00:06thank you all for joining design is
00:10vision as many of you know we we started
00:14this program back in March to create a
00:17space for the design community to have a
00:19dialogue about the role of design in
00:22crafting the future and specifically a
00:25future that we all want to be part of
00:26which is what makes this talk
00:29particularly relevant as our final talk
00:31of the year really focused on the
00:34process of doing visioning work and
00:38thinking about crafting the future and
00:40I'm really excited to have these three
00:42incredible speakers with us today and
00:45the format we're gonna do is a little
00:47bit different we're going to have three
00:49short presentations followed by
00:51moderated conversation with time for
00:54questions from you guys so think about
00:57the questions you might have as you're
01:00listening to the presentations since
01:02we'll be following it up with a little
01:04bit of a longer Q&A than we might have
01:05done in the past so first I want to
01:08introduce our speakers we have rotten I
01:12decide who is a UX lead on the search
01:15and assist team at Google she defines
01:19product vision and strategy for the next
01:21generation of Google products and prior
01:24to working at Google she was creative
01:27director at frog and she takes a
01:31holistic and human centered approach to
01:33business challenges and strongly
01:35believes that well-designed products and
01:38services can improve and ultimately
01:40transform people's lives so she's very
01:43focused on the positive impact and
01:45ethical approach to design Steve Seltzer
01:52is a design manager who leads Airbnb for
01:55work and he focuses on transforming the
01:59experience that people have when
02:01traveling for work he also was a
02:04creative director previously at frog and
02:07he's very passionate about human
02:08centered design and focuses on
02:10responsibly advancing the human
02:12experience again very relevant for our
02:15topic here which is why we have him and
02:17forest young is the head of design for
02:21Wolff Olins he served on the board of
02:24directors for the AIGA in New York and
02:26his work has been exhibited at MoMA the
02:29Royal Ontario Museum and international
02:31biennials he's currently teaching a
02:34course at CCA on future design which is
02:39a really interesting new course for them
02:42so very excited to have all three of
02:44them and with that I'm going to hand it
02:47off to rata who's our first speaker all
02:55right so my name is retina Desai and I'm
02:59a UX lead as I mentioned in the search
03:03and assist org at Google and I'm here
03:06today to talk to you about what product
03:08visioning means especially using
03:10storytelling to really advance our
03:13business strategy so when we think about
03:18visioning I think one of the best
03:20metaphors is this notion of the earth
03:23when astronauts go into space they have
03:27an epiphany something very very
03:30transformational happens to them when
03:32they're literally out in space looking
03:34down on the earth they have this
03:37epiphany that feels as if it's life
03:41changing they have a cognitive
03:42behavioral shift and they come back and
03:45in that perspective that they're viewing
03:48of the earth they start noticing that
03:51the boundaries vanish that conflicts
03:54don't seem as critical and crucial as
03:57they once were and that they see the
03:59earth as one kind of a full unit and
04:02this kind of gestalt view this
04:05comprehensive view is life changing so
04:09there's this notion of the overview
04:11effect which is talked about after
04:14interviewing 24 astronauts and what's
04:18interesting about it is that when we
04:20look at something in its full context
04:24and as a whole it shifts our perspective
04:27and transforms our viewpoint and by
04:30doing this we can kind of have that
04:33experience be quite analogous to what
04:35product visioning does and how it serves
04:37the product development process if we
04:40look at filmmaking in much the same way
04:43the Godfather is a great example of a
04:46movie that has kind of is now embedded
04:48in our social consciousness right it's a
04:51cultural kind of mecha in filmmaking and
04:53if we think about the process that
04:55Francis Ford Coppola went through he
04:58basically had an overarching story arc
05:01and he kept a notebook before they
05:04filmed where he dissected every scene
05:07and he obsessed over each scenes goal
05:10its value in the story arc and its
05:13mission what the characters motivations
05:15were and also how it basically later'd
05:19up to that overall vision that he was
05:21trying to convey and you can see how
05:24obsessive he was a storyboard what he do
05:26he had scripts he had notes he was
05:29constantly thinking about immersing
05:31himself in the scene that played out
05:34over that vision imagine if we do that
05:38for each feature that makes up the
05:40overall product experience so at Google
05:43we are on a journey of a narrative as we
05:48know it we've kind of embedded ourselves
05:51now into the public consciousness
05:53googling is a verb and when we started
05:57this was our gateway to information it's
06:01kind of the iconic entry point the quick
06:03search box and basically this puts the
06:07world's information at our fingertips
06:08when we think about typing in
06:10information and putting in our query and
06:13getting answers in terms of our own
06:16evolution in 2016 we introduced Google
06:20assistance into our broader ecosystem
06:22and portfolio of products and services
06:24what the Google assistant does is it
06:27simplifies an entry point into a
06:29conversation so now that we've shifted
06:31modalities from tight to talking and
06:34this completely shifts how we
06:37view our ecosystem and how we start
06:40referring to what it means to Google
06:42something so we now know that we're
06:45taking the assistant and embedding the
06:48assistant ambiently in environments on
06:50surfaces like the Google home so what
06:52this does is shifts our narrative from
06:55being an answer engine to being an
06:57action engine and it starts broadening
07:00our ecosystem from being first party to
07:02third party so how does your Google home
07:05connect with your connected home how
07:07does it how does the ecosystem evolve to
07:10embrace people outside of the Google
07:12core first party experience all this is
07:16to say this is a product vision for us
07:19so that everyone could find anything
07:21they need among the millions of
07:23bazillions of things in the world today
07:26it seems like sometimes it's easy to
07:28feel like you need a little help with
07:29the stuff just in your own world
07:31your photos phone videos calendars
07:34messages friends trips reservations and
07:37so on and so on wouldn't it be nice if
07:39you had some help with all that wouldn't
07:42it be nice if you had a Google for your
07:43world that's why we're building the
07:46Google assistant hi Amy how can I help
07:48you just ask you what you need okay
07:51Google what do I have to do today and
07:53your assistant understands and helps you
07:55you can even carry on a conversation
07:57with it how long will it take to get to
07:59downtown Chicago from home here you go
08:02what restaurants are there booked a
08:05table at Cortino restaurant sure and the
08:08assistant is always there for you so if
08:10you're on the road you can ask it where
08:12to fill up and if you're at home you can
08:14ask it to play some music or if you're
08:17in a chat with a friend it can show you
08:18what's playing tonight it's like your
08:20own personal Google naturally anything
08:23you share with it is safe and secure and
08:25the more you use your Google assistant
08:28the more useful it becomes remember my
08:31bike combo is three to six got it and
08:33soon you'll be able to access it from
08:36all sorts of places so it will be
08:39we made this for everyone and today
08:42we're making this just for you hi how
08:46can I help meet your Google assistant so
08:52that example is really good to show in
08:55terms of it feels like a marketing piece
08:58it's done by our creative lab team but
09:00if you were to take that same approach
09:01and embedded it into the product
09:04development process up front and early
09:06which I'll talk about a little later it
09:07produces very different business
09:09outcomes it aligns teams that come from
09:12multiple disciplines and it also
09:15provides a North Star so why is
09:17visioning important let's look at Google
09:22it fits within a massive massive parent
09:26company called alphabet now you can
09:28imagine as ecosystems get more complex
09:31modalities change machine intelligence
09:35emerges with even more advanced software
09:38and hardware technologies this gets very
09:41complicated just within Google there are
09:4570,000 employees plus so you can imagine
09:49orchestrating between groups and
09:51organizations and teams and companies
09:54within companies becomes a pretty
09:56massive task in order to create a
09:58cohesive vision for the end-user you
10:02combine that with our complex ecosystem
10:04and kind of the digital landscape of a
10:07user it's gotten far more crowded and
10:10complex than we had ever imagined and
10:13now our task is to take that complexity
10:16and with machine intelligence simplify
10:18it and when we think about friction we
10:21have a new filter when do we add
10:23friction when do we take away friction
10:25how do we create critical user journeys
10:27that are seamless and that basically
10:30don't reveal our organizational seams to
10:33the user this is a pretty complex task
10:36but with visioning what we need to keep
10:39in mind is that it is human led and this
10:43is what our user wants to experience not
10:45our org chart so in order to do this
10:47we've realized that visioning is an
10:50amazing tool to create what we're
10:53one Google and so the team I work on is
10:57what's considered the core Google
10:59experience but as we know our users
11:02operate inside and outside those kind of
11:05boundaries that we align to so that
11:08means that they may be coming from
11:09YouTube or they may be even coming from
11:12in the future way mail car so how do we
11:15think through these things in order to
11:18think about product visioning we have to
11:20take a step back and think about story
11:22and how we build meaning through
11:25storytelling and product design
11:27so Jonathan gosh doll is wrote a book on
11:31the storytelling animal and how stories
11:34make us human and what I love about what
11:37he talks about is that he says that
11:39stories are naturally addictive for us
11:41right even when we go to sleep we're
11:43imagining stories and so I think this is
11:46extremely telling because there's an
11:48instinctive nature that we have as a
11:50species where we're drawn to stories and
11:53they allow us to imagine and to build on
11:56that cognitive foundation and this quote
11:59kind of says it all right story is the
12:01grease and glue of society and it's kind
12:04of this common ground that people can
12:06align to so why wouldn't we take that
12:09and use that in product development and
12:11then if we take it one step down we can
12:14just look at the structure in the
12:16architecture of storytelling and what
12:19makes up the Freytag pyramid which is
12:22essentially the story arc right we've
12:25got five phases we've got exposition
12:27we've got rising action and we've got
12:29climax falling falling action and
12:31resolution but there's a critical
12:33element and that is that inciting
12:36incident that conflict and why am i
12:39I'm showing you this because that kind
12:41of emotional quality that we've seen
12:45that touches people and product
12:47visioning is literally the magic behind
12:49how people resonate with a vision and
12:52then what they contribute to it after in
12:55the product development process so when
12:57I talk about product vision I'm talking
13:00and defining it in this way and this is
13:03how we kind of see it at Google it's a
13:07that provides a long-term holistic view
13:10of a product experience and business
13:13goal or the future this is very
13:16different from where we've been as a
13:17company where we've been incrementally
13:19innovating for the to drive out the most
13:23the most kind of critical features
13:26because that has led to massive success
13:28for the company but because I showed you
13:30earlier ecosystem is so crowded and so
13:33complex now along with the behavioral
