Discussion

To begin with the discussion of this research, this quote from my interview with Joe Lubin highlights the importance of this project,

"Blockchain and decentralization is a large force that is going to disrupt their businesses, they need to form a strategy, they need to wrap their heads around the technology (Lubin, 2016)." - Joe Lubin founder of Consensys

One of the goals of this research was to explore a new technology, not only on the behalf of an existing business but also for the field of design. Blockchain is a fascinating phenomenon with an incredible knowledge gap between those currently working on the technology and the general public. The average person has most likely heard of many of the other emerging technologies of our day such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, private space flight, 3D printing, etc. There also happens to be significant capital being poured into the development and research of those technologies. However, blockchain has comparable, if not more disruption potential and a significant amount of venture capital activity but it has gone relatively unnoticed by those outside of its direct involvement (Williams-Grut, 2015). Many of the experts that were interviewed about blockchain during the course of this research agreed that communication and education on blockchain is a significant need in the industry. Coupling this insight with the results of the research suggest the idea or need of “designer as translator”. 

Designer as Translator

Translation is part of communication and design is a form of communication. The act of taking information from a source and manipulating it to facilitate the comprehension of it by a receiver is communication on a fundamental level. Most of the time we use verbal language to do this. We take the information in our heads and use a shared library of words or body language to transfer that information. When two parties don’t share the same library of words, a translator who shares both mediates this communication. I believe designers function in a similar way, but designers largely deal in more expansive libraries of cultural symbols, emotion, metaphor and more. This research project was, at its essence, translation. It was the translation of the highly technical field of blockchain to the business of a mobile advertising startup. The workshops that were run with Datami functioned as prisms through which the participants could view blockchain using a familiar language. Experience designers have a distinct advantage in this role owing to their use of human-centered design methods. The efficacy of the Fears & Opportunities workshop seems to support this. By boiling blockchain down to its core elements (such as trust and transparency), the workshop was able to tap into this “shared library” of human truths and more fundamental business concerns that all companies share. By focusing on these aspects first, pain points and opportunities can be identified while having a reasonable amount of certainty that they are problems which blockchain might be able to solve.

Blockchain is a UX innovation

Another issue that this research shed light on was business-to-business user experience and the need to treat a business’ employees and stakeholders as users. B2B is an oft ignored field of design. However, the emergence of blockchain could bring about an increase in demand for designers in b2b contexts. This is because blockchain is essentially a UX solution. In talking with Krzysztof Kwiecinski, who works with Visa Europe, this idea of blockchain as a UX solution was illuminated for me. Krzysztof says,

"You do not care what kind of database your supermarket is using (Kwiecinski, 2016)."

The way in which a blockchain is structured (miners earning rewards, all nodes having a copy of the ledger, using public and private keys, etc.) is a design that solves the user experience of transacting value (or on a more fundamental level - trust) on the internet. So, much like the internet before it, blockchain is a platform or protocol on which many different applications might be built. I believe many of these application will be in the b2b arena. Blockchain opens up the ability for businesses to collaborate on, simplify, and bring transparency to their relationships with each other. The difficulty lies in having someone in the middle who understands the two businesses, and blockchain, well enough to identify the opportunities. Designers rely heavily on empathy to inform their design decisions and this empathy is easy to come by when a designer is creating something for which they might use or have seen someone use. It is much harder for designers to create solutions for the media buyer in the marketing department of a film production company. However, blockchain might be able to solve many of the pains she encounters on a daily basis. Designers with knowledge of blockchain will be able to greatly impact the future of business-to-business UX in the near future.

Future Research

With blockchain at such an early stage of its emergence, a tremendous amount of research is left to be done. Though from a design standpoint there are a few areas that stand out as particularly relevant.

Although blockchain will largely be hidden behind the common UX patterns we interact with on a daily basis, it still has the potential to change our digital experience on the surface. When the internet arrived, users had to learn what logging on meant, what made a good password, what URLs were, what the “@“ symbol meant. The internet brought with it a language that was tied to technical aspects of the system. Blockchains rely on public and private keys that can be up to 32 alphanumeric characters in length. One cannot simply memorize these strings making the storing of them essential. Additionally, without centralized entities mediating transactions, the pressure falls on users to protect their assets and protect their keys. Imagine keeping 1 million dollars in cash in the trunk of your car, only to have your car stolen. On the blockchain, if you lose your private key, you lose whatever value was tied to it. There is no recourse. This is a lot of responsibility.

