Design Thinking: Solving Wicked Problems In Nigeria (1)

By:charles Ikem

Design Thinking can help solve the myriad of problems in our society today. By applying the methods of design as a problem-solving machine to a broader set of issues in social, business and the environment.

But what is Design Thinking?.., It means applying the designer’s sensibility and methods to problem solving. No matter what the problem is. It is a process of innovation. I define it to first-timers as,’’thinking like a designer’’. How does a designer think.?, He gets an idea, he asks questions, he observes, notes down, sketches, he experiments/prototypes and then he creates, he refines it and learns from the process…the cycle will always repeat itself sometimes in no particular order. 

Design thinking has 3 phases; first is Inspiration, second: Ideation, Third: Implementation. How might we apply design thinking to social problems in Nigeria. Let us start with understanding the first phase of design thinking- Inspiration.

It has always been said that if you want to get better at what you do, then you have to step-out, take risks, get out of your comfort zone and things like that. If you are a business and you want to be creative enough. Then you have to surround yourself with inspiration.

What about our society, our communities, its leaders and policy makers? How inspired are they. What is inspiration; it could mean getting out of your comfort-zone, seeking-unconsciously. Inspiration is about getting to know the wider-context of problems or opportunities.

It is well known that our leaders have lost touch with the common-man. They live in big houses, fly jets, send their kids to grad school abroad and most importantly…share loots. It’s hard for them to understand the impact of issues like; poverty, unemployment, Hunger or lack of shelter. There is a problem with our society. Not just about quants and left-brainers. We believe there is only one answer to a question. So we say, if you are an engineer you work in oil and gas industry, if you are an economist you work in a bank or a trading house and then we leave politics to politicians. This mentality is limiting our ability to widening our sources of inspiration in solving problems in corporate management or Government.

 The Omni-presence of wicked problems is permeating our world; rising unemployment, poverty, terrorism, financial-meltdown, crime. So tell me.., why does the police want us to help them fight crime? We are neither armed nor intelligent..? It is becoming obvious in our complicated world that not one discipline can solve these problems. Many of our so-called disciplines have even failed in the face of these wicked problems..Example is economics in the wake of the global financial crisis.

When we set-out to seek inspiration; it can come in many ways; through research, observation, ethnography, immersion, collaboration. We can all be inspired to solving problems when we know everything there is to know about the problem. You will be marvelled on getting out there and you find out that what you think or assume is not even the case. The way to being inspired is to start by asking ourselves the right questions. I find this very useful- It is known as ‘The 5 Whys’. Just see how magical the word (WHY) sounds by reading through this;

Why are there too many young people without jobs?

Why are we corrupt?

Why are many young girls hawking on the streets of Lagos, Onitsha and Aba?

Why can’t small businesses grow to employ more people?

Why are water-satchets littering our streets?

The NHS also uses ‘The 5 Whys’ as part of their root-cause analysis of problems or errors. Here is an example; A PATIENT HAD THE WRONG LEG AMPUTATED:

1. Why: Patient gave consent for amputation the night before the proposed surgery to

Registrar (who was not going to undertake procedure).

2. Why: Amputation site marked with a biro (wrong leg).

3. Why: Registrar unaware of hospital policy on amputation sites being marked with a skin

pencil and with bodily part being fully visible to Doctor.

4. Why: The department had no induction procedures for new medical staff working in

the department.

5. Why: Because “we’ve never been asked to”. (Source: Root Cause Analysis Tool Kit. NHS,UK).

When we ask questions, we open our thought-process and broaden our thinking. It sets us on the path to discovery and then inspires us to action. The failure to solve our own problems is not asking the right questions and then taking it from there. Let us now take a scenario from the rising unemployment in Nigeria for example; the presidency gets a

briefing from his economic advisers and the labour minister and youth minister based on stats developed by the bureau of statistics. We don’t know how?.But they briefed the presidency and the conclusion was to set-up a training programme to teach young entrepreneurs about business skills. The initiative was developed, millions sunked in. The consultants think it was transformative and media thinks it was ground-breaking.

 Then a year later, there are no entrepreneurs or their footprints. All gone!. This has been the uninspiring way of developing public programmes in this country. 

