Exploring the tensions between design and strategy
Dan Hill says, “In Strategic Design you’re either looking at a system to change the thing or you’re looking at that thing to change the system.” Design strategy focuses on addressing a particular ‘thing’ like a problem, pain point, need, aspiration, goal or even delight to cause change and see how this change impacts the larger system/s. Strategy by design or a matter to meta approach also takes a reciprocal look at how the system can change the thing.
Design and business goals are often treated as mutually exclusive since their responsibility sits with people with different skill sets in an organization. The intersection of design and strategy causes tensions in the work environment. Then, how could design define an effective strategy that will strike a balance between achieving business success and creating user value? I was able to explore this tension through the brief given while studying Design Strategy.
The challenge
Launch a carpool service in the Australian market in 2019 focusing on the modern millennial by making transportation an experience and not just a daily commute.
Launch a carpool service in the Australian market in 2019 focusing on the modern millennial by making transportation an experience and not just a daily commute.
Design process and approach
Brief
After reading the brief several times, I broke it down into four main sections to understand Lyft’s goals. This helped me deal with it part by part yet gather the big picture. I was initially concerned about conducting research in an Australian context from India. This, however, turned into an advantage since I could get a fresh perspective of the Australian landscape.
After reading the brief several times, I broke it down into four main sections to understand Lyft’s goals. This helped me deal with it part by part yet gather the big picture. I was initially concerned about conducting research in an Australian context from India. This, however, turned into an advantage since I could get a fresh perspective of the Australian landscape.
The main objective was to help Lyft tap into the Australian market in 2019. Following are the broad goals covered:
1. Understand the Australian mindset towards carpooling
2. Get a profile of the average Australian passenger
3. Deliver a brand-new carpool service for the modern millennial
4. Be the first autonomous carpool service on Australian roads
Research
The research was conducted along parameters like technology with respect to autonomous cars from Lyft’s standpoint, competitors, customers (with a focus on Australian millennials) and region. This research led to the exploration of opportunity areas and further validation of assumptions.
The research was conducted along parameters like technology with respect to autonomous cars from Lyft’s standpoint, competitors, customers (with a focus on Australian millennials) and region. This research led to the exploration of opportunity areas and further validation of assumptions.
Technology
Autonomous vehicles becoming an on-road reality is still 5 to 10 years away. Lyft is investing heavily in autonomous car-pooling technology and testing to stay relevant in the ride-sharing market. Australian millennials are open to autonomous vehicles.
Autonomous vehicles becoming an on-road reality is still 5 to 10 years away. Lyft is investing heavily in autonomous car-pooling technology and testing to stay relevant in the ride-sharing market. Australian millennials are open to autonomous vehicles.
‘Majority’ of rides will be in self-driving cars by 2021
Lyft surpassed 5,000 self-driving rides with Aptiv fleet in Las Vegas
Customers
The motivations for car-pooling, globally, would be more or less similar regardless of demographics. Therefore, I decided to focus on contextual behaviours of passengers. A list of these motivations was used to verify whether they stand true in Australia through the combination of research on the attitude of Australians towards car-pooling and statistical evidence.
The motivations for car-pooling, globally, would be more or less similar regardless of demographics. Therefore, I decided to focus on contextual behaviours of passengers. A list of these motivations was used to verify whether they stand true in Australia through the combination of research on the attitude of Australians towards car-pooling and statistical evidence.
1. 54% millennials will form a major section of the Australian consumer market by 2030
2. 70% of the times, millennials use ride-sharing services when going out for an evening with friends
3. 1.2 million people in urban areas are not within walking distance of reasonable quality public transport
It can be inferred that, there’s a real need for good transportation service in regional and outer urban areas of Australia
1. Millennials living in outer urban and regional areas are finding it difficult to travel to city centres because of the lack of convenient public transportation and are forced to own a private vehicle
2. Currently, there are very few ride-sharing players in the regional market, so Lyft could get the early advantage. The urban market is crowded with a lot of competitors
3. 1.2 million people in urban areas are not within walking distance of reasonable quality public transport
4. 45% of people living in outer urban areas travel more than 20 km each day to work and need a private car for commuting
Lyft should, therefore, focus on improving transportation services in outer urban and regional Australia while launching the ride-sharing service
The focus segment of users mentioned in the brief was millennials. They have different personalities, their needs change according to personal, professional, social parameters (e.g. married with children vs student). Therefore, I crafted three main personas based on three needs:
1. Save transport cost — The Super Saver
2. Convenience — The High Flier
3. Going out and social life — The Socializer
Since drivers are the main service providers, understanding their personas was essential too. Their needs would change based on whether they drive Lyft cars full time or half time.
