#LTUX

DESIGN STUDIO METHODOLGY

TRUE FACT The vast majority of projects fail

NOT because they couldn’t build a great product using the

latest new technology.

They failed because they built something no one wanted.

Let’s start with an exercise!

2 minutes

   

•  All too often, leaders, managers, teams, designers rely on common approaches that may work well in one context, and fail in another.

•  Teams want to create better customer experiences (user experiences), but aren’t sure what that really means.

•  Teams often find it difficult moving from insights to action (based on this research, what should we do now?).

Why Are We Here?

Why Collaborative Design?

Ninja. Rockstar. Gifted genius. Many of the ways we talk about creative work (whether it’s design or development) only capture the brilliance of a single individual. - Stefan Kloeck

Traditional Process

DISCOVER DEFINE DESIGN DEVELOP DEPLOY

Traditional Process

DISCOVER DEFINE DESIGN DEVELOP DEPLOY

“Traditional” UX Practices

•  Emphasize deliverables •  See the work as a solution that gets sold to

stakeholders •  See the (UX) designer as the hero in charge

of finding solutions to design challenges and getting approval before development starts

How Can We Improve Our Process?

•  The design work we do is often limited to on-the-go type of decisions

•  We struggle with approvals •  We don’t have an established process that

involves UXD, thus our scenario is not “going from traditional UX to Lean”, but rather, “establishing our approach to UXD”

Integrating Design into Development Process

The “Traditional” Way (Waterfall + Waterfall or Waterfall + Agile)

1.  Have a great idea 2.  Wireframe 3.  Designer creates a static

mockup 4.  Static mockup & specs are

thrown to devs to implement, QA to test

The Collaborative Way (Lean UX + Agile Development)

1.  Have a great idea 2.  Sketch together 3.  Engage team (BA, UX, Dev,

QA) to build a prototype 4.  Play, tweak, rinse, repeat 5.  Once UX is nailed have a

visual designer polish to perfection

DESIGN STUDIO

Create. Pitch. Critique.

It’s about generating many safe-to-fail experiments, not highly

rendered solutions.

All ideas must map to persona’s goals & needs.

Generate lots of design concepts (options*) Present concepts as stories Critique using Ritual Dissent

Integrate (steal) & Iterate Check stories for coherence

Converge around testable solution hypotheses

DESIGN STUDIO

*See Chris Matts Real Options Theory

Level playing field. Idea generation.

Team buy-in. Ownership/investment.

Vet design concepts.

STOP WATCH

Create. Pitch. Critique.

Create six to eight concept sketches individually.

Line, Square, Circle, Triangle

Focus on the bare minimum to convey your concept

All ideas must map to person’s goals & needs.

Create. Pitch. Critique.

Three minutes to pitch how your concept solves the problem.

Create. Pitch. Critique.

Two minutes for critique.

Two to three ways it solves the problem and one to two

opportunities for improvement.

Addison “Public bathrooms are gross. I would rather poop in my pants than use a public bathroom.”

Addison is a 11 year old who was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis when she was 22 months old. It’s an embarrassing disease that she doesn’t like to talk about. Since her IBD causes her to use the bathroom often, she doesn’t like going places that are not familiar. Going out to dinner with family even causes anxiety knowing that most likely she will have to use the public bathroom.

Create. 5 minutes

Pitch. (pick a timer) 3 minutes

Critique.

2 minutes

2nd Iteration

5 minutes

Storyboarding!

5 minutes

Pitch. (pick a timer) 3 minutes

Critique. 2 minutes

3rd Iteration

10 minutes

Sketching 1 Interface/Solution

10 minutes

“Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Pitch. 3 minutes

Critique. 2 minutes

Team Sketch

1 Concept 25 minutes

RITUAL DISSENT

“Whenever we propose a solution to a problem, we ought to try as hard as we can to overthrow our solution, rather than defend it.”

- Karl Popper

PRESENT

Pick a spokesperson 5 minutes to prepare

Ritual Dissent •  The basic approach involves a spokesperson presenting a

series of ideas to a group of investors who listens to them in silence.

•  You’re spokesperson will only have 5 minutes to present •  Team must imagine they are a group of investors hearing a

pitch from a startup. •  No questions can be asked of the spokesperson. •  Investor team must find all the things wrong with the

concept, why it solves no problem, and all the other solutions in the marketplace that do things better.

Ritual Dissent

•  The spokesperson turns to face the wall, so that their back is to the investor team and listens in silence while the group attacks the idea. •  The spokesperson cannot respond to questions or

defend the ideas. •  Investor team must be as harsh as possible. •  Spokesperson can only take notes on everything

he/she hears.

For all critique decide:

•  Ignore (backburner) •  Remove (de-solve) •  Research Solution (best practice) •  Research Problem (innovate)

Iterate as a team based on the critique.

15 minutes

Then pitch to the whole workshop.

But first…

Rip up your designs.

TEAM SKETCH 15 minutes

TEAM PRESENTATIONS

3 minutes

RITUAL ASSENT

2 minutes

Tips

•  Timebox: 5 minutes sketch / 5 minutes per person

•  No more than 6 or 7 people per table (4 is best) •  Don’t introduce too many business rules up front •  Imagine no technology constraints •  Make explicit all potential channels (not just

mobile or web)* •  Move people from team to team to prevent

premature convergence •  Don’t serve Turkey sandwiches

Potential Pitfalls

•  Having a solution before Design Studio starts – “we already have a solution – we just want buy-in”

•  Not adequately scoping design studio to match the problem – “we can only spend 2 hours on design studio because of people’s schedules”

•  Introducing blockers or business constraints too early

•  The invisible hand of the absent stakeholder Process & Pitfalls: http://bit.ly/vpeuJn

THANK YOU!