Chicken House

1. Challenge: Describe your challenge, including all relevant information.

Especially in the current crisis, I have the feeling that many people are becoming conscious of  their alimentation and where their food is coming from. In the last months different people told  me, that they are thinking about having chickens in their garden. In my eyes this desire comes  along with a general desire to reconnect oneself with nature. I can see similarities to the urban  gardening movement and a general interest in hydro cultures and balcony or roof top  plantations.

Even though one or two generations ago, our families have held hens in their garden, I esteem  the challenges concerning knowledge, decision, making and handcraft-ship important enough  for a lot of people, to abandon this project.  So the offer that I’m thinking about, shall not only consist in selling chicken houses and  possibly baby chickens, but it shall also lead and support the client in his decision making and  facilitate the whole customer life cycle. Since I currently don’t know how to evaluate, proof or  falsify if there is a market, I would like to use this exercise to explore the specifics of the offer  with the help of the visualization tool.

2. Selection: In your own words, briefly describe the tool you selected (e.g., what it is and

why you selected it for your challenge -- including any appropriate video lecture  references). The first goal when using the visualization tool is to reach a common understanding of the  scope and all the elements involved. The basis can be a poster with drawings or pictures that  will underline the meaning of key words and force the participants to make more use of the  right side of their brain. It will serve the team to explore the “What is?” stage.  The created poster will be discussed in small diverse groups (4-6 people). The groups will have  45 minutes to discuss and to adapt the graphic to their point of view. Afterwards they will  present the outcome to the other groups. At this point it is very important to recognize  commonalities on the insights between the different groups. The outcome of each group can be  combined into one new illustration. This illustration will give orientation to all stake-holders  involved in the project and can serve as a constant reference throughout the design thinking  process. Refere to: Video: Visualization Tool with designer Doreen Schubert; Book: Design for growth, p.  49

3. Application: Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge (e.g., what

you did and how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively). Reflecting about the costumers, possible problems and challenges, I put together a graphic (see  below). The shown “Customer life cycle” represents for me the way the costumer should be  guided - beginning with the first time the he thinks: “What if I had my own chickens?”

I thought of some friends of mine who would form a complementary, yet diverse team: Thomas  (Organic farmer with 2000 hens), Matthias (Physicist / doubtful, skeptical), Christina  (Pharmacist / unifying), Frank (graphic designer / experienced in marketing, persona approach) Based on my graphic this team shall reflect about the following questions: What is right / wrong / missing in the graphic?

4. Insight: Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your

challenge (e.g., how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about design thinking more broadly). Since it is currently not possible for me to make the group session, I will try to imagine possible outcomes:  1. The team was pointing out different groups of customers: people with house/garden, schools,  kinder-gardens, retirement home.

2. For team the connection with nature and the interaction with a living being are key-points.  They were uncertain about the value in automation/ technical features in order to gain more  independence.

3. The most important insight was that we didn’t know enough about the costumers motivation.  We would therefor try to find and interview people already having chickens and those who are  thinking about getting some, in order to find out why producing your own eggs and having your own chickens is so important to them.

It was interesting to see how technical questions were mostly put aside, we discussed mostly  human and ethical questions. This session helped us to focus on the real questions, identify missing information, define the  next steps and to narrow down on a minimum viable product (MVP).

5. Approach: Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same tool you

selected or a different one -- and the reason(s) why

Alternatively, I could imagine a more open approach by using the “Mind mapping / yard sale”  tool. Thus exhibiting all sorts of information that can be found as: newspaper articles about  people/ kinder-gardens with hens, plans for hen houses, industrial egg production, storybooks  about “Life of a chicken”, …

This approach is more open and would therefor leave the space to emphasize on different  aspects. It could prelude the visualization-session and thus make a very good project kick-off.  But an additional time slot will be necessary, which is not in all situations possible. And certain  aspects that I think of as key points, might not be discussed at all.

I’m not sure if the descripton of this tool is demanded in this exercise: The partcipants shall visit the exhibiton and note thinss that they fnd important on stccky-notes. In a sroup session (5-6 people  the  partcipants will propose themes and arranse these stccky-notes to a fins theme. In Detail: One persons starts by proposins a theme and the others can arranse fins stccky-notes around that theme. Than someone else can  propose a new theme and other stccky-notes will be arransed around that theme. Stccky-notes without theme will also be added into the  picture. Afer that, the themes will be put in relatonship with each other. In the end actons or insishts can be deduced by asckins the  questons: “What does that mean?”, “So what?”


