We do not believe in a “two-speed IT” or “run and transform” model. We use agile for almost everything we do at IBM. How do you decide which solutions require an agile approach? Whatever model you choose, the right implementation of agile de-layers the organization, increases throughput and velocity, pushes decision rights down to the teams, improves quality, reduces recovery time, and, ultimately, creates happier more engaged teams. We’ve adopted a modified Spotify model, where each one of my direct reports is a domain leader, and people with similar job functions form guilds and coordinate their efforts across the domains. When we deliver solutions to our employees, we have a pretty simple litmus test: Are we making things easier for IBMers? Because every minute our employees spend grappling with an IT system is a minute they are not delivering value to our customers. Through our design teams, we’ve done a lot of work to clean up our system-generated emails and to build mobile apps that make it easier to join conference calls, do expense reporting, book travel, and perform many other kinds of tasks. Are we making things easier for IBMers? Because every minute our employees spend grappling with an IT system is a minute they are not delivering value to our customers.” All of these touchpoints are designed by UX people who have been involved in creating that capability from inception to delivery. Think about all of the different touchpoints that an employee experiences in a large enterprise: a web app, a mobile app, emails, and even a sign that hangs on an elevator. Our job in IT is to make sure our working environment reflects IBM’s commitment to our employees, and to good design.Ĭan you give an example of how good design impacts the employee experience? In 2018, employees cannot experience a disparity between technology in their personal lives and technology at work. Yes, you need to hire people who are passionate and committed to design but you also need adoption-based metrics because usage, adoption, and advocacy are the ultimate arbiters of success. You also have to have the right feedback loops in place and a commitment to continuous improvement. But just hiring a bunch of designers alone will not lead to delivering good design. While traditional agile does not have a design requirement for the team, our approach does. We’ve embraced design as a core component of our agile approach. These teams act as a cross-functional department that apply user experience (UX) expertise into everything we do, and they create the end-to-end user experiences our employees interact with every day. So, we’ve made visual and user experience design teams a critical part of IT. I believe that the state of your IT landscape is a daily reflection of what you, as an IT organization, think and feel about your employees. We do that by leading with design to drive simplicity and ease of use. As CIO of IBM, your philosophy is to “lead with design.” What do you mean by that?įletcher Previn: Our mission as an IT organization is to create a productive environment for IBM employees. During my first conversation with Fletcher Previn, IBM’s CIO, he told me that his approach to IT is to “lead with design.” I followed up for a full interview and learned that key to Previn’s “design first” philosophy is embedding design and user research deeply into IT, organizing into small nimble teams, defining the metrics that matter, and driving agile at scale.
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