13:36changes that we're seeing in our users
13:37and the competitive landscape this
13:40really approach needs to change to be
13:42much more long-term and we're starting
13:44to see the value it holds for our
13:46business goals so if we were to look at
13:49the product design process and there's a
13:51lot underneath that but at a high level
13:54places like frog and I do really show
13:58and demonstrate the value of this kind
14:00of 3-step phase process the discover the
14:04design and deliver so as soon as we put
14:06that word long-term in envisioning it
14:09really changes the way we have to
14:11approach the problem from the beginning
14:13to get a very different business outcome
14:15at the end so that it's not iterative so
14:18that it's considered and it's it's kind
14:20of thinking through the inner
14:21connections of a very massive ecosystem
14:24the key thing here is much like that
14:28inciting incident and the conflict that
14:31kind of keeps you interested in the
14:33story arc vision is that for product
14:36development so it has to happen after a
14:39discover face to I think do its best
14:41work and be of service in this process
14:44because if you if you look underneath if
14:47you can't do the rigor of understanding
14:49the problem space and actually getting
14:52at the assumptions that all of the
14:54different disciplines come at a problem
14:56with then you really haven't done your
14:58homework oftentimes what happens is
15:01wearing a rush to get out product and we
15:03come at it with all kinds of assumptions
15:05visioning through stakeholder interviews
15:07through subject matter expert interviews
15:10through competitive analysis trend
15:12scraping and through opportunity cost
15:15analysis things like that really start
15:17to kind of force you to invest
15:20a problem more deeply before executing
15:22on it and so then if you paint a picture
15:25after you've had those insights and
15:27that's why it's really critical that
15:29your vision has to be insights driven it
15:31changes the trajectory of the design and
15:33deliver process and then and then you
15:36get into the PRD and things like that
15:39now I want to I want to stress that
15:40while this is user-led in terms of its
15:44processing approach it's really
15:46important that we become translators and
15:48facilitators to make sure that the
15:50business metrics and the business goals
15:52are foundationally in the framing of
15:56that problem challenge and the storyline
15:59so basically this is to say and overly
16:03simplifying it but there's a really
16:04baseline structural similarity between
16:07story and product vision right they
16:10share a universal similarity story has
16:13character it has a predicament or
16:16conflict and it has a resolution for
16:19product visioning very similarly where
16:22we have our users we have a challenge I
16:24would say we have both the user
16:25challenge and the business challenge
16:27perhaps even a technical capability
16:29challenge at times and then we come up
16:31with the solution for all of this now
16:35let's take it one step further and take
16:37it into journalism every story in
16:40journalism answers the five why's this
16:43is critical when we're starting a
16:45visioning project as much as we want to
16:47get to the making of things we have to
16:49do kind of the rigor of answering those
16:51and I think that's critical because if
16:53we answer these well the story the
16:56vision and the product concepts and
16:59experience principles really resonate
17:01and relate to all of the functions you
17:04see here because if it's truly going to
17:06be a binding element in the development
17:09process it needs to speak to a variety
17:12of stakeholders and partners and
17:15contributors because visions only work
17:17if all your collaborators see themselves
17:19in the solution and then can contribute
17:22to it so let's take a look at a couple
17:25examples some of them are really small
17:28and then some of them are a little bit
17:29more robust so we're essentially using
17:34design the future for google lens we
17:38know that previously we had the modality
17:39of search and then we went to voice but
17:43then with computer vision we've now
17:45started to look at the opportunities for
17:48new modalities such as seeing through
17:50your devices and this changes the
17:52paradigm of interaction for our users
17:55imagining that you can literally get the
17:58world's information at your fingertips
18:00through your camera lens makes the
18:02camera a completely new way to not only
18:05see the world but to take action on that
18:07information so if we look here we have a
18:10simple simple prototype and this is
18:12probably like the most basic form of
18:15product visioning right once you piece
18:17together multiple prototypes you set a
18:20story you set a context you understand
18:22the business challenge you get into a
18:24more robust product vision but in its
18:26simplest form this demonstrates that as
18:29designers we can make the ambiguous the
18:33chaotic the vague tangible and clear
18:36it's not to say that we'll have all the
18:39right answers but just the act of adding
18:41fidelity to an idea goes a long way in
18:44kind of a chaos of 70,000 people so
18:48what's interesting about this simple
18:49prototype is that it was used as a tool
18:52when we started doing outreach at i/o
18:55and sundar first explained and
18:58introduced Google legs to the world now
19:00mind you nothing had launched at this
19:02point but it became the hook for the
19:05media to really take our internal
19:08narrative and start interpreting it in a
19:11way that kind of evolved it further so I
19:15think we as designers have to take a
19:17note of this is that as much as we put
19:19product out there we need to actually
19:21follow through read it see how others
19:24are interpreting it and then literally
19:26have it inform our design process and be
19:28aware about it be aware of it and so
19:31what's really interesting is sundar
19:34talked a lot about an AI first world and
19:36he had lots of information on the
19:39amazing capabilities from our chips to
19:43to all of the amazing things our machine
19:48have been working on but it wasn't until
19:51he showed the flower that it hit and and
19:55people understood what Google's future
19:57was going to start looking like from the
19:59QSB Box all the way to the assistant to
20:02seeing the world through a camera so
20:04this is what's starting to become in the
20:07public consciousness this notion of what
20:09he meant by an AI first world the second
20:13example is I think one of the best
20:16examples because when we talk about long
20:19term we're talking about a multi-year
20:21journey when it comes to products like
20:24way mo and Ryan Powell and his team have
20:28done a fantastic job in seeding a
20:31narrative early and often to the press
20:35about what they've been working on now
20:38with four million miles covered in
20:40prototype cars on public roads you'd
20:44think that you've earned a users trust
20:47but it's not that easy and so he and his
20:50team are using UX and design as the core
20:54element to kind of build the narrative
20:57and to basically show its authenticity
21:00in the interactions and what I like
21:03about this is that its insights driven
21:06and very purposeful so the research
21:09indicated that when a human is in a car
21:13driving the car and you're a passenger
21:15there's communication between two people
21:18and that communication builds trust you
21:23can have a dialogue you can get
21:25validation you can ask questions remove
21:28the human and you have a sense of
21:32mistrust and that narrative plays out
21:36very interestingly if you don't come in
21:40and proactively address it so if you
21:43remove that human how do you build trust
21:46between a car that is controlled by
21:50technology and machine intelligence and
21:53a passenger so they've done a brilliant
21:57job of looking at the UI and creating a
22:01why that's modeled on showing the user
22:04the passenger in this case literally at
22:07every step of the way what the car is
22:09seen so that they are basically relating
22:13to the passenger much like a human would
22:15and I think what's really amazing about
22:18this vision and this narrative is that
22:20it plays out at every touch point and
22:22you'll see here that you're getting
22:25feedback and validation so for example
22:27if the car sees a construction site you
22:30get validation and it's also there
22:33they're using progressive disclosure in
22:36interaction design but they're also
22:38finding ways to limit information so
22:42that they don't overwhelm the passengers
22:44and I think what's really nice about
22:46this is they have something on top of
22:48what the car sees to build this trust
22:52they have the status layer and that
22:55gives you a sense of your ETA and where
22:58perhaps if there's a pedestrian crossing
23:02these are critical life-threatening
23:05moments in the interface and this is
23:08what you get you get validation you get
23:11trust and you get a sense that the
23:14design process early on even before the
23:17first car is sold is is thought through
23:20in a very comprehensive manner so I
23:23think his team is doing a fantastic job
23:24and I think what's interesting is we're
23:27on a long journey here and the press
23:30literally took that story and retold it
23:34to the world and I think that's powerful
23:36because again the stories we create
23:38within Google have a life of their own
23:40outside the company so I wanted to kind
23:45of step back and say that we've done a
23:47bunch of visioning work at Google some
23:49of its obviously confidential but
23:51there's value and we've seen it play out
23:54over the course of this last year and a
23:57half that I've been on the search and
23:58assist team and I think this is the most
24:01critical quote while as designers we are
24:04very much kind of attracted to the
24:07notion of creating that object through
24:09craft through the discipline of design
24:11and research it's also something
24:14more powerful than the artifact which is
24:17what that artifact does in an
24:19organization and Peter Sangay is a
24:22professor at MIT at the Sloan School
24:25Business School and he has been talking
24:28about organizations and organizational
24:30learning for a very long time and it's
24:32really interesting how that plays out at
24:34a company like Google because visioning
24:36is taking on a very new form when you
24:38start designing for the future so
24:40there's four things or key takeaways
24:43that visioning product visioning has
24:45taught us so number one and I've kind of
24:49stated this quite a lot today but it's
24:51quite simple it aligns teams around a
24:54shared narrative or this story right and
24:56it's a long-term narrative and it
24:59develops this common reference point to
25:01catalyze innovation and when I talk
25:03about catalyze innovation what I mean by
25:06that is we have design sprints we have
25:08work sessions we have simple meetings
25:11but with this artifact the quality of
25:14those conversations the way designers
25:16facilitate business decisions with their
25:19partners it dramatically changes second
25:24encouraging thoughtful innovation by
25:26keys keeping user experience in lockstep
25:29with technical advancement this is huge
25:31so we have an amazing are my team the
25:35research and machine intelligence team
25:37if we aren't working closely with them
25:40we're kind of at the end of the product
25:43development process and what we then do
25:45is react to a technology which is the
25:47very thing we want to avoid doing and
25:50user experience so what we're doing is
25:53with product visioning we're proactively
25:55anticipating how technologies can play
25:57out and this helps us think about the
25:59intended and unintended consequences of
26:02technology much earlier on so that we
26:04can have a thoughtful design process
26:07that follows three it breaks down
26:10organizational silos to create seamless
26:12user journeys so as we know the user
26:15engages with Google very differently
26:18than we engage with our organization and
26:20we have to keep that top of mind so
26:23always talking with colleagues that are
26:25on other teams understanding what
26:27finding those connections actively
26:30sounds kind of like an obvious thing but
26:32again at a 70,000 plus company you have
26:35to do that and you have to create that
26:37muscle to innovate and to share ideas
26:39and cross-pollinate ideas if we don't we
