medialab amsterdam problem definition workshop 130214

Charlie  Mulholland  13  February  2014  

Problem  &  requirements  workshop  

Goals  

•  Clearly  understand  the  “problem”  you  have  been  asked  to  solve  –  IdenBfy  stakeholders  –  IdenBfy  their  needs,  wants  &  problems  –  IdenBfy  requirements,  restricBons  &  opportuniBes  

•  Get  ready  for  inspiraBon    

Deliverables (13 March 2014)"

•  Design brief"•  Research moodboard"•  User requirements list"

Agenda"

•  Introduction"–  Who am I?"–  Some musings on creativity, the design process

and the importance of defining your problem"•  (Re)defining the problem & developing initial

requirements"•  Research & inspiration"

Who am I?"

Some musings on creativity, the design process and the importance of defining your problem"

CreaBvity:  the  starBng  point  for  innovaBon  

•  CreaBvity  is  a  process  that  involves  – Understanding  the  problem  -­‐  Problem  defini-on  – Genera-ng  possible  soluBons  -­‐  Divergent  thinking  –  Selec-ng  the  best  soluBons  –  Convergent  thinking  

Tassoul’s creative process (adapted)"

Divergentthinking

Convergentthinking

Divergentthinking

Convergentthinking

Divergentthinking

Convergentthinking

Divergentthinking

Convergentthinking

Clu

ster

ing

/ cat

egor

izin

g

Clu

ster

ing

/ cat

egor

izin

g

Clu

ster

ing

/ cat

egor

izin

g

Clu

ster

ing

/ cat

egor

izin

g

Briefing ConceptSelecttion

ConceptDevelopment

IdeaSelection

IdeaGeneration

ProblemStatement

ProblemAnalysis

SituationAnalysis

Adapted from: Tassoul, M. (2009). Creative Facilitation. VSSD.

This is where design comes in

However, creativity alone is not enough you also have to implement"

Thinking (about) design!

Waterfall: One view of a design process"

But design is about solving wicked problems!"

Source:  hKp://farm3.staBc.flickr.com/2744/4524305428_5d6c103eca_o.jpg  

And  where  you  need  to  be  is  perhaps  around  here  

An ill-defined problem"

But  actually  you  might  well  

be  here  

Or  even  here  

Or  maybe  here  

You  are  probably  

somewhere  around  here  

No good or bad solutions: just better or worse ones"

Source:  hKp://farm3.staBc.flickr.com/2432/3648816968_aff7499167_b.jpg  

Infinite definitions of the problem and the solution"

Source:  hKp://farm5.staBc.flickr.com/4039/4545729148_a6ce9171d9_b.jpg  

This makes it difficult to know when to stop"

Source:  hKp://farm5.staBc.flickr.com/4047/4697637143_1e401e154c_b.jpg  

In reality the design process is more complex than a waterfall"Definition

Research

Requirements

Ideation

Concept

Design

Development

Implementation

Follow-up

Prob

lem

Spa

ceSo

lutio

n Sp

ace

Time

And so we need an investigative approach…"

Source: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1037/577849928_b0cfb345ef_b.jpg

…and design research is really important"Definition

Research

Requirements

Ideation

Concept

Design

Development

Implementation

Follow-up

Prob

lem

Spa

ceSo

lutio

n Sp

ace

Time

To understand why we need to enter the world of reasoning"

cc licensed ( BY NC SA ) flickr photo by Olli Siebelt: http://flickr.com/photos/shinerclay/485427148/

Some forms of reasoning"

Form

s of

reas

onin

g"

Deductive" Truth preserving"

Inductive" Highly probable"

Abductive" Taking your best shot"

Deduction"

All persons are mortal

Socrates is a person

Therefore Socrates is

mortal

Induction"

The sun has risen everyday

of my life so far

Therefore the sun will

rise tomorrow

Abduction"

My grass is wet

this morning

It wasn’t wet when I went to

bed Therefore it rained

last night

Wicked problems need abduction to narrow down the solution (& the problem)"

I’ll check the weather forecast

(Design) research helps check the conclusions "

Definition

Analysis

Research

Ideation

Concept

Design

Development

Implementation

Follow-up

Prob

lem

Spa

ceSo

lutio

n Sp

ace

Time

Definition

Research

Requirements

Ideation

Concept

Design

Development

Implementation

Follow-up

Prob

lem

Spa

ceSo

lutio

n Sp

ace

Time

So design is more complex than a waterfall and research takes place all the time…"

…but our planning is based on a waterfall!"

Briefing Design brief Concept Detailed design Final product

#fail fast, #fail early, and don’t #fail to learn"

Source:  hKp://farm4.staBc.flickr.com/3272/2970063644_d70d643711_b.jpg  

Dealing with “waterfall” planning"

Briefing Design brief

Define problem

Design research

(inspiration)

Generate & visualize

ideas

Test

Check problem & solutions

Redefine problem

Concept

Define problem

Design research

(inspiration)

Generate & visualize concepts

Test

Check problem & solutions

Redefine problem

Detailed design

Define problem

Design research

(inspiration)

Generate & visualize designs

Test

Check problem & solutions

Redefine problem

Milestone Milestone Milestone Milestone

Iterative phase Iterative phase Iterative phase

(Re)defining your problem"

What’s your problem? (10 min.)"