Every year millions of dollars is spent in training entrepreneurs People that don’t get to where the problem is. Who told you that entrepreneurs need business skills. Entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs. Like Muhammad Yunus would say, ‘’they know what they want and they will always learn by doing’’. No one thought an entrepreneur how to become an entrepreneur until he becomes an entrepreneur. So what do you want to teach an entrepreneur. For some inspiration; start by asking why these people are entrepreneurs? Why are they not established? Why are they not selling their goods or services or why are they not making money? When we ask these questions, it becomes obvious whether the ‘entrepreneur’ that needs capital to buy raw materials to make clothes for his/ her cloth-making business really need business skills/ to learn how to write a business proposal/for a bank/that lends only to/ to the oil sector/or to devil investors, may be.

We start boardroom meeting believing our brands dwindling market share is not a problem, so we jump to approve more marketing budget., Alas, the problem wasn’t marketing, The government trains entrepreneurs believing entrepreneurs and graduates lack business skills but they don’t, we approve fertilizer for farmers but do they need fertiliser?., yet we have FADAMA 1,2,3,4,5,6.. to infinity. About 80% of public development programmes in this country is not informed by research or inspiration. So, the government for years are just throwing good money after bad..

My point is if we don’t seek inspiration beyond our boardrooms, classrooms, barracks, disciplines and Aso Rock, we may all be heading for the rocks. But thinking like a designer enables us to improve the odds of solving these age-old, socio-economic problems.

It’s pathetic how we may never solve any of our many problems if we don’t ask why the problem was there in the first place. It can never be worse than it already is. The time to expand our thinking, to getting out there, to look at each other as partners in solution, to embrace design thinking as an approach to finding answers to these wicked problems is now. By widening our sources of inspiration we can better understand the contexts underlying these problems and ultimately.., solve them.

 

Charles Ikem is the Design Director @ HOUSE OF LOGIC.A Design & Innovation Consultancy Based in Lagos, Nigeria. He leads a team of abnormal youths and zombie slayers using design to solve problems from; Telecoms to security, healthcare, financial services and business strategy.

Twitter:@apache22

‘’Thinking like a designer can transform the way you develop products,

Services and even strategy’’. – Tim Brown (CEO, IDEO)

                                     Design & Thinking - Lagos Movie Screening

By: Charles Ikem

We live in a world of constant change. Our generation has been one filled with opportunities as well as threats. From climate change and the depleting natural resources to poverty, global financial meltdown and terrorism and no one discipline could ever boast of solving them all. We are plagued with problems with complex dimension. We don’t need complex solutions. Rather we need a discipline that cuts across the divide. A multi-disciplinary approach to tackling these challenges. - Design is such an approach.

Design is problem-solving. The successful run of design in firms such as; Apple, Google, Samsung, and BMW as well as non-profits such as; Acumen Fund and UK Design Council proves the viability of this approach beyond aesthetics. Moving beyond design is the concept called ‘Design Thinking’. Design thinking simply means thinking like a designer. Broadly summarized by Kate Blackmon as - thinking broadly about problems, developing a deep understanding of users, and recognizing the value of the contribution of others.

Management at the turn of the twentieth century had recognized that the way designers think could be rightly used to solve management as well as society’s problems. A few curious minds started researching and experimenting with the ideology. It will be the greatest discovery in management innovation in my own words.

It was recognized that if we imbibe the culture of understanding contexts around our culture, society we can better serve our people. If managers become less-serious and become experimenters giving room for serendipity, more innovation could emerge. if we prototype and test new things from services to new products, it could enable us to know what works and what doesn’t from the onset and if we build organizations to learn from the failures we might better succeed in the future.
 These are all some of the traits of a designer..Always looking for inspiration by getting out there, always sketching and tearing them apart every now and then; Always trying out new things, discovering, asking questions and willing to fail and learn.

Some of these have become the ways leading companies use in developing new products and services in the 21st century. For example, Google gives its employees few hours every week to work on any project idea of their choice. Encouraging experimentation, passion and innovation.

No matter where we look we see problems that can only be solved through design and design thinking. Education system that fail many students, millions of people living on less than one dollar a day, energy usage that surpasses the planets ability to support it and organizations whose traditional markets are disrupted by new technologies or demographic shifts.

