1 5MOVING FORWARD THE DESIGN PROCESS MOVING FORWARD
2 TABLE OF CONTENTS WORKSHOP PREPARATION For Class 5 Moving Forward Workshop READINGS + REFLECTIONS + INSPIRATION 01 Human-Centered Design: Moving Forward 02 Case Study: Clean Team #2 03 Reflect on the Human-Centered Design Process 04 Gather Inspiration from the Online Community A NOTE ABOUT READINGS FOR THIS CLASS The Class 5 readings are relatively short since we ve now made it through the three stages of the human-centered design process. However, as part of the readings, you ll be asked to reflect on your experiences during the course so far and spend some time browsing the Online Community. Note that this format is likely to require less time reading, and a bit more time thinking or writing things down. So get your pencils and an Internet connection and dive into your final class of this course.
3 WORKSHOP PREPARATION For Class 5 Moving Forward Workshop CHOOSE A CLASS LEADER GATHER SUPPLIES FOR CLASS 5 WORKSHOP Here s what you ll need: notebook (or blank paper), pens, felt markers or Sharpies, Post-its (or their equivalent). REFLECT AND ANSWER THE QUESTIONS INCLUDED WITH READINGS 03 AND 04 OF THIS CLASS BRING THE FOLLOWING 1) Class 4 prototypes and field notes from your prototype testing 2) The experience maps created during your Class 4 Workshop 3) Printed Class 5 Workshop Guide CONSIDER BRINGING SOME FOOD AND DRINKS Your team can celebrate your successful completion of the course.
4 READINGS 01 Human-Centered Design: Moving Forward
THE DESIGN PROCESS +ACUMEN 5 REPEAT MOVING FORWARD During this course, you ve moved through the Discover, Ideate, and Prototype phases of the human-centered design process. The process is not always linear, however. Instead, human-centered design is about continuing to iterate and refine your ideas and that often means returning to previous stages in the process. And only once you ve iterated and refined your idea will you pilot and scale your design. In this chapter, we ll give you a preview of what these steps might involve.
6 ITERATE: WHAT QUESTIONS STILL NEED AN ANSWER? Create an action plan. Most ideas cannot be fully realized with just one prototype. Continuous iteration on your idea requires various resources and capabilities. Here are some guidelines for what it takes to move your design through the iteration process. Evaluate your experience map. As part of the Class 4 Prototype workshop, your team created an experience map that might interact with your idea. Review that map based upon what you learned during Class 4. What questions have been answered? What do you still need to learn? Specify the materials you need. Make a list of all the materials you will need to build future prototypes now that you understand the prototyping process. Will you need to purchase any new materials? Calculate the funds you ll need. Money is often a scarce resource for an entrepreneur. Look into applying for a grant or submitting your idea for a business competition. Consider opportunities to tap into existing budgets. Identify partners to work with. Create an overview of people who can help you realize your idea. Do you need new or additional skill sets on your team? Do you idea outside the team? Can you leverage your larger network of friends, colleagues, family members, and community leaders. Is there an organization that think might be interested in working with you? Create an action plan. Choose which activities will best help you move your concept forward. Do you need to make a pitch document? Do you need to engage partners? How will you share your story? This is an example of an action plan created for a for-profit technology project. Although the content of your plan might differ, using a structure like this is enormously helpful in the for-profit or non-profit context. Recruit founding portfolio of content contributors and test with users Build and test web infrastructure Define content guideline (original, inspirational, social) Test with users to see the number of content providers they follow and frequency of use Test value proposition with different audiences Test value proposition with brands/advertisers Research and build a wish list of content contributors Model the market size and penetration Research and model the resources needed to build and maintain the content portfolio Research and model the advertising metrics requirements
7 PILOT: START SMALL TO LEARN WHAT WORKS Take your idea to the next level by testing it in the marketplace. A pilot is designed primarily to test the desirability, feasibility, and viability of your idea with customers at a small scale and on a limited budget. Here is a broad overview of what to keep in mind when testing an idea in the marketplace. Establish a business model. When piloting your business model, it is often helpful to break it into four building blocks: Customer Who is the customer for your product or service? Offer What is the value proposition that will make customers wish to use your product or service? Revenue How will your product or service make money or otherwise sustain itself in the marketplace? Touchpoints How will customers learn about your product or service? Where will they access it? Want more business model inspiration? We suggest visiting the following site: www.businessmodelgeneration.com Determine what to test. During a pilot, it is important to test different variables that will impact the success of your idea once it goes to scale. The point of a pilot is to test and iterate by getting real feedback in the marketplace. Here are a few variables to consider testing during a pilot: Pricing How much will you charge for your product or service? Might this price vary from community to community? How do these prices compare to competitors in the marketplace? Payment options How will customers pay for your product or service? Up-front? Installments? Might you create a subscription option? Incentives Who are your employees and what are their incentives for making your product or service a success? Do they work on commission? Customer retention Are repeat customers essential for your business model? What incentives might you provide to maintain customers? Customer experience Can you experiment with different ways that customers might interact with your product or service across the experience map created in Class 4 of this course. Create a launch plan. There are many considerations in advance of launching even a small pilot. Here are that you might consider in advance of launching a pilot: Select your partners Your pilot won t exist in a vacuum. What upstream and downstream partners will you need? Pick your staff A lean startup model is a must. Who are your essential team members and what are their roles? Find a location Selecting a location for your pilot is enormously important. Set your initial price This is likely to change as your pilot proceeds, but what is your initial price point? Establish your branding During the pilot, it is important to make your product or service as professional as possible by creating materials that are clearly branded and build recognition among customers.
