Design Thinking 101

This episode is based on this article: ALD 003 // There Are No Problems Worth Solving – Only Questions Worth Asking. Read the article and others like it on Fluid Hive’s Ask Like a Designer. This Ask Like a Designer episode is about a better way to see and choose problems to solve. It includes a simple framework for aligning your choices with the development and goals that matter most to you. In these short Ask Like a Designer episodes on the Design Thinking 101 podcast, you’ll find new ways to explore the show’s stories and ideas about design-driven innovation. I’ll share methods, templates, and ideas that have worked in my practice in teaching.  What did you think of this episode? Please send your questions, suggestions and guest ideas to Dawan and the Fluid Hive team. Cheers ~ Dawan Design Thinking 101 Podcast Host President, Fluid Hive Show Highlights [00:52] A better approach to closing the gaps between the world we have and the world we want.[01:07] Questions worth asking.[01:21] The trouble with solving.[01:54] Responding instead of solving.[02:23] Difference between response and reaction.[02:44] Looking at problems and how questions can create the problem space.[03:37] Questions worth answering.[04:28] Wicked problems.[04:54] Questions worth answering by you.[05:11] Four considerations when deciding if a question is worth answering by you.[05:25] Learning.[05:39] Power-Ups.[05:58] Seedlings.[06:18] The Spend.[07:33] Free Ask Like a Designer Thinking Tool to help you choose your next question worth answering.[08:21] Design Thinking 101 Learning courses.[08:47] The Innovation SmartStart webinar. Design Thinking 101 Learning — Courses and More Design Thinking 101 Learning helps people learn, lead and apply design-driven innovation. Each training course focuses on a different collection of actions and skills critical to using design thinking effectively and getting the results you seek. Please join me in the first course, Design Thinking 101 — Framing: Creating Better Solutions by Finding More Valuable Problems to Solve.  Each course is structured to help your innovation actions create what you need for the people you serve, your organization and yourself. Fluid Hive’s Designing Facilitation Course launches soon. Get notified when enrollment opens. Good events are essential when creating effective solutions while thinking and acting like a designer. Designing Facilitation shows you how to create effective, engaging events that are easy to lead. You’ll learn how to apply the Event Design Questions, use over 20 event creation tools, how to avoid common facilitation traps, and make the most of every second people spend at your events. Notify me when Designing Facilitation launches! Other Design Thinking 101 Episodes You Might Like Ask Like a Designer 001 — DT101 E61 Design, and One Question to Rule Them All // ALD 002 — DT101 E63 Other Resources Download the Design-Driven Innovation Project Launch Guide — Guide to launching innovation projects and avoiding common innovation traps Design-Driven Innovation. Innovation Smart Start Webinar — Take your innovation projects from frantic to focused! Fluid Hive: Learn — A growing collection of courses, webinars, and articles for people expanding their design thinking, service design, and human-centered design skills.

