Mingler World - Blog

Devil is in the details

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 08:25:00 +0000

Reading lengths: 15min;
Method: Affinity Clustering;
Content: Experiance; Reflections
Complexity: Easy;
Keywords: #clustering; #grouping; #tendencies; #sets and subsets; #characteristics; #categorization; #unique themes; #games

The affinity clustering method or the task of ordering and reordering post-it notes might sound monotonous and boring. Something that is not very inspiring to do. Maybe, but only if you ignore all the creative potential within it. If you look at this activity as a technical task with a sole purpose – rearranging the post-it notes - I agree it will be pretty mundane. However, if you face this task with the prospect of discovering something new, it already feels more inspiring. It really can become as enjoyable as playing detectives. "Devil is in the details," they say, and this method proves the phrase.

Later in this article, I'll give two examples of how this method can boost creativity and make new discoveries. The first example will outline the game you can play with children to have joint entertainment and encourage them to think outside the box. The second example will explain using this method to find connections and essential themes in an unsorted data pool.

But, before we get to examples, here is a short description of the affinity mapping method for readers who haven't read the detailed method description article.

Method in short

In a few words, affinity mapping (also called grouping and clustering) is a method used to find similarities or connections in a set of diverse opportunities or options. Each identified similarity or connection acts as a combining factor to consolidate influenced options in one group.

>Why do we need it? We, as humans, can't split our attention and remember multiple things simultaneously. Scientists have discovered that people, on average, can remember seven things at once. And it becomes a problem if you finish the creative workshop and have one hundred different ideas in front of you. You can't remember them all. You can't evaluate them all at once and choose the subset for subsequent actions. Moreover, some of these ideas will overlap, but some will be heading in different directions. What you need, in fact, is a good approach for structuring these ideas and understanding the unique themes. And affinity mapping is an excellent method that will bring this structure in. Bonus: you get a chance to practice your imagination and creativity.

First example: playing the game with children

Who doesn't want their kids to be innovative, think outside the box, and be equipped with creativity skills further in their lives? Well, of course, everyone does! Do you also know that absolutely everyone can be creative, that creativity is like a muscle that gets stronger when you practice it? Trust me or google, but it's true. Therefore giving our kids another chance to train this "muscle" is the best we can do for our children. Here is an example of how.

Setting the stage

Choose the number of different options you will involve in the game. It can be ten, fifteen, or whatever you choose.

Next, decide what will be "options" in your game. It can be different things like pictures, toys, Lego bricks, etc.

Then place the chosen number of options in the play area. For example, I've used fifteen animal-printed play cards. I've selected cards with elephant, lion, snake, wolf, horse, dog, cat, penguin, bear, fox, giraffe, monkey, goat, reindeer, tiger.

Starting the game

Come up with the grouping rule. Assess if and how each option corresponds to the rule and, based on that, create smaller groups. For example, we choose to group animals by size. We made the first group of smaller animals - snake, dog, cat, penguin, fox, monkey, goat, and wolf, and another group with bigger creatures - an elephant, lion, horse, bear, giraffe, reindeer, and tiger in the other group.
Note that you can come up with any rule you can imagine. Alternatively, it could be the color of animals, animals that bite and that don't, animals that move around using four legs and those that don't need four legs, animals with antlers and those without, etc. You can also use the role to make more than two groups. All possibilities are open and depend only on your imagination.
Now pick one of the groups and ask children to look for more similarities and connections between various group members. What other characteristics do some of them have in common? How can these be rearranged into smaller groups?
In our example, we choose to follow the four legs criteria. We split our first group into two smaller ones. One with animals using four legs to move around - dog, cat, fox, goat, and wolf. Another with animals moving around differently - a snake, penguin, and monkey.
Now look at all groups and decide, if to continue splitting them further in the smallers groups.
You can continue in this manner until you are out of ideas or have groups you can't really split further.
And then start over from the beginning. Now invite your children to come up with some criteria. Let them come up with interesting ideas from the very beginning.
Or, even better, they can do the grouping without loudly expressing the criteria. And then - you try to guess it. It's fascinating to see what sort of things our children can come up with.

