Beth Koloski Lead Experience Architect

Discombobulation, Fire-Breathing Dragons and Wet NoodlesCreating Productive Workshops in Scary Situations

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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 the process.

Own the process.

+

Share ownership 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 else's 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 person dominates the whole conversation?

Dealing with excessive talkers

Avoid 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 naysayer who is poisoning the collaborative tone?

Dealing with Negative Nelly

• special attention on breaks• validate

What if one person shuts everyone else down? What if it’s the main 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 the clients are yelling at each other.”

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’ve always done it?”

Ideas for unfixing fixed ideas

Don’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 the activities, but we’re still not getting to consensus.”

Ideas for Dealing with Lack of Consensus

• Ask who decides • Ask what’s standing in the way of deciding• Ask if consensus is needed• Go backwards

Managing Time

Managing Time

101• Parking Lot• Get the group to help manage

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shawnnap/5571400637/

Managing Time

201When it becomes apparent you’re not getting 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 different one

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shawnnap/5571400637/

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 User ResearchGo Around the Room

Each participant says what stood out most from the usability session, study, survey

Thinking Like UsersEmpathy Map

Participants fill in what a particular type of user is hearing, thinking, seeing, saying and doing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davegray/2380465521/

Thinking About Users:4 Square

For each user type, participants help fill in each of the following:• goals• triggers• would find compelling • would find disappointing

Prioritizing/Choosing:Dot Voting

Give each participant 3 dots to vote on their favorite/the most important (feature, persona, task flow, whatever).

Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers by Dave Gray

Your tips:#workshop_tips

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Find us here or email:

Beth Koloskibeth.koloski@effectiveui.com

Elias Parkerelias.parker@effectiveui.com