Planning design thinking workshops

About design thinking workshops

Today Workshop goals (<5m) Workshop structure and activities (30m) Content, then Q&A Facilitating and managing people (15m) Content, then Q&A Then some final thoughts and answers Type questions as you go – I’ll answer them in thematic blocks

Workshop goals

Facilitate, don’t participate Don’t attempt to facilitate your own workshop

Questions to ask to determine goals What do you want to achieve with this workshop? Type: discovery / alignment / design generation What do you imagine will happen during the workshop? How do you want people to feel during and after the workshop? What would you hope people say about the workshop? What will happen after the session? How will you use the outcomes? How does this workshop fit with other work?

Is a design thinking workshop right? Good for: Getting people to work together Generating creative ideas for complex problems Generating practical, creative ideas for understandable topics Getting a group to collectively decide on next steps

Is a design thinking workshop right? Bad for: Very complex problems Problems with hard-to-understand inputs Detailed solution design

Workshop structure and activities

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Warmups Match the warmup to the workshop goals Make introductions part of the warmup

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Context Use an activity to discuss the current situation Don’t do boring presentations Have people actively learn Provide engaging support materials

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Generating ideas Coming up with ideas Use those to come up with more ideas Understand the experience of the group Constrain time Give examples

Generating ideas Build the skills (particularly sketching) into warmups Do a test run Provide alternative ways of doing the activity

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Developing and describing ideas Tell stories, act out a scenario, make models, go into more depth Allow plenty of time for this step

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Prioritising and deciding next steps

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QUESTIONS

Managing people

Warmups Warmups are SCARY Don’t ask people do reveal secrets

Getting everyone involved Create a safe place Take turns Have people think then contribute

Doing new things Introduce new skills slowly Start at the warmup Do low-risk activities first Break the activity down Provide an alternative

Getting unstuck Reverse Restate Try another direction Let them wrap up

QUESTIONS

Thank you! You can find me here… maadmob.com.au / @maadonna I am writing a book: “Facilitation for design thinking workshops” You can hire me to facilitate or teach 