Design thinking have grown as a methodology as well as a discipline practiced in organizations around the world, studied in art schools and introduced in MBA curriculum in progressive Business schools. In our context, design thinking could change lives, improve public services and create more value for customers and businesses. We like Facebook and Twitter. The idea of tapping a touch-screen delights us all especially the ipads and iphones. But what if we start to think just like the people making these products, what if we learn to apply their methods/processes in the way we generate ideas, run our businesses, serve our customers and make policies?

To mark the launch of Service Design Network Nigeria chapter. The first of its kind in Africa, We are bringing the screening of the movie, ’Design & Thinking’ to Lagos. Joining dozens of other cities including Cape Town to experience this phenomenon. To raise the awareness and promote the methodology of using design methods in our organizations and the public sector. The movie will be screened to a selected audience of C-level executives, public servants, managers, entrepreneurs and progressive individuals. This movie could yet prove to be the greatest thing you will ever learn this year and if you see any movie, let it be this.

ABOUT THE MOVIE

"Design & Thinking" is a documentary exploring the idea of "design thinking"! The movie creatively explores by asking..?; How do we fully engage organizations to think about the changing landscape of business, culture and society? Inspired by design thinking, the documentary grabs businessmen, designers, social change-makers and individuals to portray what they have in common when facing this ambiguous 21st century. What is design thinking? How is it applied in business models? How are people changing the world with their own creative minds? It is a call to the conventional minds to change and collaborate.
Directed by: Mu-Ming Tsai                                                                    Running Time: 74mins

Charles Ikem is the Design Director @ HOUSE OF LOGIC.A Design & Innovation Consultancy Based in Lagos, Nigeria. He leads a team of abnormal youths and zombie slayers using design to solve problems from; Telecoms to security, healthcare, financial services and business strategy.

Twitter:@apache22

Why Nigerian Banks need Service Thinking....

‘’Making the simple complicated is commonplace. Making

the complicated simple..,that’s creativity.’’

Service Thinking: Conversation With A Bank Manager

By:Charles Ikem

Bank Manager: ‘’Welcome Sir. Why are you here today and how might we help you’’.

Idealist: ‘’I have come to ask you to lend small money to some villagers’’.

Bm: ‘’HAhaha (laughing out loud)!, I can’t do that’’.

Idealist: ‘’Why not?’’.

Bm: ‘’ermm, the small amounts these villagers need to borrow will not even cover the cost of all the loan documents they would have to fill. The bank is not going to waste its time on such pittance’’.

Idealist:  ‘’Why not? To the poor, this money is crucial for survival’’.

Bm: ‘’These people are illiterates, they cannot fill-out our loan forms’’.

Idealist:  ‘’Why must it be so?’’

Bm: ‘’Well, every single bank in the country has that rule’’.

Idealist: ‘’Why?’’

Bm: ‘’What do you mean why?’’

Idealist: ‘’Why can’t a bank just take money and issue a receipt saying, ’’received such and such amount of money from such and such a person? ,’’why can’t the banker do it? Why must depositors do it?’’.

Bm: ‘’Well, how would you run a bank without people reading and writing?’’.

Idealist: ‘’I don’t know.., there must be a simple way. It seems your banking system is designed to be anti-illiterate’’.

Bm: ’’Sir, banking is not as simple as you think’’.

Idealist: ‘’maybe so, but am also sure that banking is not as complicated as you make it out to be’’.

Bm: ‘’look,’ the simple truth is that a borrower at any other bank in any place in the world would have to fill forms’’.

Idealist: ‘’Okay, so after filling the forms, how will they get the loans’’.

Bm: ‘’Then they will get us collateral before any loan will be approved’’.

Idealist: ‘’Why do you need collateral as long as you get the money back?’’. ‘’that is what you really want isn’t it?’’.

Bm: ‘’Yes, ‘’we want our money back,’’ but at the same time, we need the collateral. That is our guarantee’’.

Idealist: ‘’These poor people have every reason to pay you back just to take another loan and live another day. That is the best security you can have- their life’’.

Bm: ‘’you’re an idealist. You live with books and theories’’.

Idealist: ‘’But if you’re certain the money will be repaid why do you need collateral?’’.

