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Celia Johnson
Bu s i n e s s Te c h n o l o g y O f f i c e
Hugo Sarrazin As senior vice president of customer experi- being about aesthetic qualities—colors,
and Hyo Yeon ence at Citrix Systems—which develops a pixels, fonts, and the like. Absolutely, the
range of cloud-computing and enterprise- aesthetic appearance of products is impor-
software solutions—Catherine Courage tant, but design as a “big D” word means
is in her fifth year of permeating the com- more than that. So we’ve invested a great
pany’s products and functions, such as IT deal of time to help people understand that
and sales, with the user-centered approach design is about simplicity and delighting
known as design thinking. In this interview, customers and other users. It’s about an
she shares lessons learned during the absolute focus on the user, and it’s about
ongoing transformation. constant innovation.
Takeaways
reflect empathy for the person next to They want to be delighted with the applica-
you—who may have given the project his tions, tools, and devices they use—which
heart and soul even though things didn’t need to be simple and should not require
go as planned. This approach has made a a lot of training—just like the technology
positive change in how team members learn experiences in their personal life. The good
from mistakes and do a better job the next news for CIOs is that the design-thinking
time. Being open to failure, learning, and principles that product organizations have
iteration is a critical part of the process. adopted can also be used by IT organizations.
IT should think of its users not as stakehold-
McKinsey: How does design thinking ers but as customers, and the department
affect the role of the CIO? needs to move from building applications
that meet functionality requirements to
Catherine Courage: Design thinking is designing intuitive user experiences that
key for CIOs today. Consumerization has empower customers. The move to agile
raised the expectations of all users. They development is a parallel evolution in IT
are exposed to a new breed of technology that is reinforcing many design principles.
that is more powerful and more intuitive. IT organizations apply agile work through
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sprints and rapid iterations. Design thinking “Guys, fantastic ideas. This is the behavior
is similar; you rapidly iterate with customers I want to see. Keep pushing forward!”
to get a better product or application.
The focus is on the user experience and Another challenge has been that some
on building deep customer empathy for teams simply haven’t been ready to embrace
what makes these experiences delightful. change from the start, despite our best
efforts, which taught us to be patient when
McKinsey: What have been the there isn’t traction. In one case, it took a
biggest obstacles to adopting design year until a team that hadn’t been interested
thinking at Citrix? before called on us for help on a project.
We’ve learned to help fuel the team with
Catherine Courage: Change is always relatable examples of success for sources
hard, and it can be scary if you’re not sure both internal and external.
if your executive team supports the changes.
When we started working outside the McKinsey: Selling change to sales
product organizations, we discovered that teams can sometimes be a challenge. How
many teams were very risk averse. They did it go at Citrix?
would come up with great ideas for different
ways to do things, but when the rubber hit Catherine Courage: The sales organi-
the road, they would revert back to their zation, with its natural focus on meeting
old ways. However, some teams found it sales quotas and numbers, was the last area
easier to embrace change, and what they we touched because we thought it would
had in common was that they received be the hardest to engage. We were wrong.
explicit support and encouragement from Sales leaders very much embraced design
their executive managers. It didn’t require thinking. When we described what it can
much to make a difference—just that an do with respect to innovation and problem
executive on the team would come in and say, solving, they realized that there were many
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“You need to make [design thinking] part of all processes and not
just something you do on select projects. Starting by looking through
the customer lens has to be ingrained in everything you do.”
problem areas in their own world. The “design driven” one of our leadership
systems they used, for example, were blueprint competencies. Now, every
getting in the way of them understanding employee needs to describe, at the end
how to sell to their customers. We created of the year, what she or he did to contribute
a team of sales leaders empowered to define to the customer experience. In other
their own problems and solutions within a words, everybody in the company needs
design-thinking framework, and we made to be thinking about this and measuring
participation optional. It was surprising themselves against it.
how many leaders took part and came up
with solutions that we want to scale across Another metric is to look at how our prod-
our sales teams. ucts have changed over the past four years.
The answer is that we’re releasing products
McKinsey: How do you make design that are of better quality, and we’re releasing
thinking stick? them faster and receiving more customer
and industry awards than before. We’re
Catherine Courage: You need to make it also seeing improvements in our customer
part of all processes and not just something feedback—customers are noticing and
you do on select projects. Starting by looking acknowledging our end-user focus.
through the customer lens has to be ingrained
in everything you do. Developing that founda McKinsey: What metrics should a
tion and creating that cultural change across CIO consider if he or she is embarking on
all projects and initiatives is what it takes. a design-thinking journey?
Hugo Sarrazin is a director in McKinsey’s Silicon Valley office and leader of McKinsey Digital Labs, and
Hyo Yeon is a digital partner in the New Jersey office. Copyright © 2015 McKinsey & Company. All rights reserved.