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F.E.H.M. Smulders
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1
Innovation implementation is known to pose significant challenges, as evidenced by high failure rates that can range from 20% to 90%. This issue became particularly apparent during my internship, where I witnessed firsthand the complexities involved. Implementation involves activities that aim to equip organisational members with the necessary skills, consistency, and commitment to effectively use a new innovation that is designed to address specific problems. This raises the question: Is the failure attributed to the innovation itself or the activities associated with its implementation?
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how organisations can improve the effectiveness of innovation implementation. To achieve this, a combination of qualitative research and literature review are conducted, diving into the field of implementation science. Insights from practitioners regarding implementation processes are combined with relevant literature to identify the important causes of implementation failure.
Following the Design Science Research methodology, two artefacts were developed. The first artefact focuses on refining a widely used framework among practitioners, aiming to enhance its effectiveness. The second artefact addresses the evidence-practice gap, which highlights the disconnect between theoretical knowledge and practical application. This artefact synthesises the findings of the study to improve implementation practices.
Ultimately, the goal of this thesis is to enhance innovation implementation by providing practitioners with two artefacts that integrate comprehensive insights from both research and practice. These contributions are intended to support organisations in overcoming the challenges associated with innovation implementation and achieving greater success. ...
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how organisations can improve the effectiveness of innovation implementation. To achieve this, a combination of qualitative research and literature review are conducted, diving into the field of implementation science. Insights from practitioners regarding implementation processes are combined with relevant literature to identify the important causes of implementation failure.
Following the Design Science Research methodology, two artefacts were developed. The first artefact focuses on refining a widely used framework among practitioners, aiming to enhance its effectiveness. The second artefact addresses the evidence-practice gap, which highlights the disconnect between theoretical knowledge and practical application. This artefact synthesises the findings of the study to improve implementation practices.
Ultimately, the goal of this thesis is to enhance innovation implementation by providing practitioners with two artefacts that integrate comprehensive insights from both research and practice. These contributions are intended to support organisations in overcoming the challenges associated with innovation implementation and achieving greater success. ...
Innovation implementation is known to pose significant challenges, as evidenced by high failure rates that can range from 20% to 90%. This issue became particularly apparent during my internship, where I witnessed firsthand the complexities involved. Implementation involves activities that aim to equip organisational members with the necessary skills, consistency, and commitment to effectively use a new innovation that is designed to address specific problems. This raises the question: Is the failure attributed to the innovation itself or the activities associated with its implementation?
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how organisations can improve the effectiveness of innovation implementation. To achieve this, a combination of qualitative research and literature review are conducted, diving into the field of implementation science. Insights from practitioners regarding implementation processes are combined with relevant literature to identify the important causes of implementation failure.
Following the Design Science Research methodology, two artefacts were developed. The first artefact focuses on refining a widely used framework among practitioners, aiming to enhance its effectiveness. The second artefact addresses the evidence-practice gap, which highlights the disconnect between theoretical knowledge and practical application. This artefact synthesises the findings of the study to improve implementation practices.
Ultimately, the goal of this thesis is to enhance innovation implementation by providing practitioners with two artefacts that integrate comprehensive insights from both research and practice. These contributions are intended to support organisations in overcoming the challenges associated with innovation implementation and achieving greater success.
The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how organisations can improve the effectiveness of innovation implementation. To achieve this, a combination of qualitative research and literature review are conducted, diving into the field of implementation science. Insights from practitioners regarding implementation processes are combined with relevant literature to identify the important causes of implementation failure.
Following the Design Science Research methodology, two artefacts were developed. The first artefact focuses on refining a widely used framework among practitioners, aiming to enhance its effectiveness. The second artefact addresses the evidence-practice gap, which highlights the disconnect between theoretical knowledge and practical application. This artefact synthesises the findings of the study to improve implementation practices.
Ultimately, the goal of this thesis is to enhance innovation implementation by providing practitioners with two artefacts that integrate comprehensive insights from both research and practice. These contributions are intended to support organisations in overcoming the challenges associated with innovation implementation and achieving greater success.
Design as a grounded approach to policy making
“Straffen op maat” through the lens of a design project
This report explores the value of the design approach in policymaking, specifically applied to the policy brief "Straffen op Maat". The aim is to offer insights into the potential of an iterative, problem-driven methodology for addressing complex societal challenges, often referred to as wicked problems. I went through seven steps, each of which altered the perspective on the problem statement and influenced the concept. Below, I will briefly explain these steps, which correspond to the chapters in the report. 1. Reducing recidivism is a complex and persistent problem. The judiciary cannot fully focus on a single goal, partly because it must balance its four primary objectives, but also because it needs to remain cost-effective and account for the diverse expectations of society, which often conflict with measures aimed at reducing recidivism. With limited resources, the problem owner must cater to multiple stakeholders. As a result, solutions must be immediately appealing to all involved, complicating research into the problem space. 2. The paradox that is dominant in the problem is the demand for more maatwerk (greater time investment) in a system that is overloaded and therefore less capable of delivering it. This points to the need for a solution that can also simplify, structure the problems at hand. 3. By examining the immediate context, I arrived at the following reformulation: "A system that punishes too harshly creates a negative spiral." This perspective also opens opportunities for systemic change. "Too harshly" is defined here as stricter than what is scientifically ideal for minor offenses. A negative spiral arises because harsher punishments lead to higher recidivism rates, which in turn create public unrest and result in demands for even harsher punishments from society. 4. In the Field section, I investigated different stakeholders in the justice chain and how the system function. From this analysis the revision of the problem statement was: How can a judge deliver maatwerk if there is no direct feedback loop on previously delivered maatwerk? (How can this be aligned across a chain that includes numerous actors and organizations with varying ways of operating?) 5. The absence of a feedback loop prevents the system from learning from the maatwerk applied in sentencing recommendations. 6. which serves as the foundation for a solution concept. The constructed frame can be encapsulated in the following question: “What if we create a reflective conversation following punishment that fosters reflective learning for both parties? (delinquent and state)” How can punishment be evaluated on an equal footing, enabling both parties to gain meaningful insights from the evaluation? 7. I tested the frame with experts at the ministry, a concept was developed proposing two reflective conversations: one immediately following the punishment and another scheduled six months to a year later. Both conversations are conducted via phone, preceded by an explanatory WhatsApp message. These conversations are preferably facilitated by lived experience experts—individuals who bridge the gap between the system and its clients. Data collected from these conversations should be used to evaluate and refine current maatwerk solutions.
...
This report explores the value of the design approach in policymaking, specifically applied to the policy brief "Straffen op Maat". The aim is to offer insights into the potential of an iterative, problem-driven methodology for addressing complex societal challenges, often referred to as wicked problems. I went through seven steps, each of which altered the perspective on the problem statement and influenced the concept. Below, I will briefly explain these steps, which correspond to the chapters in the report. 1. Reducing recidivism is a complex and persistent problem. The judiciary cannot fully focus on a single goal, partly because it must balance its four primary objectives, but also because it needs to remain cost-effective and account for the diverse expectations of society, which often conflict with measures aimed at reducing recidivism. With limited resources, the problem owner must cater to multiple stakeholders. As a result, solutions must be immediately appealing to all involved, complicating research into the problem space. 2. The paradox that is dominant in the problem is the demand for more maatwerk (greater time investment) in a system that is overloaded and therefore less capable of delivering it. This points to the need for a solution that can also simplify, structure the problems at hand. 3. By examining the immediate context, I arrived at the following reformulation: "A system that punishes too harshly creates a negative spiral." This perspective also opens opportunities for systemic change. "Too harshly" is defined here as stricter than what is scientifically ideal for minor offenses. A negative spiral arises because harsher punishments lead to higher recidivism rates, which in turn create public unrest and result in demands for even harsher punishments from society. 4. In the Field section, I investigated different stakeholders in the justice chain and how the system function. From this analysis the revision of the problem statement was: How can a judge deliver maatwerk if there is no direct feedback loop on previously delivered maatwerk? (How can this be aligned across a chain that includes numerous actors and organizations with varying ways of operating?) 5. The absence of a feedback loop prevents the system from learning from the maatwerk applied in sentencing recommendations. 6. which serves as the foundation for a solution concept. The constructed frame can be encapsulated in the following question: “What if we create a reflective conversation following punishment that fosters reflective learning for both parties? (delinquent and state)” How can punishment be evaluated on an equal footing, enabling both parties to gain meaningful insights from the evaluation? 7. I tested the frame with experts at the ministry, a concept was developed proposing two reflective conversations: one immediately following the punishment and another scheduled six months to a year later. Both conversations are conducted via phone, preceded by an explanatory WhatsApp message. These conversations are preferably facilitated by lived experience experts—individuals who bridge the gap between the system and its clients. Data collected from these conversations should be used to evaluate and refine current maatwerk solutions.
Mending a broken innovation process
A study of the interactions in the innovation process to improve the implementation of innovation by design
Within the Dutch Ministries, implementing agencies receive the request to execute specific policies. To do this, they often need a (technical) product/service/platform which enables them to fulfill their job. With new types of technology coming to the market, the implementing agencies explore these new options to see if and how they can add value to their organization and make, e.g., executing a policy easier or more reliable. Therefore, the implementing agencies engage themselves in innovation projects. DICTU supports the implementing agencies with IT solutions such that they can create the product/service/platform to execute the policy. Currently, the innovation process in this context runs across multiple organizations and several departments, and there is little consideration of the various stakeholders; there often is a delay, the final product does not always solve the initial problem, or it occurs that the final product is not (correctly) implemented in the organization. This dissection of the innovation process leaves it broken and unwholly. This graduation project aims to create a designerly interaction between DICTU and its client to positively influence and contribute to a more successful implementation of innovation. Through literature and field research, a schematic overview of the current innovation process is created in which the various stakeholders and interactions are displayed. The two most important findings are that the implementing agencies have little trust for DICTU and that there is no moment in the innovation process where all stakeholders come together.
From a design point of view, there is value in involving the different stakeholders throughout the project to create a good solution for an existing problem by synchronizing the various parties. For this purpose, the Zegiswijzer is created. It is a tool that helps structure an additional interaction on the interface between DICTU and their client to make a smooth transition between the different organizations to synchronize their languages. This is done in a workshop by (1) defining the problem and the relevant stakeholders and their connections and by stating the ambition (2) by defining success and illustrating the solution. The next step is to reflect (3) on the first two steps, is the problem definition still accurate? Does the proposed solution indeed solve the problem? Or is it necessary to reframe the problem and/or solution? After this reflection, the path (4) is defined to go from problem to solution and state the expected risks and needed resources. With this step, not only the start of the project and the go-live of the product are considered, but also the phase after the go-live. What is needed to implement the product? And how will the organization adopt the product? Then, a collaborative decision (5) on how to continue is made. Based on the combined perspectives of the stakeholders, a well-informed decision can be made on whether to accept the project, adjust it, or don’t accept the project.
The implementation and development of the Zegiswijzer is captured in a roadmap. A future is envisioned in which valuable products/services are created, developed, delivered, and implemented in the Ministry of EZK/LNV by organizing the projects around close inter- and intra-organizational collaboration to create a profound understanding of the context facilitated by DICTU makes use of the Zegiswijzer. This future is realized by first using the Zegiswijzer on the interface between DICTU and its client to challenge the status quo of silo working. Then, DICTU should proactively engage in activities to create a profound understanding of the client’s business and gain legitimacy and trust for their position. The last step is for DICTU to take the role of partner, which leads to the realization of the vision. Future research should investigate the effect of following this designerly interaction on the interface between DICTU and the client and the implications it has on the implementation. ...
From a design point of view, there is value in involving the different stakeholders throughout the project to create a good solution for an existing problem by synchronizing the various parties. For this purpose, the Zegiswijzer is created. It is a tool that helps structure an additional interaction on the interface between DICTU and their client to make a smooth transition between the different organizations to synchronize their languages. This is done in a workshop by (1) defining the problem and the relevant stakeholders and their connections and by stating the ambition (2) by defining success and illustrating the solution. The next step is to reflect (3) on the first two steps, is the problem definition still accurate? Does the proposed solution indeed solve the problem? Or is it necessary to reframe the problem and/or solution? After this reflection, the path (4) is defined to go from problem to solution and state the expected risks and needed resources. With this step, not only the start of the project and the go-live of the product are considered, but also the phase after the go-live. What is needed to implement the product? And how will the organization adopt the product? Then, a collaborative decision (5) on how to continue is made. Based on the combined perspectives of the stakeholders, a well-informed decision can be made on whether to accept the project, adjust it, or don’t accept the project.
The implementation and development of the Zegiswijzer is captured in a roadmap. A future is envisioned in which valuable products/services are created, developed, delivered, and implemented in the Ministry of EZK/LNV by organizing the projects around close inter- and intra-organizational collaboration to create a profound understanding of the context facilitated by DICTU makes use of the Zegiswijzer. This future is realized by first using the Zegiswijzer on the interface between DICTU and its client to challenge the status quo of silo working. Then, DICTU should proactively engage in activities to create a profound understanding of the client’s business and gain legitimacy and trust for their position. The last step is for DICTU to take the role of partner, which leads to the realization of the vision. Future research should investigate the effect of following this designerly interaction on the interface between DICTU and the client and the implications it has on the implementation. ...
