Claire Brawdy recently delivered a presentation titled "Design Thinking for KM Strategy & Roadmapping," at the KMI Showcase held in Tysons Corner, Virginia. The presentation delved into how KM practitioners can and should be leveraging Design Thinking to develop a human-centered approach to knowledge management. Brawdy discussed the Design Thinking methodology, and shared real-world examples of how to leverage this approach to understand end users, define and prioritize KM solutions, and translate that into a KM roadmap to mature knowledge management within any organization.

1. DESIGN THINKING FOR KM STRATEGY & ROADMAPPING
Claire Brawdy
January 18, 2018
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

2. HELLO!
CLAIRE BRAWDY
SENIOR ANALYST, ENTERPRISE KNOWLEDGE
BOARD, OPENIDEO DC CHAPTER
UX/UI DESIGN
VISUAL DESIGN
FRONT END WEB
DEVELOPMENT
TAXONOMY
DESIGN
KM STRATEGY
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

3. TODAY’S AGENDA
OVERVIEW OF DESIGN THINKING
WHY DESIGN THINKING & KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT?
WALKTHROUGH OF THE DESIGN THINKING PROCESS
EK’S KM WORKSHOP APPROACH
CASE STUDIES
Q & A
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

4. THE WHAT & WHY
OF DESIGN THINKING
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

5. WHAT IS DESIGN THINKING?
A human-centered approach to problem solving that brings together the
needs of people, technology, and business to solve complex problems with
innovative solutions.
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

6. WHY DESIGN THINKING?
▪ Focuses on the end
user(s).
▪ Challenges assumptions.
▪ Leverages collective
expertise.
▪ Employs empathy.
▪ Utilizes constant
iteration.
▪ Assuming we know what
the user wants and
jumping immediately to
solutions.
▪ Telling versus listening.
▪ “Good” design means a
good user experience.
▪ “We have this
technology, what can we
use it for?”
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

7. DESIGN THINKING IN REALITY
EMPATHIZE DEFINE PROTOTYPEIDEATE TEST
Empathize to
help define the
problem.
Learn about the users
through testing.
Learn from prototypes
to spark new ideas.
Tests reveal insights that
redefine the problem.
Tests create new
ideas for the project.
In practice, this process is carried out in a more flexible
and non-linear fashion, with stages being conducted
concurrently.
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

8. WATERFALL PROJECTSAGILE PROJECTS
Design thinking is a tool for
eliciting ongoing ideas and
feedback in an engaging and
tangible manner.
Design thinking lends structure
to the design phase of your
project.
DO ACT
CHECKPLAN
PLAN THE
PROJECT
DESIGN
THE
SOLUTION
DEVELOP
THE
SOLUTION
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

9. WHY DESIGN THINKING & KM
▪ KM efforts are notorious for suffering from a lack of buy-in and
alignment.
▪ Stagnant efforts because users aren’t adopting or embracing the
initiative because:
▪ It’s too abstract;
▪ There’s excessive jargon and no clear tie to business value;
▪ Solutions are too technology-driven;
▪ People don’t want to change; and
▪ Solutions are not (or not perceived as) helping the end user.
▪ Design Thinking + KM = Solutions designed with users and for them.
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

10. THE DESIGN THINKING PROCESS
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

11. PHASE 1: EMPATHIZE
▪ The Empathize mode is the work you do to understand people, within
the context of your design challenge.
▪ Your effort to understand the way they do things and why, their physical
and emotional needs, and what is meaningful to them.
▪ Observe, Engage, and Immerse.
EMPATHIZE DEFINE PROTOTYPEIDEATE TEST
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

12. BEST PRACTICES & TIPSAPPROACHES
▪ Interviews and Focus Groups
▪ Observations
▪ Immersions
▪ Empathy Maps
▪ User Personas
▪ Get out of the building.
▪ Make these activities as
interactive as possible!
▪ Assume a beginner’s
mindset, abandon your ego.
▪ Ask what, why, and how.
Name & Picture
What motivates them?
Goals Behaviors What’s their story?
Pain Points & Frustrations
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

13. OUTCOMES
▪ A clear understanding of your end
user(s) and their goals, motivations,
and frustrations as they pertain to the
development of KM solutions.
▪ Alignment within your team of the
user(s) that you are designing
solutions for.
Name Maria
Role Term Employee
Tenure (Length
of Service)
1 Year
Motivation &
Mission
Career Advancement – Novice,
starting out, wants to achieve
permanent status and move up.
Area of
Responsibility
WASO, Archaeology
Technical Savvy High
CLP Site
Expectations
Provide insights and guidance on
how to advance her career and
further her knowledge.
Interdisciplinary
Awareness &
Interest
High, wishes to network and engage
colleagues.
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

14. PHASE 2: DEFINE
▪ The Define mode of the design process is all about bringing clarity and
focus to the design space.
▪ It is your chance, and responsibility, to define the challenge you are
taking on.
▪ This should be based on what you have learned about your user and
about the context.
▪ Unpack, Synthesize, and Scope.
EMPATHIZE DEFINE PROTOTYPEIDEATE TEST
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

15. BEST PRACTICES & TIPSAPPROACHES
▪ Share Inspiring Stories
▪ Theming
▪ Prioritizing
▪ How Might We (HMW) or
Challenge Statements
▪ One of the most difficult parts
of the process, but also one of
the most important.
▪ Don’t underestimate
prioritization – you can’t do
everything.
▪ Challenge statements should
be broad enough to encourage
many ideas, but not so broad
that you can’t manage it.
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