Bm: ‘’That is our bank rule’’.

Idealist: ‘’So only those who have collateral can borrow?’’.

Bm: ‘’yes’’.

Idealist: ‘’ It is a silly rule. It means only the rich can borrow?’’.

Bm: ‘’I don’t make the rules, the bank does’’.

Idealist: ‘’ Well, I think the rules should be changed’’.

 (Coversation Credited to Muhammad Yunus from his book 'Banker to the Poor')

Our banks are making life difficult for a lot of people in many ways. From zero access to loans, to technology we can’t use or understand to rules made by our forefathers. Our bankers need to reinvent themselves and banking should evolve into the future. This would mean letting go of assumptions and start thinking in a whole new direction. Putting the needs of customers first and while making use of the available technology to accomplish the goals.

 Credit:IDEO/BBVA;http://futureselfservicebanking.com/

When was the last time we saw a meaningful innovation from the banking industry since the days of the short-lived ‘Flash Me Cash’ and the arrival of cheap sweets in bank branches. All other breakthroughs were a rip-off and duplicating (R&D) of technologies making-waves elsewhere.

I am amazed by the mockery that goes on in the name of banking services in Nigeria. Currently, nearly all the banks spend 60% of the customer service workforce in resolving ATM and debit card issues. Which is not sustainable in the interests of the bank, staff and customers. If they were to apply service design, I’d like to call it ‘service thinking’, they would start by collecting data on how customers are losing their ATM cards. My recent encounter with losing my ATM was getting excited in hosting a couple of old school friends. I collected some cash and forgot to collect my card. I am not alone in this kind of problem.

Hundreds of customers are losing their cards every week through this same way.

 But how the Nigerian bank’s ATM was designed encourages this sort of waste and it is simply okay by the bankers. This is why? ;<insert card>;<choose account>;<select amount>;<cash pops out>;<card ejects>; But then you collect your cash and in a hurry or delighted by the new notes you forget to pick up your card. The psychology here is that the card is secondary once you are done in a cash machine. What matters is the cash and that was why you came in the first place and not for some worthless plastic.

Credit:IDEO/BBVA; http://futureselfservicebanking.com/

Simple service thinking could have prevented hundreds of customers from congesting the customer service areas. Let’s rethink it this way; <Insert card>;<Select amount>;<card pops out>;<cash pops out>.The logic here is that you cannot leave the cash machine without the cash. That is why you are there. By redesigning the system this way, it reduces the chances of users leaving their card behind. The most priced asset is that card but the customer for some reason doesn’t care. What matters to them is the cash at that moment. Our banks would do well to help them guard that asset. The banking group BBVA of Spain embarked on this journey and totally ended up redesigning the future of the ATM with amazing design, increased usage, efficiency and customer loyalty. Many problems are lurking around in every corner of our banking system waiting to be solved. Banking can only get it right by seeking to use service design methods and working with service designers to imagine the future of services by helping to uncover how customers want to be served.

Charles Ikem is the Design Director @ HOUSE OF LOGIC.A Design & Innovation Consultancy Based in Lagos, Nigeria. He leads a team of abnormal youths and zombie slayers using design to solve problems from; Telecoms to security, healthcare, financial services and business strategy.

Twitter:@apache22

When your competitors all start running in the same direction. You need to ask, ’what if we ran in a different direction.’’

Mobile Number Portability: A Design Not A Marketing Problem

By: Charles Ikem

The purpose of my articles is to popularize the design and service design discipline in Nigeria. But i was moved to adapting this piece to suit, seeing that number portability has kicked off and watching as telecom companies fight on the pages of newspaper and the internet.

 

What is all this about I don port? Managers strongly have the conviction that the next phase of customer acquisition is by bombarding customers with marketing messages. This would not be achieved by sending unsolicited sms to buy ringtones or to recharge more. Why would anyone even buy a single track of a song for N75, where you can get the whole album with like 12 tracks in Alaba for a N200. I just don’t get it. This brute-force marketing approach in Nigeria must stop. It is not only unethical but also wasteful.

 As a warning to the Telco’s, nobody is going to port, because there is no difference between all the four big GSM companies. They are all the same and unreliable. Now that number portability is live, here is what mangers should do before wasting marketing budget.

