Don’t Ask for Permission, Ask for Forgiveness (Thomas Schoerner Product Stream)

© 2016 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. 1Internal© 2016 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
Don’t ask for permission,
ask for forgiveness
Thomas Schörner, SAP
October 02, 2016

© 2016 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
Come to work
everyday willing
to be fired
Circumvent any
orders aimed at
stopping your
dream
Do any job
needed
regardless of
your job
description
Find people
to help you
Work
underground as
long as you can
Follow your
intuition about
the people you
chose
Never bet on a
race unless you
are running in it
Don’t ask for
permission, ask
for forgiveness
Be true to your
goals but be
realistic about
the ways to
achieve them
Honor your
sponsors
Intrapreneur’s ten
commandments:
http://www.pinchot.com/2011/11/the-intrapreneurs-ten-commandments.html
[Gifford Pinchot]

TommyBoyMovie
Tommy Boy
Having fun at work

Thomas Schörner
Senior User Experience Designer

Do what you want now
It is impossible to predict what
skills will be needed in the future,
so better become good in what
you enjoy the most.
When I started studying, the
iPhone was not invented, yet
and my later job did not exist.

Find the red thread in your CV
For me, that is…

DESIGNAs the creative act of doing something that helps the world run better.

Psychologist
UX-Designer
Adventurer Problem SolverFounder
Personality vs. Job Role
Don’t let your job description restrict
your personality. Be open to talk about
your motivation and interests with
your manager and colleagues.
You will do a better job.

As a UX-Designer
Internet
I turn screens like this…

As a UX-Designer
Internetsource
… into responsive mobile apps like this

Overcoming cultural gaps
SketchesbyKonradRöpke
Cultural differences can be a big
barrier for successful projects.

Try to understand how others see
you and what behaviors lead to that
perception. Does it affect your job?

Be aware that you might have
prejudices as well.

Be empathetic with each other
Only then your work will be valued
and eventually become a success.

Chapter 2

How would you sell a piano?
http://www.getfinch.com/2011/03/ux-is-mostly-desirability/
In 1928 Edvward Bernays wrote a
PR-book called ‘Propaganda’.
He found that setting circumstances
in which ideas sell themselves is more
effective then advertising ideas or
products directly.
So instead of putting up piano ads,
he made journalists write about a
new trend, that sophisticated people
have music rooms in their homes.
Since many people want to think of
themselves as being sophisticated,
they started following the trend –
and bought pianos for their homes.

Setting the stage to ‘sell design’
During my first 3.5 years at SAP I co-founded three cultural change initiatives
together with colleagues who want to drive internal change:
Design Whizzes UX Marketeers ICD Experience

2013 2014 2015 2016
Design Whizzes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OQLpO_IJzw&list=PLRgxiZBuQ4PYmuYtsgOXvA7J6zH
PEu7RZ
Goal: Increase general design
awareness
e.g. by inviting famous
designers from non-IT
companies to talk about their
roles in designing products
which our employees value.

Design Whizzes
A couple of learnings during my time
as a Design Whizz at SAP:
1. Find high-level sponsors who
believe in your idea
2. Empower colleagues to feel
responsible for their work
3. Build a community of supporters
4. And….

Honor
your
sponsors
§

2013 2014 2015 2016
UX Marketeers
Goal: Help employees to have
more fun with User Experience
e.g. by placing UX-principles in
unexpected places like inside
desert bowls in the canteen or
rebuilding solutions with
ginger-bread before Christmas.

2013 2014 2015 2016
ICD Experience
Goal: Make SAP solutions more
tangible for our customers
e.g. by building interactive
models that help to explain the
features of our software
solutions hands-on.

ICD Experience
You don’t need many people to start a revolution, but they have to be the right ones.
Tao
Designer
Oleksiy
Developer
Thomas
Product Manager

Follow your intuition
about the people to
work with and work
only with the best
§

Chapter 3

Design Thinking
Follow a process to not waste your energy and grow in iterations.
TESTPROTOTYPEIDEATE
POINT
OF
VIEW
OBSERVEUNDERSTAND

TESTPROTOTYPEIDEATEPOINT OF VIEWOBSERVEUNDERSTAND
http://image.slidesharecdn.com/symposiumpitchpublic-120326160307-phpapp02/95/pitch-
training-startup-symposium-slovakia-7-728.jpg?cb=1333521286
How can we claim to be good in connecting
IoT devices, if we have nothing else to show
than PowerPoint slides?

