Make sure to include lots of activities, be realistic with your time planning, and allow plenty of time for breaks, spontaneity, free-flowing discussion, and creativity., Youll probably want to allow approximately one hour for each section of the workshop, with a generous slot dedicated to reflection and debriefing when the activities are over., To ensure maximum creativity, youll be going back to basics for your Design Thinking workshop. This includes open questions that could help us uncover information to aid the design of our cakes. This will allow them to see the benefits of the approach, and maybe it will open up other opportunities for you to use this methodology within the company. Youll want to stock up on white copy paper, colored paper, pencils, marker pens, Post-It notes of different colors, sticky tape, and whiteboards.. Someone might say, Lets bake a chocolate sponge cake, everyone likes chocolate, and a few other people nod and murmur in agreement. On the contrary! So there would be a manufacturer, a delivery and logistics person, and a supplier, who may be a supermarket chain or a local small shop. 14 Ground Rules for Workshops. Running a successful Design Thinking workshop means ensuring the team has everything they need to make informed decisions in real-time. With your agenda in place, you should now have a good idea of what youll need for the workshop. That way, if there is an opportunity to develop and deepen the process, you might create a series of workshops that aim to tackle different issues and projects. Nurture your inner tech pro with personalized guidance from not one, but two industry experts. After sharing the design context, invite participants to challenge and discuss the existing user personas. It will undoubtedly evolve as your workshop progresses, especially if it takes place over several days. In this module, we will consider a range of tools to help design thinkers understand problems: surveys, statistics, interviews, five whys and so whats, user roleplays, analogous empathy, empathy maps, customer journeys, and value chain analysis. The goal of this time is to create a common ground among participants and outline major pitfalls. Part of the workshop will be dedicated to building low-fidelity prototypes, for which youll need a good selection of materials. A prototype is a visual, interactive mock-up of an idea and can be two-dimensional, for example, a drawing or a diagram, or they might take a three-dimensional form. Design thinking workshop step by step guide | by Taras Bakusevych | UX Collective Write Sign up Sign In 500 Apologies, but something went wrong on our end. Other times they must first be mapped across dimensions like desirability, impact or risk before those decisions can be made. There are many tactics to facilitate a workshop, which are all well documented in the many books that have been written on the subject (shoutout to. Its as much about changing processes as getting results, Design Thinking isn't just a one-off fix to a specific problem; its a culture change. As a facilitator, you could mention that this form of research could identify with our Empathize stage, as well as our Ideate stage. The current landscape is living research document that helps teams understand the feasibility and viability of their ideas by answering three critical questions: The information required to address these questions must be identified and collected prior to the workshop, as it will be discussed early in the day and referenced repeatedly throughout. A car needs a good driver who has set of driving know-how, do's and dont's of the traffic rules and good anticipation of the roads. Whiteboards help teams work through complex problems quickly. 1 day, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM) Add time for introductions, lunch and breaks (15 to 60 min) Identify Design Thinking steps for each block (ex. We can then establish a variety of methods in how we might Empathize with our users: For our cake design, these insights could help us discover our users flavor preferences, any hobbies that might relate to the visual design of the cake; and who else might be eating the cake at the party. It uses a divergent approach of Empathize -Define-Ideate-Prototype-Test, to design a solution focused towards creating a preferred customer experience. Refresh the page, check Medium 's site status, or find something interesting to read. The digital tools you employ will make all the difference to the success of your digital Design Thinking workshop. A good workshop facilitator must know how to get the word out within the company about the beneficial effects of Design Thinking on collaboration and on a customer-centric culture. Define, Ideate), Select 1-2 activities to support each step (15 min 3 hr), High-level summary including objective and outcomes, Pre-workshop assignment (ex. They are always participatory, and employ a range of activities designed to generate ideas (divergence) and make decisions (convergence). We based ourselves on our recent experience: week long workshops to rethink customer experiences, involving up to thirty participants. Defer Judgment: Creative spaces are judgment-free zonesthey let ideas flow so people can build from each other's great ideas. Allowing the journey to be flexible. This email is also your opportunity to assign any relevant pre-work, such as an ask to bring specific design inspirations. That way, you can take it in turns to lead activities throughout, and you can also designate secondary roles for yourselves such as note taking, technical checks, photos of the material produced, etc. In this section of the workshop, participants will turn the steps from their user journey maps into digital screens for an app. The great thing about these exercises is that you have the freedom to expand them to work with your audience and how best suits their needs. By the end, youll be ready to take your colleagues (or clients) through the entire Design Thinking process, equipping them with the tools they need to come up with innovative strategies and ideas. (These are in no particular order. Here are some suggestions: Make sure you also get each team member to say their name and what their role will be in the workshop, too!, Although some of the group will be aware of Design Thinking and its principles, its still worth making a brief presentation on what Design Thinking is for those who are unfamiliar with the concept or are unsure of what it looks like in practice. For the complete list of the digital tools to assist virtual facilitation and workshopping, check out our guide to digital facilitation tools for online workshops and meetings. Time: Complex problem solving takes time. Activitydecide on a winning approach (10 minutes): Once the user testing round is complete, stick all design solutions up on the wall. Lets find out. Now that the team is warmed up and all on the same page, its time to start thinking about the user. Aside from comfortable seating and good lighting, you can create a relaxed environment by playing some background music. In this workshop, well ask the group to approach the problem of baking a cake. Other members of the team have to guess which is the lie, Everyone has to say who they would invite onto their very own late-night talk show (Optional: What their first question to them would be, and why. Their process could move at a slower pace over a semester, linking baking with Design Thinking and they might create small cupcake prototypes as groups. As a facilitator, we should ensure that everyone comes away from the workshop feeling empowered, with more