people: • Know what they don’t know • Identify growth areas • Try the next thing • Know when to seek help. Most people are good self- assessors. http://www.meldstudios.com.au/ 2016/08/09/how-our-skills-matrix- supports-candid-conversations-with- staff/ ENABLING NON-DESIGNERS
sessions. Contain scripts for: • Introducing sessions • Getting to know interviewees • Wrapping up. It’s important to emphasise step two for newbies. ENABLING NON-DESIGNERS 1. Intro 2. Getting to know you 3. Understand the problem 4. Wrap up
from the list to keep interviewees talking. ENABLING NON-DESIGNERS Tips to encourage participants to do most of the talking • Start with polite, general conversation to put them at ease. • Nod and smile as they speak. • Say “That’s helpful”. • Stay silent after they finish speaking to allow them to gather their thoughts and keep going. • Write down questions that arise as people speak, and asking these only once the person has exhausted themselves and has nothing left to say. • Use prompts like “Tell me more.” and “Can you give me an example?, and “What do you mean by…?”. • Don’t defend or correct. • Resist the temptation to join in with your own stories.
an art. When you do it “right” you get just as tired as the interviewer. ENABLING NON-DESIGNERS Tips for being a great note taker • Write down everything you see and observe - not your interpretations or what seems important to you at the time. • Consider using post-its to save time later. Put one or two sentences on each note. Write in the person’s voice. Write as neatly as you can. Try to ensure your note will make sense to a stranger on its own. • Transcription services (such as rev.com) are quick and relatively cheap. • Seek permission to take photos, or record audio/video if you’d like to do this. • Use a code or a alias (or a specific colour of post-it note), rather than names, to protect people’s privacy.
Newbies can struggle to articulate the “what”, let alone the “so what”. ⁃ There’s nothing like being in the room to work with them to move post-its around and label clusters. Compare what they find to their initial assumptions. I’ve tried to get people to cluster their notes in RealTime boards but it wasn’t a great success. ENABLING NON-DESIGNERS WHAT. The ratio of working age Australians to people aged 65+ is decreasing at an alarming rate SO WHAT. With less people contributing to the tax base, where will the money come from to fund services for older people?
answers, but I (mostly) do. Phew! Be the garnish not the meal. They probably know the answer so ask them. If they don’t say you’ll find out. ENABLING NON-DESIGNERS
Listen, throw ideas around and if your scope changes make sure you negotiate a win-win deal. Being a coach and mentor requires you to have lots of moves in your playbook. ENABLING NON-DESIGNERS
people try new things. It’s not going to be perfect. I think it’s better than no research. Do role plays, and get them to watch you, then watch them. Outputs don’t need to be sexy. If they have to take a shortcut, let them know what great looks like and encourage them to do it next time. Introduce lots of moments for reflection. ENABLING NON-DESIGNERS