Beyond Co-design. How open collaboration formats can enhance your design process

Beyond co-design
How open collaboration formats can enhance your design process

Franco Papeschi - @bobbywatson
Johanna Kollmann - @johannakoll
User Experience @ Vodafone Group Services

Co-design…
…is about developing a service or a product by a process that involves all perspectives that are related to the design.
…has its origin in systems-thinking.
…involves different groups of people actively in the design process, and all perspectives are equally important.

Collaboration…
… is defined as ‘working jointly with others or together, especially in an intellectual endeavour.’ (Merriam Webster Online dictionary)
Collaborating openly with others means that ideas are shared rather than protected.
Open collaboration activities, such as barcamps or Hack-a-thons, encourage participants to share information, their work, and reflect and learn together.

open
collaboration
co-design
Awesome!

Awesome!
More and better ideas
Tangible outcomes
Perception of Vodafone
Relationships
Change internal perception of UX
We’re hiring more UX agencies for strategy work!

The MicroFutures project

MicroFutures: Goals
What
Internal ideas around marketplaces and transactions
Quickly turn these ideas into tangible product concepts
Why
Do more than one designer can do
Expose ideas to fresh perspectives
Collaborate more with users and internal stakeholders
Learn for future co-design projects

MicroFutures: People
Stakeholders
Designers
Lead users

MicroFutures: Process
explore
Co-design
Bridge the gap between Explore and Design
design
experience
build

Internal research and design workshops
Co-design project
Internal sharing of design concepts
Mobile app spin-off project with R&D

Ideation
Workshops
Sprint 01
Sprint 02
Sprint 03
Sprint 04
Online
Collaboration

Detail
concepts
Personas
Ideation
Sprint 03
Workshops
Sprint 01
Sprint 02
Sprint 04
Online
Collaboration

Detail
concepts
Presentation of final concepts
Ideation
Personas
Workshops
Sprint 01
Sprint 02
Sprint 03
Sprint 04
Online
Collaboration

MicroFutures: Outcome

MicroFutures: Information
Objectives
Personas
Brand
Business objectives
Background
Initial ideas
Research
Outcome of internal workshops
Constraints
Design brief
Technical constraints
(Mobile) platforms
Information facilitates focus and prioritisation.

MicroFutures: Spaces

MicroFutures: Tools
Design
Visual communicator
Stimulus material
Collages
Scenarios
Storyboards
Communication
Blog
Skype
Cameras
‘Adopt a remote member’
Collaboration
Prioritisation techniques, eg dot democracy
Tools facilitate designing and collaborating.

MicroFutures: Learnings
Share ‘secret’ information like personas or business objectives.
Facilitate self-organisation, rather than try to control the teams.
Co-design requires a shift in mindset to succeed.

Mindset
Share ideas and information
Self-organisation
Collaborative decision-making
Info
People
Designers
Experts
Lead users
Background
Objectives
Constraints
Tools
Spaces
Design tools
Collaboration techniques
Communication tools
Design studio
Public online platform
Process
Sprints
Timeboxing
Clear tasks
Competition
Retrospectives

The ecomo09 project

Ecomo09: Goals
What
Create tools and services that help people understand their impact on the environment, and act upon it.
Why
Collect expertise on the topic.
Generate ideas that had a tangible result, and could be evaluated quickly.

Ecomo09: People
Designers
Lead users
Sustainability experts
Developers
R&D
Design knowledge
Challenges of daily life
Topic knowledge and passion
Technical knowledge and passion
Technical knowledge

Ecomo09: Process
explore
Co-design
Close the loop between Explore and Design
design
experience
Hack-a-thon
Move from Design to Build
build

Ecomo09: Process
Internal research and design workshops
Co-design project
Public sharing of design concepts
Similar to
MicroFutures
Hack-a-thon: apps and prototypes
Further development of concepts and apps

Ecomo09: Process
Co-design
Hack-a-thon

Ecomo09: Spaces
Physical
Virtual

Ecomo09: Information
Background
Initial ideas
Research
Outcome of internal workshops
Interviews with experts
Objectives
Brand
Vision of the future
Constraints
Design brief
Technical constraints
Opportunities
Technical assets (APIs,…)
Information facilitates focus and prioritisation.