1. The Full Timer: livelihood may depend on driving and they may be more serious about it
2. The Part timer: might do it for fun and not take it seriously
Design principles based on personas
Be inclusive
Cater to diverse users and their needs
Australia is a large country with great diversity with respect to geography, ethnicity, faiths, genders etc
Cater to diverse users and their needs
Australia is a large country with great diversity with respect to geography, ethnicity, faiths, genders etc
Build trust
Provide reliable service in areas where it is needed the most. Be just towards the partners and have transparency in interactions
Seize opportunities in the Australian market where ride-sharing is a relatively new concept and there aren’t too many players in the semi-urban and regional areas
Provide reliable service in areas where it is needed the most. Be just towards the partners and have transparency in interactions
Seize opportunities in the Australian market where ride-sharing is a relatively new concept and there aren’t too many players in the semi-urban and regional areas
Add moments of delight
Personalised communication and recommendations aimed at the users that convey that they are special
Ride-sharing should go beyond the ease of transport but should mean something more that adds value to the life of the user
Personalised communication and recommendations aimed at the users that convey that they are special
Ride-sharing should go beyond the ease of transport but should mean something more that adds value to the life of the user
Make every detail count
Add additional information only if, when and where necessary
Whilst adding value, it is necessary to understand where to stop infringing the personal space of the user
Add additional information only if, when and where necessary
Whilst adding value, it is necessary to understand where to stop infringing the personal space of the user
Competitors
Comparative research of Lyft’s competitors revealed that all of them were very similar albeit a few minor differences in their offerings and customer value. All of them also had another striking similarity which could lead to an opportunity area — None of them had launched in semi-urban or regional areas. A deeper dive into how people in regional and semi-urban areas commute, their pains, goals, spending patterns helped me gain clarity on which customer segment and location Lyft should focus on.
Comparative research of Lyft’s competitors revealed that all of them were very similar albeit a few minor differences in their offerings and customer value. All of them also had another striking similarity which could lead to an opportunity area — None of them had launched in semi-urban or regional areas. A deeper dive into how people in regional and semi-urban areas commute, their pains, goals, spending patterns helped me gain clarity on which customer segment and location Lyft should focus on.
Autonomous cars, Lyft and Australian millennials
1. NRMA anticipates highly autonomous vehicles in Australia from 2020, and fully autonomous vehicles from 2025
2. Trials are necessary to examine interactions between autonomous technology, road users, roadside infrastructure and other vehicles
3. Government legislation would take some time to get formulated and would be based on trials, user safety, road safety and answerability
4. 62% of Australian millennials are ready for driverless cars
5. 40% of Australian millennials would be willing to buy an autonomous car in less than five years
Therefore, launching an autonomous carpooling service for the Australian millennial should be a broader future vision for Lyft.
At the moment, Lyft should focus on millennials living in outer urban and regional Australia while launching the ride-sharing service.
After coming up with a vision for launching a carpooling service for Australian millennials, it was necessary to summarise the content in the form of a Lean Business Canvas to present ideas onto a tangible and concise format.
Vision statement
The vision statement was crafted based on the user needs, how Lyft could achieve a unique space in the competitive ride-sharing market and expressing these thoughts through the Lean Business Canvas. It was evident that there’s a need to provide better transportation services to people living in semi-urban areas.
Ideation process
1. Ideas centred around the four main stakeholders:
2. Passengers
3. Businesses
4. Government
5. Drivers
Ideas were sketched out in a storyboard format. Each idea was presented in the format of ‘Who’, ‘How’ and ‘Why’ to explain its exact effectiveness.
The tension between design and strategy was balanced through relative prioritization exercise using strategic impact and customer value as the two dimensions of the matrix. A good business model should focus on adding value to the customer’s needs as well as deliver at scale. The Australian market is very competitive with the presence of seasoned players like Uber, Didi, Ola. Delivering on customer value at scale will be crucial to Lyft’s success in Australia.