Professional example – understanding essential themes in interview results

Grouping is not only fun but also valuable in professional activities. Further in this section, I'll give one of the examples where affinity mapping has helped me.

The context

I've conducted multiple interviews with people regarding one of my research questions - patterns of providing and consuming product or services feedback. I needed to understand what motivates people to give feedback or quite the opposite – what demotivates them, what are good and bad practices, what are the tools they use, etc.

Once I've completed the interviews, I had quite a list of opinions and habits people told me about. As you might already guess - the list and diversity of insights were quite extensive, so none of the trends clearly stood out. Yet, I used this method to normalize the information since I know affinity mapping.

Looking for the proper grouping criteria

Option 1

I could start with what seems the most apparent – grouping all the insights around the questions I've been asking. But this quickly would prove itself a useless approach. Since prepared questions are more a guiding, not limiting, the experiences people are talking about also often tend to shift from the initial question. It's ok since I'm still interested in experiences. Yet it doesn't help for structuring.

For example, some people talked about their motivation for leaving feedback when I've asked if they do it at all, while others - only when asked explicitly about motivators. So from this perspective, grouping by question doesn't often give expected results.

Option 2

The second option, obviously, would be to group by similar themes. Like insights describing emotional aspects, routines of leaving feedback, tools they are using, etc.

This approach gives more specific results. Yet, in my case, this also is not ideal.

Since themes are generic and overarching, there are a lot of insights I will include in these groups. Since I was looking for unique ideas and themes, I needed more detailed groups and information.

In the article title picture, you can see it visually in the middle example. Yes, it's structured, but it doesn't fit my purpose. I can't clearly get the information I'm looking for.

Option 3

I continued the grouping by splitting each of the bigger groups into subgroups.

I've set a limitation of a max of five ideas per group as a guiding principle and started reorganizing post-its again. Comparing one by one and evaluating which one fits best with others. By the way, limited clustering was the exercise when the grouping turned from a monotones activity to a pretty creative one. Since you not only read but try to find different forms of connections behind the words.

Yes, this took me considerably more time to do, but it was worth it.

I've got different products that people use to provide or read feedback, some known but some not. I've got multiple sub-groups hinting at what motivates people to give feedback and multiple sub-groups with hints to what they dislike in current practices. I've got sub-groups with positive surprises and sub-groups with annoying limitations.

And here, the mission is accomplished. The information I have in front of me is now normalized, clustered, and providing me precisely the level of understanding I was looking for.

Conclusion

Grouping and clustering diverse ideas are essential for understanding unique themes and hints. We, as humans, can't remember more than ten things max, so one hundred options for sure is not operatable.

To work with such an amount of information, we have to normalize it first. We have to structure and shape the result in such a form that makes sense for our unique purpose.

Grouping can be tedious if you look at it from a monotonous perspective. Or it can be really creative and boost your imagination.

Did you like this method and the description of it?

Do give me a note about it.

I will appreciate it if you include in your message what you did like, what you think should be improved, and of course, any other ideas that would be worth experimenting with.

Maybe you want to join me in some of the method experiments?

Do you have interest or experience in this method usage?

I would love to hear your example. Let me know.

"Affinity clustering" method – HOW does it work and WHAT value does it add

Wed, 01 Dec 2021 08:06:00 +0000

Reading lengths: 20min;
Method: Affinity Clustering;
Content: Method desription;
Complexity: Moderate;
Keywords: #clustering; #grouping; #similarities; #sets and subsets; #characteristics; #actions; #ideas;

This article will describe one of the precious design thinking methods that is irreplaceable when there are plenty of ideas to work with. Affinity clustering or also called affinity mapping, grouping. In contrast to most design thinking methods oriented on opening new potential, affinity clustering is precisely the opposite – it is oriented towards narrowing the attention scope and replacing individual ideas with clusters of similar ideas. Such narrowing is essential in the creative process. Are you surprised why? Because while you and your team are in the discovery phase, you have the purpose of generating as many new ideas as possible. Yet when sessions end with hundreds of new ideas, that could become a problem too since choosing the focus point for the subsequent actions will become more problematic. What you can do, though, is to smartly group and cluster ideas and make the scope manageable again. Further in this article, I’ll write about how to do it.