18 Mar 20219min

In this episode, Indi Young joins me to deliver a micro-course on listening sessions. I’m experimenting with new ways to learn on the podcast.  Listeners will learn from Indi as we talk about listening sessions, what they are, how to do them, why they matter, and how to get the most out of them.  Let me know what you think of the micro-course format, and if I should do more of them.  Cheers, Dawan, Your Design Thinking 101 Podcast Host  Listen to learn more about: >> What listening sessions are and why they matter>> How to structure a good listening session>> Getting the most out of listening sessions>> The two questions that are always asked during a listening session>> Do’s and Don’ts of listening sessions Our Guest Indi Young is a researcher who coaches, writes, and teaches about inclusive product strategy. Her work is rooted in the problem space where the focus is on people, not users. Indi pioneered opportunity, maps, mental model diagrams, and thinking styles. She was one of the founders of Adaptive Path, the pioneering user experience agency. Her way of approaching the problem allows teams to truly pay attention to people without letting cognitive bias and assumptions creep in. She has written two books, Practical Empathy, and Mental Models, and is working on a third, Assumptions Aside, which will cover thinking styles. Indi builds knowledge and community via a series of online advanced courses about design research and the importance of pushing the boundaries of your perspective. Show Highlights [02:54] Listening is different from interviewing.[03:22] Listening is qualitative research.[04:35] Indi describes the knowledge creation / data collection template she uses.[05:05] Problem spaces and solution spaces.[06:57] In the solution space, much of the research is either generative or evaluative.[08:07] In the problem space, the research is neither generative nor evaluative.[08:54] The problem space is interested in the person and how they achieve their purpose.[09:19] A listening session asks the person what they were thinking as they were achieving their purpose.[11:25] Organizations are often only concerned with solution spaces; problem spaces tend to get ignored.[12:03] Why study problem spaces?[12:56] One solution does not fit all – there is no such thing as an “average user.”[13:50] Thinking styles vs. personas, and designing for archetypes.[15:03] An example from work Indi did for the University of Buffalo.[15:33] The benefits of using thinking styles over personas.[16:25] The bias problem in research.[17:10] Listening sessions must be framed by a purpose, and must have depth.[17:39] Surface vs. depth.[18:59] Depth is how we develop cognitive empathy with people.[19:34] The good stuff in a listening session is the inner thinking, the emotional reactions.[21:13] Indi describes the Mental Model Diagram.[23:27] Listening sessions start with a germinal question.[24:28] Listening sessions are audio-only.[26:49] The challenges that can come up in listening sessions.[28:47] The structure of a listening session.[30:27] Indi shares snippets of some listening sessions as examples of how to begin a listening session.[34:37] How Indi works with the results of a listening session.[35:14] Techniques used during listening sessions.[36:13] Listening session examples demonstrating techniques Listeners can use to build trust and rapport with the Speaker.[38:05] The importance of silence.[41:29] Listening session examples demonstrating how to encourage Speakers to open up and share their inner thoughts and emotions.[45:38] Indi talks about micro-reflections and shares some examples from listening sessions.[49:57] Why Indi likes the word “because.”[50:43] Listening session examples where the Listeners used time and place to help the Speakers dig deeper. [Note from Indi at 51:44] - “I forgot to explain that the grocery store example was because the Speaker got flustered and forgot her restaurant experiences. The Listener took her back to the grocery store she had mentioned so that the Speaker could be in familiar territory and relax. After that she remembered some more of her restaurant experiences.” [55:34] Indi talks about ways to simply encourage Speakers to continue talking.[57:12] Things not to do during listening sessions.[57:18] Avoid asking leading questions.[58:37] Avoid asking surface level questions.[1:01:08] Avoid conjecture.[1:01:51] Examples of conjecture from Indi’s listening sessions.[1:08:32] Avoiding complex reflection.[1:10:33] Indi talks about normal things that can occur during listening sessions.[1:12:13] Discovering your own verbal habits when reviewing your listening sessions.[1:13:35] Winding down listening sessions, and some examples of that from Indi.[1:13:53] The one closing question you should always ask.[1:16:40] Indi offers advice to those wanting to improve their listening skills and perhaps try using listening sessions.[1:19:44] Indi talks about some of the courses she offers. Links Here are the diagrams and transcripts we discuss in the episode. Indi on Twitter Indi on LinkedIn Indi on Medium Indi’s website and course listings 99% Invisible podcast episode: On Average Book Recommendation Listening Well: The Art of Empathic Understanding, by William Miller Other Design Thinking 101 Episodes You Might Like Problem Spaces, Understanding How People Think, and Practical Empathy with Indi Young — DT101 E6

