Design goes beyond the User Experience.
Context (the business):
Nature-based solutions (NBS) use natural pathways to address challenges like climate change and flooding. Examples include planting trees for carbon capture, restoring wetlands for flood control, and altering grazing patterns to sustain grassland quality. These solutions work with nature rather than relying on artificial infrastructure.
Nature Based Solutions are a mechanism (as noted above). Additionally, NBS is a line of business within an Oil & Gas Fortune 50 company.
Project goals:
The Innovation business organization within NBS was tasked with developing a six-month and one-year global strategy. It should reflect the the organization’s priorities, taking into account the pathways through which their projects are delivered and the project delivery journey.
Design goals
Meaningfully and accurately represent the needs and challenges of the global NBS team.
Role
My role on this project was as Lead Service Designer. This was an internal-facing project. The immediate team was made up of two Directors (Business and IT), one project manager, and the NBS innovation team. Stakeholders included a leadership team, extending to General Managers across NBS.
Timeline: three months.
Why this case study?
I chose this case study because it demonstrates the power and value of Design at a level not often associated with the craft: business strategy.
This work established Design can be used at the level of business strategy to make data-driven decisions, to co-create solutions aligned with real needs and perspectives, and to engage staff.
I also chose this case study to demonstrate my flexibility in moving from a typical UXR role into Service Design for this project.
Approach
Methodology - application
A workshop methodology was chosen for this project. The decision for this methodology choice is provided below.
Zooming in to the workshop framework, you can see the journey of an NBS Project (or “value stream,” in business jargon) moves from the Identification of a Pathway to the Transferring and Retiring of Carbon Credits. Just as phases are often identified at the top of journey maps, so we identified them for an NBS Project.
Along the side, are the pathways through with nature based solutions can be implemented (agriculture, grasslands, carbon dioxide removals).
Participants were asked to populate the framework with barriers or challenges they are facing. For example, when Executing Projects (seen along the top) while implementing a Grasslands pathway, what are the top challenges faced?
Participants were invited to add information outside of the framework, as well, if it did not suit their current world view, but add details.
As a group we then voted on the top barriers and had a short discussion about their relevance.
The NBS business was globally distributed, with projects and people located in Europe, Australia, Asia, Canada, and United States.
In addition to preliminary stakeholder interviews and workshop prototype testing, I facilitated five workshops: two in the Americas, two in Europe, and one in Asia, totaling in approximately forty participants. All workshops were recorded.
Approach
Methodology - choice
The NBS business was globally distributed, with projects and people located in Europe, Australia, Asia, Canada, and United States.
I chose a workshop methodology for various reasons:
would provide qualitative data
was an efficient process
offered inductive + deductive data
correct method for stage of research
a usability study simply wouldn’t make sense here, e.g.
correct method for type of information
attitudinal (beliefs)
Analysis
I conducted preliminary analysis through data quality checks (workshop attendance, pathway and phase identification), removal of clear duplicates, and transformation of Mural data to Excel for easier group analysis.
I participated in a three-day onsite workshop with members of the NBS Innovation team, bringing together colleagues from France, the UK, and India. During the session, we conducted a deep dive into the data, focusing on extracting meaningful insights. Using affinity mapping, we grouped barriers into broader thematic challenges. To streamline our approach, the NBS team decided to refine the project journey by aligning it with smaller, existing lines of business within the organization, ensuring more targeted and effective solution delivery.
Impact & Insights
Solutions identified
From the barriers and challenges identified, the NBS Innovation team (with their vast subject matter expertise) felt comfortable moving the conversation one step forward and proposing a series of potential solutions. These solutions were directly related to the prioritized challenges raised by the larger NBS community. 15 innovative nature based solutions were proposed by this team.
Strategic Pathways identified
Out of sixteen Pathways (such as agriculture and mangroves), seven Pathways were selected for inclusion in the strategic innovation roadmap for the Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) line of business. These Pathways, identified by the NBS community, serve to align the organization's efforts from top to bottom, fostering greater focus and, ostensibly, improving overall efficiency.
Solution delivery areas identified
Five solution delivery areas were identified, each already aligned with the NBS line of business, streamlining efforts and enabling more precise targeting.
Continued relationship growth
Experience Design, the organization I was part of, was recognized as a valuable partner in this initiative. Our contributions extended beyond tactical execution to influencing strategic direction, leading to further collaboration on subsequent projects with this partner.