Furthermore, blockchain transactions take a certain amount of time to settle. Different blockchains settle faster than others but Bitcoin for instance takes about 10 minutes to verify a transaction (machoo123, 2016). For example, Consensys UX Designer Eva Schon tells me that when she wants to recieve cash for Bitcoins she has to visit a specific store in her neighborhood and walk around the block for 10-20 minutes before she can recieve the money (Schon, 2016).  This means that time sensitive transactions such as real-time betting are not fully possible. This is a stark contrast to the immediate gratification that many of the recent digital innovations enable. Some companies are working on solutions but additional research should be conducted on how this waiting time will affect the digital experience of interacting with blockchain. 

Another area of future research that I would recommend would be to conduct the process that has been presented in this project at a larger corporation. Datami was a small startup. This had both positive and negative affects on the process and on the outcomes. However, the dynamics of a large corporation like Verizon are much different and may not stand to benefit from the exact process presented here. However, these large corporations are the players at the greatest risk for disruption and have the most to lose. 

Human-Centered Design vs. Disruption Theory

Human-centered design and disruption theory, on the surface, seem incompatible. HCD preaches a devotion to a user-first philosophy. Build empathy, ask the user questions, co-create: these are some of the central tenets of HCD. Disruption Theory, on the other hand, says that the surest way to increase your risk of disruption is to focus too narrowly on your users, their needs, and their desires (Christensen, 1997). The friction between these two schools of thought is obvious, but not irreconcilable. The research presented in the previous chapters suggests that experience designers employing a human-centered approach and using design thinking methods and tools may help existing companies avoid the disruption to which they so often fall victim. The use of these tools can at the very least help them to understand where the disruption is coming from. 

Designers working to create disruptive innovations should focus more on new-market innovations (Hekkert, 2015). Since these types of innovations are characterized by novelty and often have few to no competitors, new-market innovations are where an experience designers tools can be most valuable. In the context of this research, experience designers may want to explore what new markets emerging technologies can allow a business to enter. For Datami, a new market may be the unbanked and unconnected people of the Philippines. The people of this market represent what is referred to as the “base of the pyramid” (Prahalad, 2004). Designing for this is often a good strategy for creating a disruptive innovation (Steen, 2015). 

At one point in my feedback session I asked one of the developers at Datami, Robin, how he felt about the idea of "Research and design" as opposed to "Research and development" in regards to the exploration of potentially disruptive innovations. His response really reflects the efficacy of a HCD approach, 

"As a developer in this industry, we write a lot of code and end up throwing it all away. At the end of the day it doesn't feel right. So, this process that you are trying to bring in, basically you feel it first...to first feel it, whether it looks right or not, that is definitley a very good thing. Because we end up developing everything and then we see, "ah shit!" this definitely doesn't feel right (Balyan, 2016)."

Contribution To Knowledge

The culmination of this research process has led me to believe that there is a significant need for an alternative or additional approach to innovation within existing businesses. I aimed to vet my thoughts on the framework that I adhered to this process by getting feedback from individuals in the blockchain industry. Justin Hanneman, a blockchain developer at Factom in Austin, responded to my description of my process by saying, 

"That sounds like you did a really good job on that, right when you started talking about cell towers, I had never thought about that (Hanneman, 2016)."

 Current research and development models focus mainly on creating sustaining innovations nor do they typically involve a solution for choosing what to research and develop. I propose that a new R&D approach, “Research and Design”, be used by existing businesses to explore the potential of emerging technologies to create disruptive and sustaining innovations. A research and design methodology is led by an experience designer who, using a human-centered approach, plays the role of translator to bridge the knowledge gap between those involved with an emerging technology and the business in which the designer operates. Using workshops, brainstorms, prototyping and other design activities, an experience designer can help an existing business react to emerging technologies and explore the role an those technologies might play in an existing businesses’ future quickly and efficiently and help create a more informed decision around what projects to move into development.