2 Mar 20211h 25min

I hope you enjoyed this episode. In these short Ask Like a Designer episodes on the Design Thinking 101 podcast, you’ll find new ways to explore the show’s stories and ideas about design-driven innovation. I'll share methods, templates, and ideas that have worked in my practice in teaching. This episode is about a question behind almost everything people do as they create growth and opportunity by seeing and solving like a designer. This episode is based on this article: ALD 002 // Design, and One Question to Rule Them All. Read the article and others like it on Fluid Hive’s Ask Like a Designer. What did you think of this episode? Please send your questions, suggestions, and guest ideas to Dawan and the Fluid Hive team. Cheers ~ DawanDesign Thinking 101 Podcast HostPresident, Fluid Hive Show Highlights [00:50] The One Question to Rule Them All.[01:19] Solving the wrong problem.[01:41] What happens when you solve the wrong problem.[01:49] Why solving the right problem is actually impossible.[02:31] Lessons from a yacht crash.[03:10] What problem am I trying to solve is never “one and done.”[04:23] How do you find the answer to “what problem am I trying to solve?” [04:34] How-Might-We questions[04:45] Free Ask Like a Designer tool to help you choose your next problem to solve.[05:08] To design is to ask questions.[05:27] Design Thinking 101 Learning courses.[05:52] The Innovation Smart Start webinar. Design Thinking 101 Learning — Courses and More Design Thinking 101 Learning helps people start seeing and solving like a designer. Each training course focuses on a different collection of actions and skills critical to using design thinking effectively and getting the results you seek. Please join me in the first course, Design Thinking 101 — Framing: Creating Better Solutions by Finding More Valuable Problems to Solve.  Each course is structured to help your innovation actions create what you need for the people you serve, your organization and yourself. Grab your spot and start seeing and solving like a designer today. Design Thinking 101 Episodes You Might Like Ask Like a Designer 001 — DT101 E61 A Short Introduction to Design Thinking with Dawan Stanford — DT101 E32 Design Research + Tools for Thinking + Using Research Well with Terri Herbert — DT101 E55 Other Resources Download the Design-Driven Innovation Project Launch Guide — Guide to launching innovation projects and avoiding common innovation traps Design-Driven Innovation. Innovation Smart Start Webinar — Take your innovation projects from frantic to focused! Fluid Hive: Learn — A growing collection of courses, webinars, and articles for people expanding their design thinking, service design, and human-centered design skills.

18 Feb 20216min

Ryann Hoffman is a system designer and design leader specializing in design and complex systems and working with organizations to develop capacity in design thinking and innovation operations. Show Summary Ryann’s path into design came from an early love of music, playing classical piano, and music composition. She did freelance design projects for teachers while in high school. By the time she went to college, she had strong design and communication skills, and had learned the power of storytelling. Ryann started out with plans for a degree in English, but switched to Sociology and fell in love with it from her very first introductory course. After undergrad, she spent several years working in various fields, including nonprofits and a music tech startup, where she brought her digital communications and design skills to bear on projects like promotional videos, visual design for reports and collaterals, and systems design for music distribution. While in grad school for Public Administration, she took a class called “Coping with Wicked Problems,” where she was introduced to design thinking. After graduation, she moved to Washington, D.C. became a member of Design Thinking DC, and started what would become her career in systems design, leading to her civic design work today with cities across America and international organizations like The World Bank and the Government of Madagascar. Listen in to learn about: >> Design Thinking D.C.