How to Run a Remote Design Workshop by Erik Johnson

This was a lightning talk presented on June 22, 2017 as part of the kick-off to the “Tools n Techniques” series. The event had six talks from local UX practitioners on their favorite UX tool or technique used to streamline their process, communicate more effectively, and help understand our users better. For more details on the event, check out the recap: https://medium.com/exploreux/recap-tools-n-techniques-kick-off-cc6f6ce03ca9

Erik Johnson of Purpose UX went over his process of running remote design workshops with free tools.

Each month, we'll be hosting Tools n Technique evenings based around focused and broad themes (e.g., the Sketch app, user research, etc.) If you're in the Triangle (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina) area, come join us (http://www.meetup.com/exploreUX-raleigh)! We're also looking for people to present and share their favorite UX tool or technique.

If you can't join us in person, join us online. We'll be posting event recaps as well as additional articles on tools and techniques on our Medium publication (http://www.medium.com/exploreux). We’d love to hear your thoughts and let us know if you’d like to contribute an article on your favorite tool or technique!

Transcript

1. How to Run a Remote Design Workshop …using free tools that people don’t hate Erik Johnson erik@purposeux.com @ejexpress
2. The best workshops… … are IN PERSON workshops (if you can swing it)
3. Workshops require EMOTIONAL SAFETY (this is easier to create in person)
6. What we need to do in a workshop is… … brainstorm and collaborate
 … build shared understanding
 … map a user journey
7. You can do all of these things with + (or maybe with whatever other tools your team already uses)
8. mr_wendesday sam_black_crow czernobog FakeTeam Brainstorm & vote with
9. Basic brainstorm pattern: 1. Everyone chats 2. You summarize (one idea per line) 3. Everyone votes
10. This mimics the standard Post-It drop and sort with dot voting! (good for building consensus quickly)
11. Map user journey with
12. Use labels instead of different colored Post-Its
13. Each column represents a step in the user journey
14. Fill in the first few items yourself, then turn your team loose! (trello has voting features too!)
15. https://trello.com/b/PocKAjCB/project Your map can be a LIVING DOCUMENT
16. Pre-workshop Onboarding
 - Invite the team and give them a task to do - Troubleshoot NOW, not on the call
18. Sample workshop agenda: I. Establish goals/success criteria
 II. Choose user scenario to map
 III. Complete journey map
19. General remote facilitation tips… - Do a dry run ahead of time
 - Screenshare and model all tasks - Send out a well-crafted agenda
 (and include breaks!)

20. … and a few more: - Call on people by name
 (or they won’t SPEAK UP) - Cut people off gracefully*
 (or they won’t SHUT UP)
 
 *how to do this well requires its own talk
21. James Gartrell james@purposeux.com @jamesgartrell Erik Johnson erik@purposeux.com @ejexpress Purpose UX www.purposeux.com Thank you!