(This talk was originally presented the VANUE meetup group in Vancouver, BC, on Wednesday, April 27, 2016.)

As user experience professionals, we sometimes run of the obstacles. We call them stakeholders. They are the ones who seem to

STAKEHOLDERSARE NOT THE PROBLEM(THEY’RE YOUR SECRET WEAPON)

@KEVANGILB

ERT

@DOMAIN7

In some ways, the UX community is years ahead of its time. We have been developing the "cocreative technology" of collaboration since the birth of our practice. So if what you see in these slides, and if what you hear in this presentation, begins to sou

“What’s obvious to you is

amazing to others.”

Derek Sivers

A slow project. Agonizing delays. Frustrated stakeholder, frustrated project team. A meeting was called: What can we do to improve this process? Answer: a co

It’s the future. It’s beyond overdue. Let’s go.

A STORY

“If this is such an

obvious, fantastic way to

work, why aren’t we all

doing it already?”

A smart client

While participatory methods of design have been accessible for a generation, some of us are still discovering the idea of building creative work together.

1. It’s new.

WHY ISN’T CO-CREATION

THE DEFAULT OPTION?

This amazing book just came out in 2016. While the material has been being shared widely online beforehand, the ideas contained there-in — combining the spirit of community engagement with the disciplined method of UX sprints

A lot of clients and agencies still have habits and expectations of how creative work gets delivered: you pay a smart person

1. It’s new.

2. Old

habits.

WHY ISN’T CO-CREATION

THE DEFAULT OPTION?

This style of work, the kind modelled by Mad Men, and classic agencies, is dead.

There is no creative genius that is going to come and rescue us.

Yet much of the business community is still oriented this way in its posture towards creatives: we pay you, you do it. Old habits die hard.

Frankly, choosing a co-creative, participatory approach is tricky. Facilitation skills aren’t easy to come by. Choosing the righ

1. It’s new.

2. Old

habits. 3.

It’s hard.

WHY ISN’T CO-CREATION

THE DEFAULT OPTION?

Don’t give up. The methods of involvement are legendary. These forces are what have shaped the world since its beginning. When human get together to seek potential collaboratively, huge breakthroughs happen. Counselling and therapy is built on this. Tea

BUT IT’S

POWERFUL

Specifically in the context of UX projects, it can trigger some needed breakthroughs. Speed can pick up. The number of connections, and thus innovations and ideas, can increase, leading to better ideas. Vision becomes a shared thing between stakeholders

Faster

projects

Diverse

ideas

Less

telephone

Empathetic

insight

Shared

vision

Better

products

WHAT YOU’LL GET

FROM CO-CREATION

And it’s not that hard: You’ll need you, the person willing to host. You’ll need participants, invited to contribute openly. You’ll need an agenda (a playlist) designed for the flow of great activities. You’ll need to know what factors you’ll use to mak

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

TO GET STARTED

A

facilitator

Engaged

stakeholders

A clear

playlist

Decision-

making

criteria

A readiness

to try

Sketching

supplies

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

TO GET STARTED

A

facilitator

Engaged

stakeholders

A clear

playlist

Decision-

making

criteria

A readiness

to try

Sketching

supplies

WHAT ELSE?

UX has done this type of collaboration for a while, right? We involve users, we stand up in meetings, we make things together

HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT

FROM OTHER UX ACTIVITIES?

Like Adaptive Path modelled through Experience Mapping — we’re used to this.

“Co-creation” differs in that it comes after research. The point is to generate ideas. And the point is to truly involve key stakeholders so vision, buy-in can become the motor to power the work. And it’s not about making a document, it’s about the moment

After

research

Focused

on ideation

Stakeholder

powered

Not a

document

HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT

FROM OTHER UX ACTIVITIES?

Co-creation is “making things together.”

MAKING

MANAGING

TOGETHERAPART

We don’t need co-creation all the time, every time; we just need to reintroduce it to our arsenal. It’s a tool we ignore, and never use. We often default to meetings to solve problems.

Jeff Bezos’ management philosophy of having an “empty chair” to represent the user, as a cue to meeting participants to remember to keep the user in mind, is an example of a “Managing Together” style fantasizing about a Co

The visionaries we admire, the Henry Fords/Steve Jobs, the “artist/visionary” persona, the classic finger-pointing leader, the Don Draper, tend to inhabit the upper left: making, apart.

MAKING

MANAGING

TOGETHERAPART

CO-CREATION

MEETINGS

SOLO

EMAIL

People often complain about the hazards of involving too many people.Photo by Dennis Wong: https://flic.kr/p/92NVcg

Too many cooks in the

kitchen?

I say that’s a sign you’ve got a huge demand for engagement. Create the infrastructure to allow for greater involvement. Large-scale restaurants have the need for many roles, many types of cooks and helpers, and the space is designed accordingly. For be

Photo by Dennis Wong: https://flic.kr/p/92NVcg

Too many cooks in the

kitchen?REDESIGN THE KITCHEN

The Jeff Bezos management style of keeping a chair empty to rep the user…

Photo by ING Group: https://flic.kr/p/EGhyNT

Empty chair management?

..could take it a step further and actually involve the user.

Photo by ING Group: https://flic.kr/p/EGhyNT

Empty chair management?WHY IS THE CHAIR EMPTY?

…and create a more engaging environment by involving engaged, movement-filled exercises. No chairs needed.

Photo by ING Group: https://flic.kr/p/EGhyNT

Empty chair management?WHY IS THE CHAIR EMPTY?

AND WAIT, WHY ARE YOU

SITTING?

Henry Ford’s singular vision?

“If I had asked my customers

what they wanted, they would

have said a faster horse.”

- Henry Ford

I wonder what he might have discovered if he had tried to connect more deeply with people’s needs and approaches? He arrived at one idea of internal combustion engine whose contribution to planetary pollution we are spending a generation undoing. How mi

“If I had asked my customers

what they wanted, they would

have said a faster horse.”

- Henry Ford

WHAT ABOUT INVOLVING

THEM?

The classic creative director approach of insisting that bold innovation is an independent act of leadership…

“The public is not able to

envision the future; it must be

led.”

- Nory Emori / Hornall

Anderson

Photo by Troy Mason: https://flic.kr/p/sDBSH

….may be surprised by what the looked-down-upon public can truly add, when involved at the right moment, with the right tools.

“The public is not able to

envision the future; it must be

led.”

- Nory Emori / Hornall

Anderson

Photo by Troy Mason: https://flic.kr/p/sDBSH

HAVE WE TRULY TRIED?

Conventional problem-solving:

Look at what is not working,

find a solution to change it.

Conventional problem-solving:

Look at what is not working,

find a solution to change it.

Co-creative problem-solving:

Look for the available potential,

create the space to draw it out.

We often see Stakeholders as the barrier getting in the way of use connecting users to the product more closely. We fantasize about systems where we can make great products, stakeholder

Stakehold

ersUsers

Prod

uctYou

The true job of UX is to create the space where stakeholders themselves can become a more connected part of the system of co-creating with users to make a bette product. Our job is to hold the space. To host environments where connections can happen.

You

Stakehol

ders Users

Product

We are in the midst of exploring and developing a shift that can transform not just our industry, but the business community and the world at large. When we can shed our outdated legends of leadership, where solo visionaries alone are awaited as the savi

Photos by Tracey Falk | Painting by Miriam & Rene Thomas

@KEVANGILB

ERT

@DOMAIN7

GO FORTH AND CO-CREATE.