How human-centered design can help companies survive unexpected events

So here we are. Twelve months after the global spread of COVID-19, the end is still a distant, blurry dot on the horizon. The impact that the pandemic has had on society is undeniable, so how can human-centered design help companies overcome the uncertainty that lies ahead?

Misconceptions about human-centered (human-aware) design

You may think some research to understand your stakeholder groups might be enough to give you a path through rocky plains. After all, if you run an employee focus group, they’ll tell you how you can motivate them to work from home, right?

Wrong. Dominique Jaurola makes an excellent case for why understanding humanness can help you make better decisions. Still, I want to look at how you can use human-centered design to build business resilience during and after the pandemic.

It’s astounding how the word ‘design’ conjures up lofty thoughts of a graphic or product designer doing extraordinary things. In the context of lean, agile and human-centered business, everything is designed with a purpose that revolves around people.

So, let’s look at the four human-centered design principles:

1. Understand the core problem

It’s easy to spot a problem, but when companies start considering where it stems from and what other business areas are impacted, they begin to solve the fundamental, underlying issues, not just the symptoms. Researcher, professor and author Don Norman Talks about the core problems and symptoms of problems, and you can read his take on the four human-centered design principles.

In March 2020, when countries began to lockdown, many companies were presented with a unique problem: can our employees actually work from home? A quick fix may have been to adopt some kind of video conferencing software or to ensure that all employees had a work laptop.

While these solutions would have fixed the immediate issue, a human-centered design approach may have addressed the problem more broadly: do our processes allow for business continuity? A more thorough investigation down this path would’ve revealed that a new laptop wasn’t the quick solution needed. Support and guidance on managing one’s timetables, working positions and conditions, etc, could have been addressed immediately, not just when problems arose later. And how about the customer experience?

2. Focus on the impacted people

The pandemic has demanded that businesses show their human sides to employees, customers, and other stakeholders. However, to show their humanness and truly embrace human-centered design, companies must understand the needs of all the people involved while taking account of the community's history, culture, beliefs, and environment.

Companies need to show that they genuinely understand and care about the people behind them. This is an idea that we heard repeatedly from companies at WebSummit last year.

While considering your stakeholders' needs is crucial, so is bringing them along on the journey. Whether developing a product, finding a solution to a problem, or rolling out a new process, involving the people who will be impacted is a surefire way to get their buy-in. Particularly at a time when companies have to pivot quickly, following this human-centered design principle enables them to believe in what you are trying to achieve.

3. Everything is a system

Technology is often introduced to solve a particular issue without considering the implications of other interconnected factors within a system. Rather than focusing on isolated components, companies should consider the entire impacted activity.

For example, eagerness to install a chatbot programme to support customer service may reduce the time a customer has to wait before they receive a response, but it may also increase the number of misdirected customer queries, leading to increased dissatisfaction. It doesn’t matter how good the customer service managers are; being sent off in the wrong direction will almost certainly result in a poor experience.

By considering the whole system, you can holistically design while considering what really matters to the people involved.

4. Iterate, prototype and test – fast!

Implementing changes requires patience. You must try, rethink, and repeat until you find the right combination for what you want to achieve.

We often hear that agility is the key to business growth and innovation, and being flexible is more important now than ever. The companies that can try something new, then go back to the drawing board and repeat, are the ones that have proven their ability to adapt to the instability that COVID-19 has presented.

Two notable examples are Zoom, which has managed to scale up and roll out new features at a phenomenal rate, and Airbnb, which has pivoted its entire approach to the vacation market, from holidays abroad to homestays.

Of course, those who consult with their stakeholders throughout the process will find that people are forgiving when something doesn’t work if they can play a part in making it better.

5. See the problem, and see it well

Philosopher Karl Popper said, “All life is problem-solving.” He was very much on point with the attitude with which we can move forward in tough times. Right now, it may feel like companies are trying to build on shifting sands, but a human-centered design approach helps shift the perspective from what is right for the company to what is right for the people surrounding it.

Or as a Hunome member recently put it: “See the problem, see it well, from the direction of what matters in the world.”

Join Hunome to see how to apply a human-centered (human-aware) design to your business.