Mentoring Collaborative UCD

Mentoring Collaborative User Centred Design OzCHI, Adelaide November 2007 Patrick Kennedy, Step Two Designs

User Centred Design can be hard enough, but what if you and your team have no experience?

Mentoring collaborative UCD
User-centred web design can be hard enough
But what if…
you and your team have no experience ?
that team is new and still bonding?
your organisation expects prompt solutions?
hiring a team of experts is out of the question?
What if all of these were the case?
Addressing this situation tends to be dominated by:
Outsourcing to consultants
Hiring of contractors
Up-front formal training (before commencement)
Mentoring offers an alternative approach with many benefits

Agenda
The next 15 minutes will
Discuss collaborative information architecture
Outline the context of my experience (redesign of a large government website)
Focus on mentoring in a teamwork situation
Entice you to read my paper
Offer mentoring as a possible solution for you to consider
Allow some questions, if we have time

Case study: government agency who did not have the skills to fix a website that was out of control

Case study: ESA government website
ESA is an Australian government agency that deals with scientific data
Large information-rich website (approx 20,000 pages plus many applications)
Coordination is improving but website reflects organisational silos
Been through several design iterations in the past (typically outsourced)
The website has grown out of control
Technical side of website taken care of (by IT department)
But few skills in UCD and IA
They recognised there was little knowledge of the audience
Major redevelopment initiated, including the IA
There was no formal team for the website redesign, so one was newly formed
Team included staff from different parts of ESA, and was multidisciplinary
Little experience in working together, and varying levels of experience in web
Limited resources available and reasonable pressure to complete work quickly

Mentoring has many advantages and a mentor is an extremely valuable asset for any team

Mentoring has many advantages
It builds the skills of the team whilst allowing progress
Practical skills and team confidence are developed early
Contractors and consultants are expensive and leave the team without the skills to maintain or further develop the site
Trying to learn , then do, takes much longer and risks quality
Mentoring is more interactive and well suited to adult learning principles
Mentoring is often overlooked , perhaps seen as old fashioned
Anybody been involved in mentoring of some sort?

Mentoring hit the spot in terms of achieving project objectives within present constraints

Mentoring was the best approach
There was
A limited budget for the project
Recognition of the need for ongoing website development
A desire to build up skills of team
Thus, there was hesitation to rely on outsourcing
But needed to make progress fast , with best results
Mentoring was the chosen solution

Flexible mentoring agreement
Our mentoring agreement allowed for
Training sessions (focussed on key concepts)
Phone support (quick reference and advice)
Collaborative workshops (mentor blends into team)
Targeted pieces of consulting
A gradual shift from training sessions to workshops
Providing some instruction but quickly putting the team into action, practicing what they had learnt

More than just training, mentors provide guidance and help point the team in the right direction

Mentors guide and offer direction
More than just teach , mentors must act as a guide
Instilling confidence , such that they could do the work but also gain traction within the rest of the organisation
Encouraging discussion amongst team members
Starting with the broad concepts and then narrowing in on specifics
Role of a recommender very important (filtering and qualifying)
Many teaching aids were used
Books
Articles
Blogs
Websites
In these days of information overload, mentors should help simplify

Mentoring does have some constraints but with some juggling they can be overcome

Mentoring constraints
Subject to availability of mentor
Adding to the pressure was the fact that the mentor was based inter-state (ESA in Canberra, Step Two Designs in Sydney)
Limited face-to-face contact between mentor and team
This was reserved for training sessions and workshops
Additional discussion made use of phone and email
Less than ideal , ultimately it proved successful
Fortunately, the ESA team were all geographically close
Requires mentorees to do bulk of work (can be seen as risk)
Depends on a good rapport between mentor and team

There are several ‘tips of the trade’ for those considering mentoring in this type of situation

Findings
A new team can successfully collaborate on complex design activities in which they have little expertise, with the help of a mentor
Mentoring is not necessarily just training
Mentors end up talking a lot; but being able to ask questions is possibly the most valuable part from the team’s perspective
An in-house mentor would be generally more effective

The issue of time
How much of the mentor’s time is taken up?
5% of the working week, up to approx 90% peak
Overall increase in project time
If team inexperienced this will be substantial
But mentoring is quicker than training before starting
Delays due to mentor unavailability
This is an issue, especially if the mentor is not in-house
But can be beneficial, forces team to stretch themselves and build confidence

Feedback after the project
Consequences of up-skilling
“ It’s unusual that the organisation would want to build up the skills of the team”
“ Yeah but the problem is that once you train them up, they will leave and get an IA job”
Yes, but not an exclusive issue for mentoring
Long term sustainability
“ How sustainable is it? Have the mentorees become mentors and champions of UCD?”
Yes (‘train the trainer’ ripple effect)

Conclusion
Mentoring can be a superior alternative to outsourcing, using contractors and up-front training
It’s often more cost effective
Allows immediate progress while ensuring quality
Builds internal skills and ensures long-term capability
Perfect for inexperienced teams with limited time/budget
Flexible solution, allowing many different activities
Guidance and direction are key roles of a mentor
Face-to-face is best, but workarounds can be found
Demands on mentor’s time is not excessive

Thank you
Original paper is on the conference proceedings CD
Your feedback is most welcome
Patrick Kennedy [email_address]
Blog: www.gurtle.com/ppov/
Website: www.steptwo.com.au

So why are they so unpopular?

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Mentoring Collaborative UCD

by Patrick Kennedy

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