{"id":9004111223214593,"date":"2022-04-22T12:13:43","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T16:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pragmaticinstitute.com\/?post_type=resources&p=9004111223214593"},"modified":"2022-11-08T01:20:26","modified_gmt":"2022-11-08T05:20:26","slug":"advocating-for-design-led-innovation-with-prapti-jha-and-harsh-wardhan","status":"publish","type":"resources","link":"https:\/\/www.pragmaticinstitute.com\/resources\/articles\/design\/advocating-for-design-led-innovation-with-prapti-jha-and-harsh-wardhan\/","title":{"rendered":"Advocating for Design-Led Innovation with Prapti Jha and Harsh Wardhan"},"content":{"rendered":"

How might we help our organization see design as a strategic advantage?<\/span><\/p>\n

The team behind <\/span>We Speak Innovation<\/span><\/a> has a few ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prapti Jha<\/a> is a Senior Design Strategist at Cisco, where she develops research-backed cybersecurity solutions to bridge the gap between user needs and the business. Harsh Wardhan<\/a> is building and leading innovation programs at the Cloud Solutions Studio in Google Cloud, helping customers in their digital transformation journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

The pair recently led a webinar for Pragmatic Institute<\/a> in which they discussed human-centered design as a way to reduce what former dean of the Institute of Design Patrick Whitney<\/a> calls \u201cthe innovation gap\u201d: the gulf between <\/span>how <\/span><\/i>to make something (e.g. business models, technology innovations) and <\/span>what <\/span><\/i>to make (the patterns of how people live).<\/span><\/p>\n

If you miss the point of desirability, that affects the success rate of the innovation.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Prapti and Harsh view the well-known Desirability, Viability, and Feasibility model as an innovation framework. Design starts from desirability, Prapti told attendees, \u201cthe human aspect, what people really value. Then, move to viability (<\/span>should<\/span><\/i> we make this, will it make us money) and feasibility (can we make this).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you miss the point of desirability,\u201d she said, \u201cthat affects the success rate of the innovation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A Case Study: Eataly, Chicago<\/b><\/h2>\n

Prapti worked on a project for Chicago\u2019s Eataly\u2014a large-format Italian marketplace comprising restaurants, food, and beverage counters, a bakery, retail items, and a cooking school\u2014to improve the customer experience. The store wanted to bring shoppers back more frequently, as it had fewer number visitors during the week and more on the weekends.<\/p>\n

So, Prapti and her team shadowed shoppers and interviewed stakeholders (shoppers, store managers, and staff).<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Eataly is seen as a premium and expensive experience.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Eataly doesn\u2019t fit into a customer\u2019s mental model of regular grocery shopping. It\u2019s supplemental to their grocery shopping plans, not the main event.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Meanwhile, managers and staff view Eataly as a grocery store with everything customers need, from regularly-priced grocery items to Italian specialties.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    \u201cThere was a huge value mismatch;\u201d Prapti said, \u201cthe value the customer was seeing of Eataly as a place and the value that Eataly folks saw they were providing to the customers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    She highlighted one of the team\u2019s non-obvious solutions: grab-and-go meals. The meal service would allow people to pick up a healthy, prepared meal for lunch and head back to the office. \u201cWhy this worked really well from a business model perspective was Eataly was based around the offices downtown. People would grab a meal during lunch hours.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    What\u2019s more, \u201cEataly already had a cooking school and restaurants, [so] there were chefs who, from a resourcing perspective, could cook,\u201d Prapti explained, \u201cBecause there was not enough footfall during the daytime and the weekdays, this was a good way to use their time and use that resource for some new revenue generation. Bringing people back into the store, even just for five minutes, helps with the business part of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Check<\/p>\n