Handbook

Are you looking for an efficient way to strengthen design? This handbook for design leaders explains how to apply ICA/RUS, our approach to create a strategic force. We regularly update the content of this handbook.

E-mail us if you have any questions, remarks, or suggestions.

Situation

Analyse the situation of your design activity:

1. Describe the organization of your design activity.
   • Design: what is the plan?
   • Existence: is the plan in execution?
   • Operation: is the execution according to the plan?
2. Analyse environmental factors for your design activity.
   • Macro-environmental factors (according to a PESTEL analysis)
     • Political factors
     • Economic factors
     • Social factors
     • Technological factors
     • Environmental factors
     • Legal factors
   • Meso-environmental factors (according to a five-forces analysis)
     • Threat of new entrants
     • Threat of substitutes
     • Bargaining power of customers
     • Bargaining power of suppliers
     • Competitive rivalry
   • Micro-environmental factors (according to a SWOT analysis)
     • Strengths (i.e., characteristics that entail an advantage)
     • Weaknesses (i.e., characteristics that entail a disadvantage)
     • Opportunities (i.e., elements in the environment that could entail an advantage)
     • Threats (i.e., elements in the environment that could entail a disadvantage)
3. Indicate your motivation to strengthen design.
   • Intent to transition your design activity
     • Start up
     • Grow up
     • Scale up
   • Intent to increase creativity in your design activity
     • Innovation
     • Adaptation
     • Transformation
   • Intent to increase organizational success gained by your design activity
     • Turnover
     • Return
     • Growth

Ambition

State your ambition in strengthening design:

1. Designate the power of design that you want to increase.
   • Value
   • Impact
   • Performance
2. Define indicators for the power of design that measure the fulfilment of your ambition.
   • Value
     • Worth for society
     • Worth for the natural environment
     • Economic worth
   • Impact
     • Leads
     • Customers
     • Ambassadors
   • Performance
     • Scope
     • Quality
     • Benefit (for your client, business, or organization)
       • Revenues
       • Return
       • Performance
     • Time
     • Cost
     • Risk
3. Determine a target value range and the current value for each indicator.
   • Minimum
   • Optimum
   • Maximum

Estimate

Estimate whether your ambition can be fulfilled:

1. Analyse any earlier initiatives to fulfil your ambition.
2. Check the availability of required resources for your new initiative.
   • Personnel
   • Documentation
   • Data points
3. Analyse whether your ambition is worth pursuing.
   • Desirable
   • Feasible
   • Viable

Identify

Using the service quality gap model, identify capabilities that are critical to fulfilling your ambition.

• Capabilities to communicate with involved parties
  • Commissioners
  • Customers
  • Users
  • Subject matter experts
  • Contractors
  • Managers
  • Etc.
• Capabilities to coordinate goals
  • Objectives to achieve
  • Policies to follow
  • Values to fulfil
• Capabilities to co-create
  • Research
    • Define research questions
    • Develop a research plan
    • Execute research
      • Collect data
      • List findings
      • Draw conclusions
  • Define a value proposition [for]
    • Customer profile
      • Customer jobs
      • Customer gains
      • Customer pains
    • Value promise
      • Product
      • Gain creators
      • Pain relievers
  • Develop
    • Build
      • Coordinate building
      • Specify expectations [of]
      • Fulfil expectations [of]
    • Measure
      • Define metrics [for]
      • Build a metrics system [for]
      • Collect data points [of]
    • Learn [about]
      • Compare expectations and experiences [of]
      • Understand differences between expectations and experiences [of]
      • Update beliefs [about]
  • Promote
    • Draw attention [to]
    • Raise interest [for]
    • Ignite desire [for]
    • Call for action [regarding]
  • Deliver
    • Coordinate
      • Determine a strategy
      • Execute a strategy
      • Evaluate a strategy
    • Specify requirements for the result [of]
      • Frame the situation
      • Fill out expectations
      • Formulate a problem
    • Fulfil requirements for the result [of]
      • Devise a concept
      • Develop a solution
      • Deliver specifications

If necessary, you can further analyse each of these capabilities using a model of purposeful action developed by Donald Norman (2002); see the figure below.

Finally, characterize each critical capability as follows:

Compare

Rank critical capabilities on their expected contributions to organizational aspects.

Appraise

Assess each critical capability on the presence of competency in your team.

Refine

Using SCAMPER, refine critical capabilities to make them rare.

• Substitute
• Combine
• Adjust
• Modify
• Put to another use

• Eliminate
• Reverse

Unite

Integrate refined capabilities to make them inimitable.

• Connect (with other capabilities)
• Embed (among other capabilities)
• Immerse (mixed with other capabilities)

Secure

Support and maintain unique capabilities in your team by anchoring them in its organization design (in line with the McKinsey 7S framework).

• Strategy
• Structure
• System
• Specialisms
• Skills
• Shared values

Consult Shadbolt & Smart (2015) for methods, techniques, and tools to capture knowledge.

R&D

Define a portfolio strategy, identify gaps and unmet or latent needs, and define segments for customers and users. — McKinsey Design

Combine scale with agility. — David Butler & Linda Tischler

Promotion

Represent design at the top level of the organization, improve employee experience with design, and spread design practices. — McKinsey Design

Describe design work in terms of business goals, collect evidence of design results, and communicate the business value of design. — BoagWorld

Delivery

Explore user experiences, discover user motives, and define user requirements. — Interaction Design Foundation

R&D

Build up your reputation, spot talent through your network, and establish a flexible talent pipeline. — Workable

Delivery

Form a cross-disciplinary team, further knowledge integration, and implement decision-making through consensus. — Purdue University

Translate the corporate vision into tangible goals, center the customer, foster collaboration, and uphold operational excellence—all while expanding creative limits. — Aquent

R&D

Define quantified metrics, build a holistic metrics system, and define supporting operational metrics. — McKinsey Design

Set goals, determine ground rules, and provide facilities to acquire, create, and share knowledge. — UNStudio

Turbocharge processes, speed up internal feedback loops, and improve handoffs. — Invision Inside Design

Delivery

Demonstrate desired behaviours, provide motivators, and recognize and acknowledge displayed behaviours. — PositivePsychology

Recognize and remove overly complex content, organize knowledge, and filter content. — UX Collective