EMTM Silicon Valley Residency: Day Two

March 31, 2020

The second day of the residency explored the feedback process of design by gathering insights. The learners focused on business problems their organizations are currently facing and building different business model canvasses to solution for the best option.

Prof. Beckman challenged the class to find the difference between ‘use’ and ‘usability’ by describing the functional needs of their customer’s user journey.

“From all these frameworks we’ve covered, you can build canvasses on which to outline the past, present and future state of your organizations. From there, you will be able to answer the following questions – what value is my organization creating? How is my organization creating value? How is my organization delivering value? And how might I help my organization capture value?”

Dr. Vivek Rao, Professor of Innovation and Design at UC Berkeley and former Senior Designer with IDEO led the group in an afternoon of storytelling. The class began deepening their understanding of the importance of storytelling in distilling your corporate message to it purest form. No longer just the purview of marketers and communicators, storytelling is a key part in designing solutions because that is how you know if you’re connecting with consumers and users.

The afternoon went on as the class began prototyping products that addressed the needs that they heard in the stories from each other and about their organization. Using traditional arts and crafts supplies including tin foil, paper, pipe cleaners and the famous Play-Doh; the group developed ideas and product based solutions to start solving real world problems and creating opportunities for people to enjoy the products they love in an even better way.  ‘People don’t want trends, they want their needs met’, says Rao.

“The Applied Design and Innovation residency provided me with a different experience that gave us unique insights on how large corporations like Google remain successful. Design thinking empowered us not only to look at the problem in a new way but also prototype the solution for them.”  – Naila Sadykova

The EMTM cohort ventured back in to San Francisco to discuss their new learnings over a meal together. On their way they were tasked with observing companies at the epicenter of customer centered service delivery and design. The group was excitedly stumbled on the original Amazon Go grocery store given that that only a few months prior the class undertook an in-depth case analysis on this innovative customer focused venture.

“The applied design and innovation residency in California is a learning experience you'll never forget.  The skills I gained from the residency upped my game, and I was able to apply them to my work immediately.  It's truly a privilege to learn from the best in the industry within the heart of the technology world”.- Anthony Bastone, Current EMTM Learner.

Be sure to read the Day One article from the EMTM Residency:

Day One