Why are grouping and clustering so important?

Imagine you are at the creative session together with eight other people. The purpose of the session is to generate ideas about supporting new moms when they return to the workplace. There are a diverse group of participants in your workgroup – there are women, men, parents, and people who enjoy their freedom. You have spent the last half an hour discussing different difficulties new moms face and have generated plenty of ideas on how to help them return to the workplace. Your workgroup members have come up with an average of fifteen different ideas each. So right now, one hundred and twenty ideas are steering at you from the whiteboard and are asking – what do we do next? Do you feel satisfied with the creativity you reached, or are you terrified about what to do next?

A situation like this is frequent in the creative process and signals that you have had a very successful session. In ideas generation, we don’t limit the number of ideas that are produced. As more new ideas emerge, as better. Design thinking process facilitators should be striving for quantity and not be terrified by the potential overload of information. Moreover, the more diverse the group you will be working with, the more varied ideas will be generated. Some of the ideas will be about close topics, but many of them will be the opposite. Some of the ideas will focus on what to do, but some will focus on what to avoid. Some will be new characteristics, some will be new actions, but others will signal future research needs. Thereby it’s going to be impossible to compare them and rank them. It’s not the place where to start voting as well. First of all, it’s impossible to remember one hundred and twenty ideas at first. Second – how will you vote on similar ideas, which one to pick for voting?

So you will have to normalize the scope of ideas before you proceed with any further actions. And ideas clustering or grouping is an excellent way how to do it. The next chapter will describe the considerations and steps you need to take to get most of the clustering activity.

But before we get into the practical details, I want to highlight that the approach is valuable in a broader set of situations than the brainstorming example I’ve described above. There are a much broader set of circumstances where we face the problem of too much information to process it efficiently—for example, client support, training, manufacturing, and others. And the affinity clustering method is here to be used in any of these situations. The only thing you have to do is to follow the steps written below.

