tim malbon how to actually make something | mdw august 2011

Greetings

Thursday, 4 August 2011

Warm up your making muscles


The story so far...


Not an ad agency...


Not an ad agency...

Not an "agency" at all?


Not an ad agency...

Not an "agency" at all?

Something else...


makingstuff


exploitingdisruptive innovation


change is your best

friend


software development

product design

businessstrategy

we'retrying to playsomewhere

in here


software development

product design

businessstrategy

we'retrying to playsomewhere

in here

FOR ONE WEEK ONLY


We make new stuff out of the internet...



We make things that live outside the campaign cycle...



We make things that live outside the campaign cycle...

We make services, products, platforms, apps...


So... what you doing these days?



I design services



You mean like toilets?

I design services




You know, like the things you use but don’t own

I design services





Ohhhh. I see, motorway services.

I design services






No. Like how you use your online banking or buy train tickets or what your gas provider says on the phone when they’ve fucked up. It’s 3/4 of the economy.

They have touchpoints.

I design services






No. Like how you use your online banking or buy train tickets or what your gas provider says on the phone when they’ve fucked up. It’s 3/4 of the economy.

They have touchpoints.

I design services

I didn’t want your fucking life story


Connected products

Digital experience is catching up with the physical

Software is becoming emotional


Connected products

Digital experience is catching up with the physical

Software is becoming emotional

FOR ONE WEEK ONLY


Let's make things that have long-term value for people



useful



useful

playful



useful

playful

sustainable


paid media model of buying attention“trad advertising-like objects”

earned media model of making stuff useful, playful & sustainable“objects that are more like products & services”

FROM

TO


“Ideas that do”Stop communicating products & start making communication products

Gareth Kay, Goodby Silverstein & Partners


Gareth Kay - Planningness 2009


Problem: making the new stuff means blowing up the old ways of working


It's a *little* bit like the history of Physics


Isaac Newton An apple The moon


At this scale, everything works just like clockwork


But at quantum scale, traditional physics

doesn't work any more


It's a bit like Physics

Max Planck

Marie Curie

Albert Einstein

Werner Heisenberg

Wolfgang PauliErwin Schrödinger

Louis de Broglie

Fifth Solvay Congress, Brussels, Belgium, 1927


http://www.schrodinger.com/

http://www.schrodinger.com/

Werner HeisenbergAlbert Einstein


We need to adopt a quantum state of

thinking and making at the same time


Scale and complexity can change things profoundly



Certainty Probability



Sometimes smart people don't get this

Certainty Probability


AGILESOFTWARE

DEV

AGILEDEV +

STRATEGY& DESIGN

AGILE+

LEAN

AGILE+

LEAN+

LIVEPROTOTYPING


Simple & visual

Very, very fast

Self-organising teams

Trusting individuals

No siloesThursday, 4 August 2011

ClientBrief

Research

Agency Brief

Creative Development

Testing

StrategicDevelopment

Production

small adjustment


Strategy

Functional Spec

Wireframes

Design

Code

small adjustment

Test

Deploy


Concept/Seed

Product Development

Alpha/Beta Test

Launch/Ship


• Rapid prototyping testing many hypotheses • Minimum Viable Product (MVP)• Nail it then scale it• Customer obsession (development) • Iterative, metrics-driven & Agile

• Learn fast, don’t fail fast


‘The Lean Agency’Lean Agencies exist to

search for new solutions to their clients’ problems


The characteristics

of a Lean Agency


Iterative


Integrated


Evidence/ Metrics Driven


Minimal Waste


Skype Education ProjectA new service to help more teachers use Skype in the classroom


Skype came to us with a comms brief

| Skype Education Project

Theyʼd noticed that teachers all over the world were using Skype in extraordinary ways. They wanted us to collect these stories and use them to promote the service & inspire other teachers.


We responded with some non-marketing ideas


Layer a new service on top of the basic free communication serviceUse a customer-centric and test-driven way of working out what that service would be


Initial assumption:

It's a lesson planning tool with examples, ideas and tips on integrating Skype into learning


Stage 1 2 3 4

Touchpoint

User Needs

How would you like to find an expert to take part in a

‘Skype visit’? Some type of marketplace?

How would you like to contact them and what would

you need to discuss?

How would you like to involve an expert in planning or structuring the lesson?

How would you like to share the experience with the

community?

Notes

Use case #1: Invite an expert into the classroom


Daniela Callegari

Primary school teacher in ItalyNo experience with Skype in the classroom yetDesperate to connect and find other classes

George Mayo

Middle school language arts teacher in Maryland, USAPioneer in technology and educationEnthusiastic about helping the project

Dan Sutch

FutureLab :: innovation in educationIn-depth knowledge of education & technologyOpen to ongoing involvement in project

Lisa Reid

6th, 7th & 8th grade science teacher in Ohio, USANo experience with Skype in the classroom yetKeen to start using Skype (has used EduSkypers)

Tracy Peterson

Technology teacher in Iowa, USAHas introduced her classes to initial Skype sessionsKeen to collaborate and extend usage of Skype

“Getting out of the building”


We discovered immediately that their biggest obstacle was actually finding other teachers who also used Skype


They also told us that teachers don’t have time to read lots of lesson plans - video clips would be much more helpful


Insights gleaned from teachers’ websites


We made something extremely simple and shipped it quickly


We developed the first release in 2 iterations (4 weeks)We used Skype interviews, survey tools and eventually data from a closed beta of just over 1,000 teachers


We sketched up 4 pages of a directory service which we tested with 7 teachers over Skype


- 55 teachers- 7 countries- 20+ subjects

Expert30%

Intermediate40%

Level of Skype teaching proficiency

Novice29%

Online surveys


“What teachers want”

Find other teachers & share ideas

Find a partner class

Help other teachers

How to use Skype

Overcome obstacles to Skyping

Practice Skype

28%

25%

23%

11.5%

9%

3%


“Teachers who think concept would be ‘very valuable’”

60% -

55% -

50% -

45% -

Search/Filter Video Q&A


We made stuff at the same speed as testing and learning


We used various Agile techniques as a way of managing delivery whilst retaining the flexibility to respond to continuous feedback from testing.We created a charter that defined key metrics for success and a shared vision with Skypeʼs project stakeholders.