16. OUTCOMES
▪ Synthesized understanding of the
themes derived from your empathy work.
▪ A clear scope, and subsequent list of
priority needs of your end user(s).
▪ A focused challenge statement which
can be leveraged by your team for future
ideating efforts.
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

17. PHASE 3: IDEATE
▪ Ideate is where you concentrate on idea generation.
▪ Mentally it represents a process of “going wide” in terms of concepts and
outcomes.
▪ Ideation provides both the fuel for prototyping and creating innovative
solutions.
▪ Brainstorm and Explore.
EMPATHIZE DEFINE PROTOTYPEIDEATE TEST
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

18. BEST PRACTICES & TIPSAPPROACHES
▪ Silent Brainstorming
▪ Bundling Ideas
▪ Gut Checks
▪ Co-Design
▪ Role Play
▪ Create the right type of
environment (both physically
and emotionally).
▪ Offer activities which cater to
both introverts and
extroverts.
▪ Don’t underestimate the need
for guidance and structure
(e.g. a challenge statement
from the Define phase, time
boxing, ground rules, etc.).
▪ Quantity > Quality
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

19. OUTCOMES
▪ Brings together the strengths and
perspectives of your different
teammates to come up with a variety of
idea options.
▪ A large volume of possible ideas to
move forward with in the Prototype and
Test phases.
▪ Ideas which go beyond obvious
solutions and uncover unexpected
areas of innovation.
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

20. PHASE 4: PROTOTYPE
▪ The prototype phase involves iterative generation of artifacts.
▪ The goal is to answer questions that get you closer to your final solution.
▪ A prototype can be anything that a user can interact with – though
ideally you bias toward something a user can experience.
▪ Incorporate and Build.
EMPATHIZE DEFINE PROTOTYPEIDEATE TEST
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

21. BEST PRACTICES & TIPSAPPROACHES
▪ Rapid Prototyping
▪ Role-Playing Activities
▪ Modeling
▪ Mock-ups or Wireframes
▪ Storyboards or Journey Maps
▪ There may be many testable
components – be clear about
what you need to learn.
▪ Cater your prototype to the
aspect you need to test to
gather necessary answers.
▪ Focus on designing the
Minimum Viable Product
(MVP).
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

22. OUTCOMES
▪ Avoid “feature bloat” through
testing aspects of the MVP.
▪ An opportunity to directly engage
with end users before moving
forward.
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

23. PHASE 5: TEST
▪ The Test mode is when you solicit feedback about the prototypes you
have created from your users.
▪ This is another opportunity to gain empathy for the people you are
designing for.
▪ Testing is also an opportunity to understand your user.
▪ Refine and Learn, Gather Insights.
EMPATHIZE DEFINE PROTOTYPEIDEATE TEST
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

24. BEST PRACTICES & TIPSAPPROACHES
▪ Role-Playing Activities
▪ Guerilla Testing
▪ Modeling
▪ Observations
▪ Go back to your end users!
▪ Establish a productive feedback
loop:
▪ Guide feedback towards the
specifics.
▪ Ask for the problem, not the
solution.
▪ Ask for examples.
▪ Encourage questions, let
feedback be a conversation.
▪ Mistakes are still progress
towards the final solution, and
you can learn just as much (if
not more) from these.
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

25. OUTCOMES
▪ Fast and immediate feedback from
end users before spending too much
time, effort, or money on a single idea.
▪ Documented lessons learned and
course corrections to inform future
iterations.
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

26. KM WORKSHOP APPROACH
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting
Putting the users at the center of your KM strategy.
EMPATHIZE
- Lightning Talks
- Active Listening
& Logging
- User Persona
Creation
DEFINE
- Theming
- Challenge
Identification
- Challenge
Prioritization &
Definition
IDEATE
- Brainstorming
Session
- Idea
Prioritization
PROTOTYPE
- Pilot
Identification
- Pilot
Prioritization
and Selection
TEST
- Immediate
Action
Planning for
Selected Pilots

27. CASE STUDIES
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

28. A GLOBAL INSURANCE COMPANY
Conducted interviews, focus
groups, and observations with end
users to learn KM pain-points.
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting
Leveraged pain-points to identify
three-month pilot foundational
initiatives designed to test certain
ideas (e.g. taxonomy design, tacit
knowledge capture, expert finder).
Pilot projects are the start of a two-
year KM roadmap. Iterations of the
pilots will progress the roadmap.

29. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Utilized lightning talks and active
listening, and theming to drive challenge
identification and prioritization (via dot
votes).
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting
Engaged in solutioning and action-
planning over the course of a three-
day workshop. Revisiting defined
problems to identify other priorities.
End result was a concrete action plan
with owners and deadlines to
jumpstart efforts.

30. MY 5 DESIGN THINKING RULES FOR KM
1. Design Thinking is as much a mindset as it is a process.
2. Design Thinking is rarely a step-by-step process; use this as scaffolding
to support you when and where you need it.
3. Don’t underestimate the need for structure and clarity.
4. Embrace not knowing the answer.
5. Your end users are your partners – the moment you lose sight of their
needs is the moment your initiative fails.
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

31. QUESTIONS
ANY QUESTIONS?
Q A&
THANKS FOR LISTENING
@Claire_Brawdy | @EKConsulting

32. THANK YOU!
LET’S CONNECT:
@CLAIRE_BRAWDY
WWW.LINKEDIN.COM/IN/CLAIREBRAWDY/