Method description

Purpose: Define clear expected results
Before starting, it’s fundamental to understand the output you expect from the clustering. Very often, it’s going to be a simple grouping of repeating or similar ideas. However, it could be more specific. Maybe you will benefit more from groups made of specific grouping criteria: it can be actions, characteristics, perhaps communication sources, or roles involved in the process execution, and more. If there are any characteristics of the groups you want to apply, you need to formulate them initially.
Another point to consider - how many groups are you ready to accept for further development? If you are not afraid of many small groups, you can limit the maximum number of ideas per group. For example, if the group limit is five ideas, the workgroup will need to keep thinking and splitting ideas into smaller clusters until there is no cluster with more than five ideas. Why to complicate it, you might be thinking? The advantage is in creative thinking and looking for more connections and characteristics. For example, instead of one big cluster, “Client support ideas,” you can get three smaller clusters – “Client needs personalization,” “Video support,” and “Automated client support”. I think you will agree that the three detailed groups are more precise and better describe the uniqueness of ideas in the cluster. So it might be worth it.
Purpose: Explain the choices
Before you start with clustering, of course, you need to be aware of and understand all elements that you are going to cluster. These choices need to be visible and understood.
And more importantly – understood in the same manner by all people. For example, if one of the choices says “Provide training,” – do all participants understand the same way what kind of training it is supposed to be? If one of the workgroup participants will imagine six months of classroom training and another will think about two hours of online training, these are different ideas that might raise issues once you work on the clusters. If you look at the training as one big cluster, that might work well. But, if you need to split it into more distinct sets, for example, ideas requiring lots of investment and quick wins, that will become a problem.
Purpose: Group similar ideas together
When you are done with the purpose, rules, and ideas unquestionably, you can start clustering.
Start with taking the first idea and putting it in the blank area on the workspace. It is going to be your first idea in the first cluster. Then, take the second idea and ask everyone if this idea is somewhat similar to the previous one. If the idea seems similar, you can place it next to the first one (your first cluster will have two ideas now) and continue with next ideas. Yet, if it seems different, put it on another blank area. Then it’s going to be your first idea in the second cluster.
Continue in the same manner until all ideas are grouped with other somehow similar ideas. Often will have a couple of ideas standing solely from others and not having similar ideas around them. Depending on your purpose and target, these ideas can remain as solo stars, or you can group them in one cluster.
Purpose: Review the clusters and name them
Review all of the clusters one by one.
Read all ideas in the cluster and make sure all participants agree that all ideas belong to this cluster. If any participants have doubts or questions, express them loudly and discuss with the whole group. You are done when everyone in your workgroup accepts all clusters and ideas they contain.
Your next task is to come up with the best name for the cluster. Depending on the ideas in the cluster, the name might be obvious, or it might be more challenging to find the best match. If so, discuss what all ideas in the cluster have in common? What characteristics, actions, roles, belonging to functions, etc. they share? Look for the similarities until you have found the proper naming and everyone does agree with it.
I want to stress that cluster names like “Other”, “Solution 1”, “Solution 2” and “Mixture” are not the best namings and try to avoid them at all costs. Finding the right name is not only about picking up the right word, but it also is about deep-diving in the ideas and analyzing, understanding them. So keep looking. Sometimes you may need to split the existing cluster into smaller clusters to find the right set.
Once all of the groups have its name, you can proceed to the next step.
Purpose: Evaluate if the target is achieved
Review each cluster and make sure they satisfy the criteria set in the beginning, if any.
Do grouped ideas meet the criteria? Aren’t groups too big or too small? Even if there were no concrete maximum number of ideas presented, it still is suggested not to keep more than ten ideas in one group. If there are more than ten ideas, you can most probably split these ideas into smaller clusters. Consider if it would be worth doing so.
Purpose: Vote if necessary
Congratulations, you narrowed your focus points and made groups of similar ideas. That is a good step ahead. Most probably, you will continue working with just one of the groups in your upcoming sessions. Maybe the one that seems the most worthy? Or perhaps the one that will require less investment or time to implement? Or maybe quite the opposite – maybe you will continue the actions with seemingly the most complex one, with the hope to gain the most prominent advantage? To decide, you will need to choose the one group meeting your aim the most. And how to do it? Of course, with voting. If you need a reminder of how to do the voting – you can find it in this article.

When to use this method?

I suggest using this method in all cases when you have at least ten different options in front of you, and you can’t decide what to do with them. If you are unsure which one to start with, how to sort them, and how to prioritize them, clustering can be go-to method. Too many choices tend to paralyze us and require over-thinking, rethinking, modeling, futurizing and doubting. To save your time and energy, merge the list of options and make clusters out of them. Clustering will help not only when you need to find similarities in ideas. You can also use the method to group ideas into categories “urgent”, “important, “maybe”, “most probably not”.

Professional field

Working with ideas after brainstorming sessions;
Solutions clustering after scenarios modeling sessions;
Working with client feedback after training sessions;
Risks and issues sorting after internal audits or reviews;
Client feedback processing;
Qualitative reviews;
etc.

Personal field

Working with ideas after brainstorming sessions;
Reorganizing ideas, solutions, and themes;
Games with children (creative clusters finding);
etc.

When not to use this method?

There is no value to using this method when there is no need to merge ideas, and all ideas require one-by-one assessment and actions. Also, when the sequence of actions is precise and can’t be changed. One of the advantages of the methods is to make an inoperable set more operable. When you don’t need it, you don’t need it.

Did you like this method and the description of it?

Do give me a note about it.

I will appreciate it if you include in your message what you did like, what you think should be improved, and of course, any other ideas that would be worth experimenting with.

Maybe you want to join me in some of the method experiments?

Do you have interest or experience in this method usage?

I would love to hear your example. Let me know.

Are creative problem solving methods a waste of time?