Within the Dutch Ministries, implementing agencies receive the request to execute specific policies. To do this, they often need a (technical) product/service/platform which enables them to fulfill their job. With new types of technology coming to the market, the implementing agencies explore these new options to see if and how they can add value to their organization and make, e.g., executing a policy easier or more reliable. Therefore, the implementing agencies engage themselves in innovation projects. DICTU supports the implementing agencies with IT solutions such that they can create the product/service/platform to execute the policy. Currently, the innovation process in this context runs across multiple organizations and several departments, and there is little consideration of the various stakeholders; there often is a delay, the final product does not always solve the initial problem, or it occurs that the final product is not (correctly) implemented in the organization. This dissection of the innovation process leaves it broken and unwholly. This graduation project aims to create a designerly interaction between DICTU and its client to positively influence and contribute to a more successful implementation of innovation. Through literature and field research, a schematic overview of the current innovation process is created in which the various stakeholders and interactions are displayed. The two most important findings are that the implementing agencies have little trust for DICTU and that there is no moment in the innovation process where all stakeholders come together.
From a design point of view, there is value in involving the different stakeholders throughout the project to create a good solution for an existing problem by synchronizing the various parties. For this purpose, the Zegiswijzer is created. It is a tool that helps structure an additional interaction on the interface between DICTU and their client to make a smooth transition between the different organizations to synchronize their languages. This is done in a workshop by (1) defining the problem and the relevant stakeholders and their connections and by stating the ambition (2) by defining success and illustrating the solution. The next step is to reflect (3) on the first two steps, is the problem definition still accurate? Does the proposed solution indeed solve the problem? Or is it necessary to reframe the problem and/or solution? After this reflection, the path (4) is defined to go from problem to solution and state the expected risks and needed resources. With this step, not only the start of the project and the go-live of the product are considered, but also the phase after the go-live. What is needed to implement the product? And how will the organization adopt the product? Then, a collaborative decision (5) on how to continue is made. Based on the combined perspectives of the stakeholders, a well-informed decision can be made on whether to accept the project, adjust it, or don’t accept the project.
The implementation and development of the Zegiswijzer is captured in a roadmap. A future is envisioned in which valuable products/services are created, developed, delivered, and implemented in the Ministry of EZK/LNV by organizing the projects around close inter- and intra-organizational collaboration to create a profound understanding of the context facilitated by DICTU makes use of the Zegiswijzer. This future is realized by first using the Zegiswijzer on the interface between DICTU and its client to challenge the status quo of silo working. Then, DICTU should proactively engage in activities to create a profound understanding of the client’s business and gain legitimacy and trust for their position. The last step is for DICTU to take the role of partner, which leads to the realization of the vision. Future research should investigate the effect of following this designerly interaction on the interface between DICTU and the client and the implications it has on the implementation.
From a design point of view, there is value in involving the different stakeholders throughout the project to create a good solution for an existing problem by synchronizing the various parties. For this purpose, the Zegiswijzer is created. It is a tool that helps structure an additional interaction on the interface between DICTU and their client to make a smooth transition between the different organizations to synchronize their languages. This is done in a workshop by (1) defining the problem and the relevant stakeholders and their connections and by stating the ambition (2) by defining success and illustrating the solution. The next step is to reflect (3) on the first two steps, is the problem definition still accurate? Does the proposed solution indeed solve the problem? Or is it necessary to reframe the problem and/or solution? After this reflection, the path (4) is defined to go from problem to solution and state the expected risks and needed resources. With this step, not only the start of the project and the go-live of the product are considered, but also the phase after the go-live. What is needed to implement the product? And how will the organization adopt the product? Then, a collaborative decision (5) on how to continue is made. Based on the combined perspectives of the stakeholders, a well-informed decision can be made on whether to accept the project, adjust it, or don’t accept the project.
The implementation and development of the Zegiswijzer is captured in a roadmap. A future is envisioned in which valuable products/services are created, developed, delivered, and implemented in the Ministry of EZK/LNV by organizing the projects around close inter- and intra-organizational collaboration to create a profound understanding of the context facilitated by DICTU makes use of the Zegiswijzer. This future is realized by first using the Zegiswijzer on the interface between DICTU and its client to challenge the status quo of silo working. Then, DICTU should proactively engage in activities to create a profound understanding of the client’s business and gain legitimacy and trust for their position. The last step is for DICTU to take the role of partner, which leads to the realization of the vision. Future research should investigate the effect of following this designerly interaction on the interface between DICTU and the client and the implications it has on the implementation.
Research on waterlogging and interventions in Ricanau Mofo
Scientific study on mitigating water nuisance through socio-technical intervention assessment
Student report
(2023)
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E.M. van Dongen, T.N. Houben, C.M. Kwa, M. de Man, G.P.F. Meinema, J.G. van Vliet, N.C. van de Giesen, M. Kok, F.E.H.M. Smulders
This research addresses how Ricanau Mofo, a low-lying village in Surinam, can become a more water-adaptive and sustainable village, while it faces land erosion, river bank erosion, changing rainfall patterns and sea level rise. It is urgent to intervene, as these issues are expected to increase in occurrence due to climate change. Constraints and limitations that are important to take into account are cultural preservation, maintaining accessibility to the Cottica River, the limited availability of financial resources and the need for a low-maintenance intervention.
Three strategies are proposed. The first focuses on addressing land erosion. Planting vegetation on critically eroding areas is a short term measure, while the long-term involves constructing footpaths with drainage channels. This not only mitigates soil erosion, but also regulates water and is relatively cost efficient. The second strategy targets the river bank erosion, which includes wooden bulkheads with vegetation and stones for short term implementation. For the long term, a river bank protection system with groynes is designed, to break waves, slow down the stream velocity and in time causes land gain. As the long term plans require external financial aid, a business case is set up and shared with the captain of Ricanau Mofo, STEORR, the District Commissioner and the Ministry of Public Works. The third strategy addresses water damage in the urban environment. Short-term it consists of providing building guidelines of where to build more water adaptive, and how. This is placed on an informational board in the village. The long-term contains a flood early warning system and recommended equipment.
This project's significance lies in identifying interventions that are effective against erosion and water damage while being locally implementable in the rural areas of Surinam. It can be seen as a pilot project that is scalable to other villages along the Cottica River or in the whole of Surinam. However, there are limitations to the project. The most important is the lack of data quantity and data quality. This caused implications for dimensioning the interventions and their financial impact. Another limitation is that the project does not create ‘dry feet’ for the village; it creates a way of mitigating water damage while living next to the Cottica River. In addition, there is a limitation in the financing of follow-up projects. Therefore, a business case is also being delivered to the Ministry of Public Works, the District Commissioner of Marowijne South-West and the captain of Ricanau Mofo. They can use it to apply for funds from international organisations and include it in future policy plans.
To summarise, Ricanau Mofo can become more water adaptive by regulating how to build and where, by continuing the prototype of the bulkheads by planting more vegetation and, by requesting financial aid for the river bank protection long term. As Figure 0.2 shows, it not only contributes as a report, but also in a tangible form of a prototype and in educational information boards in the local language to enhance the continuity and help the village. ...
Three strategies are proposed. The first focuses on addressing land erosion. Planting vegetation on critically eroding areas is a short term measure, while the long-term involves constructing footpaths with drainage channels. This not only mitigates soil erosion, but also regulates water and is relatively cost efficient. The second strategy targets the river bank erosion, which includes wooden bulkheads with vegetation and stones for short term implementation. For the long term, a river bank protection system with groynes is designed, to break waves, slow down the stream velocity and in time causes land gain. As the long term plans require external financial aid, a business case is set up and shared with the captain of Ricanau Mofo, STEORR, the District Commissioner and the Ministry of Public Works. The third strategy addresses water damage in the urban environment. Short-term it consists of providing building guidelines of where to build more water adaptive, and how. This is placed on an informational board in the village. The long-term contains a flood early warning system and recommended equipment.
This project's significance lies in identifying interventions that are effective against erosion and water damage while being locally implementable in the rural areas of Surinam. It can be seen as a pilot project that is scalable to other villages along the Cottica River or in the whole of Surinam. However, there are limitations to the project. The most important is the lack of data quantity and data quality. This caused implications for dimensioning the interventions and their financial impact. Another limitation is that the project does not create ‘dry feet’ for the village; it creates a way of mitigating water damage while living next to the Cottica River. In addition, there is a limitation in the financing of follow-up projects. Therefore, a business case is also being delivered to the Ministry of Public Works, the District Commissioner of Marowijne South-West and the captain of Ricanau Mofo. They can use it to apply for funds from international organisations and include it in future policy plans.
To summarise, Ricanau Mofo can become more water adaptive by regulating how to build and where, by continuing the prototype of the bulkheads by planting more vegetation and, by requesting financial aid for the river bank protection long term. As Figure 0.2 shows, it not only contributes as a report, but also in a tangible form of a prototype and in educational information boards in the local language to enhance the continuity and help the village. ...
This research addresses how Ricanau Mofo, a low-lying village in Surinam, can become a more water-adaptive and sustainable village, while it faces land erosion, river bank erosion, changing rainfall patterns and sea level rise. It is urgent to intervene, as these issues are expected to increase in occurrence due to climate change. Constraints and limitations that are important to take into account are cultural preservation, maintaining accessibility to the Cottica River, the limited availability of financial resources and the need for a low-maintenance intervention.
Three strategies are proposed. The first focuses on addressing land erosion. Planting vegetation on critically eroding areas is a short term measure, while the long-term involves constructing footpaths with drainage channels. This not only mitigates soil erosion, but also regulates water and is relatively cost efficient. The second strategy targets the river bank erosion, which includes wooden bulkheads with vegetation and stones for short term implementation. For the long term, a river bank protection system with groynes is designed, to break waves, slow down the stream velocity and in time causes land gain. As the long term plans require external financial aid, a business case is set up and shared with the captain of Ricanau Mofo, STEORR, the District Commissioner and the Ministry of Public Works. The third strategy addresses water damage in the urban environment. Short-term it consists of providing building guidelines of where to build more water adaptive, and how. This is placed on an informational board in the village. The long-term contains a flood early warning system and recommended equipment.
This project's significance lies in identifying interventions that are effective against erosion and water damage while being locally implementable in the rural areas of Surinam. It can be seen as a pilot project that is scalable to other villages along the Cottica River or in the whole of Surinam. However, there are limitations to the project. The most important is the lack of data quantity and data quality. This caused implications for dimensioning the interventions and their financial impact. Another limitation is that the project does not create ‘dry feet’ for the village; it creates a way of mitigating water damage while living next to the Cottica River. In addition, there is a limitation in the financing of follow-up projects. Therefore, a business case is also being delivered to the Ministry of Public Works, the District Commissioner of Marowijne South-West and the captain of Ricanau Mofo. They can use it to apply for funds from international organisations and include it in future policy plans.
To summarise, Ricanau Mofo can become more water adaptive by regulating how to build and where, by continuing the prototype of the bulkheads by planting more vegetation and, by requesting financial aid for the river bank protection long term. As Figure 0.2 shows, it not only contributes as a report, but also in a tangible form of a prototype and in educational information boards in the local language to enhance the continuity and help the village.
Three strategies are proposed. The first focuses on addressing land erosion. Planting vegetation on critically eroding areas is a short term measure, while the long-term involves constructing footpaths with drainage channels. This not only mitigates soil erosion, but also regulates water and is relatively cost efficient. The second strategy targets the river bank erosion, which includes wooden bulkheads with vegetation and stones for short term implementation. For the long term, a river bank protection system with groynes is designed, to break waves, slow down the stream velocity and in time causes land gain. As the long term plans require external financial aid, a business case is set up and shared with the captain of Ricanau Mofo, STEORR, the District Commissioner and the Ministry of Public Works. The third strategy addresses water damage in the urban environment. Short-term it consists of providing building guidelines of where to build more water adaptive, and how. This is placed on an informational board in the village. The long-term contains a flood early warning system and recommended equipment.
This project's significance lies in identifying interventions that are effective against erosion and water damage while being locally implementable in the rural areas of Surinam. It can be seen as a pilot project that is scalable to other villages along the Cottica River or in the whole of Surinam. However, there are limitations to the project. The most important is the lack of data quantity and data quality. This caused implications for dimensioning the interventions and their financial impact. Another limitation is that the project does not create ‘dry feet’ for the village; it creates a way of mitigating water damage while living next to the Cottica River. In addition, there is a limitation in the financing of follow-up projects. Therefore, a business case is also being delivered to the Ministry of Public Works, the District Commissioner of Marowijne South-West and the captain of Ricanau Mofo. They can use it to apply for funds from international organisations and include it in future policy plans.
To summarise, Ricanau Mofo can become more water adaptive by regulating how to build and where, by continuing the prototype of the bulkheads by planting more vegetation and, by requesting financial aid for the river bank protection long term. As Figure 0.2 shows, it not only contributes as a report, but also in a tangible form of a prototype and in educational information boards in the local language to enhance the continuity and help the village.