>> System design at the municipal and federal level>> Advice for launching a new design team>> The surprising way “tedium” can trip up a design project>> Innovation Transformation>> Helping design teams that are working with emotional, difficult topics>> Power and identity in design>> Post-traumatic growth and helping people find a path to it in positive ways>> The importance of designers learning facilitation Our Guest Ryann Hoffman is a systems designer most in flow working in complex problem spaces. She's built and led design work across industries and at organizations including The World Bank and The Government of Madagascar, Capital One, Johns Hopkins Sibley Memorial Hospital, and ConsenSys. Through leading and practicing design, Ryann found purpose in developing teams. She watched the most well-intentioned, competent teams struggle to create impact because they lacked the support and curriculum to imbue design beyond densely packed workshops or sprints, and into their daily workflows, collaborations, and mindsets. As a Design Coach and Instructor, Ryann has worked with Harvard University and the Bloomberg Foundation, AmeriCorps, ConsenSys, Sunrun, and other leading institutions leveraging design to make their respective dents in the world's challenges. Her circuitous route to this calling includes her Masters in Public Administration, a stint in the music industry, and an early foundation in digital media production and visual design. When she's not working, Ryann loves learning about the brain and aspires to be more mindful. Show Highlights [02:05] How Ryann’s love of music led her to develop digital design and communications skills.[03:57] Making the switch from English literature to Sociology.[05:14] Ryann’s post-undergrad work.[08:05] The graduate course on dealing with wicked problems that introduced Ryann to design thinking.[11:38] Moving to Washington, D.C. after graduation.[13:22] Ryann and Dawan talk about Design Thinking D.C.[17:44] Ryann talks about her work as a civic designer and facilitator.[19:48] What Ryann loves about working at the city level of design.[23:17] How working with cities helps designers build a varied and robust skillset.[25:30] How Ryann helps design teams learn and apply design thinking tools and methods in their work.[28:18] Ryann offers advice for getting a new design team off to a good start.[29:40] The area that is often overlooked by new design teams and organizations looking to innovate.[32:24] Innovation transformation and the 3 things critical for a design team to learn if they want to succeed.[34:23] On the need for organizations to not be afraid to try different methods and processes to see what works best.[36:06] One of the most difficult challenges for leaders when they start working with design thinking.[37:24] How power and identity can create challenges in design thinking work.[38:57] Ryann talks about early struggles with perfectionism.[39:36] Divergent and convergent thinking, and the importance of working with and supporting team members.[42:13] Why trust is so important for teams and the importance of creative conflict.[43:29] Ryann’s recent focus on stress on systems and the psychological field of post-traumatic growth.[46:16] Reframing how we think about the things that cause us harm and stress.[49:23] Why facilitation is an important skill for designers and anyone working in design thinking.[56:18] Lessons Ryann learned about remote work.[57:07] Remote work can make it easier to integrate design into an organization’s workflows.[58:14] Finding and learning the tools to help create an engaging online experience.[1:00:06] The difference between remote and in-person interactions.[1:03:47] Seeing areas of weakness as opportunities.[1:05:43] Where to find out more about Ryann and her work. Links  Ryann Hoffman on LinkedIn Staircase Strategy Psychology Today, “Why Virtual Communication Can Leave You Worn Out” Brené Brown, The power of vulnerability Book Recommendations Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder, by Nassim Nicholas TalebStronger By Stress: Adapt to Beneficial Stressors to Improve Your Health and Strengthen the Body, by Siim Land Other Design Thinking 101 Episodes You Might Like Design Thinking for the Public Sector + Building and Training Design Thinking Teams with Stephanie Wade — DT101 E14 Teaching Yourself Design Thinking + Innovating in Government with Amy J. Wilson — DT101 E19 Adding System Awareness to System Design to Your Innovation Stack with Julie Guinn — DT101 E43 ________________  Thank you for listening to the show and looking at the show notes. Send your questions, suggestions, and guest ideas to Dawan and the Fluid Hive team. Cheers ~ Dawan Download the Design-Driven Innovation Project Launch Guide — Guide to launching innovation projects and avoiding common innovation traps Design-Driven Innovation. Innovation Smart Start Webinar — Take your innovation projects from frantic to focused! Fluid Hive: Learn — A growing collection of courses, webinars, and articles for people expanding their design thinking, service design, and human-centered design skills.

2 Feb 20211h 8min

Thank you for listening to this Ask Like a Designer episode of the Design Thinking 101 Podcast. In these short Ask Like a Designer episodes on the Design Thinking 101 podcast, you’ll find new ways to explore the show’s stories and ideas about design-driven innovation. I'll share methods, templates, and ideas that have worked in my practice in teaching.  This episode is about six people: six designers whose different roles and favorite questions drive how I serve clients, teach, and develop as a designer. This episode is based on this article: ALD 001 // Ask Like a Designer. Read the article and others like it on Fluid Hive’s Ask Like a Designer. What did you think of this episode? Please send your questions, suggestions, and guest ideas to Dawan and the Fluid Hive team. Cheers ~ DawanDesign Thinking 101 Podcast HostPresident, Fluid Hive Show Highlights [00:32] What is the Ask Like a Designer series?[01:08] The Six Designers and their purpose.[01:44] Why “ask like a designer?”[02:43] Designer 1: Builder[03:06] Designer 2: Scout[03:39] Designer 3: Tinker[04:19] Designer 4: Facilitator[04:52] Designer 5: Traveler[05:14] Designer 6: Pro[06:01] How to work with the Six Designers[06:05] Free Ask Like a Designer thinking tool for download at Fluid Hive to help you work with the six designers.  Design Thinking 101 Learning — Courses and More Design Thinking 101 Learning helps people learn, lead and apply design-driven innovation. Each training course focuses on a different collection of actions and skills critical to using design thinking effectively and getting the results you seek. Please join me in the first course, Design Thinking 101 — Framing: Creating Better Solutions by Finding More Valuable Problems to Solve.  Each course is structured to help your innovation actions create what you need for the people you serve, your organization and yourself. Grab your spot in the course early. Use this code FRAMING20 to get 20% off the course if you register by January 22, 2021. Design Thinking 101 Episodes You Might Like Humble Design Leadership + Design Agency and Experience Design Evolution with Aleksandra Melnikova — DT101 E33 A Short Introduction to Design Thinking with Dawan Stanford — DT101 E32  Learning and Leading Design for Healthcare + Innovation Teams with Paolo Korre — DT101 E20  Other Resources Download the Design-Driven Innovation Project Launch Guide — Guide to launching innovation projects and avoiding common innovation traps Design-Driven Innovation. Innovation Smart Start Webinar — Take your innovation projects from frantic to focused! Fluid Hive: Learn — A growing collection of courses, webinars, and articles for people expanding their design thinking, service design, and human-centered design skills.

19 Jan 20217min

Denise Ho and Andrew Baker are our guests today. Denise is a design researcher practicing in the design space since the early 2000s and the Director of Design at Hope Lab. Andrew Baker is living and working at the intersection of technology and experience design. He’s the Vice President of Product at Grit Digital Health and teaches Experience Design at the University of Colorado. Denise and Andrew collaborated on a way to combat loneliness in college students. We talk about designing for mental health, Nod, an app that is helping young people avoid negative health outcomes associated with loneliness, and how college students were involved in creating Nod. Show Summary Denise and Andrew had very different entry points into design. Denise’s journey began with a love for people and cultures. She started her undergrad as an anthropology student, but she wanted to not just study culture, but to shape it. That led her into design. She studied product design at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and landed an internship at IDEO, where she ended up staying for eight years while also teaching design at the California College of Arts. Denise opened her own design practice and started doing design research into younger generations — not just designing products for them, but also working to understand their way of seeing and experiencing the world. Now, she works at Hope Lab, where the focus is on creating digital technologies that help young people live happier, healthier lives. Andrew’s interests were influenced at an early age by his father, a graphic designer, and his mother, a civic leader focused on social impact. He studied business and English literature at the University of Colorado, but also minored in technology, arts and media, where he studied software development and honed his self-taught graphic design skills. An internship at a Denver agency allowed him to continue developing that skill set, but also gave him the opportunity to dig into user experience and into understanding human behavior and using those insights to guide designing product solutions. He moved into a dual role with Cactus and Grit Digital Health, leading both companies’ creative technology practices before moving into a full-time position at Grit Digital Health, where the focus is on creating digital health solutions for college students designed to help them improve their mental health and wellness. Denise and Andrew talk about designing for mental health and their collaboration to create Nod, an app for college students. Nod is designed to help students make social connections and relationships in an effort to address the loneliness many students end up feeling when they arrive on campus and begin their higher education journey. Listen in to learn more about: >> Designing digital health products for younger generations>> The Nod app>> How Nod was designed and developed>> Co-creating with college students>> Hope Lab’s work and projects>> Grit Digital Health’s wellbeing tool and other projects  Our Guests Denise Ho Denise Ho brings more than 15 years of creative leadership experience as a design thinker, strategist, and qualitative design research with expertise in healthcare, transformative technologies, and industrial design. She spent 8 years at IDEO, and is currently Director of Design at Hopelab. She leads a diverse team of design researchers, industrial designers, and creative strategists to create technologies that are engaging, sustainable, and scaled to impact as many lives as possible. Denise enjoys gardening and spending time with her twin daughters, husband, and puppy. Andrew Baker In his role at Grit Digital Health, Andrew inspires and guides the design of user-centered solutions across technology mediums and industry verticals. With a background in experience design and software development, Andrew and his team strive to develop wellbeing products that are rooted in research, behavior design, and business strategy. Outside of his role at Grit, Andrew is an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado, where he teaches user experience design in an MA program for Strategic Communication Design. Show Highlights [01:30] How Denise found her way to a career in digital design.[05:08] Andrew’s journey into digital design.[10:18] Denise gives an introduction to Nod.[11:12] Andrew follows up with his “elevator pitch” for Nod.[12:28] The question that drove Nod’s naissance at Hope Lab in 2017.[13:25] The connection between loneliness and college students’ mental health.[14:48] Denise talks about the early research and discovery stage of Nod.[15:45] Nod’s unique problem space.[16:58] Collaborating with college students using an early paper prototype of the app.[18:19] Nod’s next steps forward in development.[18:52] Andrew talks about reverse engineering health outcomes.[20:01] The three categories of psychological health outcomes Nod targets.[21:36] Successfully changing behavior requires small concrete steps.[24:15] College students continued to play an important role in the development of Nod.[25:30] The challenges of working on a solution for a very personal and private issue.[27:16] Co-creating with students on Nod has been an incredible experience.[27:56] Nod’s pilot phase with the University of Oregon.[28:20] Service design and delivery is one of the biggest challenges for digital products.[30:06] Nod’s pilot phase at the University of Colorado Denver focused on service design.[31:31] COVID-19’s impact on the development of Nod.[33:20] Hope Lab’s tri-discipline approach to collaboration and co-creation.[35:19] Denise talks more about the randomized control trial at the University of Oregon and how it proved Nod was working.[36:31] How people reacted when they heard about Nod’s development.[37:48] Andrew offers insights into the rise and future of digital-only health and wellbeing design.[39:15] Why Nod is such a special project and product.[41:31] Where you can find Nod.[42:22] Partnership with Snapchat to release Nod in 2021.[43:31] How universities can participate in Nod’s pilot program.[44:29] Denise talks about another project Hope Lab is working on, focused on identity affirmation of LGBTQ+ people.[47:25] Andrew talks about Grit Digital Health’s digital personalized wellbeing tool.[48:21] Grit Digital Health is hosting a panel at an upcoming Innovation Learning Network conference. Links Denise on LinkedIn Andrew on LinkedIn Andrew on Instagram Andrew on Grit Digital Health Nod Nod’s product overview Press release on efficacy data for Nod Hope Lab Hope Lab Milk Hope Lab’s LGBTQ+ Youth Mental Health and Resilience Project Grit Digital Health YOU at College University of Colorado Boulder, Master of Arts in Strategic Communication Design Fast Company’s "Innovation by Design" award (Nod was honored in 2 categories)Journal of Medical Internet Research Mental Health: Smartphone App to Address Loneliness Among College Students: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial Other Design Thinking 101 Episodes You Might Like Mapping and Service Design + Implementation + Accessibility with Linn Vizard — DT101 E17 Launching and Leading a University-wide Design Thinking Initiative with Danielle Lake — DT101 E31 Designing Health Systems + Creating Effective Design Workshops with Sean Molloy — DT101 E44 ________________ Thank you for listening to the show and looking at the show notes. Send your questions, suggestions, and guest ideas to Dawan and the Fluid Hive team. Cheers ~ Dawan Free Download — Design Driven Innovation: Avoid Innovation Traps with These 9 Steps Innovation Smart Start Webinar — Take your innovation projects from frantic to focused!

8 Des 202051min

Douglas Ferguson is the founder of Voltage Control, a workshop agency on a mission to rid the world of horrible meetings. We talk about teams, design sprints, prototyping, and creating meetings that matter. Show Summary As a coder during the 90s tech bubble, Douglas discovered that he loved working as part cross-functional teams often found in startup companies, and wearing different hats as needed during a project. When the Agile Manifesto came out in early 2001, Douglas realized that a lot of its principles were things he and his teams had already been doing. He began combining Agile and Lean methodologies to find ways teams can work together better. Douglas’ company, Voltage Control, focuses on helping teams learn how to better collaborate. During our conversation, we talk about the hallmarks of a well-functioning team, Douglas’ work with organizations using design sprints and prototyping, and how Douglas’ new book, Magical Meetings, is helping us all be able to have better, more meaningful and productive meetings.  Listen in to learn more about: >> The traits of a well-functioning team>> How prototyping can help an organization>> The ins and outs of design sprints>> The two questions to ask when designing the test for a prototype>> Douglas’ new book, Magical Meetings>> How to have better meetings, no matter what industry you’re in>> Adapting to the new virtual meeting space Our Guest Douglas is an entrepreneur and human-centered technologist with over 20 years of experience. He is president of Voltage Control, an Austin-based workshop agency that specializes in Design Sprints and innovation workshops. Prior to Voltage Control, Douglas held CTO positions at numerous Austin startups, where he led product and engineering teams using agile, lean, and human-centered design principles. While CTO at Twyla, Douglas worked directly with Google Ventures running Design Sprints and now brings this experience and process to companies everywhere. Show Highlights [01:36] Douglas talks about how he got into design and his focus on teams and teamwork.[03:57] Launching Voltage Control to help teams work better together.[04:30] How a well-functioning team evolves.[05:05] The importance of trust between team members.[05:36] Douglas connects the Gallup’s Q12 survey to team trust.[08:06] How Douglas introduces teams to prototyping.[08:51] Creating a vision document of how the team might use prototyping.[09:23] Why Douglas needs to understand the shared values of a team.[11:01] Two tactics Douglas uses to help teams come to a shared understanding.[14:30] Douglas defines prototyping.[14:43] Douglas shares one of his favorite examples of prototyping: the five pound weight.[17:16] Prototypes help teams separate the problem space from the solution space.[18:50] How Douglas facilitates team prototyping.[19:41] The two components of a design sprint.[20:10] The importance of the question “What is the test we need to run?” when designing a prototype.[20:30] The Riskiest Assumption Test (RAT).[22:00] The two questions Douglas asks after deciding on the prototype test.[22:57] Setting expectations for a design sprint and avoiding the “design sprint slump.”[23:44] A design sprint is only the beginning of the work.[24:30] Why it’s important for an organization’s leadership to understand what design sprints can and can’t do.[25:00] Prototyping is intended to give insights and understanding of the problem space to provide direction for the work to come.[26:55] Leadership must understand there is more work to do after the design sprint.[28:49] Design sprints as design research.[29:46] Douglas talks about “branding” the design sprint.[31:11] How Douglas is gathering facilitation techniques and tools from different industries and applying them to help us all improve our meetings.[33:22] Douglas’ new book, Magical Meetings.[34:03] How meeting participants can help the meeting facilitator.[35:10] Magical Meetings offers action steps and principles anyone can use to improve their meetings.[36:11] Douglas offers his thoughts on remote work and virtual meetings, and COVID-19 is changing his work.[37:53] Advice for those holding virtual workshops and meetings.[38:45] Intentionally designing virtual experiences.  [40:35] Two virtual tools Douglas recommends for those creating online experiences.[42:21] Where to find out more about Douglas and his work. Links Douglas on LinkedIn Douglas on The Future Shapers Douglas' posts on Medium What is design thinking? Bringing Design Thinking into Technology Voltage Control Beyond the Prototype Inside Innovation - Inside Outside podcast with Douglas Beyond the Prototype - Techblog Writer UK podcast episode with Douglas Gallup’s Q12 Survey Loom screencasting tool Session Lab workshop planning tool Other Design Thinking 101 Episodes You Might Like Stakeholder-Centered Design, Design Thinking in Large Organizations, and Critique for Design Teams with Jean-Louis Racine — DT01 E3 Teaching Yourself Design Thinking + Innovating in Government with Amy J. Wilson — DT101 E19 Designing Your Team + Teams in Design Education + Coaching Design Teams with Mary Sherwin and David Sherwin — DT101 E49 ________________ Thank you for listening to the show and looking at the show notes. Send your questions, suggestions, and guest ideas to Dawan and the Fluid Hive team. Cheers ~ Dawan Fluid Hive’s Ask Like a Designer — Monthly articles with design ideas, methods, frameworks, templates, and a question-fueled approach to design-driven innovation. Discover new ways to learn, lead and apply design-driven innovation. Free Download — Design Driven Innovation: Avoid Innovation Traps with These 9 Steps Innovation Smart Start Webinar — Take your innovation projects from frantic to focused!

