People Centered Innovation

Anne KirahSenior Design Anthropologist

Microsoft Corporationannekiel@microsoft.com

Kirah GroupAnna.kirah@gmail.com

180 Academy anna@180academy

People Centric Approach

• Innovation begins when we take off our blinders in our business and think of aspirations and motivations of people in their everyday and not so everyday lives

• We must speak the same language and culture of the people we are innovating for– Innovation comes when this is taken to heart before

concept ideation– Innovation comes when this is internalized within company

culture as well

Path to Microsoft: What do I?

• Take skill set of a cultural anthropologist and apply it to: – Innovation

• Bridging research to the design and development of products, features and services

– The strategy and vision of my company• Changing company culture from a

technology to people centric approach• Long term understanding of global

trends and impact on strategy

Path to Microsoft: How did I get there?

• I am by definition a foreigner– Finding Anthropology– Deciding on Psychology– Chance happenings and Airplanes– Microsoft Calls…

What does Microsoft have in common with Tibet?

• Discovering company culture

• Microsoft-centric behavior• Learning through failure

and humility• Introducing a new kind of

“team work”• Real People, Real Data:

Research throughout product Cycle

Path to Microsoft: What do I?

• Global Ethnography:– Observe people doing activities that they

define themselves and are meaningful to them

– Understanding real people in their everyday lives: their aspirations and their motivations, what is most important to them.

– Looking at the entire ecosystem

Exploratory Research: We study life stages and life events

• Net generation in school (age 10-20)

• Net generation in the work force (single and couples without children) (20 somethings)

• People with young children (30 somethings)

• People with teenage children (40 somethings)

• People with children living out of the home (working and retired: 50 +)

Around the World in Participatory Design “in search of new ideas with real people in real places”

Seattle, WA

Madrid, Spain

Amsterdam, NL Tokyo, JapanSeoul, Korea

One of the Global Themes

• Breaking Barriers beyond culture, language, emotions and location

Jose: “Telepathy” Kike: “SuperGlue” Alicia: “Tele-transportation”

Global themes from field research

Two major evolutions interlinked

• A new generation is out there and they are more empowered than ever before– Savvy and cynical with the world at their fingertips– Causing a desire to be part of the design process

• Consumers are buying the experience and not the product– Causing them to have high expectations of what is

acceptable and what is not

Why the Net Generation and how Culture changes technology

• Born Digital, technology is their oxygen• The internet is more “real” than “real”• In search of identity and presentation

of self in everyday life • Sharing emotions --- Know what I know,

see what I see, feel what I feel! • The family experience online is like

that of an immigrant family• Broad impact influencing trends and

bringing their habits home and to the workforce

France: Alexis: 16 year old « lycéen »

• “Talks » to his friends

• Multi-tasking

• Bargain Hunter, thrill seeker

• Get’s advice from forums/social network online

• Snowboarding holiday

• Shopping for things, passions and aspirations

Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives Collide

Net Generation Communications on Line

• “Exhibitionism” and Web-logging

• Trying on those different personas

• I am Unique and “real”

Bargain Hunting: The case of Motorola and the Pink RAZR

• From the internet---mobile phone---using a social network

People are experiencing chaos

Information Overload Causes:

• Fear• Anxiety• Tension• Sense of Loss of control

and order

People are experiencing chaos and desiring order• People Yearn For:

• Simplicity• Peaceful Place• Calm• Safety• Escape• Play

Dealing with Information Overload

• Time/content shifting – the use of technology to manage time, engagements and content

– Television and DVDs– CDs– DVDs– Television blogging– Newspapers online offline

• I’m a time-constrained technophile using delayed satisfaction to shift activities into available timeslots. I want to use my time the way I want to, do not direct me or tell me when I have to be online, watch tv, take phone calls, work, play, do my daily sudoku

• Re-prioritizing time demands: Back to Basics

• Hopping off traditional road to success

• Dropping off the digital map: computers are quality time leaches

• No need to time shift with technology, refocus of where time demands lie

• People have forgotten what is important. They have a “time” for work, a “time” for the gym, a “time” to spend with friends, a “time” to relax. They even have a mechanical understanding self…we’re hooked in to it.

Values from the heart that enter the mind

Innovation comes from chaos and discomfort and learning to see things through new lenses:

• Observing everyday people and their everyday lives

• A willingness to build with these people

• Allowing values of the heart within your company to be embraced

• Being humble and practicing humility

• Taking Risks!

Values from the heart that enter the mind

• Embrace Chaos: Because it is the life we live today • Embrace Change: Because despite the discomfort it

reflects the rapid pace of the world we live in• Embrace Global: Immerse yourself in the discomfort of

something foreign and learn to see value in it from the heart

• Embrace Diversity: Not because it is politically correct to have --- but because you believe it in your heart– Like barn leker best, men lærer ingenting

180º Academy: turning you upside down!

Master Practitioner Program• 9 modules Executive Program (for industry leaders)• 3 modules Insight Program• Tailormade workshops for small and

medium sized companies and organizations

Food for thought

• Where is the chaos? What is your vision for order?• Where is the inspiration for play?• What are you doing to avoid people or even yourself

from hopping off? • How do you manage discomfort with the unknown?

THANK YOU!!!