8 SCALE: DEVELOP A STRATEGY FOR GROWING YOUR IDEA Now scale your idea over time. Once you ve established that your pilot is desirable, feasible, and viable, it s time to take your idea to scale. To do this, a scaling strategy is vital. Here are three very basic scaling strategies you might consider. BOOTSTRAPPING What is it? Raising capital to expand and replicate your pilot model without external partners. When does it makes sense? Bootstrap scaling can be very capital- and resource-intensive, but can make sense if working with local social entrepreneurs or other community partners proves unfeasible. Alternatively, bootstraping can make sense if your idea, when piloted, seems so promising that it can potentially be a highly lucrative and investor-friendly business. + Pros Full control over brand and service Ability to make sweeping changes Doesn t rely heavily on willingness and abilities of external partners - Cons Capital-intensive Large staff to hire and manage High risk Slow growth Potentially in competition with local partners, instead of collaboration FRANCHISING What is it? Selling or licensing a business package to entrepreneurs consisting of a fully branded, ready-to-run social enterprise. Entrepreneurs might pay a franchise fee to use your idea and branded materials, and would maintain a salesforce and handle all operations. When does it makes sense? Franchising works well if there are other social entrepreneurs who are interested in your idea and would be in a position to run their own sales and operations. + Pros Moderate control over brand and service Supports local businesses Less capital-intensive than bootstrap scaling - Cons Difficult to maintain quality and consistency Relies on willingness and abilities of other social entrepreneurs INTEGRATION What is it? Just like you looked for partners to help launch your pilot, it s possible that the key to scaling your idea might be combining forces with an existing social enterprise, government program, or nonprofit. When does it makes sense? Integration works best when the best route to scale isn t necessarily keeping your product or service as an independent business, or when you ve identified how your design might complement or leverage the offers of already existing organizations, products, or services. Perhaps a community organization could implement it more effectively at scale as a new program? Or an existing social enterprise could add it as a new product line? + Pros High potential for impact Much less capital intensive Supports local businesses or other organizations within the community - Cons Relies heavily on willingness and abilities of external partners Potential loss of control Difficult to maintain quality and consistency
9 READINGS 02 Case Study: Clean Team #2 An Interview with Andy Narracott, Deputy Chief Executive of Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor
10 CLEAN TEAM STRATEGICALLY SCALING TO BRING SANITATION SOLUTIONS INSIDE HOMES As part of the Class 1 Readings, you read about Clean Team, the in-home toilet social enterprise created by Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) in partnership with Unilever, IDEO, and IDEO.org. After successfully launching a small pilot, Clean Team Ghana was incorporated as a company in April 2012 and began the process of scaling up the social enterprise in Kumasi, Ghana. By February 2013, Clean Team had more than 20 staff and approximately 2,000 people benefiting from an in-home toilet. By 2014, it hopes to serve 10,000 customers and 70,000 people. The following are excerpts from an interview with Andy Narracott, Deputy Chief Executive of WSUP, in which he discusses the process of scaling up the Clean Team social enterprise. The interview appeared on Next Billion. Next Billion: How important was it to choose a place to pilot Clean Team where the poor already were willing to pay for sanitation? When you scale, will you focus on entering communities that also are willing to pay for sanitation? Andy Narracott: Establishing any new business is a challenging path full of pitfalls and roadblocks at every turn. One of the biggest challenges for us is to provide a reliable, polished service from day one at an affordable price. To enable us to get off on the best footing, we chose to start in a middle- to low-income area where most residents had no toilet in their home. As we expand, we are moving into lower income areas whilst working to drive down the costs of our business and launching lower-cost services. We believe that the poor will be willing to pay for products and services that are designed for them, which is why we worked with IDEO.org to design a business that appeals to their needs. The response we ve had so far tells us there ll continue to be a huge demand for our services as we scale. NB: Since you aim to make in-home sanitation the norm for consumers, what are some of the messages you are leveraging to do so?