A user journey through the service

Good ideaI want to view the

resources that another educator has added / liked.

2

My profile

New ideas

People like me

Ideas I might like

Mr Mayo

A N Other profile

People like me

Ideas I like

The more people who mark an idea as good the higher the ranking of the idea

I can mark an idea as good on the Skype teacher directory

Ideas I think are good are saved into my profile so I can find them again easily and other teachers like me can find them

I want to like a resource

2


As we got more data from analytics, this started driving design decisions


Increasing analytics data provided a new stream of feedback and evidence.Data pointed to key enhancements that were qualitatively validated with teachers using sketches & further Skype interviews.


Beta hard metrics

‣ 1860 teachers signed up to the site

‣ 60% of users from the USA

‣ 2/3 of visits are new visitors to the site‣ 17% return 2-3 times‣ 18% frequent return visits

‣ High level of contact activity - 1,000 contact requests

‣ 200 resources shared

‣ 105 favourites

‣ 45 comments

Beta soft metrics

‣ Teachers like Skype in the classroom but it could meet their needs better

‣ Teachers want to use the site to connect with other teachers but find it difficult to find suitable matches with the current system

‣ Teachers want more search tools and a wider range of topics to describe themselves by

‣ Teachers want greater granularity on location - probably in part because of the high number of teachers in the USA

‣ Teachers find the resources section a useful source of inspiration and information. This is often what they look at first.

Analytics summary: qualitative and quantitative working together


What the analytics told us


• More than 1 in 2 users are connecting with another

• We saw only c200 resources shared. We researched this further with teachers

• Teachers have started to ʻhack itʼ to create projects

• 60% of the traffic is from the US

• Return visits seemed low, but we realised that we were losing the tracking when they connected via the Skype app


Phase 2 objectives

➡Make connecting with another teacher easier and richer‣ Teachers have more tools to find each other by‣ Teachers can describe themselves in more detail‣ Teachers can use alternative connection methods ‣ Teachers can find good contacts again

➡Show teachers the best and most relevant resources‣ Teachers see more relevant resources in their profile‣ Popular resources are more visible

➡Centre the site around projects rather than profiles‣ Allow teachers to create and publish projects‣ Surface relevant projects to teachers

➡Increase teacher sign ups and number of visits

Phase 2 success metrics

‣ # new sign ups‣ 1/2 teachers return to the site more than once‣ Increase the number of teachers from outside the USA‣ 500 connections per month - either email or Skype‣ # of favourited resources increases‣ # of bookmarked teachers‣ # number of teachers who update their profile with additional information‣ # number of teachers who embed the badge on their website

New objectives and revised success metrics for phase 2


Data and evidence-based design decisions for the new phase



We lit 15,000 fires instead of one firework




We surpassed all 'marketing' objectives to create sustainable, long-term value & engagement





We created a template that can be applied to other key verticals





We won a mention at the Core77 design awards

We created a template that can be applied to other key verticals


Lessons learned about iterating...


It’s not iterative if you only do it once...


Incremental


Iterative


Speed


If it takes too long any iterative process is indistinguishable

from waterfall


Externalised + rough


Sketchy prototypes


Jim Glymph, Gehry Technologies

If you freeze an idea too quickly, you fall in love with it

If you freeze an idea too quickly, you fall in love with it... ...refine it too quickly

& you become attached to it

The crudeness of early models in particular is very deliberate

#bdwny


Get out of the building


Closed testing


Recruitment

• Twitter• Facebook• LinkedIn• YouTube• Niche community sites


Skype


Other tools


Open testingRapid, at scale & in context


Dry testing

Signup Database

50%

50%


+152%


Learning

• The whole team learns

• What we learn is communicated to clients

• What we learn is documented

• Metrics are important


ACQUISITION ACTIVATION

RETENTION

REFERRAL REVENUE

Pirate metrics... AARRR

Dave McClure

Actionable metrics not vanity metrics


Incremental execution not incremental thinking


Our goal is always to discover which aspects of

this vision are grounded in reality, & to adapt those

aspects that are not

We always have a vision that is clearly articulated,

big enough to matter, & shared by the whole team

Eric Ries, Start-up Lessons Learned


Intuition IterationText


props to @bokardoThursday, 4 August 2011

Iterative optimisationmay only reach the peak of

a smaller idea


A better idea/design may exist but requires an

intuitive leap


a smaller idea


A better idea/design may exist but requires an

intuitive leap


a smaller idea

Local maximaprops to @bokardo


This is an ongoing experiment

(But we can iterate our way to success)


Copyright Made by Many 2011

Tim Malbon@[email protected]

Thank you

http://madebymany.com


http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/129








mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.madebymany.co.uk

http://www.madebymany.co.uk

tim malbon how to actually make something | mdw august 2011

Business

motorway services

ad agency

dont ownohhhh

new stuff outof

dont ownthursday

train tickets

campaign cycle

online banking