Design Thinking and Innovation course - Day 3 - Design Ethnography

TEK495 - Design & Innovation
Day 3
DESIGN ETHNOGRAPHY
TEK495
Kira Krämer, Lisa Carlgren, Fredrik Garneij, Jan Schmiedgen,
Ingo Rauth
September 9, 2015

2
Slide/Exercise Time Material Facilitator
Prepare
Re-Arrange room to work group
island mode
Print: Facilitator instructions
Bring: Marshmallow material
All
Warm-up 10 min none Ingo
Group reflection diary conversation 10 min none / use new process Ingo
Design Ethnography intro & test
your interview skills
25 min Kira
Coffee break 15 min none
Group interivew (Q&A) with
challange/project owner
marker, whiteboard Kira - Lisa, Fredrik (support)
LUNCH
Interview basics - iterating
theoretical inputs and testing by
interviewing each other - based on
the desk research and own
experience
50 min Kira - Lisa, Fredrik (support)
Coffee Break 15 min
Interview with students,
administrators and supervisors
which come to class
45 min Interview questions developed during the previous
45 min
Kira
Coffee Break
Reflection on interviewing,
summary and observation (marhs
mallow exercise)
20, 20, 5min (homework intro) Kira, Ingo

Reflection
#2 Interviewing
Think about one reflection you want to
share in 30 sec.
4-5x share reflection in 30 sec, the others
try to sketch the main idea.
Reflect upon your reflections
2 min
5 min
5 min

WARM-UP
SPOT A
LIE
Image Source: pxiabay.com

Introduction
1#

Learn to ask
better questions!
THE GOAL

Design Ethnography
Better questions, better understanding.
Ethnography literally means “writing about people groups”.
Ethnography is a method (discipline) that helps to
understand the social, politcal and environmental
dimensions of a society from a member’s perspective.
#1 Introduction

Design Ethnography
#1 Introduction
People: behavior, choices, emotions, mental models
Personal context: life situation, social environment like
family, friends, colleagues and peer-groups
Broader context: institutions, processes, society as a whole,
ecosystems
Interconnectedness of these factors

“Better understanding = better problem-solving =
better products, services, processes and
institutions”.
“Shitunderstanding=shitproblem-solving=
shitproducts,services,processesand
institutions”.

Why we need ethnography …
#1 Introduction
Clear Vision
Team Alignment
Stakeholder Communication
Better understanding, better documentation: user
perspective becomes more powerful

Design ethnography in the process
#1 Introduction
PROTOTYPE
explore
the
problem
redefine
the
problem
develop
&
learn
about ideas &
problem
s
EMPATHIZE IDEATE
idea
generation
DEFINE TEST

Three ways to gain understanding
#1 Introduction
Listening
Looking
Experiencing

#1 Introduction

INTERVIEWING
2#

CHALLENGE:
“How to improve the preparation
for the master thesis experience.”
#2 Interviewing

Your first interview
Dan Paulin
▪ Vice Head of Department for
Education, Technology
Management and Economics
▪ Senior Lecturer, Technology
Management and Economics
▪ Senior Lecturer at the Division of
Operations Management.
#2 Interviewing

Your first interview: Exercise
Collect questions silently
write down each on one sticky note
Share in team
Discuss briefly and select 5
questions
#2 Interviewing
2min
5min
4/5x
1min

BREAK
18

Hi Dan,
We’ve got some
questions for you!
19

LUNCH
20

Reflection

Experts & Stakeholders

Experts & Stakeholders
A helpful but biased view?
Enable Limit
(Insider) Knowledge
Meta-View
Power & Connections
Deeply rooted in
existing system
“Blind” for user perspective
Reluctant to profound changes
+ -
Image Credit: Straight Face by Clara Joy, The Noun Project

Understanding the topic
Expert and newbie at the same time?

117
Existing
Material
Stories from
friends
Desk
Research
Dan’s Input
Your
experience
Own
thoughts
…

Knowledge Download
Preparation for interviews
Empty your mind
Find something you didn’t know yet!
Open up to kill your assumptions

Knowledge Download: Exercise
Write down areas of interest
“Finding a topic for master thesis”
Write down hypotheses
“Students have difficulites to find a topic.”
Share with team
1min
1min
4/5x
1min

Questionnaire

Questionnaire
▪ Our guide for interviews
▪ Simple
▪ Flexible
#2 Interviewing

Topic
Opener
Hypothesis
#2 Interviewing
Questionnaire

Finding advice for master thesis
topic
“Where did you look for advice
when searching for a thesis
topic?”
No one knows about the
consultation services offered by
the faculty. True?
#2 Interviewing
Questionnaire
Topic
Opener
Hypothesis

QUESTIONNAIRE: EXERCISE
#2 Interviewing
Select 3 topics
Add hypotheses to each topic
3min
3min

General opening quesion
#2 Interviewing
Questionnaire
topic
topic?”
the faculty. True?

Are you working on a master
thesis currently?
Are you planning to write your
master thesis in the next 6
month?
...
#2 Interviewing
Questionnaire
topic
topic?”
the faculty. True?