•  As a team develop answers to the following questions (from the briefing)"–  Who is your client?"–  Who is their customer?"–  Who is their user?"–  What have they asked you to do?"

•  Now write an initial problem statement in one sentence"

What’s  your  problem?:  5Ws  +  1H  (15  min.)  

How does the problem occur?

Why is it a problem?

Why does it need to be solved?

When does the problem occur?

Where does the problem occur?

What’s going on exactly?

Who owns the problem?

Who is affected by the problem?

Who has an interest in the problem’s

solution?

Who is else involved?

Who?

When?

Why?

What?How?

Where?

Insights?

Check your initial problem statement – does it need to change? "

Brainstorming:  why  it  works  

Brainstorming “rules”"

•  Define the problem"•  Set a time limit on the brainstorm session"•  Capture all the ideas"

–  Use a white board, flip-over sheet or (better) Post-It Notes to do this"

•  Focus on the problem"•  Do not evaluate or criticize any ideas: write them down"•  Encourage everyone to contribute"•  Listen to other ideas and see if this gets you thinking"

–  Look for associations"•  Have fun"•  Evaluate the ideas later NEVER during the brainstorming"•  Make sure you do a follow-up"

Brainstorm: Who are the stakeholders?"

•  Spend 10 minutes brainstorming possible stakeholders for your project and why they are interested in it"

•  On a Post-its write all of them down AND state why your think they are stakeholders (what is their interest in the project)"–  One Post-it per stakeholder !

Categorize (5 min.)"

•  Look for similar types of stakeholder you identified based on:"–  Their interests"–  The type of stakeholder"

•  Group the Post-its together"

Selection (5 min.)"

•  Decide on the 3 most important stakeholders or groups of stakeholders other than your client and user"

•  Think about"–  How much impact your project might have on their

lives / interests"–  How much influence they can have on the success

of your project"–  How much influence they have on your client"–  How much influence they have on your user"

Redefining your problem (25 min.)"

How does your client define the problem?"

How does stakeholder 1 see the problem?"

How does stakeholder 2 see the problem?"

How does stakeholder 3 see the problem?"

How do you think the user might see the

problem?"

Developing initial requirements"

Stakeholder requirements reversal"

•  Reversal: What features and benefits would REALLY annoy your user? (5 min.)"

•  What requirements must your product have to ensure you do not do that? (5 min.)"

•  (You can do this for each of your other 4 stakeholders later)"

Brainstorm: requirements inventory (10 min.)"

•  Categorize and group the user requirements (5 min.)"

•  Select which user requirements you think are essential (some of them may not be relevant) (5 min.)"

•  (Again you can do this for the other key stakeholders later)"

Other requirements brainstorm"

•  What are the requirements of those who support your product? (5 min.)"

•  What are the marketing, communications and visual requirements of your product? (5 min.)"

•  What are the societal, legal and moral requirements of your product? (5 min.)"

•  What are the security & privacy requirements of your product? (5 min.)"

•  What are the technical requirements of your product? (5 min.)"

Other tactics for redefining the problem and generating requirements"

•  Keep asking questions "–  What is the real problem?"–  What problems are similar or analogous to this

one?"–  What solutions have there been to similar or

analogous problems?"–  Why doesn’t the current solution work?"

•  Generate “quick” solutions "–  Categorize these solutions into effective / less

effective"–  Look at less effective solutions and ask what

makes them less effective?"

Things will change later (trust me I used to work in marketing!)

Remember these are initial problem statements and requirements"

Getting ready to be inspired

Research & inspiration"

The story of Leonardo da Quirm"

“Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” (Thomas A. Edison - attributed)"

Watch the film & follow the instructions"

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY"

Welcome to the brain’s programmable “radar”"

The key to being inspired is to define the problem & then research"

Briefing Design brief

Define problem

Design research

(inspiration)

Generate & visualize

ideas

Test

Check problem & solutions

Redefine problem

Concept

Define problem

Design research

(inspiration)

Generate & visualize concepts

Test

Check problem & solutions

Redefine problem

Detailed design

Define problem

Design research

(inspiration)

Generate & visualize designs

Test

Check problem & solutions

Redefine problem

Milestone Milestone Milestone Milestone

Iterative phase Iterative phase Iterative phase

Uses of (design) research"

Design research

Inspiration

Experiment

Evidence / support

Testing explanations

Sources of inspiration during research (or any time actually)"

The client: briefing"

Desk research / Internet"

“Charlie, you’re a hunter and you won’t get good ideas just sitting behind your computer.” (Theo Backx)"

Talking to the user"

Source:  hKp://farm2.staBc.flickr.com/1010/925252775_58e2691942_o.jpg  

Observing the user"

Being the user"

Going outside and looking around"

The work of others"

Next steps"

•  Next session – idea generation & selection"•  Between now and then"

–  Do your design research"•  Don’t just sit here: Go out and look for inspiration!"•  Be the user, observe the user(s) & talk to the user(s)"•  Watch out for serendipity"

–  Write a design brief"–  Categorize / combine / organize your findings into

a moodboard"–  Create a user requirements list (from your design

brief)"