26:42start thinking about the vision in our
26:44own kind of with our own biases and
26:47forth it leverages system thinking to
26:51drive focused decision-making and
26:52strategic planning over the long term so
26:55believe it or not a vision that we
26:57started a year ago had impact on a reorg
27:02it had impact on who got hired and it
27:06got it had impact on how we started to
27:09do our annual planning so in these ways
27:12a product vision can affect the kind of
27:15global org and it can also affect
27:18literally how we're working together
27:20once we see those interconnections and
27:22interdependencies so here's just a quick
27:26slide to summarize the four and in
27:30closing I think the key thing to note is
27:33that visioning doesn't end with a
27:35product launch and this was kind of my
27:37key point with google lens and way mo
27:39you saw that narrative play out you saw
27:42that it it aligned teams internally but
27:45there's something it does externally and
27:46we have to pay attention to what happens
27:49there so as designers we have to
27:51actively observe listen and refine our
27:54designs our solutions and the narrative
27:58against this cultural backdrop and
28:00because it really shapes our zeitgeist
28:03so quick visual imagine the vision as
28:06the Micra story within Google it's the
28:10one we articulate we define we co-create
28:12with our multidisciplinary team our
28:15product managers our engineers our
28:18research scientists all of those people
28:21should help shape that vision even if it
28:24lands on the user experience team and
28:27the design team to kind of finally craft
28:29it we have to get their buy-in and their
28:31feedback so imagine that this is our
28:33hypothesis the vision and we're very you
28:37know we're married to it we change it we
28:39evolve it but it actually
28:41once the product launches lives in the
28:44macro story which is the way those
28:46products actually get used in people's
28:48lives and this is where we go from our
28:50foundational research knowledge and our
28:52hypothesis that's happening in the blue
28:54circle to what I would say is that macro
28:57story we're doing much more evaluative
29:00research we're understanding and we're
29:02observing the users in their environment
29:06using our products so what we're trying
29:08to do here is we're constantly
29:10co-creating right and we're trying to
29:12reset our expectations of our product
29:14continuously because taking it for
29:17granted and saying our intention was
29:19this and and marrying ourselves to that
29:22and not paying attention to what happens
29:24once we launch it is irresponsible
29:26so in closing as designers researchers
29:29technologists and business strategists
29:32we are culture creators and we shape
29:35society we have the tools to understand
29:39the human experience and the behaviors
29:41and envision design solutions that make
29:44business outcomes tangible like no other
29:47function and that is our one of our
29:49super-fat powers and I think there are
29:51many more but I think that what I want
29:54to leave you with is it's a privilege to
29:55work at this scale and it's a privilege
29:57to do what we do and to define a vision
30:00for the future and how it affects
30:01people's lives but I think what's more
30:04important is that there comes a
30:06responsibility and so we need to really
30:08offer that rigor upfront and provide our
30:11business partners with the perspectives
30:13that bring us all together to shape a
30:16future that we're proud to live in so
30:26and now I'm gonna hand it off to Steve
30:28Saucer all right hello everyone I'm
30:33joining you from Airbnb my name is Steve
30:36I'm a design manager as mentioned and I
30:38lead our Airbnb for work team the design
30:40team when I come across photos like this
30:44in our you know many many catalog of
30:46photos in our Airbnb repository site I
30:50always like kind of stop and pause and
30:52imagine myself in a situation like this
30:58you know where is this place who are
31:01these people you know what are they
31:04doing what are their hopes and dreams
31:08what am i doing there what am I trying
31:12to accomplish you know I look at these
31:15images I imagine myself there I imagine
31:18other people there I imagine who they
31:21are what they care about and this comes
31:25naturally to me but what I realized is
31:27somebody asked me recently you know how
31:29do you how do you generate visions how
31:31do you work through the sort of
31:32visioning exercise and and it was sort
31:35of a little bit of that I think what I
31:37just distilled it down to really simply
31:39was I think visioning is about
31:41connecting these dots you know I'm a
31:43dots these people are dots everything in
31:46that environment is a dot to be
31:48connected how you connect them matters
31:51but it starts kind of with that so let's
31:53let's run from there it's the first
31:56thought I want to implant in your minds
31:59so Airbnb for work is interesting it I
32:02joined the team a couple years ago and
32:03when I joined it it was just referred to
32:07as business travel I you know I came in
32:09and I said cool we're business travel
32:11what's what's our vision and actually I
32:14realized very quickly that was the wrong
32:15question to be asking the question was
32:17you mean what are our goals and our
32:19metrics and I said yeah that's what I
32:20meant totally and you know and there was
32:25this it's pretty straightforward let's
32:26get business travelers to use Airbnb
32:28when they traveled for work I was like
32:29all right that is totally straight
32:35so who are we who are we designing for
32:37and they're like well you know business
32:38travelers these guys I was like oh okay
32:41sure yeah that's that's a business
32:43traveler I'll take that and so I looked
32:46at you know I worked with the team and
32:47figured out okay what have we done so
32:49and the team actually was very
32:50accomplished in reaching its metrics and
32:52goals in a number of ways some of these
32:55things in UI you'll notice essentially
32:57just asking for people to add their work
32:59email address super straightforward what
33:02that enabled was us our ability to then
33:05surface this question what's the main
33:07purpose of your trip and understand that
33:09people were actually using Airbnb when
33:11they traveled for business right on the
33:14other end of this you know there's
33:15people traveling for work and of course
33:17companies who want to make sure that
33:19when people travel they want to
33:21understand where they are for safety and
33:22security reasons they also want to track
33:24the expenses they're you know ultimately
33:27paying the bill for these things so we
33:30built a dashboard for that and we were
33:32doing a number of different kinds of
33:34ways to try to get more people to sign
33:37up give us their email address and so
33:40there was a number of sort of you know
33:42growth projects that the team had been
33:43running and this was great you know I
33:47looked at this and I said yeah totally
33:48makes sense you know here we are today
33:50we have goals and we are marching toward
33:54them right every project is an
33:57incremental step toward hitting those
33:59goals this is a really fundamental model
34:01in product design and product
34:03development and I came from frog design
34:05I was a consultant before this so this
34:06was actually a really good introduction
34:08to the product world for me I really
34:10grounded myself in understanding that
34:11yes we optimized the product we moved
34:13toward you know hitting our goals but
34:15there was another part of me that thinks
34:18this way I have always thought this way
34:19and I've tried to bring this to the team
34:23and it was this you know that without
34:25that vision it's kind of hard to know
34:28where we're going in some ways the
34:30vision gives us a sense of how to work
34:33backwards right we can easily move
34:35forward and we can continue to optimize
34:37and help you know work with our data
34:38science team to understand what's
34:40working what's not and start to optimize
34:42the product but will we ever make you
34:43know truly big leaps well we really know
34:45where we're trying to go unless we
34:46actually try to envision something
34:49and when you have this vision right your
34:52incremental steps are actually moving
34:54you towards something that you care
34:55about something that you've worked to
34:58define beyond just business goals and
35:01metrics it sometimes feels a little bit
35:04more like this at least in my mind I
35:05think of you know the North Star idea
35:07right it's this guiding thing it's kind
35:10of a little bit you know we can kind of
35:11make it concrete but it's still a little
35:14bit nebulous and it's a meandering path
35:16right every product every feature every
35:19experiment kind of gets you closer to
35:21that but some really interesting things
35:23happen along the way you might actually
35:25run an experiment that actually you know
35:27that the deviates a little bit from the
35:29most direct path and it could be for any
35:30number of reasons down that path you
35:33might discover something about your the
35:36vision that you thought you had right
35:38maybe this is not quite the right thing
35:39anymore maybe we should consider another
35:41path and this is constantly happening as
35:45well and so just to say that really I
35:47think a vision is as iterative as a
35:50product or a feature maybe ok so here we
35:56are moving forward but the question
35:57again that I wanted to start with with
35:59the team was what's our vision and it
36:01really began with this person I think
36:03you know as a designer everything kind
36:06of begins with who who were we designing
36:08for right sort of a human centered
36:09approach to this and realizing that you
36:13know our definition of this person was
36:15really just somebody who travels for
36:16work we really need to go out there and
36:18understand them better through research
36:20we ran you know quantitative studies and
36:24we did the qualitative interviews
36:26participate in a lot of these to really
36:28come up with a better understanding of
36:30who these people were their needs and
36:32you know attitudes and behaviors one
36:36thing so we got all of that but one
36:38thing I'd say we pulled from this was a
36:40simple simple distillation to this point
36:43which was actually I think really key
36:45for our vision although all the other
36:47things were super informative and
36:50helpful in terms of developing a lot of
36:51it other parts of our product but it was
36:54just this the big difference between
36:56everyone hi we had been dealing with it
36:58Airbnb up to this point right with where
37:01people who essentially wanted to travel
37:02right these are people who were coming
37:04to Airbnb looking for homes and dreaming
37:06up their next vacation or whatever it
37:09may be the difference between these
37:11people was that they had to travel and
37:12if you have to do something like every
37:15little thing that sucks sucks even more
37:18right so we knew that we just had to
37:20make sure at minimum that we could like
37:22remove the pain and suffering of people
37:24who had to do this but we went further
37:27of course right with our vision to be to
37:30create an experience that they not only
37:31loved but these are frequent travelers
37:34business travelers right they travel
37:35often let's make sure that they look
37:37forward to repeating it okay so there's
37:40kind of like a little bit of an
37:41aspirational Northstar vision statement
37:44we went through you know what
37:46essentially is a design sprint you know
37:49we brought in all of our stakeholders we
37:50filled the walls with sketches
37:52whiteboards sticky notes and you know
37:56tons of concepts emerged they all turned
38:01into some fidelity of you know something
38:04we could test with people but ultimately
38:07it really helped us in developing those
38:11incremental steps forward what we were
38:13able to develop was a vision of what it
38:16might be like for a person who travelled
38:18for work frequently to love their trip
38:22and to love repeating it and it kind of
38:26broke down into these three steps for us
38:27how we were gonna sequence this work and
38:30build out the product we were doing a
38:32lot of other stuff too but these are
38:33kind of like three worth highlighting
38:35and the first was just this right like
38:38it begins with improving the home so we
