OVERVIEW: Too often business "customer experience" (CX) leaders assign “Design Thinking” projects (problem solving or innovation initiatives) to their staff without understanding or communicating what the project is about, and why it is important. The inability to articulate what they know about the issue to be addressed, or the value proposition the issue’s resolution will deliver, results in project teams struggling to design a solution on a concern that has not been clearl

88% of organizations have encouraged or required their employees to work from home. COVID-19 has dramatically impacted the way that we work, with reports that 88% of organizations have implemented work-from-home policies during the epidemic. Even now, while many businesses are opening back up, it doesn't seem likely that we can expect to flip a switch and go back to business as normal. Employees who have gotten a taste of working remotely seem to be liking it, and organizatio

In “Part 1” of the Strategic Role of the Experience Manager, we primarily outlined the role, of an experience manager. The goal of the experience manager is to identify business opportunities and design solutions that foster positive product and service customer experiences to advance business profitability and growth. In Part 2, we will delve into the activities, tools, and methods of opportunity discovery and prioritization. We’ll review how a large financial company proces

Today much is said and written about companies steeped in customer experience or customer strategy. Often the writings immediately go to the design of products or services. Articles focus on the value of teams using collaborative design, Design Thinking methods, or focus on digital UX. But these writings miss a key component of what the business managers are charged with and concerned about - namely to seek and act upon the customer experience issues that advance the company

Do you know a company that is too big to fail? Think again. We have a tendency to believe that the large corporations of today will live on indefinitely, but the fact is that every year giant corporations die. In fact, if you look at the original Fortune 500, fewer than 12% still exist today. That’s an average of seven of the biggest businesses in the world collapsing every year. Still more shocking is the fact that this is occurring at an increasingly rapid rate. At the pres

Opportunity Framing is the systematic collection and assessment of data to provide insights on a business’s “felt need to act.” It starts with gathering data around an issue, ordering it into themes / categories, then refining the insights into clear problem statements. These problem statements become the framework for effectively communicating to the business what the issues are, and what will be solved. Insight True Human-Centered Design means including the end users of you

When I read a book with the goal of improving my professional life, I am not afraid to mark up pages, fold corners, and generally beat the hell out of that book. To me, non-fiction books are meant to be consumed to the fullest, regardless of the collateral damage. When a book has a dull cover, that is my absolute favorite. You may have some guesses as to why I would say that; maybe I like boring book covers because it makes me feel less guilty than when I’m destroying a beaut

Jake Truemper and Keith Pelkey, founders of Shift, recently spoke at the STLX meetup on the value and practice of Customer Journey Mapping. This half presentation, half workshop session offers a glimpse into how the Shift team maps customer journeys, and best practices for getting the most out of your journey maps. "There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to storytelling. It’s important to recognize that this is a creative process. There are no templates or tools that can

As we close in on GlobalHack VII later this week, I’ve been reflecting on my amazing experience at GlobalHack VI. If you aren’t familiar with GlobalHack, it’s a 36 hour, day-and-night redeye marathon to solve a real-world problem through the use of technology. This particular hackathon had the bonus of being for a genuinely good cause: combatting homelessness. I joined a team of brilliant technologists from 1904labs in an effort that would net us second place in the competiti

At Shift we follow a three pillar framework for creating human-centered, business-viable outcomes. Over the course of the next several months we will be breaking down each stage of our approach. Design Thinking, the middle section of our framework, is currently a hot topic for corporations looking to improve their problem solving skills, but in order to ensure that Design Thinking teams can successfully create solutions that hit on the business’s strategic objectives we also

At Shift we follow a three stage framework for creating human-centered and business-viable outcomes. Our framework starts with the identification and framing of opportunities, progresses to solutioning against said opportunities, and concludes with enabling your business to execute the new experience. Over the course of the next several months we will be breaking down each stage, and step, in greater detail. To start we'd like to introduce you to our framework: Opportunity Th

Delivering a solid product or service is no longer sufficient to ensure success. Customers are now demanding experiences that are engaging and emotionally satisfying. Most organizations believe that they provide a positive customer experience, but few realize how far they have left to go. So how competitive is your organization’s customer experience strategy? Take the quiz below to assess your current human-centered maturity, or read further to learn more about the stages of

STRATEGY is the most misunderstood, and over-used word in business. I challenge CEOs at their next leadership team meeting to ask his/her direct reports to write down what is the company’s Business Strategy. The answers will likely vary, be laden with actions items (tactics), demonstrate a lack of leadership strategic alignment, and confirm there is no common definition of the business strategy. A business strategy should guide the “nature, direction and framework” company le

Have you ever wondered why good ideas fail? Often times a seemingly great idea can't get off the ground. But why? While there are many reasons why ideas fail, few are as damning as the failure to understand value, or to put a finer point on it the value exchange between businesses and people. It is only natural for businesses to fall into a paradigm of thinking over time. Misguided assumptions and out of context insights compound to cause businesses to lose sight of the value