design methodology for teams - sample

Design for the Wearycreated by d.school fellow Caitria O’Neill Research Guide for Organizations

Questions/Comments? Caitria O’Neill

2014 d.school fellow/adjunct caitria@dschool.stanford.edu

(413) 219-5613

Get to know your users

This is a research guide for organizations and individuals that work with patients, abuse and disaster survivors, the homeless and others.

Who are the weary?

• an introduction to design thinking • a toolkit for user research • training for staff working with

directly with users

Use this guide as:

• those who have experienced something difficult, and might not want to talk about it

• those with negative or complex emotions around the topic you’re exploring

• those who don’t want to be ‘saved’ by you

Design ThinkingWe use human-centered design. It is a simple methodology for problem solving that puts the user at the heart of the project.

empathize - learn more about your user (using this toolkit)

define - focus on a specific user and opportunity

ideate - have a ton of ideas with everyone in the office

prototype - make a cheap/rough version of your idea

test - bring it back out to your users to learn more

Interviewing*Just go talk to somebody. Research can be as informal as a few conversations. You’re trying to learn about the needs , wants and limitations of your user.

Seek stories

“Tell me about a time…”

Ask open ended questions

“Walk me through...”

Get to specifics

“What’s the worst...”

Record everything

Use photos/notes/video

"Homeless woman with dogs" by Franco Folini

*

Start by building rapport and trust. You can’t get honest answers about difficult subjects without it. !A good interview lasts about 1 hour - don’t worry, it will seem short!

The arc of conversation

Breaking the ice can be hard when you and your user don’t know how to relate to each other. !Bring something delightful, like a bag of donuts or a ukelele, into the field. These are great conversation starters and entry points.

Ex. Bring a game or toy into a village community, engage the children and

meet their parents.

Delightful Invitation

"FriendShip... A gift of God." by Mani Babbar Photography

Create a bunch of image cards and gather a group of community stakeholders. Allow the group to talk through ‘how the system works’ and arrange the cards. !The physical act of moving things around and the conversation will show you gaps or difficulties of the current system.

Ex. Asking a stay-at-home medical care partner to advise others in her place.

Visual System Mapping

Sometimes people like chronic patients and disaster survivors do not want to criticize the aid they receive. !Remove the critical element by asking the user to take the role of advisor or guardian for someone else facing the scenario. Ask them questions as requests for advice or help.

Ex. Asking a stay-at-home medical care partner to advise others in her place.

Advice, not Critique

Some users have been approached so many times with aid, they don’t want to hear new ideas. !Create a prototype of a product or experience and leave it out. See if your users interact with it or not. It is a visible reminder that change is possible.

Ex. Set up a little lending library and wait to see if the community uses it,

ignores it or vandalizes it. That’s data!

Propositional Prototyping

Communities can shut out outsiders in times of distress. !Al ly yourse l f w i th communi ty members around common problem. Then ask “who do we know”, that could provide more information to find further interviewees and support.

Ex. Volunteer at a disaster shelter, tap into local issues to explore with

local partners.

Who do we know?