Lenovo incorporates diversity into product development

Through its Product Diversity Office and other inclusion efforts, Lenovo is an industry leader in ensuring products are truly user-friendly for people of all abilities and backgrounds.

Posted 9:00 a.m. Oct 28, 2022 — Updated 3:55 p.m. Oct 31, 2022

This article was written for our sponsor, Lenovo

Diversity, equity, and inclusion help employees flourish in any workplace, which is why many companies have been implementing more inclusive hiring practices than in the past and supporting employees from many backgrounds. At technology focused companies, diversity helps the best ideas emerge and grow in a welcoming environment.

Previously, diversity, equity, and inclusion — commonly shortened to DE&I or D&I — were primarily in the domain of human resources.

“Past D&I initiatives often only focused on recruitment and development of diverse talent,” Lenovo’s Bridgett Rogers writes.

“Now it’s also about developing an inclusive organizational culture where people of all genders, races and ethnicities, abilities, orientations, and beliefs can succeed. More importantly, it’s about brand purpose: living those values so genuinely that it’s evident in the products and services your company provides.”

Knowing the importance of expanding DE&I throughout a company, Lenovo wanted to incorporate diversity into its products. Some considerations were with accents when it came to voice recognition, levels of vision when it came to keyboards and touchpads, and skin tones when it came to fingerprint recognition.

This line of thinking led to the creation of the Product Diversity Office in 2020. The PDO helps Lenovo teams create with a Diversity by Design process, which involves consulting with a variety of voices during the product planning and execution phases, including employee resource groups and accessibility and inclusion advisors.

“Lenovo’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion seeks to narrow the digital divide and to promote access to technology – including the more than one billion individuals around the world who live with a disability,” says Calvin Crosslin, Chief Diversity Officer and president of the Lenovo Foundation.

Behind the Product Diversity Office

Since its inception a couple of years ago, Lenovo’s Product Diversity Office has been the authority on embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion into product design and development, according to its manager Ada Lopez.

“For too long, companies have introduced products without considering the unique needs and attributes of all potential users, resulting in many consumer segments becoming excluded due to a lack of design inclusivity,” Lopez writes. “Lenovo’s PDO seeks to integrate inclusion and feedback from diverse groups early on in the product development process to ensure the technology we introduce is truly smarter and for everyone.”

The PDO does this by asking every product and process development team to assess the riskiness of a product when it comes to diversity. This includes products that are software-based, client-based, web-based, and hardware-based (such as computers, smartphones, and so on). Its goal is for at least 75% of Lenovo’s products to be vetted by inclusive design experts to ensure they work for all people, regardless of physical attributes or abilities.

As the PDO manager, Lopez brings a passion that stems from personal experiences and a winding career path. After immigrating from Cuba when she was young, Lopez was placed in foster care at age 11 when her mother died. At age 16, a teacher took her in while she finished her education. Later, as a teacher herself, Lopez saw how children with learning disabilities benefited from technology, which eventually led her on a path toward Lenovo. “When Ada saw an opportunity to join Lenovo’s Product Diversity Office, she found common ground between her personal passions for accessibility and the PDO’s mission of developing solutions that represent the diversity of the global user,” Lenovo’s Katelyn Clontz writes. “In January 2021, she accepted a role as the organization’s program manager, and brings her expertise to give a voice to underrepresented and underserved populations.”

Learn more about the Product Diversity Office and all of Lenovo’s products at lenovo.com.

This article was written for our sponsor, Lenovo

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