Recap of workshop given at ThingsCon Amsterdam, Dec 4, 2015. Workshop description: In this technique, executives are first introduced to near-future IoT scenarios grounded in human experience. They build littleBits circuits and augment objects in a ‘collaborative demo’, to develop a visceral sense for the possibilities of connected devices. Then they use collaborative tools to extend these IoT concepts to their own business and identify strategic opportunities.

1.
Provoking Strategic IoT Conversations:
Helping Businesses Imagine Their Future
!
Matt Gorbet Susan LK Gorbet
@mgorbet @slkgorbet
WORKSHOP RECAP
ThingsCon 2015
Amsterdam
Dec 4, 2015

2. WHO ARE WE?
SUSAN LK GORBET
EXPERIENCE DESIGNER (STANFORD, PENN)
STRATEGIC FORESIGHT, COMPUTER SCIENCE, PSYCHOLOGY
MATT GORBET
CREATIVE TECHNOLOGIST (MIT MEDIA LAB)
RESEARCH, DESIGN, ARCHITECTURE, TECHNOLOGY ART
We teach businesses how to run strategic, creative,
collaborative conversations with their customers.

3. WHAT HAPPENED at ThingsCON:
1. Teams explored and
demonstrated four pre-
existing future IoT scenarios
using props and littleBits.
Each group acted theirs out
to share with everyone.
Photos: Frank Van Boheemen

4. 2. We led a discussion about each scenario’s human and
technical aspects: What was IoT’s role in the human
experience, and what was happening technically to enable
this?
These abstracted human and technical capabilities of IoT
were then carried forward to help people imagine new
scenarios in other contexts.
Photo: Frank Van Boheemen

5. People,
Objects,
Environment Persona Thing-Ona
3. We introduced a sequence of three tools to help groups
conceive of new IoT scenarios:

6. People-Objects-Environment:
Explore a place mindmap-style,
starting with the people, then listing
objects and environmental features
relevant to each person.
!
Each group was given a context,
then built their own POE map.
Photo: Frank Van Boheemen

7. Personas: Paint a picture of a
specific individual in order to build
an understanding of their
experience, needs and goals.
!
Each group chose one individual
from their POE map to focus on.
Photo: Frank Van Boheemen

8. Thing-Ona: Re-imagine the
objects in the persona’s
environment by thinking of them
as active participants with
personalities and goals.
!
Each group chose 2-3 objects
important to their Persona, then
created a Thing-Ona for each one.
Photo: Frank Van Boheemen

9. 4. Once the groups had created Thing-onas, they began
thinking physically by building rapid prototypes, then
acting out conversations between the objects and people
(a.k.a. bodystorming).
This helped participants imagine entirely new capabilities
for connected objects and environments.
Photos: Frank Van Boheemen

10. 5. Finally, the Persona’s newly imagined experience with IoT-
enabled objects was captured using a pre-scripted
Storyboard format.
This told the story of the new
technology in human terms
and demonstrated the impact
of the newly-conceived
IoT objects.
Photo: Frank Van Boheemen

11. Quotes from participants:
6. A discussion wrapped up the workshop at the end, and
participants expressed their enjoyment of the process and
how it changed their thinking:
!
“The personalities of the objects helped us
think outside our previous understanding of
what these things were.”
!
“Because I had this tangible object, I no longer
was thinking in terms like ‘I have to push this
button’ but instead, ‘I just want to
communicate with this object.’”
!
“Because we made this… I was suddenly
thinking of what I would be able to see if I
were this projector, [up on the ceiling].”
!
“Everyone was working together the whole
time and it was very smooth — we didn’t
criticize each others’ ideas like people
normally would. What a good way to work.”
Photo: Frank Van Boheemen

12. If you’d like help having strategic conversations in a creative,
collaborative way with your own partners, customers, or
clients, let us know:
!
Within the Netherlands:
ThinkG, Susan LK Gorbet
(susan.thinkg@gorbet.com)
!
Worldwide:
Gorbet Design, Matt Gorbet and Susan LK Gorbet
(matt@gorbetdesign.com and susan@gorbetdesign.com)