Collaboration Within A Multidisciplinary Team

Collaboration within a multidisciplinary team
Working together to solve design problems more effectively
Michele Ide-Smith Andy Morris Revathi Nathaniel
UX Specialist UX Specialist UX Specialist

No scheduled fire alarms

Nearest toilets
Timing

Please turn off phones

Questions Photography

Housekeeping

10:45 – 11:05 Introduction

11:05 – 12:00 Activity #1: KJ Technique

12:00 -12:15 Discussion

12:15 – 13:15 Lunch

13:15 – 13:25 Post lunch

13:25 – 14:15 Activity #2: Design Consequences

14:25 – 14:40 Q&A Session

Time plan

Collaboration Vs. Communication

“In the long history of
humankind…those who learned to
collaborate and improvise most
effectively have prevailed.”
Charles Darwin

Collaboration Within A Multidisciplinary Team

So, who consistently performs

poorly?

agilemanifesto.org
[Tom Wujec, 2010]

Recent Business School Graduates

[Tom Wujec, 2010]

Who consistently performs

well?

agilemanifesto.org
[Tom Wujec, 2010]

Recent Kindergarten School Graduates

[Tom Wujec, 2010]

Height
(inches)

30

20

Specialized Skills + Facilitation Skills = Success
10

Average Business Lawyers Kinder- Architects CEOs CEOs &
School garten & Executive
Students Engineers Admins

agilemanifesto.org
[Tom Wujec, 2010]

• Play & prototyping yield better results

• Diverse skills matter

• Facilitation skills increase performance

[Tom Wujec, 2010]

• UX skills make you a better facilitator
• Patience
• Listening
• Empathy

• Sometimes we need guidance on how to
structure collaboration

Innovation Games

Using games for structuring
collaboration

• Invented by Japanese
Anthropologist Jiro
Kawakita in the 1960’s

• A way to sort lots of
subjective, qualitative data

• Group decision making by
consensus

What is the KJ Method?

• Different perspectives are valuable

• Shared understanding

• Inclusive yet objective – all opinions heard

• Effective for sorting lots of data

• Encourages group ownership of actions

Why use the KJ Method?

Prioritising Exploring
issues from product/team
usability tests challenges

Brainstorming Analysing
product contextual
features enquiry data

When is the KJ Method useful?

• 8 step version of the
KJ Method

• Experiment with 15
groups of UX
practitioners

“We find the KJ-Method to be very effective for
organizing and prioritizing opinions and subjective data”

Jared Spool’s experiment

A DIY chain store has approached your UX Agency. They
can no longer afford to employ staff with a high level of
expertise in each store. Your brief is to design a mobile app
that will:

• Enable customers to find out how to solve DIY problems;

• Help customers to identify what materials and tools they
need for DIY jobs.

Propose 3 features that will bring the most value to
customers.

The design brief

For this exercise we’ll use the focus question:

“What features do users need?”

Step 1: Determine a focus question

Project Manager
Visual Designers
Developers

Clients

Testers
Product Manager
UX Designers

Step 2: Organise the group

Step 3: Write ideas, opinions, data on
sticky notes

• Use yellow stickies

• One item per sticky note

• Brainstorm as many ideas as you can

• Do not discuss the sticky notes yet!

Step 3: Write ideas, opinions, data on
sticky notes

Step 4: Put sticky notes randomly on
the wall

• Do not discuss the sticky notes yet!

• Read other peoples sticky notes

• If you think of other ideas, add them at this
stage

Step 4: Put sticky notes randomly on
the wall

• Group stickies that seem to belong
together

• Feel free to re-arrange and split groups

• Keep moving stickies around until you feel
the groups make sense

• Do not discuss the stickies at this stage!

Step 5: Group similar items

• Use blue stickies and name each group

• A group can have more than one name

• If someone has used the exact same words
that you want to use, don’t duplicate

• If a group has 2 themes, split the group

Step 6: Name the groups

Step 7: Vote for the most important
groups

• On your own, choose the 3 group heading
stickies that you feel represent the
features users will need most and rank
them 1st, 2nd, 3rd

• You each have 6 dots – now dot your 3
selected group heading stickies e.g. 1st = 3
dots, 2nd = 2 dots, 3rd = 1 dot

Step 7: Vote for the most important
groups

Rank the group name
stickies with dots

Nominate two group
names that you think
are identical and take
a vote. Did everyone
agree? If not, why? Don’t include any
Discuss! stickies without dots,
even if they came from
the same group

Step 8: Rank the most important
groups

• Each group read out their top 3 group names

• What did you enjoy? What did you find challenging?

• What did you learn?

• How did you feel as participants? Was there
anything the facilitator could have done better?

• When would this method be useful?

• How did it differ from what you’ve tried before?

De-brief discussion

• Put together by Leisa Reichelt and her
colleague

• Helps generate great design ideas

• Encourages discussion to develop consensus
with your team

What is Design Consequences?

• Early in the design process although its
equally helpful later on in the design process

• Well-defined design problem

• Good understanding of specific constraints
and how other people may have approached
the design problem

When to use Design Consequences?

Your design team is now ready to start exploring
some design ideas.

You want to share some mock-ups of the mobile app
with the DIY store.

Design Brief

• In your team, choose the highest ranked feature from the KJ
technique that your mobile application will support

• Individually sketch the first level of user interaction for this
feature

• Design what you would like your user to see and do when
she/he opens the DIY app to use this feature

• Spend 7 minutes on this task

Design Round One

It need not be a work of art. Its just a
sketch!

• Pass your sketch to the person sitting on your right

• Review the sketch you have received

• Choose what you as the ‘user’, would interact with

• Sketch what you would like to happen in the next screen

• Clarify any questions you have about the sketch with the
original designer

• Spend 7 minutes on this task

Design Round Two

• In your team, describe the sketch you received

• Which aspect you chose to interact with?

• What did you design as the next screen?

• Discuss some of the ideas your team has come up with

• Decide which sketches/design ideas would you take
forward to show to the DIY Store

Discussion round

• What did your team decide?

• Did the discussion with your team help bring out any
interesting observations?

• Were there any conflicting ideas?

• How did you resolve them?

Show and tell Round Two

• Generates lots of design ideas

• Seeds discussion topics- ideas and challenges

• An opportunity to ‘usability test’ designs on the go

• Includes all team members even the ones who prefer to stay
quiet during meetings

• Helps the team reach consensus

• It helps designers work better as the responsibility to ‘design’
doesn’t stay, as ‘only’ the designer’s job

De-brief

• What did you enjoy about the technique?

• What did you find challenging?

• How have you conducted this technique? How was it
different from today?

• When would you use this technique?

• Was there anything the facilitator could have done better?

Your Thoughts

Thank you for listening
Tom Wujec’s Marshmellow Challenge
http://marshmallowchallenge.com

David Gray, James Macanufo, Sunni Brown Gamestorming
http://www.gogamestorm.com

Jared Spool version of the KJ-Method
http://www.uie.com/articles/kj_technique

Leisa Reichelt’s Design Consequences technique
http://www.disambiguity.com/design-consequences-a-fun-
workshop-technique-for-brainstorming-consensus-building/

Image Credits
http://dailytoyz.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/lego-national-day-parade.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/d2clon/4402993445/
http://dribbble.com/shots/347309-Mobile-Sketches
http://innovationgames.com/show-tell/
http://adpu.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/show_20and_20tell.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IB-qSfEKljc/T9yf_nD3V0I/AAAAAAAAAUY/vB3kdvCR71A/s1600/forgiveness-and-consequences-
300x204.jpg

Collaboration Within A Multidisciplinary Team

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