Discombobulation, Fire-Breathing Dragons and Wet Noodles: Creating Productive Workshops in Scary Situations

Discombobulation, Fire-Breathing Dragons and Wet NoodlesCreating Productive Workshops in Scary Situations Beth Koloski Lead Experience Architect

Beth KoloskiLead Experience ArchitectEffectiveUI

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

Your tips:#workshop_tips

Scary Things

• 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

Workshop Facilitation 101

Own theprocess.

+Own the Share ownershipprocess. for the outcome.

Wet Noodles

What if nobody participates?

Draw out a silent participant • Direct questions to the silent participant • Ask the silent participant to react to someone elses statement • Reinforce • Check in during a break • Solicit help

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

Still pulling teeth? • smaller groups • more hands on • ask what’s blocking • check initial objectives

Fire-Breathing Dragons

What if one persondominates the wholeconversation?

Dealing with excessive talkersAvoid 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

What about the mean naysayerwho is poisoning thecollaborative tone?

Dealing with Negative Nelly • special attention on breaks • validate

What if one personshuts everyone elsedown? What if it’s themain stakeholder?

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”

Participant Misbehavior

“It’s my ﬁrst day and theclients are yelling at eachother.”

Prep• know who is coming• set expectations• solicit stakeholder’s desires, concerns• invite participants• reschedule if needed

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

Fixed Ideas

What if they just say“That’s the way we’vealways done it?”

Ideas for unfixing fixedideasDon’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

Lack of Consensus

Building Consensus &Deciding• Stake in the ground/working agreement• Acknowledge and record opposing views• Dot Vote• Thumbs up/down vote

“I’m doing all theactivities, butwe’re still notgetting toconsensus.”

Ideas for Dealing with Lack ofConsensus• Ask who decides• Ask what’s standing in the way of deciding• Ask if consensus is needed• Go backwards

Managing Time

Managing Time101• Parking Lot• Get the group to help manage http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/shawnnap/ 5571400637/

Managing Time201When it becomes apparent you’re notgetting 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

Everything Else

When all else fails• acknowledge what’s going on if something is going awry• suggest a solution• ask the group

Design Workshop Activities

Engaging in UserResearchGo Around the RoomEach participant says whatstood out most from theusability session, study,survey

Thinking Like UsersEmpathy MapParticipants ﬁll in what aparticular type of user ishearing, thinking, seeing,saying and doing. http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/davegray/ 2380465521/

Thinking About Users:4 SquareFor each user type,participants help fill in each ofthe following:• goals• triggers• would find compelling• would find disappointing

Prioritizing/Choosing:Dot VotingGive each participant 3 dots tovote on their favorite/themost important (feature,persona, task ﬂow, whatever).

Gamestorming: A Playbook forInnovators, Rulebreakers, andChangemakers by Dave Gray

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

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Discombobulation, Fire-Breathing Dragons and Wet Noodles: Creating Productive Workshops in Scary Situations

by bkoloski on Apr 04, 2011

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Discombobulation, Fire-Breathing Dragons and Wet Noodles: Creating Productive Workshops in Scary Situations — Presentation Transcript