Chicken House 1 . Challenge : Describe your challenge , including all relevant information . Especially in the current crisis , I have the feeling that many people are becoming conscious of their alimentation and where their food is coming from . In the last months different people told me , that they are thinking about having chickens in their garden . In my eyes this desire comes along with a general desire to reconnect oneself with nature . I can see similarities to the urban gardening movement and a general interest in hydro cultures and balcony or roof top plantations . Even though one or two generations ago , our families have held hens in their garden , I esteem the challenges concerning knowledge , decision , making and handcraft - ship important enough for a lot of people , to abandon this project . So the offer that I ’m thinking about , shall not only consist in selling chicken houses and possibly baby chickens , but it shall also lead and support the client in his decision making and facilitate the whole customer life cycle . Since I currently do n’t know how to evaluate , proof or falsify if there is a market , I would like to use this exercise to explore the specifics of the offer with the help of the visualization tool . 2 . Selection : In your own words , briefly describe the tool you selected ( e.g. , what it is and why you selected it for your challenge -- including any appropriate video lecture references ) . The first goal when using the visualization tool is to reach a common understanding of the scope and all the elements involved . The basis can be a poster with drawings or pictures that will underline the meaning of key words and force the participants to make more use of the right side of their brain . It will serve the team to explore the “ What is ? ” stage . The created poster will be discussed in small diverse groups ( 4 - 6 people ) . The groups will have 45 minutes to discuss and to adapt the graphic to their point of view . Afterwards they will present the outcome to the other groups . At this point it is very important to recognize commonalities on the insights between the different groups . The outcome of each group can be combined into one new illustration . This illustration will give orientation to all stake - holders involved in the project and can serve as a constant reference throughout the design thinking process . Refere to : Video : Visualization Tool with designer Doreen Schubert ; Book : Design for growth , p. 49 3 . Application : Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. , what you did and how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively ) . Reflecting about the costumers , possible problems and challenges , I put together a graphic ( see below ) . The shown “ Customer life cycle ” represents for me the way the costumer should be guided - beginning with the first time the he thinks : “ What if I had my own chickens ? ” I thought of some friends of mine who would form a complementary , yet diverse team : Thomas ( Organic farmer with 2000 hens ) , Matthias ( Physicist / doubtful , skeptical ) , Christina ( Pharmacist / unifying ) , Frank ( graphic designer / experienced in marketing , persona approach ) Based on my graphic this team shall reflect about the following questions : What is right / wrong / missing in the graphic ? 4 . Insight : Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your challenge ( e.g. , how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about design thinking more broadly ) . Since it is currently not possible for me to make the group session , I will try to imagine possible outcomes : 1 . The team was pointing out different groups of customers : people with house / garden , schools , kinder - gardens , retirement home . 2 . For team the connection with nature and the interaction with a living being are key - points . They were uncertain about the value in automation/ technical features in order to gain more independence . 3 . The most important insight was that we did n’t know enough about the costumers motivation . We would therefor try to find and interview people already having chickens and those who are thinking about getting some , in order to find out why producing your own eggs and having your own chickens is so important to them . It was interesting to see how technical questions were mostly put aside , we discussed mostly human and ethical questions . This session helped us to focus on the real questions , identify missing information , define the next steps and to narrow down on a minimum viable product ( MVP ) . 5 . Approach : Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same tool you selected or a different one -- and the reason(s ) why Alternatively , I could imagine a more open approach by using the “ Mind mapping / yard sale ” tool . Thus exhibiting all sorts of information that can be found as : newspaper articles about people/ kinder - gardens with hens , plans for hen houses , industrial egg production , storybooks about “ Life of a chicken ” , … This approach is more open and would therefor leave the space to emphasize on different aspects . It could prelude the visualization - session and thus make a very good project kick - off . But an additional time slot will be necessary , which is not in all situations possible . And certain aspects that I think of as key points , might not be discussed at all . I ’m not sure if the descripton of this tool is demanded in this exercise : The partcipants shall visit the exhibiton and note thinss that they fnd important on stccky - notes . In a sroup session ( 5 - 6 people the partcipants will propose themes and arranse these stccky - notes to a fins theme . In Detail : One persons starts by proposins a theme and the others can arranse fins stccky - notes around that theme . Than someone else can propose a new theme and other stccky - notes will be arransed around that theme . Stccky - notes without theme will also be added into the picture . Afer that , the themes will be put in relatonship with each other . In the end actons or insishts can be deduced by asckins the questons : “ What does that mean ? ” , “ So what ? ”