives to a solution.

It is hard to understand your
customer from your office…

Connect with where they are
coming from…
1. Be the customer
2. Watch the customer
3. Talk with the customer

Purpose of Deep Customer Empathy
• See the customer from a different perspective
• Understand what really matters

To get one great idea, you
have to create lots.
Your first idea is usually not
your best.

Divergent
Thinking
Create
Choices
Convergent
Thinking
Make
Choices

Purpose of Going Broad to Narrow
• Create options before making choices
• Explicit criteria = better choices
• The foundation for innovating new ways of
doing things

Watching how our customers
behave is far better than our
opinion.

Rough Experiments to Test Ideas

Get Feedback Early and Often

Build Physical Prototypes to Experiment

Experiment in the Lab & Field

Purpose of Rapid Experiments with Customers
• To learn what will improve customers lives
• To learn what the pros and cons of different
approaches are
• To make better decisions

6 Methods

SAY
DO
THINK
FEEL
D4D | Empathy Map
The Empathy Map
Problem Statement
• I"am"________________________________."
• I"am"trying"to"_________________________,"
but"_________________________________"
because"_____________________________,"
which"makes"me"feel"__________________."
“Who”"with"3"characteris=cs"
Outcome/Job"
Problem/Barrier"
Root"Cause"
Emo=on"
The Problem Statement Brainstorming
The 2x2 The Storyboard Visioning

The Empathy Map
SAY
DO
THINK
FEEL
D4D | Empathy Map

What%mo(vates%me%is:%
______________________________%

You have research findings and want the team to
understand what they mean at a deeper level.
WHY
use it
WHEN
to use it
•To sink into a user’s perspective and related emotions.
•To uncover underlying motivations and beliefs that
drive behaviors and words.
• Feelings are key to delivering delight.
Time: 20-30 minutes per user

1.PLAN: Set out Sharpie markers and Post-Its
2.UNPACK FIELD RESEARCH: What ‘s surprising? Individually,
write down your top 3 observations.Then, as a group, share each user’s story
out loud, one at a time.Take notes on Post-Its, capturing observations,
quotes, and inferences.
3.WALK THE MAP: Sticking Post-Its in the appropriate areas, starting
with the explicit (say, do) and then to the implicit (feel, think) for each
observation.“What did this person...
SAY? (quotes and keywords)
DO? (actions and behaviors)
FEEL? (infer emotions using words/facial expression)
THINK? (infer beliefs, logic – if I do this, then...)
HOW
to do it

The Problem Statement
Problem Statement
• I"am"________________________________."
• I"am"trying"to"_________________________,"
but"_________________________________"
because"_____________________________,"
which"makes"me"feel"__________________."
“Who”"with"3"characteris=cs"
Outcome/Job"
Problem/Barrier"
Root"Cause"
Emo=on"

I
am
an
overweight
employee
with
a
full-­‐4me
job
and
a
toddler
at
home.
I
am
trying
to
get
regular
exercise,
but
I
can’t
find
the
4me
because
I
spend
all
of
my
free
4me
playing
with
my
daughter
,
which
makes
me
feel
powerless
to
control
my
weight.

You have a hypothesis, or understanding, about the customer
problem and need to articulate it to gain shared-vision or
customer feedback.
WHY
use it
WHEN
to use it
Enables stakeholders to clarify the problem, the root causes and
associated emotions. Use the problem statement with the target
customer to get feedback on how well this statement reflects
their problem, and how painful this problem is relative to others,
from their perspective.
Time: 5-10 minutes per Problem Statement

1.WRITE the problem statement template on a large board or poster
(or print the problem statement template).
2.Each team member should GENERATE their own problem
statement, filling in the 5 phrases.
3.SHARE all problem statements with group
4.CHOOSE which problem statement(s) to test with customers
HOW
to do it

Brainstorming

You want to generate a bunch of ideas, form a variety of
perspectives – quickly.
WHY
use it
WHEN
to use it
•To generate many new ideas -- quickly
• Incorporate diverse perspectives
• Probe more deeply into a problem or opportunity area
Time: 30-40 minutes

1.SET CONTEXT by grounding participants in the problem or opportunity space,
project history, personas and insights.
2.WARM UP. Use a group exercise to get energy up.
3.FOCUS ATTENTION by writing a provocative “How Might We...?” or “What
ways can...?” question on the board.
4.QUIET IDEATION. To balance different thinking styles, spend 2-3 minutes
capturing ideas individually, one idea per Post-It. Use Sharpies.
5.ENGAGE EACH PARTICIPANT by asking them to share an idea.
6.REINFORCE the idea by repeating and clarifying it, then sticking it on the board.
7.BROADEN:When ideation slows, build on ideas.
8.CLUSTER ideas into themes.
HOW
to do it

The 2x2

These are the best
ideas for the
project goals

When you have a number of ideas, and need to evaluate them to
narrow your focus.
Explore relationships and tensions between two goals, values,
motivations, or other characteristics. Prioritize your ideas using
criteria important to you and your customers.
WHY
use it
WHEN
to use it

1.EXPERIMENT with word pairs for axis labels. Often, it takes a few
iterations to arrive at useful labels for analyzing ideas.
2.PLACE idea Post-Its in the appropriate quadrants.You should have
Post-Its in all quadrants. If you find they are all clustered in one
quadrant, brainstorm another axis label.
3.PHOTOGRAPH the populated 2x2 and the related notes.
4.ITERATE. Develop multiple versions of 2x2’s to uncover
additional insights and refine your point of view on which ideas to
explore first.
HOW
to do it

The Storyboard

1. Customer Problem
3. Customer
Benefit
2. PROPOSED
SOLUTION
&
EXPERIENCE!

When you have an idea and want feedback on how well it solves
the customer problem, meets the customer’s criteria, or delivers a
big customer benefit.
WHEN
to use it
Enables your team to iterate quickly on new concepts before
spending time designing or building high-fidelity mockups.
Storyboards can also be used to gain deeper insight into the
customer’s experience.
WHY
use it
Time: 60 minutes per iteration,
including customer feedback

1.SELECT an idea or problem to storyboard
2.DETERMINE WHAT YOU WANT TO LEARN:
1.ASK the team “What would be good about this solution?” Be very specific (e.g.,
“Make it Easy” is too broad)
2.NARROW to the top 2-3 reasons.This is the hypothesis that you’ll test for this
idea.
3.CREATE A SCRIPT. Place a Post-It in each cell.
1.Write the customer BENEFIT in the last cell.
2.Describe the customer PROBLEM in the first 1-2 cells
3.Use the cells in-between to show how the story unfolds
(your SOLUTION).
4.REPLACE each Post-It with a sketch of a key scene of the story.
5.PILOT your storyboard: Have someone who doesn’t know the story read it aloud and
tell you what’s confusing. Revise.
6.GET CUSTOMER FEEDBACK. Have the customer tell you what is happening in
each cell.Then get their reaction to the problem, idea, and the benefit.
HOW
to do it

Visioning

•You need to articulate and align your team on an inspiring
overarching vision.
•You need to bring deeper meaning to an existing vision
statement.
WHEN
to use it
•To establish the emotional connection to why this outcome is
important for you and your team.
•To understand the relationship between current state and where
you want to be.
WHY
use it
Time: 90+ minutes

“D4D is our number 1
weapon in attaining growth
and there is no #2”
- Scott Cook

Thank you