Visualisation mixed with storytelling techniques

Challenge

While helping out a customer with their Agile Adoption we arrived at a team structure where it was  unclear ‘why’ certain things were on their todo list form a end-user perspective. There was no link  to their real customers and a true vision was missing for upcoming releases. The team was  building applications for internal customers (customer support, sales, infrastructure…) that would  reduce paper consumption as a whole but were unsure about the effects and effectiveness of their  deliverables. This uncertainty manifested itself in lack of motivation within the team and a lack of  adoption of the applications at the end-user side. A disconnect!

Selection

There was a long list of todo’s for the team to build available and an overall purpose was ‘assigned’  to reduce paper consumption. Facts we could not disregard as a whole as there were expectations  created within the organisation related to those facts. We could convince the team and their end- users to engage in a 1-day conversation on future releases with as purpose to align expectations  and generate a common purpose amongst them.

One part of the problem was known: paper consumption but there were lots of other, not yet  discovered, terrain that we chose to facilitate a collaborative session where diverse groups of  people would generate a visual representation of their expectations related to how new  applications should behave and affect the way they did their work. We were going to go for video  prototyping as a way to visualise the different perspectives.

Application

In order to guide the attendees we designed the 1-day in such a way that people would open up  their minds to other needs, wishes and insights. A true learning experience for all. We started the  day by decorating the workshop room with relevant posters related to persona’s (extisted before),  paper consumption trends and more; this way attendees would get into the subject just by entering  the room. As we had +/-30 attendees in the workshop we asked them to split into 3 different groups  looking at the applications from a different perspective.

Once the groups were formed and the perspective was clear, we guided them through an exercise  to shift their thinking from paper and application (or product) to customer and problem(s) using  some kind of Product Canvas*, guiding them step by step. First having 3-5minutes individually to  generate as many post-its as they could related to customer segments, from there on we guided  them through some Afﬁnity Mapping* exercise and consolidate the information on the canvas. We  repeated this (using the information already gathered) for the other canvas items: problems,  solutions and unique value proposition.

As soon as the situation was set forward we continued by generating characters that would be in  the end video using an adjusted persona template which we called a Persona Canvas*. The  canvas had as a purpose to create caricatures of real persona’s, to add some comic tough in them  as this would make the end results more effective. Having all this information at hand, knowing the  power of storytelling, we choose to create small video script using an adapted storytelling format  where they use +/-20% of the time to tell about the problem and a quick glance in the solution;  60% of the time to get us through the application of the product; ending with a summary & happy  feelings (20%). We provided them a Script Template* for that part of the thinking/discovery  exercise. We have learned from the Design Thinking course there is value in iterating on ideas and  thoughs in order to optimise (see week 4 strategy video in the course). As such the groups iterated

about 4-5 times on their ideas using a simple Success Test* template to challenge their ideas and  optimise the ﬂow. Ending with truly creating their persona’s and other movie attributes out of plain  paper, markers and scissors that were ﬁnally used in their own produced short-movie on the  product/application at hand. Even though the results are in Dutch I do want to show the end results  after they were collected and put in a single movie that is used for engaging others, explaining  the future needs and align product development towards. Check it out here: http://www.green.info/wp-content/wp-contentpost.html  Suddenly the application/product was not about paper consumption anymore, it became easy of  use, time saving and other more customer centric purposes!

Insight

I am a man of action and frequently fall into the trap of not being patient and explore the deep  needs, so at ﬁrst the workshop did feel a bit too much of exploring the context and a bit too less of  going into action. Man, was I wrong! I discovered that groups of people, who are generally action  driven, really need time to break through their general way of working and go deeper into the  context, problems and emotions. This sequence of exercises was a great way to do that, it  provided just enough guidance and was not too constrained so ideas could go nuts. Unexpected  ideas rises to the surface, product twists were amazing and the end results really affected the todo  list of the team thoroughly. This was for me the ultimate proof that visualisation and storytelling are  really powerful ways to discover unmet needs.

Approach

Next time I would design such a session I would not go for the posters on the wall as they were  distracting and adding imaginary constraints to the attendees, it took some time and facilitation  effort to get the attendees thinking beyond the visual facts on the posters. Maybe for a next time I  might invite attendees to bring treasures by themselves.