A current journey map was sketched to evaluate the user’s emotions while getting to the nearest public transport depot in their own vehicle.
The journey begins on a neutral note but ends on a sad note. There’s a need to change this scenario.
The following idea was developed keeping the user’s emotions in mind.
Idea expansion
Who? (people who)
1. Stay far away from their places of work or study
2. Far from nearest public transport
3. Like to meet interesting people and are social
4. Prefer public transport for longer distances to avoid getting stuck in traffic and lower transport costs
How?
1. Lyft Line (carpooling) for pick up and drop to the nearest public transport depot
2. Provision for building a user profile and a model for recommending co-passengers based on shared likes, events and meet-ups
Why?
1. People end up spending a lot of money on private cars just to get to public transport services
2. People would be willing to meet like-minded people while commuting
3. The ride would become enjoyable
4. People will explore new areas of the city through Lyft
Details
1. The user would create their profile on the Lyft app
2. See the time table of Lyft Line cars to the nearest public transport depot
3. Select the desired Lyft Line pick-up for the nearest public transport depot
4. Recommendations of people in proximity with shared interests who they could travel with, making the ride affordable, accessible and enjoyable
Further expansion of the idea
The above recommendation model could have the potential to snowball into something bigger:
Presenting Lyft Events
Lyft Events
1. Most millennials like company while travelling
2. Meeting people with similar interests can spark conversations
3. Based on your profile, the Lyft app could give recommendations about interest-based events happening around you
4. Further, it would also recommend people who you could share the ride with who share similar interests
5. You could create rides with the new feature, ‘Lyft Events’ and attend meet-ups while travelling with people with similar interests
6. Car-pooling would increase, cost of travel would decrease
7. Lyft could gain by tying up with local event agencies and meet up groups
How will Lyft Events work?
1. Tie-ups with local meet up groups to recommend like based events to its users. The user would get recommendations of events and people they could car-pool with
2. Also, based on places visited the app could further recommend people you could share the ride with. For e.g. If people are visiting the same restaurants, you could get recommendations like — hitch a ride with all these people
3. The user could view the recommended person’s profile and invite them to join them for the desired event
4. There could be several events that are recommended and the user can choose any of those. They would get notified if the invitation is accepted and they could pool a ride
The user could then book a ride with Lyft to get to the event
A service blueprint was created to communicate in short how the idea will work and lso to test the idea from a strategic lens.
Design solution as a strategy
The idea was validated by comparing it against the proposed Vision statement and the design principles. It was further tested by using Desirability, Viability and Feasibility (DVF).
Overall, the idea seems viable, feasible and it delivers on all of the problems the business wants to solve while increasing customer value.
Advantages
1. Delivers on 3 out of 5 problems
2. Highly feasible
3. Additional revenue stream from partner companies
Limitations
1. Cost of partnering with events, restaurants, meet up groups would be high
2. People might initially find it difficult to strike a conversation with co-passengers while some might find it unsafe
3. Additional cost implication of marketing campaigns for a roll-out
After a pilot roll-out, it is crucial to measure the success of the idea. A core performance indicator was therefore recommended — CPI:
Recommended events attended. The measure of the success of this idea should be how many people attended recommended events.
Why?
1. To check whether the passengers liked the recommended events and/or went with the recommended people by collecting feedback. This would provide an insight into whether the recommendation model would work for Lyft
2. Whether the partnerships with events and meet up groups were profitable
If this idea works, it would give Lyft a competitive advantage since it would know its users better
Recommendations
With the help of the priority exercise, a minimum viable service was suggested whose main objective was to make transport affordable. Two more phases were further suggested as follows:
Phase 2: Recommending personalised events and commute partners
Phase 3: Provision for local people/artists to list events on the app
The following table indicates the expected strategic impact and the steps Lyft should take to implement them.
Conclusion
I tried to work through the tension between strategy and design by applying business-related frameworks to interpret and validate design-related findings and ideas. I realised that using inter-disciplinary methodologies could help blur the boundaries between design and strategy and satisfy business goals and add value to the customer’s life at the same time. In my opinion, an idea that takes a bird’s eye view of what people want and delivers more than what’s in the ‘brief’ would result in meaningful design and business solutions.