11 Andy Narracott pictured above AN: Our customers are hardworking, familyoriented people. Naturally, they want control over their toilet experience and the best for their family, rather than resorting to long walks, long queues and bad smells that are the norm of public facilities. So our message is that we give people a way to provide the best for their family. We are building a brand that is centered on reliability, professionalism, and consistency that respects the family and elevates sanitation as an essential part of a healthy community. NB: What other activities are you doing to create a new market for in-home sanitation? AN: Our main focus has been on getting the toilet into mass production. Most portable toilet products on the market were designed for the leisure industry and wouldn t be able to withstand the daily use by our customers. We sought to produce a robust, low-cost but high quality product and we re very pleased with what we ve got. Durable, yet attractive. We re now set up to mass produce the toilets to support our expansion. Other areas of focus on the supply side have been the toilet chemical and container cleaning equipment, both of which do not exist for our market. We re making steady progress in both areas. Another big area of development is developing the ability to treat the waste for safe disposal. Eventually, we hope to produce marketready products derived from the waste, such as decentralized electricity generation and distribution. We re currently working on two fronts: re-designing standard anaerobic digestion technology to be modular, portable and low-cost. And through WSUP, we ll be trialing new processing technologies that turn the waste into something of value. NB: Can you talk more about the importance of branding for Clean Team? AN: Through our research with IDEO.org, we found that brand is important in Africa. It helps establish trust in a place where good service is uncommon. But that isn t enough we have to deliver on our brand promise, which is where our focus is right now. Our partnership with Unilever has helped us understand the importance of brand in scaling a business. Working on our brand early has helped us focus our efforts on providing a consistent and reliable service before we scale. It helps our new employees quickly grasp what Clean Team is about. It will help us quickly make real impact as we expand into new geographies. NB: It seems like the waste collection and processing system you ve established would allow you to incorporate paid, public toilets into your product line fairly easily. Is this something you ve considered? Why or why not?
12 AN: Public toilets in Ghana are widespread but sadly so many of them substandard and are more of a public health hazard than a convenience. Branching out into the management of public toilets is an obvious way for us to increase our impact. But for now, we re focusing on doing one thing really well: providing a scalable in-home sanitation solution in Ghana. NB: As you mention on your website, even in areas where public toilets are available, ensuring these facilities meet acceptable standards is challenging and installing sewers is a long term solution. Does Clean Team have a role in moving governments toward centralized sewer systems? Or would the development of centralized sewer systems be bad news for your business? AN: We re intent on growing Clean Team into an affordable and scalable sanitation businesses. To do this, we need to keep laser-sharp focus on our core business whilst proving our financial viability. According to UN sanitation data, around 2.6 billion people worldwide are served by inadequate sanitation methods and a further 800 million practice open defecation. With increasing population growth and rural migration, sewerage is unlikely to be a feasible solution at this scale. It is essential that more cost-effective and modular systems like ours are given the support to serve this enormous need. Visit Next Billion: http://www.nextbillion.net Learn more about CleanTeam Ghana: http://www.cleanteamtoilets.com
13 READINGS + REFLECTIONS 03 Reflect on the Human-Centered Design Process Find a pencil or a pen and take a few minutes to reflect on what you ve learned so far about the human-centered design process.
14 WHAT I VE LEARNED Take time to reflect on your experience. The human-centered design process is all about creative collaboration. During this Class 5 Workshop, you ll reflect as a group on team dynamics, working styles, and what it was like to collaborate as designers. As part of these Class 5 Readings, however, and in the quiet of your house, apartment, or office, take a few minutes to reflect personally on what you liked or didn t like about working together as a group, the course, and the human-centered design process. Make sure to bring the reflections that you feel comfortable sharing with your design team to the Class 5 Workshop. What was it like to work as a design team? What was most inspiring? What was most frustrating? What were the most successful aspects of the course for you? What were the weakest parts of the course? How Might We improve the course for next time?
15 MY STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES Take time to reflect on your personal growth. You likely felt more comfortable during some parts of the human-centered design process than others. This is entirely normal. Think back over the last four classes. Which areas felt most natural? Where did you struggle? Why? For each phase in the human-centered design process (Discover, Ideate, and Prototype) mark where you fall on the axis between I struggled and I excelled. Below that, write a few sentences about why. I struggled I excelled DISCOVER Why? What was your biggest aha moment during this stage? I struggled I excelled IDEATE Why? What was your biggest aha moment during this stage? I struggled I excelled PROTOTYPE Why? What was your biggest aha moment during this stage?
16 READINGS + REFLECTIONS + INSPIRATION 04 Gather Inspiration from the Online Community Find an Internet connection and hold onto that pencil or pen as we go searching for inspiration from around the world.
17 GLOBAL INSPIRATION See what others are designing. Spend at least 20 minutes diving into the Online Community and exploring what others have been doing for the last four classes. Use the questions below to guide your search you ll be discussing what you find during the Class 5 Workshop with your team. If possible, consider bringing a few printouts of the ideas, pictures, or comments that were most inspiring. If you see something that interests you, reach out and ask questions. Prompt others to share their stories, processes and insights. Find similarities What concepts can you find on the Online Community group that closely resemble the idea(s) that your team prototyped? Can you find examples of a team working in a vastly different geographic context that designed something similar? Write down team names and a brief description below. Find differences Find examples of teams that created vastly different solutions to your design challenge. Can you find a team that had a similar design solution to you, but prototyped it in a much different manner? Can you find a team working in a similar geographic context as your team, but with a radically different solution?