and sometimes he will drink!
One of the greatest challenges a designer can face is introducing changes to an existing system. Altering features and streamlining an experience is frequently viewed as “rework” and not considered to be as compelling as new features, even when users express support for the changes. But sometimes there can be just as much value gained by simplifying an existing feature, particularly if it makes the whole experience feel lighter and faster.
Unfortunately, the benefits are not always as obvious to others. One of my favorite techniques for driving the point home is using Design Thinking’s As Is and To Be exercises. This puts the existing experience (As Is) in direct comparison to the desired experience (To Be).
These techniques really strike home when you are simplifying a process and taking something that was multiple steps and reducing it to a much simpler experience. My favorite illustration of this technique was when I made the case to take a multi-step, multi-dialog process and collapse it into a single dialog. It’s hard to argue against taking something that was six steps (a painful six steps I might add) and cutting it in half. The stakeholders immediately saw the benefit and the proposal was adopted for the next release of the product.
You can see some shots from the presentation I put together below, with the As Is in the yellow boxes and the To Be in the blue. There were over twenty different combinations, but you’ll get the gist from these examples.