The implications of this new policy is that Telco’s must work really hard to earn a kobo, retain customers and then make a profit. First, start by understanding your customers and anticipating their future needs. Customer relationship, product innovation and even infrastructure management will need rethinking.

First organisations should understand what really earns loyalty, what moves customers and what are they looking forward to. This can only be understood through solid-qualitative research. Managers must have to step out of their oval office this time. Traditional research would not uncover the whole context of the problem or opportunity going forward. Asking customers what they want, the danger again according to Henry Ford, ‘’If I’d asked my customers what they wanted they would have said a faster horse.’’ Customers do not know what they want because what they want does not exist. Through observation, ethnography and probing we can better understand those needs to create. I will like to see Telco’s step outside and into the streets with cameras and notepads and putting themselves in the shoes of the customer.

Secondly, redesigning the business model. With number portability comes disloyalty, eroding profits. A manager should be sure to future-proof his organisation by creating multiple-streams of revenue. Using a platform-based business model through creating more unique value-propositions for customers. The catch is; creating new VPs as part of a platform will have the capacity to hook your customers-in. Proposing products as well as service innovation like intelligent apps, M2M services will allow you to make profits on a wide variety of product segments that forms part of the everyday life of your customers. You will then have the capacity to call your products a Commodity.

Apple created the most sophisticated platform based business the world has ever seen. They created an ecosystem of products and services that ties everything together. So when you buy an iPod, you are likely to invest in songs catalogue from the iTunes store. Same applies to the iphone with the appstore. Also Telenor,the Norwegian mobile giant did it with huge investment in the popular crowd-sourced ‘telenor playground.’

The future in this portable era is for Telco’s to start creating ecosystems for their customers. There is abundance in this approach because you will not only earn their patronage but will keep them for long. Think of ways of creating this ecosystem for your customers. I believe service design and design thinking could help in understanding your customers, their journey, their desires and aspirations. If your network allows users to shop, call, bank, see friends, play games, watch news, and it is delivered efficiently, easily and at the right price then you are in business.

A new form of business model such as the one proposed herein would usually involve a change in innovation philosophy from a closed innovation system that telecoms are currently running to a more open system. Open up your portals to game developers, apps, content developers, aggregators and even ordinary customers. Through this way can we see a major disruption from a telecoms company.there is a massive opportunity for this industry to have an even greater impact on our economy than any other industry in a long time to come. Think of what might be of the music industry, logistics, and healthcare if we utilize the massive technology, IT infrastructure and customer data available with the telcos.

The third factor is No matter what you sell. It doesn’t end until the customer decides its over. After sales and the service environment would matter now than ever. Making sure you engage with your customers on a more humane level is very essential. The state of telcos- so-called experience centres is so demeaning. Designing your centre to appeal to people’s senses with good servicing, conducive environment, embedded technologies. Why should a customer spend 3 hours in such a place just trying to configure a sim card. It is not a hotel for crying out loud. Staffs should be trained in a capacity to listen and work with the customer as well as create customised service to each one-customer. The purpose of such a centre would be to help customers achieve their objectives, easily and more relaxing. Don’t try to complicate their woes. Simplify the entire service process and ensure that the shortest possible route is taken.

As portability looms the reality is that loyalty is in question. Building your organisation’s ability to ask questions, understanding the context of the challenges, problems and/or opportunities and then innovating is prerequisite. Investing in the 3-dimensions of this article would be key; Research, Business model innovation and service design.

Finally, managers remember that a super brand is built and maintained on the power of the provocative. A culture that should form the basis of its proposition, vision and marketing. If you are no longer providing something different, providing it exceptionally or ensuring that by its very nature it is connecting with the right audience, then you need to throw away your strategy and find a new one. I DON PORT OR I PORT is not part of that strategy. Simples!

·         Platform based business model credited to Alexander osterwalder &Yves pigneur

Charles Ikem is the Design Director @ HOUSE OF LOGIC.A Design & Innovation Consultancy Based in Lagos, Nigeria. He leads a team of abnormal youths and zombie slayers using design to solve problems from; Telecoms to security, healthcare, financial services and business strategy.

Twitter:@apache22