Questionnaire: Exercise
#2 Interviewing
Select 3 topics
Add hypotheses to each topic
Add general opening question(s)
5min
3min
1min

User Interviewes Round 1: Exercise
#2 Interviewing
Split in subteams of two (three) and grab
your questionnaire
Go outside and try to conduct one or two
interviews with someone
Goal: Try to fond something interesting in
one of the three topics
1min
15min

BREAK
37

The Art of asking questions

The Art of Asking Questions
1. Setting
2. Questions
#2 Interviewing

Setting
▪ Aim for a facilitated conversation
▪ Pay attention to:
▪ Space
▪ Roles
▪ Mindset
#2 Interviewing

Setting: Space
▪ Choosing the right space
▪ Take care of drinks & snacks
▪ If necessary, meet users in their environment
#2 Interviewing

Setting: Roles
Agree on
▪ Conversation Lead
▪ Documenter
▪ Observer
#2 Interviewing

Setting: Mindset
Be a true Listener!
▪ Non-judgemental
▪ Non-teaching
▪ Empathy, not necessary sympathy
▪ Beginner’s Mindset
#2 Interviewing

Quesitons
Asking the right questions & asking them right!
Pay attention to:
▪ Types of Questions
▪ Way of Asking
▪ Mindset
#2 Interviewing

Types of questions
#2 Interviewing
Facts:
▪ What, Where, When
▪ How many, How often,
How long etc.

Story & Emotional:
How?
helps to get user into
narrating a sequence or a
story
Why?
▪ explore the underlying
motivations or influences
▪ to dig deeper
Types of questions
#2 Interviewing
Facts:
▪ What, Where, When
▪ How many, How often,
How long etc.

Tipps & Tricks
▪ Don’t stop with your first “Why?”
▪ Ask for best / worst experiences instead of
“What do you like / hate?”
▪ Switch between emotions and facts.
▪ Listen and save a keyword.
#2 Interviewing

Way of asking: Demo
How to do a proper interview … NOT
#2 Interviewing

Rules: Way of Asking
#2 Interviewing
▪ 80/20 - accept silence
▪ Open questions
▪ Clear questions, one question per time
▪ No interpretations yet
▪ Digging deep, not jumping topics too quickly
▪ No solutions at this point of time (Park them)
▪ Not asking for solutions (People don’t know)
▪ Clear roles

The Anatomy of an Interview
#2 Interviewing

Mindset
▪ Following the stories
▪ Leading with questions
#2 Interviewing

User interviews round 2: Exercise
#2 Interviewing
Grab questionnaire. Choose an interview
partner from this course - someone you
don’t know yet
Interview him/her
Goal: Get one interesting story
2min
2x3min
1min

Cheat Sheet
▪ Introduce yourself
▪ Get the newbie attitude
▪ Start with your conversation
▪ 80/20
▪ Open questions
▪ Aim for stories
▪ Ask Why?
▪ Build on what your interviewee tells you.
#2 Interviewing

#2 Interviewing
Second round interviews
Try to dog deeper
Goal: Ask 3 times Why in a row
2x3min
3min
1min

Iteration & Putting it all together

Iteration and putting it all together
Write down your most burning topics /
questions / hypotheses
Share with team
Iterate questionnaire with max 5 topics
Prepare settings & decide on roles
#2 Interviewing
2min
1min
10min
2min

BREAK
58

15min
Split in sub-teams & lead one interview
Second interview
#2 Interviewing
15min

BREAK
60

Wrap Up INTERVIEWING

Storysharing
#2 Interviewing

Documenting
▪ Notes
▪ Pictures
▪ Recording
#2 Interviewing

Selecting interviewees
Look for:
▪ Extreme users
▪ people outside your target group
#2 Interviewing

OBSERVATION
3#

OBSERVATION
Start noticing the little things

Marshmallow exercise
Action Team (10min)
▪ Build the Tallest Freestanding Structure
▪ The Entire Marshmallow Must be on Top: The entire
marshmallow needs to be on the top of the structure.
Cutting or eating part of the marshmallow disqualifies
the team.
▪ Use as much or as little of the Kit
▪ Break up the Spaghetti, String or Tape
Observing Team (2min):
Watch the teams. What dynamics can you notice? Body
language?
#3 Observation

IMMERSION
4#

Summary

What people experience.
What people do.What people say they do.
Summary

When applying Design Ethnography
Summary

Prototype testing

Readings
Hall, E. (2013). Just Enough Research. New York.
Portigal, S. (2013). Interviewing Users: How to Uncover
Compelling Insights (1st edition). Brooklyn, New York:
Rosenfeld Media.
Young, I. (2015). Practical Empathy: For Collaboration and
Creativity in Your Work (1st edition). Brooklyn, NY: Rosenfeld
Media.
#2 Interviewing

Your take-aways?
Summary

Thank you!

Homework
1.) Write your reflections
2.) Practice interviewing: Do 1 Interview with 1 master
student from Chalmers (15min+). TAKE NOTES!
3.) Practice immersion by trying to understand:
a.) Master Thesis webpage at Chalmers
b.) Master Thesis at Dept of TME
c.) Ask yourself if you would know what to do after getting
these informaiton.
The better your notes, the better your synthesis.
Design Ethnography

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
MAHASIN!!! ☺

TEK495 - Design & Innovation 82
“Focus on the user.”
IDEO, Stanford d.school

Interview fail script (facilitator)
Faciliator’s sheet
Theme: Grocery shopping & cooking
1. We only talk to each other.
2. Involve the interview but ask questions that already entail the answer: „You
like cooking, right!“
3. Ask open questions, but interrupt.
4. Let them finish talking, but summarize in a judgemental statement, „Aha, so
you are an eco-fanatic!“
5. Don’t follow up on what was answered, but jump to the next question.
6. Think in solutions right away: „She needs an eco friendly ...“
7. Ask for solutions
8. Roles are unclear.

Design Thinking and Innovation course - Day 3 - Design Ethnography

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