Ecomo09: Tools
Communication
Public Blog
Twitter
Flickr
Design
Visual communicator
Stimulus material
Scenarios
Reuse
Code repository
Collaboration
Prioritisation techniques, e.g. dot democracy
Ownership
Legal framework (Creative Commons, Open Source)
Tools facilitate participation and creativity.

3 concepts
Ecomo09: Outcome

8 prototypes
Ecomo09: Outcome

1 new set of API
Ecomo09: Outcome

Ecomo09: Learnings
Adopt practices and tools of people you want to engage with
Platforms
Events
Photos by Tory Dunn

Ecomo09: Learnings
Users
Developers
More interaction
needed

Ecomo09: Learnings
It saved money – but we didn’t tell the business!

Mindset
Self-organisation
Passion for the topic
Info
People
Designers
Experts
Lead users
Developers
Background
Objectives
Constraints
Opportunities
Tools
Spaces
Design tools
Communication tools
Repositories for reuse
Legal framework
Design studio
Hack-a-thon warehouse
Process
Co-design + hack-a-thon
People involved at different stages
Competition

Reflecting on the projects

Elements of open collaboration
Contribute
Connect
Core
Collaborate
Create
Charles Leadbeater, We-Think (2008)

Reflecting on the process
explore
Co-design
Close the loop between Explore and Design
Build on the projects
Neither project managed to inform product decisions in Vodafone
design
experience
Hack-a-thon
Move from Design to Build
build

How to go beyond co-design

Mindset
Info
People
Tools
Spaces
Process

Info
Information gives focus
If you want your participants to be like a design team, give them all the information a design team would need!

Pick tools and spaces that
facilitate creativity
Spaces
Tools
Provide visual design / sketch support
Provide access to sources of data (API) if you want people to create something tangible

Pick tools and spaces that
facilitate collaboration
Spaces
Tools
Hack-a-thons
Design studios
Retrospectives, dot democracy and other collaboration tools

People
Engage the right people
Who?
Why?
When?
Give strong incentives - ideally intrinsic motivation

Adapt the process
Process
Keep it flexible
Reflect
Experiment

Mindset
Practice the mindset
Collaborate
Be less protective about your ideas
Step back and facilitate

Mindset
Self-organisation
Collaborative decision-making
Passion for the topic
Info
People
Designers
Experts
Lead users
Stakeholders
Developers
Background
Objectives
Constraints
Opportunities
Tools
Spaces
Design tools
Communication tools
Repositories for reuse
Legal framework
Design studio
Hack-a-thon warehouse
Private online platform
Process
Co-design + hack-a-thon
People involved at different stages
Competition
Sprints
Timeboxing
Clear tasks
Retrospectives

Challenges
‘Risk’ of openness
Ownership of ideas
Continuous engagement and motivation
Tangible outcomes and new ideas
Only relevant if you’re in-house?

open
collaboration
co-design
Awesome!

Awesome!
More and better ideas
Tangible outcomes
Perception of Vodafone
Relationships
Change internal perception of UX
We’re hiring more UX agencies for strategy work!

It was so much fun!
Photo ofJohanna by Kevin McDonagh http://www.flickr.com/photos/appletv/3942194437/

Thank you. Questions?
@bobbywatson
franco.papeschi@gmail.com
@johannakoll
kollmann.johanna@gmail.com

Resources
Hicks, Mark: Collaborate to Innovate? Getting Fresh Small Company Thinking into Big Company Innovation. Interactions, XVII.3 - May / June, 2010. http://interactions.acm.org/content/?p=1363Leadbetter, Charles: We-Think. Mass innovation, not mass production. Profile books, 2008. http://www.charlesleadbeater.net/orange-buttons/we-think.aspx
More about ecomo: http://tinyurl.com/betavine-sustainability
Thank you
MicroFutures team: Mark Hicks, Dug Falby
Ecomo 09 team: Tory Dunn
Heather Moore, Dan Appelquist, Steve Wolak, Tracey Lee-Joe, Richard Child, Bryce Ashdown, Phill Julian, Josh Ulm, FJ van Wingerde, Russell Sese
Sense Networks, Seren, BASH Studio, Sprung Studios
All our collaborators and hackers!
London IA community, Matthew Solle and the Vodafone UE team for valuable feedback on our dry-runs.

Beyond co-design
How open collaboration formats can enhance your design process

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Beyond Co-design. How open collaboration formats can enhance your design process

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