SAPHybris
How do other teams or companies actually
present abstract ideas like ‘The Cloud’ or the
‘Internet of Things’?

What do our colleagues from pre-sales
and marketing need and care for,
when interacting with customers?

experience.sap.com/
designservices/
scenes
What are the key users and features of the
solution that we want to present
according to it’s product team?

Is it technically possible and do customers
understand if we do it like this? Or like this?
Or like this?

How do customers and users react to the
model? Is it easy to use, set-up & understand?

Rachel Romanowski, Presales Solution Engineer
“Everyone in my office was very excited
about it and already jumping at
opportunities on how best get it in front of
their customers. It tells a great story.
Good Job!”

Circumvent any
orders aimed at
stopping your
dream
§

TESTPROTOTYPEIDEATEPOVOBSERVEUNDERSTAND
Jan Feb Mar Apr May AugJun Jul Sep
Official kick-off
OBSERVE PROTOTYPE TEST PROTOTYPEIDEATE TEST
PROTOTIDEATEPOVOBSERVEUNDERSTAND
0
Version 1.0
1
AIN Lego Modell
Next Use Case
Version 2.0
4
Version 3.0
10+

Work
underground as
long as possible
§

A good idea in your head might look like this:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/DnD5th

But can be easily misunderstood and rejected:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/DnD5th

Design Thinking
Promotes testing small aspects of the idea early and frequently to avoid bad surprises.

Design Thinking
TESTPROTOTYPEIDEATE
POINT
OF
VIEW
OBSERVEUNDERSTAND
Promotes testing small aspects of the idea early and frequently to avoid bad surprises

More than meets the eye
As with every product, you have to
think of much more than just the
core idea to make it successful:

Design Thinking 3D Models
Video Editing
Code
Patience
Marketing
Photoshop Hardware
Business Cases

Do any job needed,
regardless of your
job description
§

Nay-Sayers
Re-organizations
Shifted prioritiesLosing connection to product team
Success
If they are important for your
project, understand their goals
and KPIs and try to match them
with your idea.
For demos, stay on an abstract
“general vision”-level to be less
vulnerable for changes of
features and product details.
Especially in big companies you can
quickly find yourself and your
colleagues in different departments
after a vacation. Bridge the silos!
In large and distributed teams, working on something that is
not directly required for the product might easily lose focus.
Update the product manager regularly about your activities
to stay in the loop.
Early success will bind your
resources to logistical and
representative tasks and hinder you
in progressing your product. Find
people to assist you!
Biggest threats for innovative products

Slack Time
Re-organizations
Important events
Good network
Trustful relationship to manager
Need for innovation
If your company offers a program
for investing working time in own
projects, that’s the perfect
opportunity to start with!
Find the fields in which your company is
pushing innovation. It will give you more
freedom to experiment.
Build a network of people that
support your idea and can help
you out with skills, insights &
resources.
Do your job well! The better you are in your day job,
the more trust and freedom will be granted.
During re-orgs there is often a short
time-frame of chaos and unclear
responsibilities. Use it to sprint
ahead with your own ideas! Keep a calendar of important fairs &
events. It’s easier to fund your ideas
with event budget than taking money
from your direct colleagues.
Supporting factors for innovative products

Bet only on a
race you are
running in
§
Don’t waste your energy, if you are not ready yet.

Does it pay off?
In the last years, many colleagues have started initiatives that help SAP become a
design-focused company, win design awards and increased our overall revenue.
The Design Whizzes, UX Marketeers and ICDx are just some contributors.
2013 2014 2015 2016

Yes.
SAP is experiencing a cultural change that lead to smarter communication, motivated
employees, satisfied end-users and higher revenues.

There is no ‘company’, there are only people.
So find those with whom you interact
with best.
Form a team like you would form a
band or join an extraordinary
colleague with your skills to make the
change you want to see become reality.
It won’t ‘just happen’!

Power to the users!
Empower employees on all levels to
fulfill the company’s vision with their
entire personality, skills and interests.
Empower users to make the best out of
your products.

Find people
to help you
§

It’s always easier
to ask for forgiveness
than for permission.

Don’t Ask for Permission, Ask for Forgiveness (Thomas Schoerner Product Stream)

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