Developing and applying performance metrics to evaluate co-design activities in design-led innovation

Abstract – An increasing number of companies are experimenting with ‘designerly ways of innovating’ to improve the agility, speed and hit rate of their innovation activities. Co-design activities are emerging as part of a design-led innovation approach.  Whilst there is extensive academic literature on design process performance metrics, they have rarely been applied by organisations that are testing co-design activities, possibly due to the time and effort that is required to apply them. This paper begins to address this challenge by developing a tailored suite of design process performance metrics. Some basic guidelines from the academic literature and the results of a practitioner survey inform the selection of metrics. We go on to apply the metrics to real-world projects within companies that are trialling technology-supported co-creation sessions. The metrics and the insights into their development and application are likely to prove useful to other design researchers and practitioners that wish to evaluate the benefits of adopting co-design activities as part of a design-led innovation approach.