38:40introduced a product called business
38:41travel ready homes they have like Wi-Fi
38:4424-hour check-in and then a number of
38:46other amenities and we have that filter
38:48right there at the top right and a home
38:51and you look at this listing and it says
38:53has the essential business travel
38:55amenities so we introduced homes that
38:57would be more appropriate for these
38:58people who are traveling frequently made
39:01sure that they had everything they
39:02needed we also knew that look the
39:05booking experience on Airbnb is
39:06different from motel it has more steps
39:08it's a little bit more nuanced let's
39:10make sure we can streamline it to the
39:11extent that we can and we looked an
39:14opportunity to help people who
39:16I will frequently find the homes that
39:17they've booked before especially if
39:19they're going to the same city so they
39:21can much more easily book that place
39:23again right pretty straightforward we
39:26also knew that we had to sort of add
39:29these on trip services and add a little
39:31bit more to what people you know we're
39:34experiencing on their trip and we
39:36recently partnered with we work we've
39:38got now a little pilot going out that
39:40essentially is a free night oh do we
39:42work free day or do we work when you
39:44stay in a participating city so we're
39:48making progress and I think you know
39:52this is this was this has been my life
39:54for now a year plus we've been looking
39:57at kind of you know a road map that was
40:00very focused on meeting our goals and
40:03our metrics moving forward we did a
40:05little bit of work to kind of frame a
40:07bit of a vision for what this could be
40:10worked backwards and built our roadmap
40:12and there you go we're just chipping
40:14away at it but wait I mean is that is
40:18that the vision is that it right just to
40:20create a great experience for people
40:21when they travel for work I think back
40:24to the idea of connecting dots you know
40:27how to take a step back and look around
40:29us a little bit so here we are at Airbnb
40:32we know that people are using our homes
40:35when they travel for work cool check but
40:40when we looked at what our homes were
40:41also being used for I mean we do this
40:44but we also saw a lot of customers doing
40:46this too as they were being used for
40:48meetings and off sites
40:51homes are actually really comfortable
40:53spaces to get you know sort of I mean
40:56have more authentic conversations in a
40:58more vulnerable kind of way you can
41:01truly authentically be you in a space
41:02that feels like not the office so you
41:05know whether it's a meeting or an
41:06off-site you know we're seeing or other
41:09kinds of situations as well but
41:10essentially our homes are being used for
41:13different kinds of use professional use
41:14cases like this and how many people have
41:18actually taken an Airbnb experience
41:19anyone all right some folks in the room
41:23yeah we we have a new product right our
41:25Airbnb experiences so beyond the home
41:28is these our hosts who host you here in
41:31San Francisco we have many cities around
41:32the world on experiences that are sort
41:36of a slice of their own life you know in
41:39their city they take you out and they
41:40share they share your you know
41:43themselves in some way you know taking
41:46you through the city from like I think
41:49there's some crazy ones like sushi chefs
41:51who will teach you how to you know make
41:53sushi to samurai sword makers and these
41:56are some of the ones in Japan but we
41:57realized it's like okay these are really
41:59interesting opportunities for people
42:00when they travel to places like Japan
42:02right they're gonna be really interested
42:04in going to see these kind of no more
42:06niche slices of life and do and learn
42:08from these experts these expert hosts
42:11but what if you know essentially what if
42:13a team of people in a company went out
42:15as well what might they learn from that
42:17kind of experience could it actually
42:19even be a professional development
42:20opportunity but also isn't it just
42:22simply a team-building experience which
42:24how many people in this room do that
42:27with your team do you ever go out
42:29together for any experience okay doesn't
42:31it be an Airbnb experience I just mean
42:33going out with your team and
42:34all right so here we are connecting
42:36these dots and realizing hey there's
42:39already a lot of things going on at
42:40Airbnb we already have these products
42:42let's start connecting them anything but
42:45even that to me wasn't enough I think
42:48what we had to figure out was you know
42:51these are all good for our for our
42:53business but what are we effectively
42:54trying to push for our mission I think
42:57everybody is a very mission oriented
42:58company we care a lot about we care a
43:02lot about the things that we're doing in
43:04the impact we have in the world when we
43:07care a lot about community and I think
43:09one of the things that this image
43:11doesn't resonate with me it doesn't
43:13resonate with me because I don't see
43:14community in this right when I think of
43:16a business traveler and this image comes
43:19up it's the lone you know traveler - the
43:21road warrior and it's not to say this
43:24person doesn't want community but we
43:27first had to modernize our story we had
43:28to do something with this narrative we
43:30had to change it a bit and talk about
43:32how you know in 2020 50% of the
43:34workforce is going to be Millennials so
43:36that's a huge shift but not only that I
43:39mean all of us probably understand
43:42feels to work at a company that's not
43:44quite you know the suit-and-tie anymore
43:47what are we like what are we saying
43:49about this about this sort of about the
43:52corporate landscape right it's shifting
43:53to and if these are the people in
43:56companies what if the next time they
43:59travel what if she travels to China and
44:02the next time instead of staying in any
44:03home in any hotel she can stay with a
44:07host who is also a designer or she can
44:10stay with the host who's also an
44:11engineer or a product manager or
44:13whatever her industry may be whatever
44:15her profession may be and what if in
44:17some ways the kind of connection that we
44:21look for on Airbnb can actually be
44:23fostered through a professional
44:24community as well in fact right the
44:27professional identity that we carry with
44:29ourselves is less vulnerable as well and
44:31so people can even on a more
44:33transactional level network with people
44:35this way but what if that connection
44:37even if it is a little bit more
44:39transactional first is the thing that
44:40actually creates the meaningful
44:42connection that we want to see right in
44:44the community when people travel and so
44:46we're thinking now a little bit bigger
44:47about that so essentially that's our
44:50vision for every me for work but wait
44:54there's even more that actually feels
44:58like a narrative that I've been telling
45:00for about a year now and I think the
45:02thing is that with vision the moment it
45:05becomes a narrative and a shared a sort
45:09of shared narrative among everybody
45:11right we all know what our vision is now
45:12it's already time to start thinking
45:14about the next thing I think that's
45:16again going back to the iterative nature
45:18of a vision right you know to think that
45:21there's always that there's one obvious
45:22and clear thing is maybe a little bit
45:26incomplete right it maybe isn't a
45:29hundred percent clear but it's something
45:32and it's a good start and as soon as you
45:34get close to it or the thing you
45:35believed was your vision you realized it
45:37you get there you've arrived well it's
45:40time to start thinking about the next
45:41thing so vision is connecting the dots
45:45but vision is also storytelling and I
45:49want to just make a couple of points on
45:50this it's a specific kind of
45:53storytelling it's stories about
45:56the future as it should be and what I
45:59mean by that an emphasis on should is
46:02that when we say this is our vision
46:06we're saying that the world should be
46:08this way right we're making a very
46:11strong statement with value judgments
46:14about the way the world should be the
46:16way the world shouldn't be and that
46:19going back to Arana said is incredible
46:23position of privilege and power as well
46:26as an incredible responsibility that
46:29when we think about these things we're
46:31checking ourselves we're checking the
46:32value judgments that we're making about
46:34how things should and shouldn't be right
46:36so if we're truly responsible we need to
46:39actually first know ourselves we need to
46:41know the bias that we bring to the table
46:43right why is it that we believe it
46:45should be this way what's the impact of
46:47that and right you know this is Airbnb
46:50ease vision it's a world in which anyone
46:54can belong anywhere and I think I you
46:58know I'm there because I believe in this
47:00vision I believe in the mission and I
47:03share the values but I think that's a
47:06that's the key point here is that vision
47:09alone is not enough to just talk about
47:11vision you know anyone can have a vision
47:15that's great but there's actually
47:17something behind that vision and
47:19sometimes it starts with your values
47:21right if you believe something strongly
47:23like the world should be this way you
47:25may not yet know how it's going to
47:27manifest in terms of a vision but you
47:29know what it what it needs to be what it
47:31should be that's actually a bit of a
47:34sort of a you're starting with the
47:36values that you have right you're
47:37starting with those and you're defining
47:39a vision that way sometimes walk in a
47:42room and be like so what's the vision
47:43I'll hear a story about the vision and
47:46I'll ask why and it's actually a process
47:50of deconstructing the values behind it
47:53and sometimes those values or values
47:55that might judge is positive and
47:57sometimes those values maybe less so we
47:59have to kind of check ourselves in that
48:00sense so if anything I would just say
48:03this right you're always kind of going
48:06between what you believe the world
48:07should be checking those
48:09use and manifesting it in some kind of
48:13concrete vision this is a process you're
48:16always going through so vision is values
48:20and I guess this is the most important
48:24question right what's your vision of the
48:27world as it should be but maybe more
48:30importantly I think we can all start by
48:32reflecting on this question which is
48:35essentially like what do you value and I
48:38think this is actually a really hard
48:39question to answer so I will leave you
48:42hit that thanks - hello hello
48:52I created a cover slide that would make
48:54sure that I said hello hello so a little
48:58bit of intentionality there this has
49:01actually been a really rich conversation
49:03myself Ron and Steve and so I feel in
49:06some ways these are just like the tip of
49:07the iceberg and a peeking through which
49:09we're sharing but it's been a rich
49:10conversation it's so nice to see
49:12students professional colleagues former
49:16colleagues a lot of let a good vibe to
49:19the room so thank you all for coming
49:20so like to start with this is cartoon by
49:24Sam gross in which a snail is professing
49:28his love for a tape dispenser he says I
49:30don't care if she's a tape dispenser I
49:33love her ultimately a vision is a
49:37wonderfully kind of compelling piece of
49:39fiction one that's incredibly seductive
49:41that may be nonsensical deceives point
49:43ultimately what do you value clearly
49:46form-factor is appealing so to
49:52rottenness talk about the overview
49:55effect when the astronauts are traveling
49:57over the pale blue dot and all these
49:59boundaries and partitions start to
50:00dissolve they start to see the unity of
50:02the earth you also see it free from the
50:04distortions that maps are incorrect that
50:06show you know Africa the continent is
50:08you know three X smaller than it
50:10and he starts to say oh wow I'm seeing a
50:12new way in which he and Bucky fuller
50:14talked about you know spaceship earth
50:15and so a lot of what I do with branding
50:18is trying to create meaning and
50:20ultimately that's become a much richer
50:23because of all the wonderful visioning
50:24work that you guys are doing which is
50:26you're asking about the brand isn't some
50:28sum of all interaction touch points
50:30which means that if it's about
50:31connecting the dots it's not about a
50:33stamp or an emblem that's all
50:35encompassing it's an ongoing dialogue
50:38it's on ongoing affirmation that what we
50:40actually say we're gonna do we actually
50:42fulfill on that promise what I like
50:45about this other than you know I've been
50:47given a hippie first name was the fact
50:50that forest when it's written
50:52phonetically is a set of constants and
50:54valves right for its pictographic lee
50:57and here you see the characters send or
51:00two of them mean woods and one means
51:02means tree is when you reduce it the F
51:06no wonder means anything it's a
51:08meaningless bit it's a consonant where
51:10is that wonderful character actually
51:13still means tree so retains meaning it's
51:15a lot of what I do is try to take
51:17meaningless consonants and try to
51:19achieve a meaning so here this is a
51:21characterization of this with the letter
51:22M so Pierre Laurie is discovering the M
51:24means that he's been classified as a
51:28murderer so Marshall McLuhan
51:29talks about how all media essentially
51:31works to extend or enhance a human
51:33capability that the wheel simply just
51:35extends the foot that ultimately media
51:39will obsolesce other media so we can't
51:41help but think that once you're driving
51:43that BMW 2002 you're looking at a
51:45horse-drawn carriage not as essential
51:46piece of transformation but it's a
51:49nostalgic romantic type of
51:50transportation becomes nostalgic and
51:52romantic because it's been obsolesce by
51:55a different type of technology and
51:58ultimately the conversation about no
51:59visioning is as much about the past as
52:01it is the future and so ultimately no
52:03meaning is scaffolded on to previous
52:05meeting so we look at surveillance
52:07cameras you know they were calling or
52:09retrieving a feeling of security of you
52:11know a fortress with crenellations the
52:13feeling of being protected bus the
52:15danger maybe of always being watched and
52:19ultimately when media moves too fast it
52:21reverses onto itself sir McLuhan talked
52:23about the fact that we can imagine the
52:25car - it's you know exponential end
52:28becomes a colossal traffic jam one of
52:31the interesting things you know on the
52:32Steve touched upon is Walter pin you
52:35mean when he writes about
52:37concept of history he talks about being
52:39inspired by Paul clays you know painting
52:42of an angel Angelus Novus and the angel
52:45is actually flying in to help humanity
52:46which is clearly in the distressful
52:48state as evidenced by that but that
52:51perplexed globe and he sees history is
52:55one single catastrophe he sees is a big
52:57giant pile up and the angel wants to
53:00intervene but he's being blown backwards
53:02by the winds of progress and ultimately
53:05it's that you actually experience the
53:06future by walking backwards into it I
53:09think it's very interesting to think
53:10about vision is and I promised them I
53:12would do this it's kind of like a
53:14moonwalk it's kind of like you're like I
53:15know I'm going bad but I hope I'm like
53:17it looks kind of good and I don't hit
53:19anything and Paul but I don't really
53:21know I'm going because I only had
53:22reference points if existed from my kind
53:25of historical predecessors this system
53:28of Mike and a personal work so I'm gonna
53:29share both personal and professional
53:30work as relates to visioning so
53:33ultimately as I look at McLean's
53:35examples of extension I have a
53:38fascination with the pixel I think it's
53:40marvelous it's a square squares are
53:42beautiful but a pixel is always small
53:44and it's confined to a single surface
53:46and so I asked myself what is the
53:48dynamic pixel that's liberated and this
53:51was actually a graduate school
53:52experiment oddly enough in the bathroom
53:54concerns weren't you happy with this for
53:56this is the idea that breathe could be a
53:58physical physical ization of the pixel
54:00where the tiles become pixels and the
54:02entire bathroom and walls become an
54:04interface and later on when I was tasked
54:09with reimagining the Cartoon Network how
54:13do you imagine that same grid as a free
54:15dimensional grid where everything is
54:17simply is snapping into this Square four
54:20dimensional grid marrying different
54:22animation styles and creating these
54:24different spaces and vignettes a pixel
54:30can be folded but maybe it can be so the
54:32idea that could we create typographic
54:35form from the creases in the implied
54:37paper and so how do you think of
54:42something in the design of something
54:43when you know it's going to move when
54:45you start to imagine it I'm just like a
54:46like a machine what are the hinges what
54:48is the motor or whatever what are the
54:50is the connective tissue what is it how
54:52does it move ultimately comes down to
54:54choices and so this particular slide
54:57it's hard to see definitely the back um
54:59each of these is a bust of Nefertiti
55:01which is actually part of the open
55:03source Nefertiti project so these are
55:05actually renderings they were taken from
55:06an open source project where two artists
55:09actually released the data about these
55:12busts and now it becomes a typographic
55:14moment within a presentation here in San
55:16Francisco so the term stereotype has
55:20interesting history it comes from you
55:22know letterpress it's the advent of
55:24moving away from metal movable type to a
55:27single plate where you could make an
55:29addition much much faster but stereotype
55:32also talks about the same efficiency
55:35that a stereotype realizes brings in
55:37certain types of biases and
55:39generalizations that move forward and
55:42push forward and can corrupt a vision so
55:46my own personal story embarrassing this
55:48I've heard this is a safe room so I
55:50remember I worked a library and I used
55:52to take the book jackets off of a book
55:53and I saw this picture of Paul Ryan
55:55who's maybe the most famous designer in
55:57America and I thought my goodness the
55:59guy looks like he's at he's an African
56:01American like he kind of has like a nice
56:02little top and he's kind of looking out
56:04and I created a whole apparently false
56:07narrative the leading graphic designer
56:09was actually a person of color and this
56:10came through all the way to my actual
56:12graduate application where they asked me
56:14the way you were talking about Paul Rand
56:16is like you know he feels like you know
56:19like a relative or somebody you might
56:20know can you just expand on a little bit
56:22because I don't really understand kind
56:23of what you're getting at like you and
56:25Paul Rand and you guys are kind of like
56:28together don't really get that and so in
56:32later write an article about this for
56:34wait so Finnell called Paul ISM all
56:37rhiannon Paul ran as an African American
56:39culture hero dynamic I can have heroes
56:41too so what if he's not actually buying
56:43into a lot of stereotype our fee is when
56:47this idea of stereotype and actually
56:49saying what are actually harmful ways in
56:52which typography is actually imbued with
56:54some of our you know less than ideal
56:57kind of historical predecessors and so
57:00watermelon or Noland in line a typeface
57:02used a lot in marketing
57:04tobacco to other public communities and
57:06so you see a watermelon lot and we think
57:08of Jurassic Park and Jumanji and first
57:10generation Crocs it's a way that you
57:12talk about other news typographically or
57:15you know chop suey right it's just
57:18abbreviation of exotics ISM right so
57:21typography seems so innocent but of
57:23course carries these types of cultural
57:26norms through through language this was
57:29a project that I did in response to mr.
57:32Kitty's kitty sands so I chose to see
57:35Kenny sands is actually a silhouette but
57:37once you turn the light they're actually
57:38Swiss Army knives so you can run away
57:39from international style once you turn
57:43Swiss knives staring back at you this is
57:48a project looking at taking inspiration
57:50from hackers and so this is a language
57:52called leet so many of you may recognize
57:551337 but how do you make this into a
57:58word mark for the National Grid and
58:01working within the constraints of a
58:03typeface it's used for you know credit
58:06card authentication so identity is
58:08ancient and so a lot of the discussion
58:10about you know pictograms or emojis or
58:15ruining the way that our kids talk these
58:17days well pictographic language has
58:19existed forever it's actually this
58:21phonetic alphabet that's relatively new
58:23on the scene and so what is this
58:25interplay between seeing the world
58:26through pictures and seeing the words of
58:28language and in some ways and I think I
58:30demonstrate in this class you know we
58:32have a relationship with new haptic
58:35sensations like mother's heartbeat then
58:37we experience this birth Boman where it
58:39says a mobile moment we experience all
58:41these senses claps into one this is the
58:43the sense that Bogner was always chasing
58:45what the kazama-kun spark where he said
58:47it must be light and sound because it's
58:49a moment when you develop when you can't
58:51distinguish between all the senses which
58:52we called a modal and now we're talking
58:54about multi mobile interactions or we're
58:56shifting between the different senses
58:58it's when you look at this this was
58:59actually a project for dot dot when the
59:02idea here was if there's a logo for the
59:04open IOT it should actually be a logo
59:07that anyone could express and so you
59:08could actually text the liver to someone
59:10through a colon and to posts and so dot
59:14dot could the kind graces of Google
59:17was able to be the first open-source
59:20identity which truly had all open-source
59:22elements so it had a consortium the
59:24ZigBee Alliance they created the mesh
59:25network that was pushing forward to an
59:28open way which everything could be
59:29interoperable and we can see all of
59:31these objects is having potential Google
59:34Fonts which is creating a dialogue about
59:36a typeface and part of the open font
59:38license is that if you make any
59:39alterations like we did for the tea you
59:41have to upload it and so you're
59:42constantly evolving all of these pieces
59:44of type type isn't static it's ongoing
59:47in its building and lastly the logo
59:49doesn't actually live in a gated portal
59:51it lives in github so it's accessible to
59:53be able to be forked and spun and this
59:58is us actually coding the logo I always
01:00:05could fund to make some speculative
01:00:07objects and so my students are probably
01:00:09laughing and I'm looking in the back
01:00:10like oh yeah I made some and this is
01:00:13actually a tape dispenser for righties
01:00:14and lefties so many applications as
01:00:17designers as you know are you know you
01:00:19know the idea of sinister and and Dexter
01:00:22right left-handedness being evil all
01:00:25these coated ways would even look at
01:00:26book design you know the gutter and the
01:00:28aisle and and how it relates to even
01:00:31seating and so how do these codes are
01:00:33actually kind of addressed or confronted
01:00:35the autonomous vehicle that makes you up
01:00:38in Vegas to take you to BC as already
01:00:41lazy gentleman or ultimately the
01:00:45you know self-sustaining small home you
01:00:47know obviously printed IKEA music IKEA
01:00:50furniture in there but the idea that you
01:00:52can actually see the logo is a way of
01:00:53living and it's an open and open source
01:00:56open IOT way of living and so there was
01:01:00mention of Disneyland earlier so I
01:01:01thought I'd share actually a story of
01:01:03failure it's always you know fun to show
01:01:05failure stories and so this is actually
01:01:07be moving to Orlando Florida and I was
01:01:09tasked with creating an identity for a
01:01:11museum the Atlanta Museum of Art and the
01:01:13idea was that could the user or the
01:01:15person seeing the logo actually
01:01:17understand how art or meaning is created
01:01:19through the form itself so could you
01:01:21create a logo just the triangles right
01:01:23symbol for past present future so these
01:01:27become these three shapes these become
01:01:31color combines additively that was
01:01:33Gerdes color wheel combination of color
01:01:36both in terms of pigment and light then
01:01:39with typography these abstract forms are
01:01:41rendered as a Laney museum of art you
01:01:45can perform the logo and could become a
01:01:48w till done inside sadly this is no
01:01:54longer and I think it's ultimately
01:01:55looking at you know visioning I think so
01:01:57you've sieve it up ahead you can you can
01:01:59set a goal post but also be on route to
01:02:01that goal post and that journey to get
01:02:03there you may decide to deviate and
01:02:05pivot away from it made me no longer
01:02:07relevant this was a piece of dynamic
01:02:10typography that I created for the Cooper
01:02:12Union go Cooper Union go free school and
01:02:15it's the idea of could you actually
01:02:16imagine free in school being
01:02:19architectural e1 in the same the idea is
01:02:21that it's you know 40 typography or each
01:02:24of these forms actually make the other
01:02:27letter form possible thank you time for
01:02:29the high chairs a really great
01:02:34collection of different perspectives on
01:02:37visioning I'm very curious visioning and
01:02:43design work really requires the ability
01:02:46to question the world to take a step
01:02:49back and look at the world around you
01:02:51which is one of those unique skills that
01:02:52designers have I'm wondering if you guys
01:02:55have any methods or approaches that you
01:02:58take with your team and with yourselves
01:03:00or your students to encourage and remind
01:03:03designers to take a step back and ask
01:03:06the question is this what we need what
01:03:09will be the consequences of this of this
01:03:12design decision so I can I can feel that
01:03:14first one of it actually takeaways from
01:03:17my course future design which is now
01:03:19exciting the spring is the idea that the
01:03:22future is actually wet clay I think a
01:03:24lot of times designers get briefs and
01:03:25you know when you ask a designer
01:03:27please design the future it's like it's
01:03:29so daunting but every design brief is a
01:03:31future design challenge it's just the
01:03:33time horizons are different and I think
01:03:35to encourage people to believe that they
01:03:37can affect the trajectory of what is a
01:03:40probable or seemingly inevitable future
01:03:43actually is more preferred and how do
01:03:45you then use your wares as a designer
01:03:47and Big D design to kind of bend Bend an
01:03:50arc that that inertia toward something
01:03:52that's ideal or more inclusive um in
01:03:56terms of of what gets people started I
01:03:58think provocations are really nice so we
01:04:02run design sprints and often times we'll
01:04:05put material in front of designers and
01:04:09this is a thirty more designers from all
01:04:12over Google it's really how you curate
01:04:14those those specific people in that
01:04:16sprint and and what we'll do is we'll
01:04:19provoke them in different ways so yes
01:04:21they know their space they understand
01:04:23the current product but when we forecast
01:04:26into the future we we put things from
01:04:29the social realm the arts medical fields
01:04:33it's all about really those connecting
01:04:35the dots that Steve talked about but
01:04:37putting stimuli at the beginning so that
01:04:40those first ideas and those first
01:04:42sketches and those first concepts that
01:04:44are generated around the business
01:04:45challenge are really fed with a net
01:04:49that's cast super wide and it's not
01:04:51trying to hone in on the solution just
01:04:54yet but it's really freeing the mind to
01:04:56think beyond the constraints and that's
01:04:58I think a lovely place for designers and
01:05:01researchers and business people to start
01:05:04because it really opens up without
01:05:07judgment solutions that we may not have
01:05:10thought about naturally and so I think
01:05:13that's my favorite thing to do analogous
01:05:15industries you know movements that are
01:05:17happening in kind of the Civic sense
01:05:20than me to movement and you know these
01:05:22are things that we're processing every
01:05:24day we're human why can't we talk about
01:05:27them during our own product development
01:05:29process so I really am a big fan of
01:05:32connecting the dots early on with how we
01:05:35live around the world yeah it's
01:05:39interesting to hear the both of you talk
01:05:40about it I think I agree with everything
01:05:42and I was kind of thinking about the way
01:05:45that I do it it's actually almost like I
01:05:49want to force judgments on everything
01:05:52right up front so it's just like what
01:05:54should it be right just tell me
01:05:57quickly what should this be and almost
01:05:59allow like without judgment
01:06:03you know the team to make a lot of
01:06:06judgments right up front and again I
01:06:08think kinda goes back to the point I was
01:06:09making about it's fine right like let's
01:06:11understand why we're making those
01:06:13judgments right what is behind those
01:06:15things but let's start with some
01:06:17judgments let's put them out there the
01:06:18world should be this way these people
01:06:20should do it this way and not be afraid
01:06:22of making those because it's still a
01:06:23creative and a safe space but then we
01:06:25look at them and we go okay well why are
01:06:27we saying this right where is that
01:06:28coming from is that our bias is that a
01:06:31business thing is that our personal
01:06:33thing is that because of something a you
01:06:35know in an interview somebody said and
01:06:36you really latched on to that like where
01:06:38is it coming from I think it's important
01:06:40to just start to create and make and in
01:06:43some ways you know it goes almost
01:06:45against some of the things that I've
01:06:46also done which is like reserve judgment
01:06:48and allow things to just kind of you
01:06:51know develop it's like start with the
01:06:53answers just start with your convictions
01:06:55and then be okay though that those
01:06:57aren't gonna end up being the thing
01:06:58right like learn to like not be tied to
01:07:00the convictions but other but to
01:07:03understand why those are your
01:07:04convictions unpack them and then like
01:07:07recreate something that's actually
01:07:08probably the right thing but also trust
01:07:11your instincts like start with the
01:07:13things that drive you and motivate you
01:07:14because those are actually pretty
01:07:15powerful forces - yeah there's an
01:07:19interesting tension there with them we
01:07:20talk about in the you know creative
01:07:23process to always be open and say yes
01:07:25but then you want to have a critical
01:07:27perspective on it so it's great to hear
01:07:30about the you know start with the
01:07:32conviction I really like that have any
01:07:35of you guys experienced some you know
01:07:37sometimes you might have a vision or
01:07:40you're trying to create this picture of
01:07:43the future but what if it's too early
01:07:46what if the world is not ready for it
01:07:48you know have you encountered that have
01:07:51you thought about that what what are the
01:07:52challenges there yeah it's just kind of
01:07:56as you know zip it and keep it for the
01:07:57right moment to be like oh that's
01:07:59interesting what about this no it's I
01:08:02think kind of I also set this up in the
01:08:04talk a little bit but just there's
01:08:06always the next version of the vision
01:08:09it's then push it for
01:08:10and and yeah there's so many times when
01:08:14it's just too far and you know and I'm
01:08:16not even talking about like the flying
01:08:18cars kind of futuristic kind of stuff
01:08:20but just too far for people right now
01:08:23where we're focused so really fully
01:08:25appreciated I'd say in that though like
01:08:28don't lose that because it'll show up
01:08:31again right it's important that you have
01:08:32a narrative you have the next chapter of
01:08:35the narrative sort of there and if
01:08:37anything look at the things that you're
01:08:38doing now are they giving you more clues
01:08:40about whether that's the right direction
01:08:42actually or is it one of those moments
01:08:44where you're kind of veering off and
01:08:46you're realizing yeah I never mind that
01:08:47wasn't quite right but like have it in
01:08:49your mind and sort of let it be present
01:08:51when you're making a lot of the other
01:08:53kinds of decisions because it can but
01:08:55don't let it forced you down that path
01:08:57right like let it sit there let it be
01:08:59present it's it's a part of this whole
01:09:00thing is that the right direction maybe
01:09:02not but it's valuable and wouldn't let
01:09:04it go I think timing is everything and
01:09:07so most ideas and most businesses
01:09:10succeed because a solution shows up at
01:09:13that precise moment where society or a
01:09:16kind of target audience is is willing
01:09:19and to accept it in their lives and so
01:09:22what's interesting is that oftentimes
01:09:25what we'll do is even within Google one
01:09:29of the things that you can't do is you
01:09:31cannot define a vision and force it on
01:09:34anyone that's just not how the culture
01:09:37is set up it's a bottoms-up culture so
01:09:40what that really did is that we needed
01:09:43to create a vision that was compelling
01:09:45to many groups so that they spoke about
01:09:48this in them in the talk so that they
01:09:49could see themselves in it enough to
01:09:52then want to take it reinterpret it and
01:09:54then find out how to make it what they
01:09:58needed for their organization their
01:10:00product area and then bubble it up to
01:10:02their stakeholders so in a way because
01:10:05of that scale the vision really needs to
01:10:07expand and collapse for many people and
01:10:11so what we've kind of done with it in
01:10:12search and assist is we've we've allowed
01:10:15it to kind of live organically and go
01:10:18viral at Google and it's actually done
01:10:20quite well because you cannot be
01:10:23prescriptive in that
01:10:24culture but you need to be ready so you
01:10:27need to have that rigor you need to have
01:10:28those decks in your back pocket because
01:10:30when conditions in the marketplace
01:10:32change this is why it's really important
01:10:34for designers to constantly read
01:10:36business articles and business news and
01:10:39understand what mergers and buyouts are
01:10:41happening those all shape the value prop
01:10:44of the next product and we need to play
01:10:47really close attention to that it's
01:10:50interesting there's I'm as I talk abour
01:10:52between a vision that's so compelling
01:10:54that's almost creating its own kind of
01:10:56tractor being pulled and ultimately that
01:10:59the humane way of building safe bridges
01:11:02and scaffolding off of you know
01:11:04normative and understandable things and
01:11:06so there is both the seduction of what
01:11:08could be but also the moments along the
01:11:11way the bread crumbing that those kind
01:11:12of kind moments about you know
01:11:14opportunities for kindness or ultimate
01:11:15to think about you know what are quality
01:11:17interactions that build the trust to
01:11:19allow this fishing to be possible as I
01:11:21think implicit and connecting all those
01:11:22dots all those dots or people or groups
01:11:24of people or teams of people which means
01:11:26that your care and empathy for the user
01:11:30should propel you to do a lot of
01:11:33peacekeeping and meeting and how do you
01:11:36connect those dots we have to connect
01:11:37those people that connect those people
01:11:39all on behalf of beneficiary at the end
01:11:42and I think that it's making that
01:11:44beneficiary the true catalyst of all
01:11:46your effort great why wouldn't care is
01:11:49just a little bit and ask you a question
01:11:51about context and environments we know
01:11:54that some design and and visioning work
01:11:57is very much based on the space that
01:12:01you're working in and I'm curious of
01:12:03what the differences have been for you
01:12:05working and let's say an agency
01:12:07environment versus in-house versus
01:12:09academic environment are there any
01:12:12differences you've seen across those
01:12:14those context I think you know having
01:12:19worked alongside what I call the
01:12:23dysfunctional four by 100 relay you know
01:12:25the management consultant on the
01:12:27starting blocks ready set go
01:12:28handoff strategy with no knowledge or
01:12:30understanding abuse or whatsoever we
01:12:32to brand strategist and up to brand
01:12:35expression looks and speak behave oh no
01:12:37how do we scale this advertising TV C's