This report describes the results of a graduation project, which was completed at Hombli, a brand of Avanca International B.V. Hombli offers smart home products and has the ambition to become a leader in this domain. In order to achieve that the company wants to create Intellectual Property in the future and have a solid brand.
Hombli has two issues however
First of all Hombli’s current positioning risks losing its uniqueness. Competitors also claim to be simple to use, easy to install and safe.
Secondly, the way it currently creates new products is sensitive to being copied by competitors. Hombli imports products from China, adjusts them to their liking and integrates it into their ecosystem of devices. Many of these smart home products are also available to competitors, making it hard¬er for Hombli to stand out.
A question rises when looking at these obstacles:
How can Hombli become a household name and create I.P.?
To answer this question a two step approach is proposed:
First a future direction will be designed, resulting in a clear and differentiating brand story for Hombli.
Second a new way innovation process will be designed as well as improving the existing way of innovating.
By doing trend research and using the trend spotting method (Simonse, 2017), a future scenario is created. Summarized it resulted in the following: Because of an increase of people suffering from mental stress and the home becoming an even more prominent space in people’s lives, it makes sense for Hombli to facilitate well being at home.
Then the way the company currently innovates is analysed. The existing process which focusses on sourcing products has some disadvantages. Lack of communication, no prioritisation and confusion about responsibilities result in unnecessary slack in the process and in turn hinders innovation. This then also leaves even less room for any exploratory activities.
Principiles from the User Centered Design method from Abras, Maloney-Krichmar & Preece (2004) are used to redesign the current innovation process together with the employees that actually use it. During the weekly sessions the different stages of the process are discussed, altered and put to practice with actual products. The process is altered to become more like the Stage Gate innovation model from Cooper (2008). Advice is given on how to implement this in the organisation.
Then the process focusing on discovering new ideas is introduced. Throughout the steps assumptions regarding the product direction are validated. This is done through initially desk research, then interviews with target users and an individual co-creation session. The product idea that results from that session is put to the test using a Smoke Test (Cops, 2020). A method used often by start-ups to see if their value proposition gains traction. The results of this step are positive and give a green light for next iterations.
Then recommendations are given to further expand the proposed changes in the company to have a lasting positive effect in the future. Concluding, limitations of this research are also shared.
...
This report describes the results of a graduation project, which was completed at Hombli, a brand of Avanca International B.V. Hombli offers smart home products and has the ambition to become a leader in this domain. In order to achieve that the company wants to create Intellectual Property in the future and have a solid brand.
Hombli has two issues however
First of all Hombli’s current positioning risks losing its uniqueness. Competitors also claim to be simple to use, easy to install and safe.
Secondly, the way it currently creates new products is sensitive to being copied by competitors. Hombli imports products from China, adjusts them to their liking and integrates it into their ecosystem of devices. Many of these smart home products are also available to competitors, making it hard¬er for Hombli to stand out.
A question rises when looking at these obstacles:
How can Hombli become a household name and create I.P.?
To answer this question a two step approach is proposed:
First a future direction will be designed, resulting in a clear and differentiating brand story for Hombli.
Second a new way innovation process will be designed as well as improving the existing way of innovating.
By doing trend research and using the trend spotting method (Simonse, 2017), a future scenario is created. Summarized it resulted in the following: Because of an increase of people suffering from mental stress and the home becoming an even more prominent space in people’s lives, it makes sense for Hombli to facilitate well being at home.
Then the way the company currently innovates is analysed. The existing process which focusses on sourcing products has some disadvantages. Lack of communication, no prioritisation and confusion about responsibilities result in unnecessary slack in the process and in turn hinders innovation. This then also leaves even less room for any exploratory activities.
Principiles from the User Centered Design method from Abras, Maloney-Krichmar & Preece (2004) are used to redesign the current innovation process together with the employees that actually use it. During the weekly sessions the different stages of the process are discussed, altered and put to practice with actual products. The process is altered to become more like the Stage Gate innovation model from Cooper (2008). Advice is given on how to implement this in the organisation.
Then the process focusing on discovering new ideas is introduced. Throughout the steps assumptions regarding the product direction are validated. This is done through initially desk research, then interviews with target users and an individual co-creation session. The product idea that results from that session is put to the test using a Smoke Test (Cops, 2020). A method used often by start-ups to see if their value proposition gains traction. The results of this step are positive and give a green light for next iterations.
Then recommendations are given to further expand the proposed changes in the company to have a lasting positive effect in the future. Concluding, limitations of this research are also shared.
Synchronizing juniors with senior consultants
A digital boundary object
The scope of this graduation project was the current organizational design (OD) approach of a service company. The initial assignment was to investigate whether there were opportunities within the current approach to make it more experience and/or user centered. The current approach is used for quite a long time and the assignment was to shine a new perspective on it by using design techniques.
Interviews with senior team members were conducted to understand the scope. Out of these interviews it became clear that there were three areas with room for improvement within the current OD approach, namely ‘knowledge management’, ‘approach standardization’ and ‘visualization’. It was decided to chose approach standardization as the focus for the rest of the project.
A second round of interviews was performed to answer why, what, and how the approach should be standardized. Out of these interviews the underlying problem came to the surface: due to experience the senior members in the team know what they are doing but they miss the simple tools/documents to bring this across to juniors or people outside the team. This problem has been used as the basis for the design statement of this project, which is: design a tool for the X team that brings overview and gives the team the completeness to express their expertise.
Based on the earlier gathered insights the OD toolbox was designed. The toolbox consists of two tools: the OD expertise map and the approach generator. The toolbox was validated with seniors and juniors of the team and seen as valuable. It turned out that the purpose of the OD toolbox is to create a shared understanding among members of the team and in this way synchronization of the different mindsets between the seniors and juniors is facilitated. The tool works as a boundary object because it is used differently by seniors and juniors. The seniors will use the tool as a quick catch up for information and juniors mostly use the tool to understand OD projects. ...
Interviews with senior team members were conducted to understand the scope. Out of these interviews it became clear that there were three areas with room for improvement within the current OD approach, namely ‘knowledge management’, ‘approach standardization’ and ‘visualization’. It was decided to chose approach standardization as the focus for the rest of the project.
A second round of interviews was performed to answer why, what, and how the approach should be standardized. Out of these interviews the underlying problem came to the surface: due to experience the senior members in the team know what they are doing but they miss the simple tools/documents to bring this across to juniors or people outside the team. This problem has been used as the basis for the design statement of this project, which is: design a tool for the X team that brings overview and gives the team the completeness to express their expertise.
Based on the earlier gathered insights the OD toolbox was designed. The toolbox consists of two tools: the OD expertise map and the approach generator. The toolbox was validated with seniors and juniors of the team and seen as valuable. It turned out that the purpose of the OD toolbox is to create a shared understanding among members of the team and in this way synchronization of the different mindsets between the seniors and juniors is facilitated. The tool works as a boundary object because it is used differently by seniors and juniors. The seniors will use the tool as a quick catch up for information and juniors mostly use the tool to understand OD projects. ...
The scope of this graduation project was the current organizational design (OD) approach of a service company. The initial assignment was to investigate whether there were opportunities within the current approach to make it more experience and/or user centered. The current approach is used for quite a long time and the assignment was to shine a new perspective on it by using design techniques.
Interviews with senior team members were conducted to understand the scope. Out of these interviews it became clear that there were three areas with room for improvement within the current OD approach, namely ‘knowledge management’, ‘approach standardization’ and ‘visualization’. It was decided to chose approach standardization as the focus for the rest of the project.
A second round of interviews was performed to answer why, what, and how the approach should be standardized. Out of these interviews the underlying problem came to the surface: due to experience the senior members in the team know what they are doing but they miss the simple tools/documents to bring this across to juniors or people outside the team. This problem has been used as the basis for the design statement of this project, which is: design a tool for the X team that brings overview and gives the team the completeness to express their expertise.
Based on the earlier gathered insights the OD toolbox was designed. The toolbox consists of two tools: the OD expertise map and the approach generator. The toolbox was validated with seniors and juniors of the team and seen as valuable. It turned out that the purpose of the OD toolbox is to create a shared understanding among members of the team and in this way synchronization of the different mindsets between the seniors and juniors is facilitated. The tool works as a boundary object because it is used differently by seniors and juniors. The seniors will use the tool as a quick catch up for information and juniors mostly use the tool to understand OD projects.
Interviews with senior team members were conducted to understand the scope. Out of these interviews it became clear that there were three areas with room for improvement within the current OD approach, namely ‘knowledge management’, ‘approach standardization’ and ‘visualization’. It was decided to chose approach standardization as the focus for the rest of the project.
A second round of interviews was performed to answer why, what, and how the approach should be standardized. Out of these interviews the underlying problem came to the surface: due to experience the senior members in the team know what they are doing but they miss the simple tools/documents to bring this across to juniors or people outside the team. This problem has been used as the basis for the design statement of this project, which is: design a tool for the X team that brings overview and gives the team the completeness to express their expertise.
Based on the earlier gathered insights the OD toolbox was designed. The toolbox consists of two tools: the OD expertise map and the approach generator. The toolbox was validated with seniors and juniors of the team and seen as valuable. It turned out that the purpose of the OD toolbox is to create a shared understanding among members of the team and in this way synchronization of the different mindsets between the seniors and juniors is facilitated. The tool works as a boundary object because it is used differently by seniors and juniors. The seniors will use the tool as a quick catch up for information and juniors mostly use the tool to understand OD projects.
Tourism growth vs. local challenges
A system design approach for resilience against the pressure of tourism in the Keukenhof region
The amount of tourists visiting the Dutch flower bulb region is growing every year. The Keukenhof, one of the biggest tourist attractors in the region, already welcomed 1.5 million visitors in the eight week during flowering season in 2019, which is almost twice the visitor count of 10 years ago. Because of this growth, the local population’s day-to-day businesses become increasingly disrupted. The pressure of these disruptions is mostly felt in three sub-contexts: •The flower fields; tourists that trample flower bulbs while making pictures •Regional accessibility; tourists causing traffic congestions which burdens the local population that has to travel to or from Lisse •Retail shops in Lisse; reduced accessibility causing regional shoppers to avoid Lisse, leading to less revenue. The choice has been made to merely focus on the last of these three sub-contexts. Although tourism was found to be a burden for the retail shops of Lisse, quantitative and qualitative research showed not only temporary inaccessibility through tourism threatens the centre of Lisse, but also online shopping, attractiveness of city centres and vacant stores pose a threat. At this moment, the strengths of the centre of Lisse as a regional shopping area can no longer outweigh the pressure that comes with these threats. This causes the centre to slowly degrade, manifesting itself in an increasingly amount of vacancies and shop owners that do not feel motivated to collaborate and invest in the centre any more. To counter this effect of degradation, a transition should to be made where Lisse is no longer regarded as just a regional shopping area, but as a village centre that is rich with experiences and where it pays off to do effort for the centre by taking ownership. The value of ‘the centre’ stands or falls by the amount of stakeholders that feel that they are part of the whole and have a responsibility to that whole. If this is present, ‘the centre’ will provide experiences to the customers and a positive business climate to the shop owners. In this way, the whole becomes more than the sum of the individual parts. For implementation, it is important to put focus on the symbiotic relationship that exists between individual stakeholders and ‘the centre’. For the short term, the benefits of investing in experiences can be demonstrated through pilots in individual stores. Eventually, the long term goal is providing a richness in collaboratively made experiences that bind the whole of the centre together, making current threats insignificant while providing positive spill over effects for the local entrepreneurs and customers. Stakeholders that have a purpose in governing the region such as HLTsamen should take a role in facilitating and orchestrating the transition.
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The amount of tourists visiting the Dutch flower bulb region is growing every year. The Keukenhof, one of the biggest tourist attractors in the region, already welcomed 1.5 million visitors in the eight week during flowering season in 2019, which is almost twice the visitor count of 10 years ago. Because of this growth, the local population’s day-to-day businesses become increasingly disrupted. The pressure of these disruptions is mostly felt in three sub-contexts: •The flower fields; tourists that trample flower bulbs while making pictures •Regional accessibility; tourists causing traffic congestions which burdens the local population that has to travel to or from Lisse •Retail shops in Lisse; reduced accessibility causing regional shoppers to avoid Lisse, leading to less revenue. The choice has been made to merely focus on the last of these three sub-contexts. Although tourism was found to be a burden for the retail shops of Lisse, quantitative and qualitative research showed not only temporary inaccessibility through tourism threatens the centre of Lisse, but also online shopping, attractiveness of city centres and vacant stores pose a threat. At this moment, the strengths of the centre of Lisse as a regional shopping area can no longer outweigh the pressure that comes with these threats. This causes the centre to slowly degrade, manifesting itself in an increasingly amount of vacancies and shop owners that do not feel motivated to collaborate and invest in the centre any more. To counter this effect of degradation, a transition should to be made where Lisse is no longer regarded as just a regional shopping area, but as a village centre that is rich with experiences and where it pays off to do effort for the centre by taking ownership. The value of ‘the centre’ stands or falls by the amount of stakeholders that feel that they are part of the whole and have a responsibility to that whole. If this is present, ‘the centre’ will provide experiences to the customers and a positive business climate to the shop owners. In this way, the whole becomes more than the sum of the individual parts. For implementation, it is important to put focus on the symbiotic relationship that exists between individual stakeholders and ‘the centre’. For the short term, the benefits of investing in experiences can be demonstrated through pilots in individual stores. Eventually, the long term goal is providing a richness in collaboratively made experiences that bind the whole of the centre together, making current threats insignificant while providing positive spill over effects for the local entrepreneurs and customers. Stakeholders that have a purpose in governing the region such as HLTsamen should take a role in facilitating and orchestrating the transition.
Delivering B2B experiences that make Exact stand out
A participatory learning approach to Customer Journey Management
As the B2B environment of the Software as a Service (SaaS) industry is changing more rapidly than ever, Exact needs to constantly adapt to these changes and accommodate to the increasingly complex needs and wishes of their customers. Designing a good customer experience is vital in ensuring a sustainable competitive advantage for Exact. In order for Exact to try to adapt to this change in environment, a shift towards customer centric initiatives showed over the past years within its organisation. Among these initiatives is the creation of a Customer Journey Management (CJM) team, about half a year ago, within the Customer Success department of Exact. Their aim is to improve customer satisfaction and reduce churn, by optimising the customer experience of Exact solutions. This project was initiated by the CJM team which asked: “How can Exact bring Customer Journey Management to the next level of maturity?” As CJM is slowly getting up and running, many quick wins can still be achieved in the Post-Sales process they are currently responsible for. It is debatable, however, whether this is the right approach for the long term, whether they have the right influence to make the desired impact and whether the metrics they are being held accountable for are fitting for its ultimate goal: the optimisation of Exacts end-to-end customer journey. In order to reach this goal, close collaboration between different departments is necessary, by empowering them to positively contribute to their part of the customer journey in an integrated way. This can only be achieved through a shared deep understanding of the customer and their journey and if the value of customer journey management is proven for all stakeholders involved. Ultimately, electing a board member responsible for Exacts customer experience in the form of a Chief Customer Officer (CCO) would be advised. The challenges that the CJM team face, identified in analysis, all seem to point towards the conclusion that user-centered design thinking is not embedded (enough) into the veins of the company. This does not mean that it’s employees do not have the customer at heart though, but it seems that often the customer is not understood well enough and thus mistakes are more easily made. In practise this approach seems harm the customer experience, hurting revenues in the long run. As long as the customer experience is not understood deeply enough by employees, Customer Journey Management does not have the means to impact the customer journey end-to-end, as recommended by literature to bring CJM to the next level. Therefore it was chosen to design a system that enables Exact employees to gain a deeper understanding of their customers. The solution was found in the design of a Game Development Guide. It enables the CJM team (and other employees) to simulate the customers experience through playing games. It is a step-by-step guide for its development and provides the process and tools necessary to design, play and evaluate the games based on different customer experiences. Once the game is ready to be played it can stimulate participatory learning by having employees temporarily step into the customers shoes. This creates deeper (richer) understanding of the customer’s perspective, including his/her (tacit and latent) needs, emotions and contextual factors. The resulting deep customer insights can then be used throughout the innovation process to validate assumptions and prioritize solutions, which results in improved Customer Journey Management. This way Exact will be able to better understand their customers, enabling them to design user-centered solutions that truly benefit their customers experiences. This will ensure that Exact will stay on top, giving them a sustainable competitive advantage over their competitors in the long run.
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As the B2B environment of the Software as a Service (SaaS) industry is changing more rapidly than ever, Exact needs to constantly adapt to these changes and accommodate to the increasingly complex needs and wishes of their customers. Designing a good customer experience is vital in ensuring a sustainable competitive advantage for Exact. In order for Exact to try to adapt to this change in environment, a shift towards customer centric initiatives showed over the past years within its organisation. Among these initiatives is the creation of a Customer Journey Management (CJM) team, about half a year ago, within the Customer Success department of Exact. Their aim is to improve customer satisfaction and reduce churn, by optimising the customer experience of Exact solutions. This project was initiated by the CJM team which asked: “How can Exact bring Customer Journey Management to the next level of maturity?” As CJM is slowly getting up and running, many quick wins can still be achieved in the Post-Sales process they are currently responsible for. It is debatable, however, whether this is the right approach for the long term, whether they have the right influence to make the desired impact and whether the metrics they are being held accountable for are fitting for its ultimate goal: the optimisation of Exacts end-to-end customer journey. In order to reach this goal, close collaboration between different departments is necessary, by empowering them to positively contribute to their part of the customer journey in an integrated way. This can only be achieved through a shared deep understanding of the customer and their journey and if the value of customer journey management is proven for all stakeholders involved. Ultimately, electing a board member responsible for Exacts customer experience in the form of a Chief Customer Officer (CCO) would be advised. The challenges that the CJM team face, identified in analysis, all seem to point towards the conclusion that user-centered design thinking is not embedded (enough) into the veins of the company. This does not mean that it’s employees do not have the customer at heart though, but it seems that often the customer is not understood well enough and thus mistakes are more easily made. In practise this approach seems harm the customer experience, hurting revenues in the long run. As long as the customer experience is not understood deeply enough by employees, Customer Journey Management does not have the means to impact the customer journey end-to-end, as recommended by literature to bring CJM to the next level. Therefore it was chosen to design a system that enables Exact employees to gain a deeper understanding of their customers. The solution was found in the design of a Game Development Guide. It enables the CJM team (and other employees) to simulate the customers experience through playing games. It is a step-by-step guide for its development and provides the process and tools necessary to design, play and evaluate the games based on different customer experiences. Once the game is ready to be played it can stimulate participatory learning by having employees temporarily step into the customers shoes. This creates deeper (richer) understanding of the customer’s perspective, including his/her (tacit and latent) needs, emotions and contextual factors. The resulting deep customer insights can then be used throughout the innovation process to validate assumptions and prioritize solutions, which results in improved Customer Journey Management. This way Exact will be able to better understand their customers, enabling them to design user-centered solutions that truly benefit their customers experiences. This will ensure that Exact will stay on top, giving them a sustainable competitive advantage over their competitors in the long run.
Contextual information sharing in patient referrals
Facilitating implicit information exchange in interdisciplinary communication
IntroductionThis Strategic Product Design master thesis aims to find a solution to the problem of ill fitting care trajectories that result in overtreatment, higher costs and negatively impacted health outcomes. This project was created with the recently founded Reinier Haga Orthopedic CenterLiterature and Field studiesTo understand the problem and identify solutions, research studies were conducted.A literature study identified potentials solutions, tt also provided insights into the condition of knee arthrosis and how healthcare is currently organised.Two field studies were also done. The first were interning sessions that provided additional knowledge on the organisation of the healthcare.The second were interviews with patients and treatment providers which, resulted in an understanding of what patients and medical professionals miss in the organisation of the care trajectory.Design goalFrom the literature and field studies came that a cause for the problem is the interaction between stakeholders. Information exchange between the medical professionals was chosen as the design problem. As a lack of information about a patient as a whole explains the ill fitting care trajectories. The missing information was identified as implicit contextual patient information. This often left out of the referral and can not be used when making the treatment decision. Based on the above, a design goal was formulated:Enabling easier sharing of contextual patient information between the GP and the OS in the initial referralCreative processA co-evolutionary creative process was used to create a solution. This was heavily influenced by the COVID-19 outbreak, resulting in more validations with the client rather than large stakeholder sessions.CICSThe result is the Contextual Information Communication System (CICS). CICS consists of the Contextual Sharing Tool (CST) and the requirements for its functioning.The CST is a visual tool that enables fast capture and review of contextual patient information by the GP. The GP uses it by setting 5 points for the respective information rubrics along an axis that indicates the significance of that rubric for a patient.This CST gets shared with the orthopedic surgeon, together with the textual referral. It does not provide him with the detailed information, but with an overview of significant information rubrics. The surgeon uses this impression to direct their anamnesis during patient consults. If the consult has not resulted in an explanation of the CST, there is an opportunity to clarify it with the patient’s GP in a conversation. EvaluationEvaluation was done, to validate the design. From this evaluation came that the CICS did indeed meet the design goal.Points of improvement were also identified among which the usability of the current visual design and the need for education on how CICS should be used.Recommendations & Implementation roadmapTo provide the orthopedic center the next steps in CICS development, a recommended implementation roadmap was created. This roadmap shows the steps necessary to reach three defined horizons:The start of a CICS pilotFull CICS implementation in the knee arthrosis trajectoryExpansion of CICS to other care trajectories.
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IntroductionThis Strategic Product Design master thesis aims to find a solution to the problem of ill fitting care trajectories that result in overtreatment, higher costs and negatively impacted health outcomes. This project was created with the recently founded Reinier Haga Orthopedic CenterLiterature and Field studiesTo understand the problem and identify solutions, research studies were conducted.A literature study identified potentials solutions, tt also provided insights into the condition of knee arthrosis and how healthcare is currently organised.Two field studies were also done. The first were interning sessions that provided additional knowledge on the organisation of the healthcare.The second were interviews with patients and treatment providers which, resulted in an understanding of what patients and medical professionals miss in the organisation of the care trajectory.Design goalFrom the literature and field studies came that a cause for the problem is the interaction between stakeholders. Information exchange between the medical professionals was chosen as the design problem. As a lack of information about a patient as a whole explains the ill fitting care trajectories. The missing information was identified as implicit contextual patient information. This often left out of the referral and can not be used when making the treatment decision. Based on the above, a design goal was formulated:Enabling easier sharing of contextual patient information between the GP and the OS in the initial referralCreative processA co-evolutionary creative process was used to create a solution. This was heavily influenced by the COVID-19 outbreak, resulting in more validations with the client rather than large stakeholder sessions.CICSThe result is the Contextual Information Communication System (CICS). CICS consists of the Contextual Sharing Tool (CST) and the requirements for its functioning.The CST is a visual tool that enables fast capture and review of contextual patient information by the GP. The GP uses it by setting 5 points for the respective information rubrics along an axis that indicates the significance of that rubric for a patient.This CST gets shared with the orthopedic surgeon, together with the textual referral. It does not provide him with the detailed information, but with an overview of significant information rubrics. The surgeon uses this impression to direct their anamnesis during patient consults. If the consult has not resulted in an explanation of the CST, there is an opportunity to clarify it with the patient’s GP in a conversation. EvaluationEvaluation was done, to validate the design. From this evaluation came that the CICS did indeed meet the design goal.Points of improvement were also identified among which the usability of the current visual design and the need for education on how CICS should be used.Recommendations & Implementation roadmapTo provide the orthopedic center the next steps in CICS development, a recommended implementation roadmap was created. This roadmap shows the steps necessary to reach three defined horizons:The start of a CICS pilotFull CICS implementation in the knee arthrosis trajectoryExpansion of CICS to other care trajectories.
The graduation project is performed in collaboration with Henkel Laundry & Home Care business unit. This consumer goods business has flourished into a globally active unit with a broad product portfolio.To succeed in the highly competitive consumer goods environment, it is essential to shifting from price and product superiority to privileged insights and customer experience. It is the overall consumer behavioural, experiential, and emotional responses formulate the outcome of a commodity. But the current product development is mainly performance-driven. A holistic and well-defined product experience can help Henkel innovation teams to broaden their development goals to think beyond feasibility, functionality, and usability.The consumer research found that people experience laundry activity as a unified whole, not just the detergent itself. The detergent product experience is embedded in the laundry experience, and their interrelationship sometimes conflicts but remain mutually exclusive. In a broader sense, the laundry activity is highly integrated into daily life. Thus, the meanings people assigned to a laundry product are co-shaping by the other actors within the laundry systems. They are washing machine manufacture, textile and fabric manufacture, laundry services providers. Their interrelationships with the consumer in meaning creating are depicted in the figure above.From the organization side, Henkel current innovation follows the traditional stage-gate process in which marketing will identify the consumer insights and transfer to R&D as a development brief. The key challenge here is the misalignment between these functions in the business case building stage, which leads to the product offering that cannot serve the initial product promise.The design proposal was built on the innovation process, enhance the marketing and R&D integration by resourceful sense-making-ex- pose, co-opt, and repurposing. The original brand-fit gate was replaced by brand-technology gate, brand-meaning gate, and resource gate to adapt to more radical innovation. It also suggests the organization to open its problem finding space with external interpreters.
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The graduation project is performed in collaboration with Henkel Laundry & Home Care business unit. This consumer goods business has flourished into a globally active unit with a broad product portfolio.To succeed in the highly competitive consumer goods environment, it is essential to shifting from price and product superiority to privileged insights and customer experience. It is the overall consumer behavioural, experiential, and emotional responses formulate the outcome of a commodity. But the current product development is mainly performance-driven. A holistic and well-defined product experience can help Henkel innovation teams to broaden their development goals to think beyond feasibility, functionality, and usability.The consumer research found that people experience laundry activity as a unified whole, not just the detergent itself. The detergent product experience is embedded in the laundry experience, and their interrelationship sometimes conflicts but remain mutually exclusive. In a broader sense, the laundry activity is highly integrated into daily life. Thus, the meanings people assigned to a laundry product are co-shaping by the other actors within the laundry systems. They are washing machine manufacture, textile and fabric manufacture, laundry services providers. Their interrelationships with the consumer in meaning creating are depicted in the figure above.From the organization side, Henkel current innovation follows the traditional stage-gate process in which marketing will identify the consumer insights and transfer to R&D as a development brief. The key challenge here is the misalignment between these functions in the business case building stage, which leads to the product offering that cannot serve the initial product promise.The design proposal was built on the innovation process, enhance the marketing and R&D integration by resourceful sense-making-ex- pose, co-opt, and repurposing. The original brand-fit gate was replaced by brand-technology gate, brand-meaning gate, and resource gate to adapt to more radical innovation. It also suggests the organization to open its problem finding space with external interpreters.
How design helps to cultivate effective suspense
Refining X!Delft's value proposition
This graduation project aimed at refining X!Delft’s value proposition and exploring the role of Design Thinking for their organisation. X!Delft is an organisation within the valorisation centre of Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), responsible for setting up partnerships with industry in favour of knowledge and technology transfer. X!Delft intends to create an ‘innovation ecosystem’ in which TU Delft, companies, and startups work together on “new inventions” (van Wijnen, 2019). However, stimulating collaboration between multiple companies in such an ecosystem proves to be challenging. Hence, the ecosystem is now predominantly used for company-specific challenges. To encourage working as an ecosystem, it is essential to understand the partners’ needs upon entering a partnership with X!Delft. This enables the creation of a relevant value proposition, describing how X!Delft’s service offering adds value to its partners.A way to incorporate the needs of partners into a relevant value proposition is by means of Design Thinking (DT). DT is a human-centred innovation approach suitable for understanding and providing for people’s and companies (latent) needs (Hooge et al., 2012; Carlgren, 2013). To discover what incentivises companies to opt for a partnership with X!Delft, seventeen semi-structured interviews and three creative sessions were conducted. The research uncovers a shared driver across the industry partners of X!Delft, namely the sense of suspense. Suspense is defined as “a feeling or state of anxious or excited uncertainty about what may happen” (Oxford University Press , 2019). It complements literature’s description of ‘uncertainty’, by adding a factor of excitement and wonder, triggering an impulse to act. (Lehne & Koelsch, 2015). In order to understand how to manage suspense, the pragmatist inquiry proved to be useful (Lorino, 2018). In this inquiry, one moves from an uncertain situation towards a future ‘belief’, by combining experimentation and reasoning. Similarly, design practices are beneficial to coming up with future-focused solutions when considering situations of uncertainty or ambiguity.This resulted in the proposal of a new approach, PACES. The approach structures and expands X!Delft’s services so they “Preserve And Cultivate Effective Suspense”. This ‘effective suspense’, which incentivises engagement in a learning process, is cultivated in six phases: perceiving, perspective, predicting, paraphrasing, probing and proving. PACES stimulates collecting information continuously (perceiving) and sharing insights, increasing the collective knowledge base (perspective) to generate plausible predictions. These are then made actionable (paraphrasing) based on the strategic intent of individual actors, ensuring company-specific impact through the development of experiments (probing) followed by implementation projects (proving). A first ideation step is performed to translate PACES into services, complementing X!Delft’s current service offering. These services aim to incentivise participation in shared knowledge creation, hence enhancing collaboration in the innovation ecosystem. It is suggested to implement these shared services gradually - first stimulating collaboration in the first phases, and slowly moving to the last phases, where most of the knowledge creation takes place. In conclusion, some direction for future research and further development of PACES are given.
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This graduation project aimed at refining X!Delft’s value proposition and exploring the role of Design Thinking for their organisation. X!Delft is an organisation within the valorisation centre of Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), responsible for setting up partnerships with industry in favour of knowledge and technology transfer. X!Delft intends to create an ‘innovation ecosystem’ in which TU Delft, companies, and startups work together on “new inventions” (van Wijnen, 2019). However, stimulating collaboration between multiple companies in such an ecosystem proves to be challenging. Hence, the ecosystem is now predominantly used for company-specific challenges. To encourage working as an ecosystem, it is essential to understand the partners’ needs upon entering a partnership with X!Delft. This enables the creation of a relevant value proposition, describing how X!Delft’s service offering adds value to its partners.A way to incorporate the needs of partners into a relevant value proposition is by means of Design Thinking (DT). DT is a human-centred innovation approach suitable for understanding and providing for people’s and companies (latent) needs (Hooge et al., 2012; Carlgren, 2013). To discover what incentivises companies to opt for a partnership with X!Delft, seventeen semi-structured interviews and three creative sessions were conducted. The research uncovers a shared driver across the industry partners of X!Delft, namely the sense of suspense. Suspense is defined as “a feeling or state of anxious or excited uncertainty about what may happen” (Oxford University Press , 2019). It complements literature’s description of ‘uncertainty’, by adding a factor of excitement and wonder, triggering an impulse to act. (Lehne & Koelsch, 2015). In order to understand how to manage suspense, the pragmatist inquiry proved to be useful (Lorino, 2018). In this inquiry, one moves from an uncertain situation towards a future ‘belief’, by combining experimentation and reasoning. Similarly, design practices are beneficial to coming up with future-focused solutions when considering situations of uncertainty or ambiguity.This resulted in the proposal of a new approach, PACES. The approach structures and expands X!Delft’s services so they “Preserve And Cultivate Effective Suspense”. This ‘effective suspense’, which incentivises engagement in a learning process, is cultivated in six phases: perceiving, perspective, predicting, paraphrasing, probing and proving. PACES stimulates collecting information continuously (perceiving) and sharing insights, increasing the collective knowledge base (perspective) to generate plausible predictions. These are then made actionable (paraphrasing) based on the strategic intent of individual actors, ensuring company-specific impact through the development of experiments (probing) followed by implementation projects (proving). A first ideation step is performed to translate PACES into services, complementing X!Delft’s current service offering. These services aim to incentivise participation in shared knowledge creation, hence enhancing collaboration in the innovation ecosystem. It is suggested to implement these shared services gradually - first stimulating collaboration in the first phases, and slowly moving to the last phases, where most of the knowledge creation takes place. In conclusion, some direction for future research and further development of PACES are given.
This thesis is the result of a graduation project in the domain of transformative museum experiences. The project has been executed in collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum (VGM) in Amsterdam with a focus on high school teenagers. The project aims to find promising ways to facilitate museum experiences for teens that are both entertaining and educational. Experiences that enable these teens to gain substantial new insights, develop (new) skills and grow in their behavior. In other words, experiences that enable personal transformations. Currently, many of teens describe their VGM experiences as dull and irrelevant to their personal lives. To address this, VGM formulated design challenges regarding interactive narratives and suggestions for a multimedia tour (MMT) for teens. Within this thesis, the context of those challenges has been explored. The following four domains were analyzed; VGM, teens, interactive narratives and transformative experience design. The insights within these domains led to the following research question: “How to design for transformative teen experiences at VGM while also designing a fitting interactive narrative and suggestions for an MMT?” Two existing models were combined to ensure a holistic reference when designing for transformative experiences. The first one, the Contextual Model of Learning (Falk & Dierking, 2012) and the experiential journey (Bär & Boschouwers, 2019). Based on the vision and requirements, six design iterations were performed: two co-creation sessions, three individual creative sessions and VGM expert meetings. The iterations resulted in varying loose ideas, concept proposals, specific narrative content regarding Van Gogh and design implications for an MMT at VGM. Results that, all together, enabled the creation of the final proposed concept, Vincent & I. The concept describes four perspectives regarding the transformative teen experience at VGM. First, the experiential journey is presented in which not only the museum visit but also the pre- and post-visit stages (in class) are considered. Secondly, six different stages within the museum are described: introducing, exploring, selecting, discovering, recharging and wrapping-up. Within this museum visit, an interactive narrative structure was created. This structure consists of two different narrative directions, four themes (determining the narrative content), 6 “must-see” plus 4 “your choice” paintings and four narrative elements: information, open questions, multiple choice questions and activities. Finally, design suggestions for an MMT were made. These suggestions provide examples for the visual and auditory elements needed to communicate the interactive narratives. The concept was tested with 25 teens at VGM resulting in insights indicating initial transformative experiences. This thesis is concluded with a proposed initial design approach for future projects that consider designing for transformative museum experiences. ...
This thesis is the result of a graduation project in the domain of transformative museum experiences. The project has been executed in collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum (VGM) in Amsterdam with a focus on high school teenagers. The project aims to find promising ways to facilitate museum experiences for teens that are both entertaining and educational. Experiences that enable these teens to gain substantial new insights, develop (new) skills and grow in their behavior. In other words, experiences that enable personal transformations. Currently, many of teens describe their VGM experiences as dull and irrelevant to their personal lives. To address this, VGM formulated design challenges regarding interactive narratives and suggestions for a multimedia tour (MMT) for teens. Within this thesis, the context of those challenges has been explored. The following four domains were analyzed; VGM, teens, interactive narratives and transformative experience design. The insights within these domains led to the following research question: “How to design for transformative teen experiences at VGM while also designing a fitting interactive narrative and suggestions for an MMT?” Two existing models were combined to ensure a holistic reference when designing for transformative experiences. The first one, the Contextual Model of Learning (Falk & Dierking, 2012) and the experiential journey (Bär & Boschouwers, 2019). Based on the vision and requirements, six design iterations were performed: two co-creation sessions, three individual creative sessions and VGM expert meetings. The iterations resulted in varying loose ideas, concept proposals, specific narrative content regarding Van Gogh and design implications for an MMT at VGM. Results that, all together, enabled the creation of the final proposed concept, Vincent & I. The concept describes four perspectives regarding the transformative teen experience at VGM. First, the experiential journey is presented in which not only the museum visit but also the pre- and post-visit stages (in class) are considered. Secondly, six different stages within the museum are described: introducing, exploring, selecting, discovering, recharging and wrapping-up. Within this museum visit, an interactive narrative structure was created. This structure consists of two different narrative directions, four themes (determining the narrative content), 6 “must-see” plus 4 “your choice” paintings and four narrative elements: information, open questions, multiple choice questions and activities. Finally, design suggestions for an MMT were made. These suggestions provide examples for the visual and auditory elements needed to communicate the interactive narratives. The concept was tested with 25 teens at VGM resulting in insights indicating initial transformative experiences. This thesis is concluded with a proposed initial design approach for future projects that consider designing for transformative museum experiences.
Employee Involvement in Strategy Realization
Designing a tool to motivate employees for strategy realization by creating a win-win between the organization's objectives and employees' interest
Strategy is used by organizations to adjust to emerging challenges and opportunities in the market environment. Due to a more rapidly changing market caused by globalization, strategy has become increasingly important. Organizations often struggle to implement strategy successfully caused by difficulties with the transition from the strategy formulation phase into the realization phase. Fully involving the employees in this phase appears to be challenging, they are often not properly informed or do not understand the strategy. The main objective of this thesis was to create a holistic and practical solution which improves the realization of strategy by motivating employees to contribute. The solution was designed to be usable by Strategiemakers (the client) as well as by organizations themselves. In order to design the solution, a theoretical research and empirical research were conducted to create an holistic understanding of the strategic process and triangulate insights. In literature three main phases of the strategic process were identified: Strategy forming – Guiding policies – Realization. These phases were specified by researching the strategic process of four highly varying organizations, which uncovered six challenges in the realization phase. From these challenges was decided to focus on the troublesome activity of triggering the employee to contribute to the strategy, since a solution for this lied in the reach of this master thesis.
Insight into the perspective of the employee on the strategic realization phase provided knowledge on how to improve their motivation for strategy realization. Three parts of this perspective were researched: the influence of the organizational context the employee functions in, the employees' experience of the strategy and general motivators of the employee. With these insights, a holistic and practical solution was designed to facilitate organizations in triggering their employees to adventure in strategy realization. This solution is based on the idea of enhancing the employees' intrinsic motivation by creating a win-win situation for them and the organization. Through six steps the organization is facilitated in linking the personal development of the employee to the strategic objectives which addresses the intrinsic motivation of the employee. In the designed trajectory, the organization is aided in the specification of their strategy by determining which skills and capabilities are needed for the realization. Next, the employees are guided in the discovery of their desired skills and ambitions. Lastly, the canvas kit facilitates the process of making a connection between the employees' desires in development and the skills required for the realization of the strategy. ...
Insight into the perspective of the employee on the strategic realization phase provided knowledge on how to improve their motivation for strategy realization. Three parts of this perspective were researched: the influence of the organizational context the employee functions in, the employees' experience of the strategy and general motivators of the employee. With these insights, a holistic and practical solution was designed to facilitate organizations in triggering their employees to adventure in strategy realization. This solution is based on the idea of enhancing the employees' intrinsic motivation by creating a win-win situation for them and the organization. Through six steps the organization is facilitated in linking the personal development of the employee to the strategic objectives which addresses the intrinsic motivation of the employee. In the designed trajectory, the organization is aided in the specification of their strategy by determining which skills and capabilities are needed for the realization. Next, the employees are guided in the discovery of their desired skills and ambitions. Lastly, the canvas kit facilitates the process of making a connection between the employees' desires in development and the skills required for the realization of the strategy. ...
Strategy is used by organizations to adjust to emerging challenges and opportunities in the market environment. Due to a more rapidly changing market caused by globalization, strategy has become increasingly important. Organizations often struggle to implement strategy successfully caused by difficulties with the transition from the strategy formulation phase into the realization phase. Fully involving the employees in this phase appears to be challenging, they are often not properly informed or do not understand the strategy. The main objective of this thesis was to create a holistic and practical solution which improves the realization of strategy by motivating employees to contribute. The solution was designed to be usable by Strategiemakers (the client) as well as by organizations themselves. In order to design the solution, a theoretical research and empirical research were conducted to create an holistic understanding of the strategic process and triangulate insights. In literature three main phases of the strategic process were identified: Strategy forming – Guiding policies – Realization. These phases were specified by researching the strategic process of four highly varying organizations, which uncovered six challenges in the realization phase. From these challenges was decided to focus on the troublesome activity of triggering the employee to contribute to the strategy, since a solution for this lied in the reach of this master thesis.
Insight into the perspective of the employee on the strategic realization phase provided knowledge on how to improve their motivation for strategy realization. Three parts of this perspective were researched: the influence of the organizational context the employee functions in, the employees' experience of the strategy and general motivators of the employee. With these insights, a holistic and practical solution was designed to facilitate organizations in triggering their employees to adventure in strategy realization. This solution is based on the idea of enhancing the employees' intrinsic motivation by creating a win-win situation for them and the organization. Through six steps the organization is facilitated in linking the personal development of the employee to the strategic objectives which addresses the intrinsic motivation of the employee. In the designed trajectory, the organization is aided in the specification of their strategy by determining which skills and capabilities are needed for the realization. Next, the employees are guided in the discovery of their desired skills and ambitions. Lastly, the canvas kit facilitates the process of making a connection between the employees' desires in development and the skills required for the realization of the strategy.
Insight into the perspective of the employee on the strategic realization phase provided knowledge on how to improve their motivation for strategy realization. Three parts of this perspective were researched: the influence of the organizational context the employee functions in, the employees' experience of the strategy and general motivators of the employee. With these insights, a holistic and practical solution was designed to facilitate organizations in triggering their employees to adventure in strategy realization. This solution is based on the idea of enhancing the employees' intrinsic motivation by creating a win-win situation for them and the organization. Through six steps the organization is facilitated in linking the personal development of the employee to the strategic objectives which addresses the intrinsic motivation of the employee. In the designed trajectory, the organization is aided in the specification of their strategy by determining which skills and capabilities are needed for the realization. Next, the employees are guided in the discovery of their desired skills and ambitions. Lastly, the canvas kit facilitates the process of making a connection between the employees' desires in development and the skills required for the realization of the strategy.
This thesis focuses on improving the performance of ventures through collaboration and knowledge sharing. Many huge multinational companies are struggling to keep their innovation funnel filled and to transform their ventures into successful new businesses. One of the challenges that Internal Corporate Ventures are facing is the lack of overview of which capabilities and what activities other ventures have or are performing. Using gamification, the Synergy platform aims to create more transparency in the venturing environment. The three main challenges to lack of collaborative behaviour in the venturing environment are tackled through the platform. These challenges are (1) finding knowledge, (2) finding experts and (3) sharing knowledge. However, there is still a catch-22 when introducing such a platform; “when there is not content, no one will use the platform, however, when no one is using the platform, no content will be added”. In order to breach this catch-22, two roadmaps have been designed. The engagement roadmap focuses on engaging users to actively contribute to the platform while the technical roadmap takes care of the feasibility of the platform.
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This thesis focuses on improving the performance of ventures through collaboration and knowledge sharing. Many huge multinational companies are struggling to keep their innovation funnel filled and to transform their ventures into successful new businesses. One of the challenges that Internal Corporate Ventures are facing is the lack of overview of which capabilities and what activities other ventures have or are performing. Using gamification, the Synergy platform aims to create more transparency in the venturing environment. The three main challenges to lack of collaborative behaviour in the venturing environment are tackled through the platform. These challenges are (1) finding knowledge, (2) finding experts and (3) sharing knowledge. However, there is still a catch-22 when introducing such a platform; “when there is not content, no one will use the platform, however, when no one is using the platform, no content will be added”. In order to breach this catch-22, two roadmaps have been designed. The engagement roadmap focuses on engaging users to actively contribute to the platform while the technical roadmap takes care of the feasibility of the platform.
Beyond Monetary value
An alternative approach to creating value with innovation
This thesis answers the question: “How can we generate and maximise value from technologies that sit in the periphery of the technology development ecosystem?”. The launchpad innovation strategy provides the solution. A technology in the periphery of the development eco-system fell out of development after changes to the technology strategy. The project owner remained adamant that there was value to the product if licensed. The goal was to create value, and the product was developed to create as much value as possible to its users. But rather than designing a product to create value for the user, turning those roles around provided an interesting perspective. By designing a strategy to create value for the company from this type of technology product an interesting strategy was designed. The strategy’s aim is to create as much value as possible, but rather than focus on revenue, it looks at what technology can create that creates long term benefits. The strategy revolves around creating a type of company that sits between a corporate startup and a spinout with the purpose of commercialising the technology. The companies are autonomous but have close contacts to the mother company allowing for the exchange of money, information, people and most important knowledge. This is the launchpad strategy.
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This thesis answers the question: “How can we generate and maximise value from technologies that sit in the periphery of the technology development ecosystem?”. The launchpad innovation strategy provides the solution. A technology in the periphery of the development eco-system fell out of development after changes to the technology strategy. The project owner remained adamant that there was value to the product if licensed. The goal was to create value, and the product was developed to create as much value as possible to its users. But rather than designing a product to create value for the user, turning those roles around provided an interesting perspective. By designing a strategy to create value for the company from this type of technology product an interesting strategy was designed. The strategy’s aim is to create as much value as possible, but rather than focus on revenue, it looks at what technology can create that creates long term benefits. The strategy revolves around creating a type of company that sits between a corporate startup and a spinout with the purpose of commercialising the technology. The companies are autonomous but have close contacts to the mother company allowing for the exchange of money, information, people and most important knowledge. This is the launchpad strategy.
Companies and organisations are increasingly exposed to a market environment full of turbulence and disruption. Perry (2017), for instance, shows that only 60 companies were present in the Fortune 500 in 1955 as well as in 2017, meaning that 88% of the companies from 1955 went bankrupt, merged with (or were overtaken by) other firms or were not able to meet the Fortune 500 revenue threshold anymore. It can be stated that many companies have not been able to adapt or to take advantage of changing market situations as they fail to scout and invest in new areas of growth or keep applying existing business models to new market segments (Anthony et al.,2016; Zook, 2014)
Lately, design has received increased attention from companies that want to anticipate on market turbulence. Design is seen as a way to overcome creative destruction, helping companies to maintain their competitiveness in the marketplace. From multiple accounts, design and design thinking are seen to add value to businesses, organisations, (innovation) processes, products and services. However, the fact that the added value of design and design thinking is mainly described by anecdotal cases of businesses and organisations that successfully make use of design and design thinking seems to ignore the process that precedes the situation whereby design is fully operationalised in and adds value to innovation processes.
It is therefore that this research project is executed with the aim of exploring the implications of design when being embedded in a company’s innovation process. Based on current collaborations between the Delft University of Technology’s IDE faculty and various businesses, three companies have been found suitable for examination in the context of this research project. As a result, three cases can be described
through conducting empirical research, whereby further insights into these cases are provided through conducting two rounds of interviews.
The data derived during this research project show that a design project is seen to be initiated by a non-design project brief, that design is positioned in the Fuzzy Front End of innovation processes and that design is employed in a separated type of department. It also becomes clear that an emerging disconnection emerges between the design output and the innovation process that is already put in place. It is found that this disconnection can be traced back to a barrier that is positioned within the higher ranks of companies as well as a barrier is perceived in the way companies have set-up their organisational structure relative to the design output.
It is concluded that design should become an ‘implemented reality’ and it should be incorporated into the ‘thought processes of a company’s organisational structure’ when companies want to successfully make use of design with the aim of arriving at outcomes other than their current innovation processes are producing. Therefore, companies should adapt, revise and/or redesign each aspect of their innovation process that is either preceding or coming after the embedded design element in order to fully facilitate an innovation cycle. ...
Lately, design has received increased attention from companies that want to anticipate on market turbulence. Design is seen as a way to overcome creative destruction, helping companies to maintain their competitiveness in the marketplace. From multiple accounts, design and design thinking are seen to add value to businesses, organisations, (innovation) processes, products and services. However, the fact that the added value of design and design thinking is mainly described by anecdotal cases of businesses and organisations that successfully make use of design and design thinking seems to ignore the process that precedes the situation whereby design is fully operationalised in and adds value to innovation processes.
It is therefore that this research project is executed with the aim of exploring the implications of design when being embedded in a company’s innovation process. Based on current collaborations between the Delft University of Technology’s IDE faculty and various businesses, three companies have been found suitable for examination in the context of this research project. As a result, three cases can be described
through conducting empirical research, whereby further insights into these cases are provided through conducting two rounds of interviews.
The data derived during this research project show that a design project is seen to be initiated by a non-design project brief, that design is positioned in the Fuzzy Front End of innovation processes and that design is employed in a separated type of department. It also becomes clear that an emerging disconnection emerges between the design output and the innovation process that is already put in place. It is found that this disconnection can be traced back to a barrier that is positioned within the higher ranks of companies as well as a barrier is perceived in the way companies have set-up their organisational structure relative to the design output.
It is concluded that design should become an ‘implemented reality’ and it should be incorporated into the ‘thought processes of a company’s organisational structure’ when companies want to successfully make use of design with the aim of arriving at outcomes other than their current innovation processes are producing. Therefore, companies should adapt, revise and/or redesign each aspect of their innovation process that is either preceding or coming after the embedded design element in order to fully facilitate an innovation cycle. ...
Companies and organisations are increasingly exposed to a market environment full of turbulence and disruption. Perry (2017), for instance, shows that only 60 companies were present in the Fortune 500 in 1955 as well as in 2017, meaning that 88% of the companies from 1955 went bankrupt, merged with (or were overtaken by) other firms or were not able to meet the Fortune 500 revenue threshold anymore. It can be stated that many companies have not been able to adapt or to take advantage of changing market situations as they fail to scout and invest in new areas of growth or keep applying existing business models to new market segments (Anthony et al.,2016; Zook, 2014)
Lately, design has received increased attention from companies that want to anticipate on market turbulence. Design is seen as a way to overcome creative destruction, helping companies to maintain their competitiveness in the marketplace. From multiple accounts, design and design thinking are seen to add value to businesses, organisations, (innovation) processes, products and services. However, the fact that the added value of design and design thinking is mainly described by anecdotal cases of businesses and organisations that successfully make use of design and design thinking seems to ignore the process that precedes the situation whereby design is fully operationalised in and adds value to innovation processes.
It is therefore that this research project is executed with the aim of exploring the implications of design when being embedded in a company’s innovation process. Based on current collaborations between the Delft University of Technology’s IDE faculty and various businesses, three companies have been found suitable for examination in the context of this research project. As a result, three cases can be described
through conducting empirical research, whereby further insights into these cases are provided through conducting two rounds of interviews.
The data derived during this research project show that a design project is seen to be initiated by a non-design project brief, that design is positioned in the Fuzzy Front End of innovation processes and that design is employed in a separated type of department. It also becomes clear that an emerging disconnection emerges between the design output and the innovation process that is already put in place. It is found that this disconnection can be traced back to a barrier that is positioned within the higher ranks of companies as well as a barrier is perceived in the way companies have set-up their organisational structure relative to the design output.
It is concluded that design should become an ‘implemented reality’ and it should be incorporated into the ‘thought processes of a company’s organisational structure’ when companies want to successfully make use of design with the aim of arriving at outcomes other than their current innovation processes are producing. Therefore, companies should adapt, revise and/or redesign each aspect of their innovation process that is either preceding or coming after the embedded design element in order to fully facilitate an innovation cycle.
Lately, design has received increased attention from companies that want to anticipate on market turbulence. Design is seen as a way to overcome creative destruction, helping companies to maintain their competitiveness in the marketplace. From multiple accounts, design and design thinking are seen to add value to businesses, organisations, (innovation) processes, products and services. However, the fact that the added value of design and design thinking is mainly described by anecdotal cases of businesses and organisations that successfully make use of design and design thinking seems to ignore the process that precedes the situation whereby design is fully operationalised in and adds value to innovation processes.
It is therefore that this research project is executed with the aim of exploring the implications of design when being embedded in a company’s innovation process. Based on current collaborations between the Delft University of Technology’s IDE faculty and various businesses, three companies have been found suitable for examination in the context of this research project. As a result, three cases can be described
through conducting empirical research, whereby further insights into these cases are provided through conducting two rounds of interviews.
The data derived during this research project show that a design project is seen to be initiated by a non-design project brief, that design is positioned in the Fuzzy Front End of innovation processes and that design is employed in a separated type of department. It also becomes clear that an emerging disconnection emerges between the design output and the innovation process that is already put in place. It is found that this disconnection can be traced back to a barrier that is positioned within the higher ranks of companies as well as a barrier is perceived in the way companies have set-up their organisational structure relative to the design output.