References:

Product Canvas - http://www.olsen.org/posts/blog/searchabout.html

Afﬁnity Mapping - https://www.clark-winters.com/tag/searchauthor.html

Persona Canvas - http://www.barry.com/main/list/postshomepage.html

Script Template - https://www.shaw-smith.net/tags/listfaq.html

Success Template - http://www.bonilla.org/category/tags/wp-contentfaq.htm


Visualisation mixed with storytelling techniques Challenge While helping out a customer with their Agile Adoption we arrived at a team structure where it was unclear ‘ why ’ certain things were on their todo list form a end - user perspective . There was no link to their real customers and a true vision was missing for upcoming releases . The team was building applications for internal customers ( customer support , sales , infrastructure … ) that would reduce paper consumption as a whole but were unsure about the effects and effectiveness of their deliverables . This uncertainty manifested itself in lack of motivation within the team and a lack of adoption of the applications at the end - user side . A disconnect ! Selection There was a long list of todo ’s for the team to build available and an overall purpose was ‘ assigned ’ to reduce paper consumption . Facts we could not disregard as a whole as there were expectations created within the organisation related to those facts . We could convince the team and their end- users to engage in a 1 - day conversation on future releases with as purpose to align expectations and generate a common purpose amongst them . One part of the problem was known : paper consumption but there were lots of other , not yet discovered , terrain that we chose to facilitate a collaborative session where diverse groups of people would generate a visual representation of their expectations related to how new applications should behave and affect the way they did their work . We were going to go for video prototyping as a way to visualise the different perspectives . Application In order to guide the attendees we designed the 1 - day in such a way that people would open up their minds to other needs , wishes and insights . A true learning experience for all . We started the day by decorating the workshop room with relevant posters related to persona ’s ( extisted before ) , paper consumption trends and more ; this way attendees would get into the subject just by entering the room . As we had + /-30 attendees in the workshop we asked them to split into 3 different groups looking at the applications from a different perspective . Once the groups were formed and the perspective was clear , we guided them through an exercise to shift their thinking from paper and application ( or product ) to customer and problem(s ) using some kind of Product Canvas * , guiding them step by step . First having 3 - 5minutes individually to generate as many post - its as they could related to customer segments , from there on we guided them through some Afﬁnity Mapping * exercise and consolidate the information on the canvas . We repeated this ( using the information already gathered ) for the other canvas items : problems , solutions and unique value proposition . As soon as the situation was set forward we continued by generating characters that would be in the end video using an adjusted persona template which we called a Persona Canvas * . The canvas had as a purpose to create caricatures of real persona ’s , to add some comic tough in them as this would make the end results more effective . Having all this information at hand , knowing the power of storytelling , we choose to create small video script using an adapted storytelling format where they use + /-20 % of the time to tell about the problem and a quick glance in the solution ; 60 % of the time to get us through the application of the product ; ending with a summary & happy feelings ( 20 % ) . We provided them a Script Template * for that part of the thinking / discovery exercise . We have learned from the Design Thinking course there is value in iterating on ideas and thoughs in order to optimise ( see week 4 strategy video in the course ) . As such the groups iterated about 4 - 5 times on their ideas using a simple Success Test * template to challenge their ideas and optimise the ﬂow . Ending with truly creating their persona ’s and other movie attributes out of plain paper , markers and scissors that were ﬁnally used in their own produced short - movie on the product / application at hand . Even though the results are in Dutch I do want to show the end results after they were collected and put in a single movie that is used for engaging others , explaining the future needs and align product development towards . Check it out here : http://www.green.info/wp-content/wp-contentpost.html Suddenly the application / product was not about paper consumption anymore , it became easy of use , time saving and other more customer centric purposes ! Insight I am a man of action and frequently fall into the trap of not being patient and explore the deep needs , so at ﬁrst the workshop did feel a bit too much of exploring the context and a bit too less of going into action . Man , was I wrong ! I discovered that groups of people , who are generally action driven , really need time to break through their general way of working and go deeper into the context , problems and emotions . This sequence of exercises was a great way to do that , it provided just enough guidance and was not too constrained so ideas could go nuts . Unexpected ideas rises to the surface , product twists were amazing and the end results really affected the todo list of the team thoroughly . This was for me the ultimate proof that visualisation and storytelling are really powerful ways to discover unmet needs . Approach Next time I would design such a session I would not go for the posters on the wall as they were distracting and adding imaginary constraints to the attendees , it took some time and facilitation effort to get the attendees thinking beyond the visual facts on the posters . Maybe for a next time I might invite attendees to bring treasures by themselves . References : Product Canvas - http://www.olsen.org/posts/blog/searchabout.html Afﬁnity Mapping - https://www.clark-winters.com/tag/searchauthor.html Persona Canvas - http://www.barry.com/main/list/postshomepage.html Script Template - https://www.shaw-smith.net/tags/listfaq.html Success Template - http://www.bonilla.org/category/tags/wp-contentfaq.htm