I always enjoy my conversations with Marc Fonteijn! He’s a kind, and thoughtful host. This is a rich, deep conversation about design, statistics, and quality that skips over the platitudes and generalizations. He’s very generous with the type of credit he’s giving me in the description!
I recently sat down with Marc to chat about demonstrating impact, and it's likely not a conversation you think it will be. Here's Marc description:
Let's crack the code of proving design's impact on the bottom line...For this, we first have to go back to 2012.
That year, a groundbreaking discovery was made at CERN.The existence of the Higgs Boson, a particle that had eluded scientists for over 40 years, was finally proven.
You know what? I feel that this elusive quest is very similar to our own pursuit in the world of service design: proving the undeniable business value of design.
We see its impact all around us, but providing it with hard evidence remains a struggle.
Our guest in this episode of the Service Design Show, Ryan Rumsey, may hold the key that gets us closer to unlocking this mystery.
One reason the Higgs Boson took so long to find was that the researchers were unsure where to look.
As former Apple executive, author of Business Thinking for Designers, and founder of the Chief Design Officer School, Ryan proposes that we, just as the researchers at CERN, may have been looking in the wrong place all along.
He argues that Many companies don't actually need (good) design to turn a profit, making it difficult to isolate its added value.
But fear not, there are tested and tried methods to uncover the correlation between our work and its impact on the bottom line.
As you'll hear, it might not be as complex as we sometimes are made to believe; it could simply be a matter of putting in the work.
The discovery of the Higgs Boson faced similar challenges, requiring unwavering determination and persistence.
This is an episode about business speak, statistics, and self-worth. And yet, it's still quite entertaining, if you ask me 😄
So, if you're even remotely interested in clearly articulating the value you bring to your organization, don't miss out on this one!
In reality, I don’t think I’ve cracked the code on anything other than finding confidence in my own voice, being accountable for my own failures, and validating others.
This was a enjoyable conversation for me. I hope you enjoy it too, and if not, I hope you let me know why.
Here's the video: