The Company Road Podcast E39 Kris Washusen - Leaning into Lean: Navigating methodology vs creativity
“Design's not in its infancy anymore but we can still find it hard to communicate our value.”
Kris Washusen
In this episode you’ll hear about:
- Adopting a Lean-UX approach: Why you should value rapid prototyping over extensive upfront discovery and what you can do to implement quick and experimental change cycles.
- The stickiness of design work: Addressing the challenges in implementing and achieving longevity in design work… and how to avoid design projects going nowhere.
- Impact of the ‘pandemic tools’: The way tools and technologies developed during the pandemic have continued to accelerate and impact design processes, enabling faster synthesis of data and more efficient collaboration among design teams.
- Role of stakeholder engagement: How to ensure the successful implementation of design recommendations and strategies through ongoing stakeholder engagement and consultation.
- Balancing creativity and methodology: Exploring the tension between structured design methodologies like the double diamond approach and the need and value in creative spontaneity and quick decision-making in design processes.
Key links
Gareth Rydon interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMp6qbgTtu4
Dovetail AI https://dovetail.com/launch/magic/
Otter AI https://otter.ai/
NAB https://www.nab.com.au/
FigJam https://www.figma.com/figjam/
Swaggle https://swaggle.com.au/
About our guest
Kris Washusen (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kris-washusen/) is a Strategic Designer and Design & Product Practitioner based in Melbourne, Australia. Along with his UX, CX, product and strategic design roles, Kris's career in advertising and as an entrepreneur building, running and exiting successful businesses has allowed him to develop a unique problem-solving skill set.
From research, strategy and transformational change design for both the private and public sectors through to product strategy and design for tech and startups, Kris has helped some of Australia's most respected organisations navigate some choppy seas.
Kris's passion lies in implementing human-centred and Lean-UX principles to navigate ambiguity, explore the behaviours and motivations of the users of products or services and create delightful, intuitive, and accessible experiences that solve complex organisational problems.
About our host
Our host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co)
Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with University of Melbourne in Innovation, and Academy Xi in CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally.
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