clarity on what Design Thinking means, and how they can apply the methods to real-life projects. Youll find a complete workshop template alongside tips to help you engage a group new to design thinking. To conclude, I wanted to give you one last little tip as a bonus. How to run a UX design workshop by Andreas Johansson; Three Types of narratives to build amazing workshop experiences or really any of Daniel Stillman's writings; Managing Discussions by Matt Leighninger more ground rules, including "Bob's Rules," this is part of a series of 3 blogs entries on facilitation A user journey map is a visual representation of the process that a user goes through in order to accomplish a specific goal. All these benefits aside, Design Thinking workshops are incredibly fun and engaging. Provide a few examples to help them get started. Why? It includes detailed logistics and clearly outline the intentions of the workshop and its desired outcomes. Like any design project, be sure to continuously iterate and improve upon your Design Thinking workshop. The importance of Design Thinking being user-centered can never be mentioned enough! Please add your ideas to the comments below! Eg: How can we increase traffic to our landing pages?, Well talk about how best to run remote workshops later in this article, but for in-person workshops, the location you choose will play a significant role in its success. . Our rule of thumb is "3:1". Every workshop should have ground rules. When considering the term Stakeholder this could mean anyone who is involved in the cake-making or consuming process. Youll also need to incorporate an introduction, an ice-breaker activity to get the group warmed up, and sufficient breaks throughout. Creating a solid agenda will ensure your team stays focused on the challenge and energy levels stay high throughout the day.. 3. A way in which this cake design process could be elaborated is in the context of creating the workshop alongside a schools Home Economics class, or other groups who regularly have access to kitchens and cooking equipment. When preparing your workshop, insist that the list of participants include representatives of all the teams affected by the issue to be resolved. Then lets go! It may involve employees from different departments coming together to tackle a company-wide problem or individuals from the same team focusing on a department-specific challenge., A workshop that promotes cross-collaboration between teams, and which contains individuals with a wide range of specializations, will bring the most innovative and effective results to a Design Thinking workshop. Build on the Ideas of Others How accurate are they? Chances are you have. the mobile screen) that would be needed for this step. Other roles on the team can include a marketing expert, a design expert, and a financial expert., Now that you know exactly what a Design Thinking workshop is, lets dive into how you run one, step by step!, Whats the goal of your workshop? Most workshops last 1-2 days. Theyll provide feedback, support, and advice as you build your new career. Consider the following list of sections as inspiration for what to include in your post-workshop documentation: When it comes to communicating complex ideas quickly, having a library of visualization techniques on hand is critical. Share one example of a product or service that left a positive impression on you.. While there are many ways to describe the process, weve broken it down into three steps: Prepare, Facilitate and Document. The five phases of Design Thinking are: Sometimes the best sources of inspiration connect seemingly unrelated industries. Now well go through all the necessary steps for running a Design Thinking workshop. Open a new workshop calendar (ex. Running a successful Design Thinking workshop starts with knowing what you want. It is important to . Technical tangents and These are the people your solutions must serve, and they are a constant source of inspiration. Well here are our handpicked tips. Ask the group to consider the following: This is also a good opportunity to assess the current user personas the team are using. She has spent the last seven years working in tech startups, immersed in the world of UX and design thinking. Finish up your workshop with clear next steps for the team. This means aligning on what is feasible by when, and drawing a line in the sand. Well walk you through the key stages of the template and offer some tips to help you along the way. For your Design Thinking workshop, ask your participants to pair up and take it in turns to play the user. However, Design Thinking is perhaps most commonly used when a problem cannot be solved using traditional methods, and needs to be approached from a more creative or innovative angle. In this article, we want to take the fear out of running Design Thinking workshops for those new to the methodology, and give you the knowledge, concrete steps, and tools youll need to run your first Design Thinking workshop, wowing your company or clients in the process. Common approaches in Design Thinking include empathy maps, storyboards, activity networks and cluster matrices. While these sources of insight are highly project specific, consider the following four areas as a starting point. signups, completions, reviews), The Brand (ex. Design Thinking is a vital framework in the modern business ecosystem. We would love to hear from you! 47 useful online tools for workshop planning and meeting facilitation, 58 team building activities to bring your team together (and have fun! A Beginners Guide. While originally being a way of guiding design work, it has been adopted by a wide array of professionals. A Design Thinking workshop will spark innovation, foster a user-centric mindset, and get cross-functional teams working together to design a great product. There might be one person sourcing the ingredients, another baking the cake and another delivering it to our Persona. What you want are thought starters, not solutions. These workshops constitute several activities that provide a solid ground for co-creation, collaboration, and team effort. The workshop objectives and the design challenge: e.g. Through the idea vault process, we are narrowing our ideas down by asking a series of questions that relate to the feasibility of the design, and if it truly meets our Personas needs. By no means just for designers, a Design Thinking workshop is a methodology intended for the whole team and can be applied to numerous areas of business, from sales through to senior management. Building a highly effective team takes effort, consideration,, Have you heard of Design Thinking? However, youve established the purpose of your Design Thinking workshop: to generate ideas for how to improve an existing digital product. Regardless of the activities chosen, the goal here is to create a prioritized list of stories spanning the entire experience. The level of detail you decide to document your workshop with should be based on the scale of your project short Design Thinking sessions with a core team dont require the same level of scrutiny as larger projects with extended teams who meet infrequently. Starting with these simple examples of different cakes is a great way to achieve this. Throughout your design career, you might find yourself running Design Thinking workshops for clientsgoing into different organizations and showing them how they can apply Design Thinking to their own business challenges. On our recent experience: week long workshops to rethink customer experiences involving. 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