24 Nov 202044min

Yianna Vovides is the Director of Learning Design and Research at the Center for New Designs and Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS) at Georgetown University. She’s also a professor for the Master of Arts in Learning, Design, and Technology (LDT) program at Georgetown, and the Curriculum Director for LDT. In her role at CNDLS, she oversees the digital learning efforts, including online programs. We discuss learning, learning design, and designing online learning during the pandemic and beyond. Show Summary A passion for discovering how we communicate launched Yianna’s journey into instructional and curriculum design. In her Master’s in development support communication, she studied how we work and communicate in international settings, especially in terms of communication pathways up and down an organization’s hierarchy. During her master’s work, she took an Introduction to instructional design course, and realized that it was the bridge she had been looking for to create those communication pathways. In this episode, we talk about how people learn and how Yianna teaches learning design to her students. We learn more about the LDT program at Georgetown. Yianna discusses the learning journey, creating “beautiful” learning experiences, and how the current health crisis has accelerated the rise of e-learning and the tools and technologies that make e-learning possible. Listen in to learn more about: >> Learning design as compared to instructional design>> Georgetown University’s Learning, Design, and Technology program>> The complexity behind how people learn>> The difference between an instructional designer and a learning designer>> “What is learning” as an impossible question to answer>> How the COVID-19 health crisis is re-shaping how we teach and learn>> E-learning spaces and how they are being used now Our Guest Dr. Yianna Vovides’ work intersects three areas — education, technology, and development. Over the last two decades, she has focused her practice and academic efforts in addressing how people learn within networked learning environments. She has worked on projects that emphasize individual and group learning, institutional programs that enable systemic changes, and research that examines how new technologies support teaching and learning. Professor Vovides currently serves as Director of Learning Design and Research at the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS), Professor for the Master of Arts in Learning, Design, and Technology (LDT) program at Georgetown University, and Curriculum Director for LDT. In her role at CNDLS, she oversees the digital learning efforts including online programs. She has over 15 years of experience in higher education and has been instrumental in establishing programmatic efforts for university-wide services in online learning. As a professor, she serves as faculty in LDT and teaches courses both for the program core and learning design track core — Methods of Learning and Design and Theories, Process Models, and Strategies. Show Highlights [01:37] Yianna talks about what learning design and instructional design are in terms of higher education and her work.[02:52] How Yianna found her way into instructional design.[04:56] Pairing instructional design with computer-based instruction.[06:55] Yianna’s coursework is designed to help students find their own best path into learning.[07:40] Yianna’s dissertation on cognitive flexibility and the need for openness and vulnerability.[09:23] Wanting students to focus on learning, not process.[09:43] The LDT program starts by asking students “What is learning?”[11:08] By studying the outliers and designing for them, Yianna can create a better design for all.[12:41] Why it can be challenging for a newcomer getting into learning design.[13:41] The lack of learner agency in current educational environments, and how the LDT program is different.[14:12] The collaborative nature of the LDT program for students.[16:36] More about the LDT program and how it’s structured.[17:12] Why Yianna prefers the term “learning design” over “instructional design.”[18:57] The LDT program’s four core components.[19:40] How the LDT design studio incorporates all four of the core components.[22:20] How constraints and boundaries can fuel creativity and innovation.[23:12] The importance of the question, “What is the problem you’re trying to solve?” and of encouraging students to keep asking questions.[26:00] Why collaboration is an integral part of being a learning designer.[27:20] The key difference between a learning designer and an instructional designer.[28:50] Yianna believes that more research needs to be done on the driving factors and motivators behind collaboration.[30:15] Yianna talks about the Medical Education Partnership Initiative.[30:47] How e-learning is opening the doors of learning to more communities all across the world.[34:39] COVID-19 and emergency e-learning.[35:35] Moving from emergency e-learning spaces into designed e-learning spaces.[37:35] How a particular tool or technology can spark learning design ideas.[38:04] Yianna encourages teachers and students to play in their virtual classrooms to become comfortable with them.[39:01] Deciding between synchronous and asynchronous learning experiences in the virtual classroom.[41:28] Yianna recommends resources for those wanting to learn more about how people learn and learning design. Links Yianna on LinkedIn Yianna’s at Georgetown University Yianna’s webpage at Georgetown University MOOC: Massive Open Online Courses IDEXX Learning Center Coursera Book Recommendations Optimizing Instructional Design Methods in Higher Education (Advances in Higher Education and Professional Development), by Yianna Vovides and Linda Rafaela Lemus Learning from Hypermedia: The Role of Metacognitive Skills, by Yianna Vovides Other Design Thinking 101 Episodes You Might Like Designing for the Greater Good, Strategy + Design Thinking, and Measuring Design Thinking with Jeanne Liedtka — DT101 E1 How to Learn Design Thinking + Design Thinking Pedagogy with Julie Schell — DT101 E15 Learning Design + Designing for How People Learn with Julie Dirksen — DT101 E42 ________________ Thank you for listening to the show and looking at the show notes. Send your questions, suggestions, and guest ideas to Dawan and the Fluid Hive team. 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10 Nov 202046min