Big Idea Vignettes:
Big Idea Vignettes are a method of quickly sharing, discussing, and refining new concepts or proposals within a team or organization. The goal is to foster creativity, promote collaboration, and drive innovation.
Steps:
- Schedule Regularly: Similar to daily syncs, Big Idea Vignettes should be scheduled consistently, often on a weekly or biweekly basis.
- Prepare a Presentation: The person with the "big idea" prepares a short presentation, often no more than 5-10 minutes. This presentation should cover the core of the idea, why they believe it is valuable, and any research or preliminary work they've done.
- Open Discussion: After the presentation, the team engages in an open discussion about the idea. This is a time for questions, critiques, suggestions, and other feedback. The goal is to refine and improve the idea.
- Action Steps: Based on the discussion, the team determines any next steps. This could include further research, prototyping, assigning the idea to a project team, etc.
- Keep It Focused: While the discussion should be open and collaborative, it's important to keep the conversation focused on the idea at hand. Side discussions and unrelated topics should be moved to another time or forum.
Remember, the primary goal of Big Idea Vignettes is not necessarily to find the next big product or solution, but to foster a culture of creativity and innovation within the team or organization.
Daily Syncs:
Daily syncs, often called stand-ups or daily scrum meetings in agile environments, are short, daily meetings to align team members on work progress and obstacles.
Steps:
- Schedule Consistently: Hold the meeting at the same time each day, ideally in the morning.
- Stand Up: Encourage standing to keep the meeting short and focused.
- Update from Each Member: Each participant shares what they did since the last meeting, what they will do before the next, and any blockers they're facing.
- Address Blockers: Determine action steps to address any identified blockers.
- Keep It Short: Aim for around 15 minutes - it’s a sync, not a detailed discussion. Deeper issues should be taken offline.
Empathy Map:
An empathy map is a tool used in design thinking to gain deeper insight into customers by considering their experiences and responses.
Steps:
- Draw a Cross: Divide a paper into four quadrants.
- Label Quadrants: Label them as "Said", "Did", "Thought", and "Felt".
- Understand the User: Reflect on your user's experiences. What did they say, do, think, and feel in the situation you're exploring?
- Fill the Quadrants: Write these observations in the corresponding sections of the map.
- Analyze: Review the map to identify patterns, insights, and opportunities for improving the user experience.
Enterprise Design Thinking
Enterprise Design Thinking is a framework developed by IBM that allows teams to understand and deliver valuable experiences to users. It provides a common language and approach to solve complex problems by focusing on users' needs. It emphasizes co-creation, frequent iteration, and continuous learning.
Key Components:
- User Understanding: Deeply understand the user's needs, pain points, and context.
- Exploration: Explore as many ideas and solutions as possible. This involves brainstorming, sketching, prototyping, and testing.
- Iteration: Design is an iterative process. Teams should continually improve and refine their solutions based on feedback and new insights.
- Alignment: Ensure everyone on the team shares the same understanding of the user and the problem. This is achieved through activities like persona creation, journey mapping, and prioritization exercises.
- Co-Creation: Involve users and stakeholders in the design process. This collaboration can generate new insights and help ensure the solution meets their needs.
Experience-based Roadmap
An Experience-based Roadmap is a strategic tool for planning product development based on user experiences and interactions rather than just features.
Steps:
- User Research: Understand your users' needs, goals, and pain points.
- Identify Touchpoints: Note all the points where users interact with your product.
- Plot the Current Journey: Map out the current user journey with these touchpoints.
- Identify Opportunities: Find areas where the user experience could be improved.
- Create Future State: Redesign the journey map with these improvements.
- Prioritize: Based on feasibility and impact, prioritize the improvements.
- Create the Roadmap: Develop a roadmap for implementing these improvements over time, keeping user experience at the forefront of your strategy.
Hills
"Hills" is a term used in IBM's design thinking framework. They represent the key intentions or objectives of a project. They are statements of the user, their need, and the measurable benefit they will get.
Steps:
- Understand the User: Identify your user and their needs through user research.
- Draft Hill Statements: Write statements that capture who the user is, what they need, and why they need it. Make sure the outcome is measurable.
- Prioritize: If you have multiple hills, decide their priority.
- Align Team: Ensure everyone on the team understands and agrees on the hills.
- Work Toward the Hills: Guide your design and development work based on these hills, they are your project's main objectives.
Needs Statements
Needs statements express the user's needs in a clear, concise way, helping to guide the design process.
Steps:
- Conduct User Research: Understand your user, their context, and their needs.
- Analyze Research: Identify patterns and key insights from your user research.
- Write Needs Statements: Write clear, concise statements that capture the user's needs. These should be from the user's perspective and not include specific solutions.
- Prioritize: If you have multiple needs statements, prioritize them based on user importance and business value.
- Use in Design Process: Use these needs statements to guide your design decisions and ensure you are meeting user needs.
Playbacks
Playbacks are a part of IBM's design thinking methodology. They're sessions where the team presents their work to stakeholders to gather feedback and validate the direction of the project.
Steps:
- Prepare: Gather your work to present. This could be user research findings, design concepts, etc.
- Invite Stakeholders: Include anyone who can provide valuable input or needs to be informed about the project.
- Present Your Work: Clearly and concisely present your work. Highlight key insights, decisions, and next steps.
- Gather Feedback: Allow stakeholders to ask questions, share thoughts, and provide feedback.