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 08:24:00 +0000

Reading lengths: 20min;
Method: Sailboat;
Content: Experience; Reflections
Keywords: #sailboat method; #to do or not to do; #challanges; #oportunities; #the gains; #the time

This article will review creative problem solving and preparation from another angle – what might happen if you DON'T invest time and energy to analyze and plan ahead. Regardless of whether you are alone in pursuit of a happy ending or with the other people interested in achieving the goal.

I think that from this introduction it might be transparent where I'm going with this. Might it seem it does lead to the failure? Yes, of course, otherwise I wouldn't be writing this article. However, my key focus in this article is not on the failure itself. Failures do happen, and we (hopefully) learn from them, so they are inseparable from our development path. But what is more interesting is why a person who is native in planning, analyzing, structuring, and does know by heart the reasons to do it does herself skip these activities and afterward are surprised about the consequences. Why did I decide I didn't need analyzing and planning in the case I will be talking about? And what have I learned from it? Will I now plan every single step? Does the time investment pay off to plan every single step? I'll talk about that at the end of this article, but I'll start by describing the situation that led me to this.

What happened?

Some people who knew me and my professional background in Agile asked me to help out and present this topic at the event they were organizing. On the clarifying question, "What is the purpose, and what are you looking for?" I got a standard answer "We need an overview of what it is, what benefits are there, and when to use it. Everyone is now talking about Agile, and we don't want to lag behind".

Ok, sounds easy to me. I have been talking about this topic quite a lot, in different settings and with quite diverse audiences. I have enough practical experience in organizing products and service development work using Agile methods, and thus I have enough good examples and failures to share. I also don't need to prepare much of the visual materials. I have enough materials with different focus points in my pocket, and I can reuse them. The only BUT for me was the audience - this will be the first time I will talk for Latvia audience and people from the industry my friends come from. However, at first (and, honestly, second and third too), it doesn't seem too problematic for me. My friends asked me to give an overview presentation, and an overview presentation doesn't focus on very much of the specifics and details. So I evaluate the risk as "low" and, since I'll not need to invest lots of preparation time, I agree to do it. I spend some hour or two creating a discussion frame, shaping the story to tell, and supporting it with visual materials. And here I am – ready to go.

What was I lacking?

The beginning of our discussion was really, really good. I started my show with an introduction and general terms. I have some of the jokes in my pocket too, and it always pays off. People are looking at me with a smile on their faces. They whisper something to each other and are nodding – this is extremely good for the Latvian audience. We continue with bit more details, usage scenarios, and key principles. My audience is starting to ask questions, and that is still very good. It means they do understand what I'm telling, and they are interested in the topic. Questions are basic too. I've explained them so many times; it's not hard for me to answer those questions also this time.

Yet, while I'm getting into more specifics, I sense that the trouble might be coming with the back of my brain. It looks like the relaxed and positive atmospheres start to vanish when I go deeper into explaining how it works in practice. It seems like the still basic concepts I'm explaining don't seem so obvious and reasonable to my audience after all. More importantly, based on the body language, I see that these concepts don't seem to be acceptable for them. Well, that's not good at all, and I'm not ready for such a shift at this point when I am still talking about, I'll repeat, very much basics. For me, topics like agile estimation, planning, etc., seem to be the ones I don't need to explain and prove for a long time already. In my presentation, we get stuck on the need and trust in short-term versus long-term planning, about team involvement and motivation. I don't see my audience smiling anymore, and some of the eyebrows have gone high up. My audience doesn't seem to agree and accept what I'm saying, even if I have some perfect examples in my pocket to share. The problem with my examples is that they come from the industry I am from – IT. But these folks represent different industry, and, you know, everyone always thinks their industry is so unique, and other industry examples don't apply to them. And this is what I see here too – these people are not convinced, and they don't digest the information I'm sharing with them anymore.

