Discombobulation, Fire-Breathing Dragons and Wet Noodles: Creating Productive Workshops in Scary Situations
- 1. Discombobulation, Fire-Breathing Dragons and Wet Noodles Creating Productive Workshops in Scary Situations Beth Koloski Lead Experience Architect
- 2. Beth Koloski Lead Experience Architect EffectiveUI
- 4. Today’s objective: • Get ideas for dealing with scary situations in workshops • Feel more comfortable going in to your next workshop • Get ideas for design workshop activities
- 6. Scary Things
- 7. • No one participates • Only one person participates • They think this activity is silly • The ‘boss’ discourages others from participating • The mean person • I can’t control the group or someone in the group • No one agrees • We don’t get through everything we need to get through • Everyone is stuck in their mindset…I can’t seem to unstick them
- 10. + Own the Share ownership process. for the outcome.
- 11. Wet Noodles
- 12. What if nobody participates?
- 13. Draw out a silent participant • Direct questions to the silent participant • Ask the silent participant to react to someone else's statement • Reinforce • Check in during a break • Solicit help
- 14. Provide a structure • Pair then report • Stickie exercises • One minute each • Simply say, "Turn to the person next to you and discuss this." • Design games and activities * * this is the fun part
- 16. Still pulling teeth? • smaller groups • more hands on • ask what’s blocking • check initial objectives
- 18. What if one person dominates the whole conversation?
- 19. Dealing with excessive talkers Avoid discouraging the excessive talker, instead.... • At the start of the meeting, establish equal participation by all members as a goal • Interrupt the person with a question directed to someone else • Pair then report • Air time limits • Ask others to react • Design games and activities
- 20. What about the mean naysayer who is poisoning the collaborative tone?
- 21. Dealing with Negative Nelly • special attention on breaks • validate
- 22. What if one person shuts everyone else down? What if it’s the main stakeholder?
- 23. Dealing with Stakeholder Shutdown Before the workshop: • Make sure your stakeholder knows what you are planning to do, that you expect participation During: • Restate your need to hear from everyone • Ask that person to give permission to others to participate • Suggest a short-term solution “Let’s try this for 45 minutes”
- 25. “It’s my first day and the clients are yelling at each other.”
- 26. Prep • know who is coming • set expectations • solicit stakeholder’s desires, concerns • invite participants • reschedule if needed
- 27. Opening • set expectations for behavior • get buy in on objective • working buy in on agenda • change agenda if needed • let go of “everything else I should be doing” http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dmahugh/archive/2009/06/29/wg4-wg5-meetings.aspx
- 28. Fixed Ideas
- 29. What if they just say “That’s the way we’ve always done it?”
- 30. Ideas for unfixing fixed ideas Don’t attack the idea head on, instead.... • Have them argue from the other perspective • Break down pros & cons, assumptions, unknowns • Get the right participants • Enumerate the ways the fixed idea has served them • Explore the consequences of the fixed idea
- 32. Building Consensus & Deciding • Stake in the ground/working agreement • Acknowledge and record opposing views • Dot Vote • Thumbs up/down vote
- 33. “I’m doing all the activities, but we’re still not getting to consensus.”
- 34. Ideas for Dealing with Lack of Consensus • Ask who decides • Ask what’s standing in the way of deciding • Ask if consensus is needed • Go backwards
- 35. Managing Time
- 36. Managing Time 101 • Parking Lot • Get the group to help manage http://www.flickr.com/photos/shawnnap/ 5571400637/
- 37. Managing Time 201 When it becomes apparent you’re not getting where you thought you would, decide as a group: • Timebox the topic/activity and continue another time, • This important, let’s keep going (and reschedule the other stuff for later) • We’ve gotten what we need out of this, let’s just move on • This approach isn’t working, let’s take a http://www.flickr.com/photos/shawnnap/ 5571400637/ different one
- 38. Everything Else
- 39. When all else fails • acknowledge what’s going on if something is going awry • suggest a solution • ask the group
- 41. Engaging in User Research Go Around the Room Each participant says what stood out most from the usability session, study, survey
- 42. Thinking Like Users Empathy Map Participants fill in what a particular type of user is hearing, thinking, seeing, saying and doing. http://www.flickr.com/photos/davegray/ 2380465521/
- 43. Thinking About Users: 4 Square For each user type, participants help fill in each of the following: • goals • triggers • would find compelling • would find disappointing
- 44. Prioritizing/Choosing: Dot Voting Give each participant 3 dots to vote on their favorite/the most important (feature, persona, task flow, whatever).
- 45. Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers by Dave Gray
- 46. We’re hiring! effectiveui.com/ careers Your tips: #workshop_tips Find us here or email: Beth Koloski beth.koloski@effectiveui.com Elias Parker elias.parker@effectiveui.com
Editor's Notes
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- #10: 11 year old in Libya. Vest, waved. \nStand\nState that you’ll be leading the session and then do it\nTell people what to do\nIf you don’t:\nsomeone else will\nno one will\n\n
- #11: Quakers\nAsk for buy in on the objective \nAsk for buy in on participation\nChange the agenda if the group wants to \nIf you don’t: \nwhen people don’t share ownership, they don’t care\n\n
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