It is concluded that design should become an ‘implemented reality’ and it should be incorporated into the ‘thought processes of a company’s organisational structure’ when companies want to successfully make use of design with the aim of arriving at outcomes other than their current innovation processes are producing. Therefore, companies should adapt, revise and/or redesign each aspect of their innovation process that is either preceding or coming after the embedded design element in order to fully facilitate an innovation cycle.
The mountain of tomorrow
A toolset for building recurring long-term relationships through mutual understanding
Innovation is one of the most important aspects in both the business and the design environment, because of one reason: everything changes. Markets are never stable, customers’ needs and wishes change and technology evolves. This leaves companies with the option to either adapt to the ever-changing conditions they are exposed to or to be changed in the face of competitive pressure.
However, innovation should happen in the right direction. The idea of innovating just for the sake of growth is outdated and obsolete. The world is out of balance and our current economy is failing us, which means that it is of high importance that we move towards a balance in which we meet the needs of all within the means of our planet.
Outside Inc. tries to contribute to this highly ambitious goal by creating innovation acceleration programs together with existing organisations that will help them find new products and services. These programs combine the entrepreneurial qualities of people with a more sustainable and social mind-set.
In order to make a real impact, Outside Inc. currently needs to grow. Not necessarily grow to become the biggest or the most profitable, but grow to become more resilient. They believe that this growth should be accomplished by creating more recurring long-term relationships instead of the single short-term relationship that are currently mostly formed with their clients.
An extensive research was conducted in order to generate insights into why client relationships are mostly single short-term. A company analysis, a case study of 8 cases and a client analysis based on 6 interviews and 2 observations uncovered, among other insights, three underlying reasons: a miss-alignment in the expectations, a diminishing of the perceived added value and a doubt about the effectiveness of the program.
In order to provide the first step towards solving these problems, a toolset is developed. This toolset consists of a workshop format, an A1 canvas and a set of cards that function as a conversation facilitation tool. The toolset is to be used in a kick-off session at the beginning of a project by the core-team. This core-team exists of two program managers and one to three representatives of the client.
By using this toolset together with the core-team, Outside Inc. program managers are able to manage the expectations, provide proper demarcation, build an understanding of the client, make the client co-owner of the process and provide a foundation for a possible new fit in the future.
Furthermore, Outside Inc. is advised to continue with the improvement of their own identity and value proposition. By doing so, Outside Inc. can make the fit between the client and the value proposition easier and more adaptable to the evolution of the client.
It is also advised that Outside Inc. continues to do more client research then before. Not only by means of traditional customer research (e.g. evaluation forms/surveys etc.) but also by personally interviewing clients after approximately 1 year after finishing the program. By doing so, Outside Inc. gains valuable information but also builds a new connection with the client that could result in future programs, which could in turn, result in a recurring long-term relationship. ...
However, innovation should happen in the right direction. The idea of innovating just for the sake of growth is outdated and obsolete. The world is out of balance and our current economy is failing us, which means that it is of high importance that we move towards a balance in which we meet the needs of all within the means of our planet.
Outside Inc. tries to contribute to this highly ambitious goal by creating innovation acceleration programs together with existing organisations that will help them find new products and services. These programs combine the entrepreneurial qualities of people with a more sustainable and social mind-set.
In order to make a real impact, Outside Inc. currently needs to grow. Not necessarily grow to become the biggest or the most profitable, but grow to become more resilient. They believe that this growth should be accomplished by creating more recurring long-term relationships instead of the single short-term relationship that are currently mostly formed with their clients.
An extensive research was conducted in order to generate insights into why client relationships are mostly single short-term. A company analysis, a case study of 8 cases and a client analysis based on 6 interviews and 2 observations uncovered, among other insights, three underlying reasons: a miss-alignment in the expectations, a diminishing of the perceived added value and a doubt about the effectiveness of the program.
In order to provide the first step towards solving these problems, a toolset is developed. This toolset consists of a workshop format, an A1 canvas and a set of cards that function as a conversation facilitation tool. The toolset is to be used in a kick-off session at the beginning of a project by the core-team. This core-team exists of two program managers and one to three representatives of the client.
By using this toolset together with the core-team, Outside Inc. program managers are able to manage the expectations, provide proper demarcation, build an understanding of the client, make the client co-owner of the process and provide a foundation for a possible new fit in the future.
Furthermore, Outside Inc. is advised to continue with the improvement of their own identity and value proposition. By doing so, Outside Inc. can make the fit between the client and the value proposition easier and more adaptable to the evolution of the client.
It is also advised that Outside Inc. continues to do more client research then before. Not only by means of traditional customer research (e.g. evaluation forms/surveys etc.) but also by personally interviewing clients after approximately 1 year after finishing the program. By doing so, Outside Inc. gains valuable information but also builds a new connection with the client that could result in future programs, which could in turn, result in a recurring long-term relationship. ...
Innovation is one of the most important aspects in both the business and the design environment, because of one reason: everything changes. Markets are never stable, customers’ needs and wishes change and technology evolves. This leaves companies with the option to either adapt to the ever-changing conditions they are exposed to or to be changed in the face of competitive pressure.
However, innovation should happen in the right direction. The idea of innovating just for the sake of growth is outdated and obsolete. The world is out of balance and our current economy is failing us, which means that it is of high importance that we move towards a balance in which we meet the needs of all within the means of our planet.
Outside Inc. tries to contribute to this highly ambitious goal by creating innovation acceleration programs together with existing organisations that will help them find new products and services. These programs combine the entrepreneurial qualities of people with a more sustainable and social mind-set.
In order to make a real impact, Outside Inc. currently needs to grow. Not necessarily grow to become the biggest or the most profitable, but grow to become more resilient. They believe that this growth should be accomplished by creating more recurring long-term relationships instead of the single short-term relationship that are currently mostly formed with their clients.
An extensive research was conducted in order to generate insights into why client relationships are mostly single short-term. A company analysis, a case study of 8 cases and a client analysis based on 6 interviews and 2 observations uncovered, among other insights, three underlying reasons: a miss-alignment in the expectations, a diminishing of the perceived added value and a doubt about the effectiveness of the program.
In order to provide the first step towards solving these problems, a toolset is developed. This toolset consists of a workshop format, an A1 canvas and a set of cards that function as a conversation facilitation tool. The toolset is to be used in a kick-off session at the beginning of a project by the core-team. This core-team exists of two program managers and one to three representatives of the client.
By using this toolset together with the core-team, Outside Inc. program managers are able to manage the expectations, provide proper demarcation, build an understanding of the client, make the client co-owner of the process and provide a foundation for a possible new fit in the future.
Furthermore, Outside Inc. is advised to continue with the improvement of their own identity and value proposition. By doing so, Outside Inc. can make the fit between the client and the value proposition easier and more adaptable to the evolution of the client.
It is also advised that Outside Inc. continues to do more client research then before. Not only by means of traditional customer research (e.g. evaluation forms/surveys etc.) but also by personally interviewing clients after approximately 1 year after finishing the program. By doing so, Outside Inc. gains valuable information but also builds a new connection with the client that could result in future programs, which could in turn, result in a recurring long-term relationship.
However, innovation should happen in the right direction. The idea of innovating just for the sake of growth is outdated and obsolete. The world is out of balance and our current economy is failing us, which means that it is of high importance that we move towards a balance in which we meet the needs of all within the means of our planet.
Outside Inc. tries to contribute to this highly ambitious goal by creating innovation acceleration programs together with existing organisations that will help them find new products and services. These programs combine the entrepreneurial qualities of people with a more sustainable and social mind-set.
In order to make a real impact, Outside Inc. currently needs to grow. Not necessarily grow to become the biggest or the most profitable, but grow to become more resilient. They believe that this growth should be accomplished by creating more recurring long-term relationships instead of the single short-term relationship that are currently mostly formed with their clients.
An extensive research was conducted in order to generate insights into why client relationships are mostly single short-term. A company analysis, a case study of 8 cases and a client analysis based on 6 interviews and 2 observations uncovered, among other insights, three underlying reasons: a miss-alignment in the expectations, a diminishing of the perceived added value and a doubt about the effectiveness of the program.
In order to provide the first step towards solving these problems, a toolset is developed. This toolset consists of a workshop format, an A1 canvas and a set of cards that function as a conversation facilitation tool. The toolset is to be used in a kick-off session at the beginning of a project by the core-team. This core-team exists of two program managers and one to three representatives of the client.
By using this toolset together with the core-team, Outside Inc. program managers are able to manage the expectations, provide proper demarcation, build an understanding of the client, make the client co-owner of the process and provide a foundation for a possible new fit in the future.
Furthermore, Outside Inc. is advised to continue with the improvement of their own identity and value proposition. By doing so, Outside Inc. can make the fit between the client and the value proposition easier and more adaptable to the evolution of the client.
It is also advised that Outside Inc. continues to do more client research then before. Not only by means of traditional customer research (e.g. evaluation forms/surveys etc.) but also by personally interviewing clients after approximately 1 year after finishing the program. By doing so, Outside Inc. gains valuable information but also builds a new connection with the client that could result in future programs, which could in turn, result in a recurring long-term relationship.
Optimising and improving the performance of a project management organisation
The design and development of a tool which accomodates and facilitates the projects- and process management of Ericis b.v
Master thesis
(2018)
-
Inez Markiet, Frido Smulders, Louis Lousberg, Donald Dinkelaar, Simone Waaijers
Ericis b.v is a dynamic real estate organisation which provides numerous services in real estate. This project concerns project management department. The operational team of this department is relatively small and exists out of six people. Although this department is quite small, their demand on the real-estate market is not. The consistent successes of their projects, which are created through their high level of execution and premium services and products, cause an increase of demands and projects.
A consequence of this success is that an imbalance is created between the amount of work and the available employees. As the pressure and workload increases the team starts to experience numerous difficulties which refrain them from seamless project management processes. Once a lot of projects start to run simultaneously, certain existing problems in the organisation, of which the team might have been unaware, become very prominent and can’t be ignored anymore. One of the most prominent difficulties the team encounters is the lack of an overview regarding the project processes. The organisation indicates that next to the large number of projects and small number of employees, this problem is foremost caused by the lack of a standardized project process. The team does not have a clear documented process which they can hold onto when for example the projects increase and the overview blurs.
In order to solve the difficulties they cope with, one of the steps is the implementation of a tool which supports and accommodates the organisation with the difficulties they face. The following design challenge is created: ‘Design and develop a tool which facilitates the management of the project process as well as the management of all running projects.‘ This tool will both support the team dealing with the difficulties and solve the existing situation.
In order to solve this design challenge a design process is conducted. This design process exists out of a research & analysis phase, a ideation phase, a conceptualisation phase and finally an embodiment phase. Within this process elements are discovered, defined, developed and designed. From discovering the underlying core problems, to developing ideas based on the defined design requirements and finally developing a concept which is also user tested.
Eri-tool is an interactive smart app which provides management support regarding the phasing, hierarchical lines and decision documentation of each project. This application requires specific project input which is to be defined in the project plan- and decision documentation templates. From this input, numerous fundamental elements are generated such as the long- and short term overviews (plannings) of the project process. The user can zoom in and out on the project-phasing overview, as much as preferred or required. The application also contains personal pages, project pages and an archive which offers the users a continuous learning process.
The Eri-tool is an application which guides, supports, enhances and optimises the process and projects management by not only facilitating the management process however also by accommodating the required fundamental elements to perform to full potential.
...
Ericis b.v is a dynamic real estate organisation which provides numerous services in real estate. This project concerns project management department. The operational team of this department is relatively small and exists out of six people. Although this department is quite small, their demand on the real-estate market is not. The consistent successes of their projects, which are created through their high level of execution and premium services and products, cause an increase of demands and projects.
A consequence of this success is that an imbalance is created between the amount of work and the available employees. As the pressure and workload increases the team starts to experience numerous difficulties which refrain them from seamless project management processes. Once a lot of projects start to run simultaneously, certain existing problems in the organisation, of which the team might have been unaware, become very prominent and can’t be ignored anymore. One of the most prominent difficulties the team encounters is the lack of an overview regarding the project processes. The organisation indicates that next to the large number of projects and small number of employees, this problem is foremost caused by the lack of a standardized project process. The team does not have a clear documented process which they can hold onto when for example the projects increase and the overview blurs.
In order to solve the difficulties they cope with, one of the steps is the implementation of a tool which supports and accommodates the organisation with the difficulties they face. The following design challenge is created: ‘Design and develop a tool which facilitates the management of the project process as well as the management of all running projects.‘ This tool will both support the team dealing with the difficulties and solve the existing situation.
In order to solve this design challenge a design process is conducted. This design process exists out of a research & analysis phase, a ideation phase, a conceptualisation phase and finally an embodiment phase. Within this process elements are discovered, defined, developed and designed. From discovering the underlying core problems, to developing ideas based on the defined design requirements and finally developing a concept which is also user tested.
