Database Reference
In-Depth Information
may need to run pre-workshop sessions to educate participants. These workshops produce
innovative product concepts honed by the Cool Concepts, delivering a modern experience
that enables technology to transform daily life for the better.
4.3.1 THE VISIONING WORKSHOP
The Wall Walk.
The first step in the Visioning Workshop is the
Wall Walk
in which par-
ticipants, whether they were involved indata collection andconsol-idation ornot,immerse
themselves in the data in preparation for design. The goal is to help designers link design
ideas to the data—the real structure and challenges of the users' world.
IntheWallWalk,thefacilitatorintroducestheprojectandeachstepoftheprocesstothe
group,whichcanincludestakeholderswholearnaboutthedataandinformthedirectionof
the vision team. If personas were created, the first step is to introduce them so that every-
one has a sense of who the users are and what their goals are. Then the whole group walks
the Affinity Diagram, placing sticky notes with design ideas directly on the data displayed
on the wall.
The Wall Walk is an individual, silent experience. Each person reads the Affinity Dia-
gram like a story, top-down. Each top-level section of the Affinity communicates an issue
through the language of the green label; lower-level labels present the organized user data
with detail about the issue. Each team member thinks about design implications and writes
design ideas on sticky notes, posting them next to the data in the Affinity they are respond-
ing to. As they read and respond to more and more individual issues, the designer's ideas
naturally get more holistic and complete. This interactive process of reading, writing, and
posting grounds designers in the users' practice and helps them make the leap from facts
about the work to design implications for the product. This interactive step of the Wall
Walk starts to pull designers across the bridge from data to design.
After walking the Affinity the facilitator makes a list of the issues that the group thinks
must be addressed to have a successful product. Anyone with an issue voices it and it is
captured. In this way the group hears what matters to each other, creating a shared under-
standinginmoments.Followingthis,thefacilitatorcapturesalistof
hot ideas
:designideas
that have the potential to spark a holistic solution. Hot ideas are written on a flip chart and
grouped by the facilitator into themes that can be used as starting points for the visioning
session.
Figure 4.14:
The beginnings of a hot ideas list captured from the team after walking the wall.
