Welcome to a day-long Design Sprint for UMFK faculty, staff, and administrators in support of collaborative problem-solving through Design Thinking.

Designed and Facilitated by: Ken Baldauf, Director, Innovation Hub, Florida State University

Planned and Organized by:
Dr. Nicole Boudreau, Associate Professor of French, Interim Dean of Arts & Sciences and Professional Studies, UMFK
Barbie Eldridge, Administrative Support Supervisor, Academic Affairs, UMFK

Participant Prep and Ground Rules

• Workshop Goals:

  • Acquaint all participants with the Design Thinking process

  • Gain new insights and possible solutions to a campus issue

  • Get better acquainted with colleagues and build community

• Acquaint yourself with Design Thinking by reading the article at https://hbr.org/2015/09/design-thinking-comes-of-age, and searching the web for more information.

• Participants are asked to take the Personality Test at https://www.16personalities.com/ making note of your personality type for use in our activities.

• We ask that participants are fully engaged for the entire duration of the workshop since you will be working in small teams through a sequence of exercises to develop solutions.

• Electronic devices are welcome as tools for research related to the design work you will be engaged in. Breaks are provided for checking email and texts.

• Dress is as CASUAL as is reasonable within your work environment. We want everyone to be relaxed and comfortable to maximize creativity.

• Design Thinking is an active process that requires significant effort mentally, emotionally, and physically. Be sure to get a good night’s sleep the night before and arrive well-rested, optimistic, and open-minded.

• Design Thinking requires mutual respect as we work towards common goals from different perspectives.

• The exercises in which you will participate will feel rushed. There are two reasons for this: 1. Design Thinking uses a clock to keep participants on task, 2. We are cramming a lot into the day in order to maximize your experience with Design Thinking. Recognize that we have intentionally chosen quantity over quality in terms of number of activities over the outcomes of those activities.

Empathy Stage

Empathizing with the people experiencing the problem, and researching the relevant details. NOT thinking about solutions!

Ethnographic research involves observing issues from the point of view of the subject of the study. Methods include interviews, observation, role-taking, desk research, surveys and focus groups.

Activity 1a - Q&A with Special Guest, Subject Area Expert (15 minutes, 9:30 - 9:45)

Activity 1b - Colleague Interviews (20 minutes, 9:45 - 10:05)

Pair up for interviews with the purpose of learning about the person you are interviewing and their views and experiences around the problem. Each person will take turns playing the part of the interviewer, five minute each. Approach the interview with the mind of a beginner, setting aside pre-conceived notions, and pretending to know nothing about the problem. Use post-its to note facts and insights relevant to the problem. Begin with the interviewee’s name (post-it #1), followed by insight about the interviewee’s personality, one per post-it. Set those aside, and start asking questions about the interviewee’s experience and insight regarding the design problem. After both people have served as interviewer and interviewee, if time allows, spend two minutes each asking deeper follow-up questions based on insights you gained.

Activity 2 - Affinity Map (25 minutes, 10:15 - 10:40)

Pairs combine into groups of four (or three or five) and gather around a white board. Each person introduce the person you interviewed - sticking the intro post-its at the top of the board. Then begin sharing the insights you gained by sticking them on the board one at a time. As group members see correlation with their own insights, they should share their ideas sticking the post-it along side the one it is related to. As all members share their insights in a free form manner, clusters of post-its should begin to emerge on the board. When all post-its are on the board, circle and label the clusters. It is normal to have a few outliers. Those outliers might be the most significant insights! One’s that no one has ever considered. They might serve to unlock new and unique solutions later in the process.

Synthesize and Share (10 + 45 minutes, 10:40 - 10:50, 10:50 - 11:35)

Groups take 10 minutes to decide on their most valuable insights in terms of potential for impact, also their most unique insights. Each group takes no more than three minutes to share their insights.

*reflection

Other tools for Empathy- Empathy Map

The Empathy Map provides a reference to insights about a persona representing your primary stakeholder. Consider an actual person for whom you are designing a solution - this will be a persona that your group will reference throughout the design process. Use a white board area to sketch the image shown here, providing just the large words for reference. Sketch your persona of on a post-it and give her or him a name. Stick the persona post-it at the center of your Empathy Map (see image). Have the group consider the questions on the Empathy map and write their insights on post-its, one per post-it, sticking the post-its in the appropriate locations. In relation to the design problem:

• What does your persona Hear and See?

• What does your persona Think and Feel?

• What does your persona Say and Do?

• What are pain points and positive aspects - gains.

Stakeholder Map

A tool for identifying the primary stakeholder and all others impacted by the problem.

Context Map

A tool for analyzing environmental trends in the organization, in technology, in society, in users behavior and in the market that impact the problem.

Mind Map

A tool for organizing one’s thoughts about the problem, components, and connected concepts.

Journey Map

A tool for analyzing the primary stakeholder’s (or other stakeholders’) activities and interactions before, during, and after the point of the problem in time.

(Re)framing Stage

In this stage you synthesize the results of your empathy research, decide on a specific problem within the main problem domain, and compose a descriptive How Might We (HMW) question.

Activity 3 - (Re)frame (15 minutes, 12:25 - 12:40)

Consider the insights you have gained so far through empathy research, interviews, affinity map, persona, and compliment that research with additional online research, phone calls, whatever is needed to answer any remaining questions or points of confusion. Once your research is complete consider key insights that you might like to address with your solution. Seek the unusual and unique - insights that no one has considered before. As a group settle on one specific problem that you would like to work on. If there is a difference of opinion utilize dot voting to choose one. Compose a (re)framed problem statement in the form of an HMW.

How might we help ___________, to ___________, so that ___________.

Sharing and Supporting (15 minutes, 12:40 - 12:55)

Each group shares their HMW question for support and feedback from the group.

Activity 8 - Feedback Loop! (optional)

Have half the group stay at home base to pitch your solution, while the other half travels to the neighboring group to hear their pitch and provide feedback. The pitch should be uninterrupted and last three minutes. The feedback should also be uninterrupted for three minutes. Be sure to take notes on the feedback you receive. If there’s time, visit two groups! All teams return home and make final adjustments to your solution based on feedback and new inspiration.