Eri-tool is an interactive smart app which provides management support regarding the phasing, hierarchical lines and decision documentation of each project. This application requires specific project input which is to be defined in the project plan- and decision documentation templates. From this input, numerous fundamental elements are generated such as the long- and short term overviews (plannings) of the project process. The user can zoom in and out on the project-phasing overview, as much as preferred or required. The application also contains personal pages, project pages and an archive which offers the users a continuous learning process.
The Eri-tool is an application which guides, supports, enhances and optimises the process and projects management by not only facilitating the management process however also by accommodating the required fundamental elements to perform to full potential.
Towards controlled innovation of complex objects.
A sociotechnical approach to describing ship design
Within the ship design industry, and in particular in the development of large, complex
and innovative vessels experienced ship designers play an important role in organizing
and structuring the design process. How this actually happens within projects that
develop such large, complex and innovative vessels for a single client is not clear. This
observation lead to a broad, initial research question as the starting point for further
research.
How are innovative, large and complex vessels developed in practice?
Because of the broad, explorative nature of this research question it was not possible
to apply a research strategy aimed on justification and validation, an approach more
common in ship design. After the evaluation of several alternatives a Deweyan inquiry
was selected as most promising for this research, as it allowed for the parallel development
of theory and practice in a pragmatic approach.
One of the first steps was to provisionally pinpoint and frame the initial doubtful situation
based on observations in both theory and practice. The current state-of-the-art ship design
literature was analysed to determine the creative elements in each design strategy. To
enable this analysis CK theory was applied. CK is an approach introduced as a unifying
theory to describe creative design, it differentiates between two distinct ‘spaces’ with
their own rules and logic: the Knowledge space, which is based on propositions that are
either true or false and the Concept space, where propositions are still undetermined and
can either be true or false. To describe creative design, a design process should describe
steps from the knowledge space into the concept space and vice versa.
The analysis showed that the majority of design processes do not describe the full scope
of creative activities, but only concentrate on parts of the ship design process. Creative
ship design, system based design and requirement elucidation explore a broader scope
of the ship design process, concentrating full creative design of the overall ship design,
or in the case of requirement elucidation of both the requirements and the ship design.
To analyse the four case studies CK theory was complemented by the system thinking
perspective observed in literature. Both were applied to analyse the development of
four vessels: the SWind1000, the Greenstream, the Bourbon Orca and the Pioneering
Spirit. In each of these case studies the project did not concentrate on a single level of
decomposition (a focus on either the business case, the ship design, the system design
or component design) but developed multiple levels of decomposition in parallel. For
example, in the development of the Bourbon Orca, the project team worked on the hull
design, the deck equipment and the propulsion system (system level) in parallel with the
overall layout of the vessel (ship design level).
This phenomena, called ‘coevolution’ between solutions on different levels of
decomposition appears to be a key part in innovative ship design, allowing creative
solutions to develop and influence each other. These creative developments often occur
within different companies or different departments of the same company, resulting in
considerable interaction between the involved actors.
During the analysis of the development of the four vessels, complemented with a
series of interviews and an additional reference case it became clear that one of the
most important roles of the experienced ship designers was to handle and manage the
interaction between different actors caused by coevolving solutions. There were two
dimensions to this interaction: the technical dimension illustrates the content of the
interaction, the social dimension concentrates on the way the information is transferred.
Based on these observations and an initial choice to explore the technical dimension of
the interaction the following constructive hypothesis was developed, as a starting point
to evaluate the observations made in both practice and theory:
To improve the development of coevolving innovative solutions a design process
should focus on two levels of decomposition, allow for weak system boundaries and
take into account the technical dimension (the content) of the interaction.
In practice, experienced naval architects are more than capable of developing innovative
solutions. However, to improve such processes more control would be preferable without
constraining the initiation of creative solutions. Based on the initial review a more
controlled process should include the following elements: the definition of potentially
innovative solutions, the involvement of technology partners and other actors, support
the integration and coevolution within weak boundaries and manage the timing of
creativity.
To develop a design strategy capable of taking the technical dimension of the interaction
into account, a model was necessary that describes cohesion within a system of systems.
This model could in a later stages be used as a template for a design strategy.
The model to determine the cohesion in a system-of-systems is based on the individual
system description using the aspects Form, Characteristics, Performance and Function,
which is the same on each level of decomposition. Five relations were determined outside
the system boundaries: decomposing and integrating a system (the form of system X
– the form of system X-1 and vice versa), the contextual influence (form of system X
– characteristics of system X-1) and the performance – function cohesion (function of
system X – performance of system X-1 and vice versa). This results in the overall model
of the cohesion shown in figure 1.
The model of cohesion was used as a template to develop a design strategy taking the
technical dimension of the interaction into account. The strategy developed in this
research starts from a required ship functionality (the objective), which is developed into
different sets of system performance parameters, which lead to the individual system
developments. In a later stage, these individual system developments are integrated into
the overall ship design and evaluated (figure 2). This is a departure from the conventional
approach within the ship design industry, which often starts from an existing general
arrangement.
The design strategy was applied during the development of two Ulstein Design &
Solutions B.V. (formerly known as Ulstein Sea of Solutions, USoS) vessels: the Ulstein
xi
Performance/
Characteristics
(parameters)
Form Form
Characteristics
Performance
Objective
(function)
Ship Design System Design
A-B-C... n
(5)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(6)
time
Existing
business-case
Existing
components
Function
Function
System X
System X+1
Form
Form
Performance
Characteristics
Performance
Characteristics
Function
Design X+2
Form
Performance
Characteristics
System X-1
AXDS, an arctic drillship developed for Statoil and the Bravenes, a subsea rock installation
vessel developed for Van Oord. The first project was developed with active influence
of the researcher, as I was involved as a naval architect and design process guardian.
The second project was provided with the initial documentation, but was not actively
influenced by my involvement.
The application of an explicit design strategy had a considerable effect on both projects.
Both designs were considered very innovative without major showstoppers. Even though
there are only two projects available, the design strategy still appears to have a positive
influence on defining innovative solutions, the structured involvement of technology
Figure 1. The model of cohesion
Figure 2. The design strategy, based on the interaction between system and ship design
xii
partners and the integration and coevolution of new solutions as well as the timing of
creativity in the process. For this particular purpose, the design strategy was well suited,
relevant and provided a workable and sufficient flexible solution. This confirmed the
idea that design strategies that take coevolving solutions and the technical dimension
of interaction into account provide a better description of the innovative ship design
process.
During the hypothesis and model development in this research the social dimension
of the interaction was not taken into account. During the experiments the role of this
social dimension became more evident, as the explicit design strategy required different
actors to think and discuss their role within the project. For further research, a proposal is
developed to explore the social dimension of the interaction between actors in the design
process, as a new starting point or ‘doubtful situation’ in further research. Such a research
could for example concentrate on boundary objects, process models or synchronizing
activities.
This research explored the way experienced ship designers develop innovative solutions,
it revealed that the current ship design methods insufficiently describe the process of
coevolving solutions, including the interaction between the different actors that result
from this. This dissertation does not result in a complete prescriptive method to control
innovative design, but it explores, identifies and evaluates the key parameters that
should be taken into account in such approaches.
xiii
...
Within the ship design industry, and in particular in the development of large, complex and innovative vessels experienced ship designers play an important role in organizing and structuring the design process. How this actually happens within projects that develop such large, complex and innovative vessels for a single client is not clear. This observation lead to a broad, initial research question as the starting point for further research. How are innovative, large and complex vessels developed in practice?
Because of the broad, explorative nature of this research question it was not possible to apply a research strategy aimed on justification and validation, an approach more common in ship design. After the evaluation of several alternatives a Deweyan inquiry was selected as most promising for this research, as it allowed for the parallel development of theory and practice in a pragmatic approach.
One of the first steps was to provisionally pinpoint and frame the initial doubtful situation based on observations in both theory and practice. The current state-of-the-art ship design literature was analysed to determine the creative elements in each design strategy. To enable this analysis CK theory was applied. CK is an approach introduced as a unifying theory to describe creative design, it differentiates between two distinct ‘spaces’ with their own rules and logic: the Knowledge space, which is based on propositions that are either true or false and the Concept space, where propositions are still undetermined and can either be true or false. To describe creative design, a design process should describe steps from the knowledge space into the concept space and vice versa.
The analysis showed that the majority of design processes do not describe the full scope of creative activities, but only concentrate on parts of the ship design process. Creative ship design, system based design and requirement elucidation explore a broader scope of the ship design process, concentrating full creative design of the overall ship design, or in the case of requirement elucidation of both the requirements and the ship design. To analyse the four case studies CK theory was complemented by the system thinking perspective observed in literature. Both were applied to analyse the development of four vessels: the SWind1000, the Greenstream, the Bourbon Orca and the Pioneering Spirit. In each of these case studies the project did not concentrate on a single level of decomposition (a focus on either the business case, the ship design, the system design or component design) but developed multiple levels of decomposition in parallel. For example, in the development of the Bourbon Orca, the project team worked on the hull design, the deck equipment and the propulsion system (system level) in parallel with the overall layout of the vessel (ship design level).
This phenomena, called ‘coevolution’ between solutions on different levels of decomposition appears to be a key part in innovative ship design, allowing creative solutions to develop and influence each other. These creative developments often occur within different companies or different departments of the same company, resulting in considerable interaction between the involved actors.
During the analysis of the development of the four vessels, complemented with a series of interviews and an additional reference case it became clear that one of the most important roles of the experienced ship designers was to handle and manage the interaction between different actors caused by coevolving solutions. There were two dimensions to this interaction: the technical dimension illustrates the content of the interaction, the social dimension concentrates on the way the information is transferred. Based on these observations and an initial choice to explore the technical dimension of the interaction the following constructive hypothesis was developed, as a starting point to evaluate the observations made in both practice and theory: To improve the development of coevolving innovative solutions a design process should focus on two levels of decomposition, allow for weak system boundaries and take into account the technical dimension (the content) of the interaction.
In practice, experienced naval architects are more than capable of developing innovative solutions. However, to improve such processes more control would be preferable without constraining the initiation of creative solutions. Based on the initial review a more controlled process should include the following elements: the definition of potentially innovative solutions, the involvement of technology partners and other actors, support the integration and coevolution within weak boundaries and manage the timing of creativity.
To develop a design strategy capable of taking the technical dimension of the interaction into account, a model was necessary that describes cohesion within a system of systems. This model could in a later stages be used as a template for a design strategy.
The model to determine the cohesion in a system-of-systems is based on the individual system description using the aspects Form, Characteristics, Performance and Function, which is the same on each level of decomposition. Five relations were determined outside the system boundaries: decomposing and integrating a system (the form of system X – the form of system X-1 and vice versa), the contextual influence (form of system X – characteristics of system X-1) and the performance – function cohesion (function of system X – performance of system X-1 and vice versa). This results in the overall model of the cohesion shown in figure 1.
The model of cohesion was used as a template to develop a design strategy taking the technical dimension of the interaction into account. The strategy developed in this research starts from a required ship functionality (the objective), which is developed into different sets of system performance parameters, which lead to the individual system developments. In a later stage, these individual system developments are integrated into the overall ship design and evaluated (figure 2). This is a departure from the conventional approach within the ship design industry, which often starts from an existing general arrangement.
The design strategy was applied during the development of two Ulstein Design & Solutions B.V. (formerly known as Ulstein Sea of Solutions, USoS) vessels: the Ulstein xi Performance/ Characteristics (parameters) Form Form Characteristics Performance Objective (function) Ship Design System Design A-B-C... n (5) (2) (3) (4) (6) time Existing business-case Existing components Function Function System X System X+1 Form Form Performance Characteristics Performance Characteristics Function Design X+2 Form Performance Characteristics System X-1 AXDS, an arctic drillship developed for Statoil and the Bravenes, a subsea rock installation vessel developed for Van Oord. The first project was developed with active influence of the researcher, as I was involved as a naval architect and design process guardian. The second project was provided with the initial documentation, but was not actively influenced by my involvement.
The application of an explicit design strategy had a considerable effect on both projects. Both designs were considered very innovative without major showstoppers. Even though there are only two projects available, the design strategy still appears to have a positive influence on defining innovative solutions, the structured involvement of technology Figure 1. The model of cohesion Figure 2. The design strategy, based on the interaction between system and ship design xii partners and the integration and coevolution of new solutions as well as the timing of creativity in the process. For this particular purpose, the design strategy was well suited, relevant and provided a workable and sufficient flexible solution. This confirmed the idea that design strategies that take coevolving solutions and the technical dimension of interaction into account provide a better description of the innovative ship design process.
During the hypothesis and model development in this research the social dimension of the interaction was not taken into account. During the experiments the role of this social dimension became more evident, as the explicit design strategy required different actors to think and discuss their role within the project. For further research, a proposal is developed to explore the social dimension of the interaction between actors in the design process, as a new starting point or ‘doubtful situation’ in further research. Such a research could for example concentrate on boundary objects, process models or synchronizing activities.
This research explored the way experienced ship designers develop innovative solutions, it revealed that the current ship design methods insufficiently describe the process of coevolving solutions, including the interaction between the different actors that result from this. This dissertation does not result in a complete prescriptive method to control innovative design, but it explores, identifies and evaluates the key parameters that should be taken into account in such approaches. xiii