- Incorporate Feedback: After the playback, use the feedback to refine your work and guide next steps.
Prioritization Grid
A Prioritization Grid, also known as an Eisenhower Matrix or Urgent-Important Matrix, is a visual tool used to determine the urgency and importance of tasks, helping you to decide which tasks you should concentrate on first. Here's a brief step-by-step guide:
Steps:
- Draw a 2x2 grid. Label the vertical axis as "Urgent" at the top and "Not Urgent" at the bottom. Label the horizontal axis as "Important" on the right and "Not Important" on the left.
- List out all the tasks or problems you need to address.
- Place each task in one of the four quadrants of the grid based on its urgency and importance.
- Quadrant I (Urgent and Important): Tasks that must be done immediately.
- Quadrant II (Not Urgent but Important): Tasks that need planning and thoughtful action.
- Quadrant III (Urgent but Not Important): Tasks that can be delegated to others.
- Quadrant IV (Not Urgent and Not Important): Tasks that can be deferred, or even deleted.
- Based on the grid, prioritize your tasks. Start with Quadrant I tasks, plan time to focus on Quadrant II tasks, delegate Quadrant III tasks if possible, and consider dropping Quadrant IV tasks.
By visually organizing your tasks in this way, you can more effectively manage your time and focus on the tasks that truly matter.
Stakeholder Map
A stakeholder map is a visual tool used to identify and categorize the individuals or groups that have a stake in a project or organization.
Steps:
- Identify Stakeholders: List all the people and groups who have a stake in your project.
- Categorize Stakeholders: Group stakeholders based on their power, interest, or other relevant factors.
- Plot Stakeholders: Draw a map (often a 2x2 matrix) and place stakeholders in the appropriate quadrant.
- Analyze Relationships: Understand the relationship between stakeholders and the project.
- Plan Engagement: Develop a plan for engaging each stakeholder based on their category to ensure their needs and expectations are managed effectively.
Storyboards
A storyboard is a visual representation that maps out the sequence of events or user interactions in a scenario.
Steps:
- Identify Scenario: Define the situation or problem the user is facing.
- Sketch the Sequence: Draw a series of frames to represent each step of the user's experience. Include actions, thoughts, and emotions.
- Add Descriptions: Under each frame, write a brief description of what's happening.
- Review: Use the storyboard to understand the user's journey and identify areas for improvement.
- Iterate: Modify the storyboard based on feedback or new insights, and use it as a guide for your design process.
The Principles
The principles of Enterprise Design Thinking are the guiding philosophies that inform the approach to problem-solving and product creation. They help create a shared understanding within teams and keep the focus on delivering valuable and meaningful user experiences.
Key Principles:
- Focus on user outcomes: The goal is to create solutions that meet users' needs and provide value to them. Understanding and prioritizing user outcomes drive the design process.
- Diverse empowered teams: Teams are most effective when they include a diverse set of perspectives and skills. Empowered teams are given the autonomy to make decisions and take action based on their insights and expertise.
- Restless reinvention: The work is never finished. Teams should continuously learn, iterate, and improve their solutions based on feedback and new insights.
The Loop
The Loop is a foundational element of the Enterprise Design Thinking framework. It represents the iterative, continuous nature of the design process. The three phases of the Loop are Observe, Reflect, and Make.
Phases of The Loop:
- Observe: In this phase, designers immerse themselves in the user's world to understand their needs, challenges, and contexts. Techniques such as interviews, surveys, and field studies are used to gather qualitative and quantitative data.
- Reflect: This phase involves making sense of the collected data. Designers analyze the information, look for patterns, and generate insights about the user. They define the problem they want to solve.
- Make: In the final phase, designers start to create solutions based on their insights. They prototype and test their ideas, and use feedback to iterate and improve.
To-Be Scenario Map
A To-Be Scenario Map is a future-state journey map that visualizes the improved user experience after changes are implemented.
Steps:
- Identify Improvements: From your current state map or user research, identify areas for improvement.
- Visualize Future State: Imagine the future user experience with these improvements.
- Draw the Map: Create a new user journey map that includes these improvements.
- Review: Ensure the new map addresses the identified pain points and provides a better user experience.
- Implement: Use this map as a guide for implementing changes and improving the user experience.
User Stories
User stories are short, simple descriptions of a feature or requirement told from the perspective of the user.
Steps:
- Identify User: Define who the user of the feature is.
- Define Need: What does this user need the feature to do?
- Explain Benefit: Why does the user need this? What benefit will it provide?
- Write Story: Combine these elements into a concise statement: "As a [type of user], I want [some goal] so that [some reason]."
- Review & Prioritize: Review the user stories with your team, ensuring everyone understands and agrees. Prioritize them based on their value to the user and the project.
- Implement: Use these stories as a guide for developing new features or improvements.
Wireframes
A wireframe is a low-fidelity, simplified outline of a webpage or app. It's used to plan the layout and interaction patterns without getting distracted by colors, typography, or images.
Steps:
- Identify Key Components: Determine the essential elements that need to be on a page (e.g., headers, text blocks, images, buttons).
- Sketch Layout: Draw a basic sketch of where these elements will go. This can be hand-drawn or digital.
- Label Elements: Clearly label each element to indicate what it represents.
- Review and Iterate: Review the wireframe, consider the user flow, and make adjustments as needed.
- Share: Use the wireframe to communicate your design ideas with your team or stakeholders. Collect feedback and iterate.