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Success Metrics For Design Innovation Labs
I soaked up a beautiful summer day while waiting for a ride to the airport. I felt buoyant. Just moments ago, I finished a multi-day tour of a design innovation lab run by a well-respected Fortune 500 firm. Its mission: Improve employee and customer experiences around the world by evaluating and redesigning digital products that passed through the lab.
I actually got to witness, hands-on, one project go through the lab’s process. Incredibly well-run and thought out, I was filled with excitement about what the lab was able to create in such a short time. Although evidence was qualitative and anecdotal, it seemed obvious the lab uncovered relevant improvements to the stakeholder’s employees’ experience. As a designer, I was basking in the afterglow of this “feel-good” process.
But once I got on the plane, I had a sobering thought. What happens once the project leaves the lab? What if the project’s team can’t execute those improvements to the employee experience? How much support will the project have from designers in the months ahead?
In that moment, I had an epiphany: The excitement of going through any design lab needs to be tempered by an unbiased measure of the outcomes directly attributable to the lab itself.
Outcomes over output. Proof over potential.
