Storytelling Versus Specifications

The Politics of Introducing New Design in a Large Organization
Colin Bay, Thug Design | Dwayne King, Pinpoint. | Chris Tobias, Technology Association of Oregon

Innovation is all the rage today. But how do you actually get your crazy, life changing ideas turned into real products when you work for a large, complex organization? Join our panel of seasoned troublemakers from companies like GE, Intel, etc to learn how to you can become a force for change within a large team and still keep your job. Our panelists will share their war stories and lessons learned with plenty of time to brainstorm and discuss your questions as well.

About the Speakers

Colin Bay, Thug Design

Colin Bay is Chief Research Officer for Thug Design, a user research and design agency in NW Portland. He has been working in user experience since before it was ever called that, from WordPerfect to Intel to Thug, and some companies in between. His agency has great faith that the answers to most product design questions (or at least the inspiration for the answers) lie with the audiences for those products, given the right mix of asking, watching, interacting, and listening. Thug works chiefly with companies in the Fortune 100, along with a variety of smaller, up-and-coming clients.

Dwayne King, Pinpoint.

Dwayne (@dwayne_king) has led strategic teams for over 15 years, always asking them for less; Less complexity, less ego, less whiz-bang, and less copycat thinking. Leaving more room for elegant, useful design and emergent strategies that bring something new into the world. Dwayne loves guiding his clients past familiar ground towards effective and powerful ideas that transform their products, services and how customers interact with them. Dwayne believes in digging into business and customer needs first, transforming himself in every project from a questioning student to a confident strategist.

Before becoming a design researcher, Dwayne was a scientist working on population models. He brings a unique melding of design thinking and the scientific process, qualitative methods and statistical rigor, conceptual frameworks and systems models.

Chris Tobias, TAO & GE Healthcare

Chris Tobias builds great teams to solve difficult healthcare problems. With more than 20 years’ experience in software development, business leadership, organizational change and customer service, he works hard to create a clear vision of excellence and inspire people to bring their best work to the table. He currently serves as Lead Systems Integrator for GE Healthcare leading software projects for the Sochi and Rio Olympics, electronic prescribing, patient records and next generation cloud healthcare software. His teams have tackled numerous complex software releases, new product launches and business streamlining efforts. He is also Chairman of the Technology Association of Oregon’s Digital Health Community which hosts Oregon’s largest health technology innovation events and forums. Outside of the office Chris enjoys spending time with his wife and two very active children, cycling and tinkering with inventions in the garage.

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Storytelling Versus Specifications: The Politics of Introducing New Design in a Large Organization from CHIFOO Communications on Vimeo.