intro to design methods & mindsets
I hosted an “Intro to design methods & mindsets” remote workshop for my team at Microsoft, closely following d.school’s Starter Kit with slight modifications due to time and remote-work constraints. I invited engineers and PMs to a 2-hour session full of high-energy, interactivity, and collaborative learning. During the 2 hours, my teammates worked with a partner going through the entire design thinking process (empathy, define, ideate, test, iterate) designing a solution for a low-point in each other’s yesterdays.
Welcome slide that greeted participants as they joined the Microsoft Teams call for the workshop. Adapted from d.school’s Starter Kit presentation.
Workshop response
After the session, I discussed with individuals how the workshop went for them and received a flurry of positive reactions: “very engaging and fun workshop”, “learned a lot and get actionable tools to use with customers”, “so fun and learned a LOT!”, “learned a lot and look forward to applying these concepts, right away!”, “Loved the refreshing change in pace from other responsibilities to spend some time doing something new!”.
The response was encouraging, though there were a few reactions that surprised me. First, many saw the workshop as an opportunity to get to know and interact with their team members. While most companies are now remote-friendly, there is still a concern for feelings of isolation amongst a team spread out over time zones and locations. Though the workshop focused on empathy as part of the design process, the empathy went beyond building a solution for your partner and to actually deepening a connection with a teammate.
Second, most participants did not know what they were signing up for when they received the invite for a design methods and mindsets workshop. Though I was vague in my invitation (intentionally), this response reminded me that while terms like human-centered design and design thinking get thrown around a lot in the tech industry and beyond, it doesn’t mean that people understand how they work in practice. When asked what comes to mind when you hear the word design, most responses were related to aesthetics, what something looks like.
And lastly, nearly all participants were uncomfortable when asked to draw. I saw many deer-in-the-headlights responses when I instructed the group to do a blind-contour drawing exercise as a warm-up activity, along with many comments of “I can’t draw” or “I’m not good at drawing” or general embarrassment over what may be produced. As outlined in “There is always a good reason to draw” by Marjorie Broudieu and in many other articles, drawing is a highly valuable tool for your toolbox to communicate and express ideas. Yet, most adults are hesitant to use it.
For my complete reflection, read my article on Medium, “Practicing design as a (non-)traditional designer.
Tools used
Blind contour drawing
Interviewing
Why-How laddering
Journey mapping
Ideating with constraints
Testing and iteration
workshop info
Developed from d.school Starter Kit
Remote
Participants: 12 (PMs and Engineers)
Duration: 2 hours
Year: Spring 2022