01:12:40oh my goodness where the user go oh
01:12:42finish line Oh time for innovation let's
01:12:46make it cool again
01:12:46so it's this you're watching it's
01:12:48dysfunctional race it starts and ends
01:12:50once one happiness and I think you know
01:12:53this is like the the history of a lot of
01:12:55the kind of creative consultancies which
01:12:56are almost like going from a consultancy
01:12:58model down to you know media and ad
01:13:00spend I think much much more you're
01:13:03seeing you know a constellation of
01:13:04things they're actually putting a center
01:13:05grab here on the user and you're
01:13:07actually kind of working backwards and
01:13:08you're kind of you're codifying it when
01:13:11it's actually working and so there's
01:13:13almost a tension between you know is it
01:13:16is it a switchback is it working
01:13:18backwards and I think that those that
01:13:19the dynamic state occurs shifting more
01:13:21towards what would have been considered
01:13:23to be the end of the engagements
01:13:25actually the start having worked both in
01:13:27a consultancy and then also in house one
01:13:30of the things I've really appreciated is
01:13:33when you're within the culture and
01:13:35you've been there their biases that form
01:13:37there's there's instincts and intuitions
01:13:40you have and you have to really keep
01:13:42yourself open as a vessel for creativity
01:13:44and sometimes people are really good at
01:13:47doing that it's a constant kind of
01:13:48ritual to be open and not be kind of
01:13:51mired in the status quo to question why
01:13:55things are the way they are and actually
01:13:57visions help us do that they're kind of
01:13:59clarifying they're a good reset button
01:14:00but actually another way to do that is
01:14:03to get the right talent from external
01:14:06agencies to complement the team
01:14:09internally and that kind of
01:14:11collaboration has to be very carefully
01:14:13laid out because you have to understand
01:14:15what the culture is willing to accept
01:14:16where they're willing to accept it but
01:14:19when that happens it's really really
01:14:21great for innovation because you're not
01:14:23going to get the Silicon Valley kind of
01:14:26point of view for everything you're
01:14:27gonna get perhaps an agency from another
01:14:30part of the world working on it but I'm
01:14:32more interested in the people that make
01:14:35up those teams from those agencies what
01:14:38their backgrounds are how were then
01:14:40cross pollinating between a Googler and
01:14:42their skill set and a skill set maybe
01:14:46we aren't you know we don't necessarily
01:14:48have in spades internally and so I'm
01:14:51always interested in in the team mix and
01:14:53I think that that combination can be
01:14:55very powerful in eliminating just kind
01:14:59of a status quo mentality and kind of
01:15:01complacency that you might get just from
01:15:03a byproduct of being in-house and that's
01:15:06not to say that everyone's like that
01:15:07it's just a natural byproduct of larger
01:15:10organizations over time so we just need
01:15:13to really do a better job of questioning
01:15:16that for ourselves it's so funny good so
01:15:21we're both from frog and we're both now
01:15:23in-house and I just I kind of laugh
01:15:25because it's it's been really
01:15:28interesting to go to be on the other
01:15:30side and to kind of look back at some of
01:15:33the things that we did as consultants
01:15:35and in some ways I'm like so much more
01:15:38pragmatic now we're but constantly doing
01:15:43like pushing things like vision wise you
01:15:45know but but vision with the pragmatism
01:15:49that you need to get something out there
01:15:51in the world you know and and that's
01:15:54just maybe the one thing that I would
01:15:55say to the consultancy is today it's
01:16:00that you know yeah the industry has
01:16:02changed like people have been there and
01:16:04have moved in and and so many things
01:16:07have changed that that way of working
01:16:11doesn't sort of work that well anymore
01:16:14in this environment we've worked with
01:16:17consultancies I've worked with one and
01:16:19it was challenging because it was like
01:16:21okay this is great but here are all of
01:16:24the other things that we will have to
01:16:25consider and it's a gap if we don't do
01:16:27it and you know and you find out that
01:16:29well I'm the guy who has to fill these
01:16:31gaps now okay cool but like I see
01:16:34everything that needs to get done and
01:16:35and then I go back and ask the value of
01:16:37working with somebody who you know wants
01:16:40to push something but you can like it's
01:16:43almost like vision without kind of
01:16:44actually understanding how to ground it
01:16:46in reality is not really a vision in the
01:16:48end it's like cool ideas but and ideas I
01:16:52think well a lot of people are
01:16:54developing the methods and like the
01:16:56skill set to come up with ideas you know
01:16:59Design Thinking has been around now it's
01:17:01maturing it's you know and even if you
01:17:04don't call it design thinking it's we
01:17:06work in industries that we are forced to
01:17:08kind of always be doing this kind of
01:17:09stuff so so the agency world I don't
01:17:11know that it sure it's gonna be going
01:17:13through some kind of changes but I don't
01:17:17know I really hope that it finds some
01:17:19you know it finds a way to really to
01:17:22continue to contribute because it I've
01:17:24always seen the value in it when it's
01:17:26the outside perspective it's the
01:17:28cross-pollination it's different domains
01:17:30it's it's always there's so much you
01:17:32gain from being in that you know in that
01:17:34world and I think we would miss a lot if
01:17:37we didn't bring it into you know in our
01:17:39environment but something's different I
01:17:41think we almost like both sides we have
01:17:43to figure out how to make it work better
01:17:46that's really fascinating to hear from
01:17:49both sides of it inside and out I'd like
01:17:51to open it up now to the audience for
01:17:53questions I guess this is a perfect
01:17:56segment from just last question I came
01:17:59from the very traditional brand the
01:18:02graphic design little agency world now
01:18:05my Google at the huge tech inside in
01:18:08house world and I'm seeing kind of this
01:18:10huge divide between the traditional
01:18:13graphic design world and the UX world
01:18:16and it makes me think about kind of a
01:18:18vision of what is the future of design
01:18:21that's obviously broader and it asks
01:18:24questions about what is the future
01:18:25obviously if consultancy is versus
01:18:27in-house and I would be curious kind of
01:18:30what is your vision of not just the
01:18:33consultancy versus in-house but
01:18:34especially for you branding I think
01:18:37about something like tinder a lot you
01:18:40can tell anybody's swipe right swipe
01:18:42left and they automatically think and no
01:18:45tinder without having to see the app or
01:18:48any of the identity or the patterns or
01:18:49logo and that's UX at its core that's
01:18:52interaction design so there's almost
01:18:54kind of this Renaissance of the brand
01:18:56design worlds in the tech world that I
01:18:58think to come together to create this
01:19:00ultimately a really cool vision and a
01:19:02lot of the work that was shown today
01:19:03does that but yet in our kind of design
01:19:06culture in society there's an academic
01:19:08divide and I'm not sure it needs to be
01:19:10that way I would hope that the visions
01:19:12cross paths but the traditional design
01:19:15people tend towards the agencies and the
01:19:17UX general assembly people tend toward
01:19:19the tech roles that it's kind of like if
01:19:22you could bring them together that's
01:19:23where the magic happens I'm curious
01:19:24about your visions if you think there's
01:19:26a possibility things that go through my
01:19:28head a lot yeah yeah I can feel that um
01:19:33I came back to kind of creative
01:19:37consultant Atlanta for being at a
01:19:38startup and I think part of it was
01:19:40actually the challenge of defining that
01:19:43agency of the future it's a very
01:19:44daunting challenge because I think that
01:19:46you know see you pointed out there's the
01:19:49ramping up of the teams and if it is you
01:19:51know the constellation of all these
01:19:52different connecting the dots there's a
01:19:55lot of meetings there's a lot of
01:19:56language and shorthand that has to be
01:19:58established I think it used to be that
01:20:01notional you know blue sky sketches and
01:20:03prototypes were you could take a meeting
01:20:05with on but now it's like but what is
01:20:07the thing and can you actually ship this
01:20:09and can you kind of bridge you know the
01:20:11idea to you know setting this in motion
01:20:13and that requires you know designers to
01:20:15be able to constantly questioning their
01:20:18own skill sets to be thinking about
01:20:20anything that feels safe like I'm an
01:20:23automotive expert of all cars or giant
01:20:25phones now so good luck with that it's
01:20:28like basically like there's a
01:20:29constellation of Technology wellness and
01:20:32energy that is almost like like
01:20:35everything is one of those three it's
01:20:37like am I connected am i staying powered
01:20:39it might help be my connected I miss
01:20:41being powered am i healthy it's like
01:20:42whether it's a car whether it's
01:20:44something else and so I think that
01:20:45agencies used to relax in those safe
01:20:47swim lanes and sector expertise and now
01:20:50it's everybody is competing with
01:20:52everybody everybody is momentarily
01:20:53bowled an ingredient brand serving as
01:20:55some kind of infrastructure or serving
01:20:57as some type of momentary interface I
01:20:59think that's a great challenge but I
01:21:01think it is it means a designers have to
01:21:03think about transforming their own skill
01:21:05set but ultimately really focusing on
01:21:07the type of engagements they take on I
01:21:08think so much for your talk I'm learning
01:21:11so much but what is great leadership to
01:21:14you and how do you make sure that your
01:21:16designers are continuing to grow in ways
01:21:19that they're interested in and also
01:21:22what's you know maybe best
01:21:27so I'm in a very interesting role right
01:21:30now at Google I was when I started at
01:21:34Google which was nearly four years ago I
01:21:37was kind of in the traditional UX
01:21:39management role where I had a team
01:21:41reporting in to me
01:21:42heading up Google Express and so
01:21:45traditional in the sense that there was
01:21:47a team reporting to me right management
01:21:49I have now moved on to search an
01:21:52assistant where I'm an individual
01:21:55contributor still a lead but an
01:21:57individual contributor and it's really
01:21:59tested my view of of what leadership
01:22:03means because I have no dedicated team
01:22:07everything is based on what I produce
01:22:10and create to influence an organization
01:22:13of four hundred plus you Xers and
01:22:16researchers and remember Google is a
01:22:20place where you cannot force a solution
01:22:23on anybody so literally your work has to
01:22:27speak for itself you have to be able to
01:22:29socialize it and essentially you have to
01:22:31be able to inspire people through your
01:22:33work but also how you work and so a lot
01:22:36of the design sprinting the
01:22:38collaboration the active kind of
01:22:40interpersonal work ethic that I think
01:22:43that I try to bring to my own practice
01:22:46is now kind of playing out in kind of
01:22:49this ad-hoc team setting so my team's
01:22:52change based on their multidisciplinary
01:22:55but they they change based on the vision
01:22:57I'm supposed to produce or the business
01:23:00challenge that I'm helping to solve and
01:23:02I think what's what this year and a half
01:23:05has made me realize is that it it's
01:23:08really how you operate and how you work
01:23:11and what values you exhibit through the
01:23:13design process that people are judging
01:23:16you on and I've I get a lot from that I
01:23:20get a lot from that because there's no
01:23:22contract that says you have to report to
01:23:24me it's it's a natural byproduct of my
01:23:27design and creative process and so it's
01:23:30been it's been a really wonderful last
01:23:32year and a half because it's tested my
01:23:35notion of traditional management so I'd
01:23:38say that that it has to be a
