This document discusses using LEGO bricks to facilitate collaboration and strategizing in user experience research (UXR). It describes how the presenter was trained in the LEGO SERIOUS PLAY method in Denmark and has since used bricks to help teams work together, build shared experiences, and ensure everyone contributes. The document outlines advantages like ensuring everyone can participate through a common medium and advantages of the formal SERIOUS PLAY program. It provides examples of how bricks can be used with users, stakeholders, and within teams to understand viewpoints, reach consensus, and make sense of complex problems. Planning brick sessions and recording outputs are also discussed.

1. STOP!
COLLABORATE
& STRATEGIZE Craig Spencer
Part 2: Bricks in UXR Method
UXPA 2017 TORONTO

2. Bricks in UXR▪ Highly collaborative, engages stakeholders
▪ Lots of fun, it’s playful
▪ An effective tool to get research understood & actioned

3. My journey using
bricks
▪ I trained as a LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® facilitator in
Denmark.
▪ It was the LEGO® bricks that initially sparked my
interest :)
▪ Since training as a facilitator I have been using LEGO®
bricks to helps teams work together, build shared
experiences and ensure everyone in the team
contributes.

4. Introduction to using
bricks
▪ Using bricks in teams can ensure everyone has a
common medium they can express themselves through
(sketching, and post it notes don't suit everyone)
▪ Everyone can connect bricks, so it has a low barrier to
entry, and is playful (teams feel excited and energised
to use the bricks).
▪ But if you are going to use bricks, you still need to
structure your workshop, it’s not a free-for-all.

5. Using bricks
▪ We can use bricks with users (customers) as a research
tool to have users express their viewpoint.
▪ We can use bricks with stakeholders to understand
their viewpoint and reach consensus.
▪ We can have unstructured bricks workshops or you can
learn from the LSP process.

6. Advantages of the LEGO®
SERIOUS PLAY® Program
▪ This is a formalised program of how to use LEGO®
bricks in group settings to answer key business
questions.
▪ It’s an Innovative process designed to enhance
innovation and business performance.
▪ Based on research which shows that this kind of
hands-on, minds-on learning produces a deeper, more
meaningful understanding of the world.
▪ Learn more about the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®
program.
LEGO®, SERIOUS PLAY®, the Minifigure and the Brick and Knob configurations are trademarks of the
LEGO® Group, which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this presentation.

7. We can
use Bricks
to get
teams to
work
together

8. We can
introduce
metaphor

9. We can
build very
complex
models /
scenarios
to make
sense of
complex
problems

10. Challenges using bricks
▪ It’s naturally playful, but your session with the bricks
must be structured.
▪ Get everyone involved, everyone should build, and
share what they have built.
▪ You need to warm up to getting the team to answer the
problem, arrange short activities at the start of your
workshop where the team can begin to express their
thoughts through metaphor using the bricks.

11. Plan your session
Planning is critical to
the success of your
session ...
▪ Invite attendees
▪ Order / get your bricks
▪ Write your intro
▪ Design your warm-up
exercises
▪ If you want something more
structured consult LEGO®
SERIOUS PLAY® website

12. For this practice and the following one we will be
exploring the following scenario:
▪ UXPA want to create a new mobile
companion app to the 2018 UXPA Conference
Practice workshop

13. Practice
Build a model that shows your
experience of learning about,
booking, and registering for UXPA
2017?
10 minutes

14. Share your model
with your group
1 minute each

15. Practice
Group Model Building
As a group, build a model that
shows your experience of learning
about, booking, and registering for
UXPA 2017?
10 minutes

16. Share your model
with the entire class
2 mins per group

17. Recording
the output
from the
workshop
▪ Keep the model!
▪ Ask each participant to write down immediately
the meaning and metaphor in their model.
▪ Get agreement on the entire meaning of the
group model.
▪ Don’t rely on the picture, over time you will
forget what each brick meant.

18. What
other
questions
can we
answer
with
bricks?
▪ What features should we prioritize for the next
version of the product?
▪ What should our product vision include?
▪ What are the pain-points of our users?
▪ How would users describe our current product?
▪ What is the key need or scenario we need to solve
for?
▪ What are the design principles we should have as
a team?
▪ From the fieldwork, what are your memorable
moments, what did they tell you about the user?

19. Useful books on LEGO®
SERIOUS PLAY® Program
▪ Building a Better Business Using the LEGO® SERIOUS
PLAY® by Per Kristiansen.
▪ How to Facilitate Meetings & Workshops Using the
LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Method
▪ Strategic Play: The Creative Facilitator's Guide #2: What
the Duck!
▪ Train as a LSP certified facilitator
http://www.rasmussenconsulting.dk/ &
https://www.lego.com/en-gb/seriousplay/facilitator
▪

20. End of part
Contact: craigwspencer@googlemail.com
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