01:23:40way street and whoever you work with you
01:23:42have to understand what collaboration
01:23:45looks like for each individual and and
01:23:47really hone that skill because it's more
01:23:50important than ever now in innovation is
01:23:53if you're an introvert you can
01:23:55collaborate you just have to do it
01:23:56differently for that that person so
01:23:59don't take collaboration as a one and
01:24:02there are many flavors of it but it's
01:24:04highly highly necessary in today's
01:24:06ecosystem is a question for Steven
01:24:10because it was very interesting to hear
01:24:11how he brought the new mindset into his
01:24:14team and from designing from meant for
01:24:18matrix to basically follow a division I
01:24:21would love to understand from Nina
01:24:23and also from the others what kind of
01:24:24per years you have when you push that
01:24:27mindset from within and in organization
01:24:29I work at the bank on Sultan and we
01:24:32always bring the vision from outside and
01:24:34then we leave pretty much so how how is
01:24:37it when you bring that mindful from
01:24:39within organization without the barriers
01:24:43yeah that that that's exactly the the
01:24:47thing that I had to learn in going in
01:24:49house was you know here's this
01:24:53incredible vision that part was
01:24:55something that felt natural something
01:24:58that you know a muscle that I and a lot
01:25:02of people have developed and you know in
01:25:03environment and it consultancy and it
01:25:05was like okay how do we make this happen
01:25:07and it's kind of a combination of
01:25:11everything everyone has been saying I
01:25:12think the key is having one that's a
01:25:15good first you know it's a start it's
01:25:18important that everyone was brought
01:25:20along the journey of developing it that
01:25:24it's it's shared and that it can evolve
01:25:26but also that you give other people the
01:25:29sort of the the stories to tell
01:25:32themselves right when I started to hear
01:25:34other people saying this the story of
01:25:37the you know particular vision where
01:25:39I was like ok it's now starting to
01:25:41happen so first you kind of have to like
01:25:43make sure that it's it's developing
01:25:46sticking people aren't challenging it
01:25:47anymore they're actually developing
01:25:48they're sharing it and developing on it
01:25:51then it's I mean this
01:25:53parallel is really just about being
01:25:54practical about it like are we gonna
01:25:57realize this thing what is this is this
01:25:58five years out okay a five year vision
01:26:00cool super Northstar but what's our one
01:26:03what's our two year how are we spending
01:26:05this quarter what's our first half and I
01:26:08think you start to just break down
01:26:10things into time you understand what
01:26:12you're you know what you're capable of
01:26:14as a team and it's just about chunking
01:26:18things breaking it down so like I kind
01:26:20of drew it's like okay if that's our end
01:26:21of the end of your vision we have four
01:26:23quarters to do that right what's our
01:26:25first quarter does that set us up for
01:26:28second third fourth right and you just
01:26:31kind of start to deconstruct at least
01:26:32this is how I do it I just deconstruct
01:26:34sit until we have the very first project
01:26:36the first project is this go and now you
01:26:39have a team that understands its purpose
01:26:41it's trying to get to the finish line
01:26:43and realize the vision the vision has
01:26:45been vetted and tested against our
01:26:47metrics and goals we believe that by
01:26:48doing that we're gonna arrive where we
01:26:50you know where we need to be everyone's
01:26:52aligned and then actually honestly the
01:26:55hard work begins because it's all in the
01:26:57details of actually implementing and
01:26:59executing that you realize are we right
01:27:01is that being at the end of the year the
01:27:03right thing man we didn't get you know
01:27:05far enough in q1 like okay that means
01:27:07this whole thing is gonna actually take
01:27:09way longer than we thought I think those
01:27:11realities are a lot of the things that
01:27:12you grapple with when you're in house
01:27:14that have been really humbling to be
01:27:15honest and also really really rewarding
01:27:18so but I don't think that I you know
01:27:21yeah I couldn't do this without having
01:27:23the vision and it's just been essential
01:27:25and every team that I've been in with an
01:27:27air B&B to have that as a starting point
01:27:29for us because it aligns and it guides
01:27:31us I wanted to build off at something at
01:27:34that in his lecture in Steve the class
01:27:39earlier about connected and odd I'm an
01:27:43interval 10 minute interval interval
01:27:45training division is for a full hour
01:27:47billion of calorie-burning endeavor what
01:27:52is the thinking about beyond goals and
01:27:53metrics which i think is you know you're
01:27:55always fighting you know the the pull of
01:27:57near-term metrics what we're gonna do
01:27:59now or reacting to things and you're
01:28:01kind of dealing with people that might
01:28:03be kind of spun up around something that
01:28:04is it is a moment in time
01:28:06and then there's the vision that's I
01:28:08think that the North Star that run and
01:28:10talked about which is we need to start
01:28:11moving and which direction are we are we
01:28:13moving in but ultimately it's to go a
01:28:15step further and I think that and we
01:28:17start to think about certain things like
01:28:19um like a polar bear floating on an ice
01:28:21cap like that's so unimaginative like
01:28:25can anyone come up with just a better
01:28:26image of global warming than a polar
01:28:30bear on an ice cap that's just a failure
01:28:32of imagination so I think we talked
01:28:34about beyond goals and metrics how do
01:28:36you challenge yourself to create signals
01:28:37of success that are as compelling as
01:28:39gettable infidelity and also
01:28:41considerations for all those keepers
01:28:44keeper that's a new it's all happen in
01:28:48real time so I think this question kind
01:28:56of leads into what hasn't been discussed
01:28:58so far I my background I am a prototyper
01:29:00I work a lot with emerging technologies
01:29:01this year have been heavily working with
01:29:04voice and next year going into AR my
01:29:07question is how do I like as a larger
01:29:11organization how do I set that Northstar
01:29:14because when I see every day something
01:29:17new is coming out new technology things
01:29:20are changing so let's say if we defined
01:29:22you know this is these are the features
01:29:25of our app but something new came out
01:29:28and now if we don't implement that but
01:29:32how do you take into account like your
01:29:34whole like one-year breakdown let's say
01:29:36where do you put like flexibility or
01:29:38things that are like you coming out that
01:29:41could like make or break this product so
01:29:44so just kind of try to find how do you
01:29:46find stability in this like today's
01:29:49ever-changing field be working I think
01:29:53that's a great question and and it's
01:29:55it's not as neat and nice as our
01:29:58presentation is of course the day-to-day
01:30:00is pretty chaotic and you're constantly
01:30:02having to shift between socializing an
01:30:06idea getting buy-in from stakeholders at
01:30:09every level of the Lord having teams
01:30:12execute on certain visions that then tie
01:30:14back to changes in the marketplace I
01:30:16think one way to do that is to
01:30:19understand that they're gonna be there's
01:30:22gonna be churn I mean there's we work we
01:30:25work in a way that that accounts for
01:30:29churn right we never have that
01:30:31demonstrated or visualized in our
01:30:33product development process or the
01:30:35roadmap but you have to assume that when
01:30:38you're when you're taking a week and
01:30:41you're working on a feature that you
01:30:42need to launch within two weeks that you
01:30:44also carve out time in your practice and
01:30:47process and even with your partner's
01:30:49your cross-functional partners to set
01:30:52aside design sprints half-day work
01:30:54sessions to our work sessions I mean it
01:30:57has been so challenging at times to get
01:31:00executives time to even think about a
01:31:03problem for one hour and we then
01:31:06condense a work session and a lot of
01:31:08planning goes into it and that one hour
01:31:10is very precious for things that are a
01:31:12bit more long-term and I'm talking about
01:31:14even the next quarter so I think you're
01:31:17constantly oscillating between members
01:31:20of your team being focused on the thing
01:31:22that goes out because google has been
01:31:24amazing in that capacity I think the
01:31:27muscle that we're trying to build is
01:31:28some of the long-term vision and I'm
01:31:31talking about Google Inc because
01:31:32alphabet has a lot of companies that are
01:31:34focused on the long long-term but I
01:31:36think you're constantly oscillating
01:31:38between the two you just need to
01:31:40dedicate members of your team or
01:31:42people's time if you don't have the
01:31:44luxury of scale to focus on the
01:31:47long-term and then back into the
01:31:49short-term otherwise you're always gonna
01:31:51be a slave to reaction which is kind of
01:31:53the death of innovation and the death of
01:31:55most companies is that even if they get
01:31:57bloated and big and successful one year
01:31:59there's competition and the inability to
01:32:03flex is you know a problem so I think
01:32:06that constant ability to change and
01:32:09adapt and to have an open mindset is
01:32:11something that we are constantly you
01:32:15know having a dialogue about at work all
01:32:18the time I'll just add that we sort of
01:32:22split our time roughly 50/50 between
01:32:25product optimization and big bets it's
01:32:30kind of what we call them
01:32:32big bets aren't necessarily like
01:32:33visioning exercises of the you know way
01:32:35out future but they are definitely like
01:32:37you know if you starting with the clear
01:32:41stuff is the optimization okay so we've
01:32:43done something how's it performing how
01:32:46can we make it perform better and it's
01:32:48just continuing to invest in and you
01:32:51know refine essentially the things that
01:32:53are working and see if you can continue
01:32:55to get them to work a little bit better
01:32:56a little bit better that adds up right
01:32:58across the board as you're trying to
01:33:00reach some some goals some metrics but
01:33:03if that's all we did it's exactly the
01:33:04problem right if that's all you're doing
01:33:05you're just marching forward and trying
01:33:07to like what are you doing I mean
01:33:10everything around you is moving away
01:33:11faster so we carve out another half of
01:33:13time and it's like one or two big bad I
01:33:15mean depending on your size regime right
01:33:17like we were small so we're like alright
01:33:19what are one or two big bets this
01:33:20quarter or this half and we kind of you
01:33:24know we spend the time upfront to really
01:33:25like envision what out what that might
01:33:27be in line with right our ultimate
01:33:30vision but and then we're taking a bet
01:33:33we're putting our resources against it
01:33:34we're hoping that when we launch it
01:33:36it'll be something that does move the
01:33:38metrics like significantly and then
01:33:41we'll optimize that thing right and
01:33:43sometimes big bets fail but the point
01:33:45there is like we call it a bet like
01:33:47we're hoping it works but hey if it
01:33:48doesn't that's okay because we you know
01:33:51we focused our other 50% on the
01:33:52optimization and in the end it kind of
01:33:55evens out you kind of get lucky with
01:33:57some that are really impactful and some
01:33:59that are not alright so it's kind of
01:34:02roughly a back of the napkin 50/50 and a
01:34:05way of approaching it I want to thank
01:34:08you all for your your perspectives and
01:34:10your you know process and sharing your
01:34:14the way that you approach visioning is
01:34:16for me very interesting and inspiring to
01:34:19hear so I thank you all and thank you
01:34:24guys all for sticking around for the
01:34:25lengthy session your questions and your
01:34:28attention we're very valued this is the
01:34:31last one for the year so we look forward
01:34:33to seeing you back in 2018 and follow us
01:34:37on Google design where we host and post
01:34:42all of these videos after
01:34:44so we hope you'll come back again next