My personal assessment of the end result - we got stuck somewhere in the middle. My showtime was coming to an end. I managed to run through the rest of the presentation quickly since there were much more of the concepts I wanted to talk about. But at such a speed, I managed to say only one-third of what I was aiming for. So the summary of my showtime – people not convinced and buying what they heard, I didn't manage to explain all what I thought would be valuable and needed for them. So the expected easy presentation turned into a small disaster.

I wished a great day to everyone and left the stage. Yet the case and situation hung up with me for much more longer. What if I had prepared better? What if I had looked up closer fit examples and invested more time before I agreed? I found such cases on the internet afterward and sent those for review, but I don't believe they will make a difference now. Would I have these cases in my pocket at the stage I'm sure I would have succeeded to a greater extent?

How so, Zane?

Yes, I'm also confused about myself. First of all, I can blame myself for too much relying on my persuasiveness. I didn't pay off this time for sure. Second of all, I wrongly assessed the situation, which I did in a hurry. Even if the majority of variables – the theme, the understanding of the topic, the experience, the representation materials – I still don't see as risks, one variable let me down. I did evaluate the industry relevance and case studies as a backup wrongly, and it turned to be the most critical risk that impacted the whole show the most.

Would have the sales method helped me?

Most probably, I'll always confirm questions like this. If we (myself, of course, and the people who invited me) had invested more time in the preparation, the result could be different. For example, if we had used the sailboat method, we would have ideated and assessed the aim we were striving for more precisely. From all of the different ideas we could have thought of, I'm sure we would have also touched the industry relevance risk, case studies as buoys. It could have looked something like this:

1. Anchor1: Lack of experience of Agile methods used in industry X.

Scissors:

Use cases and examples from industry
Competitors analysis and use cases
Research in industry and practices

Buoys:

Search for available information about innovations in the industry
Practical examples from close industries
People stories?

2. Anchor2: Standard employee practices and behaviors in industry X

Scissors:

Research in industry and practices
Competitors analysis and use cases

Buoys:

Employee motivation theory and use cases
People stories?

Here I'm mentioning only these two potential risks, which turned out to be troubling for me. Yet, I'm sure we would have thought and prepared much more. And who knows, maybe we would have come up with something extra that would have changed the whole thing.

What makes the sailboat method so unique?

Any method focusing on the structure, risks, and solutions would have worked here. Structure helps to sort and categorize all ideas that come into mind and gives them meaning in the picture. That's why structured methods make much more sense to me than simple brainstorming methods. And the sailboat method is one of such structured methods. As a bonus sailboat method helps to review different angles of the situation at once – strong sides, weak sides, and potential risks as well as give a chance for quick ideation regards solutions. That is even more important when you don't plan to use other methods focused solely on the strong sides, the weak sides, or solutions for potential risks.

If you don't like design thinking methods (are there such people at all??), you can do a classical risk assessment and management activities. I think they would have taken more time, and to me, they seem too heavy for situations like this. And they simply are less fun.

Why don't you use it always than yourself?

Even if it's less time, it still does require some time. It would be 30minutes as a minimum, yet if you plan to use all elements, it will be more. And I know very well that sometimes we are really missing this little time. Even if we could find the time, don't we often feel too confident in the success and don't feel the necessity for extra assessments? Especially if we are talking about risks that might never realize anyway? So the question remains valid – if and when it's worth investing the time?

By the way, I don't think there is a one-fits-all answer to this question. It all depends. It depends on the time we have (need) to invest and the return on investment we plan to achieve. We need to find the balance for these two impacts everyone individually. The balance point where invested time is in balance with the expected return will differ from one person to another. And it is not always constant for the same person as well. It tends to change over time depending on our past success and failure cases—the same way it happened to me.

However, I have two guiding questions I'm paying much more attention to since this case happened:

1. How important is the goal for me?

Personally and professionally, practically and materially. If any of these seems high, I think it's worth investing extra time for analysis and planning just to be on the safe side. If these don't seem important, then maybe it's not worth spending extra time.

2. How much do I know about the situations and obstacles impacting it?

If I'm confident I know all of the factors impacting the situation, extra analysis and planning time might be unnecessary. Only if I'm really, really, triple sure about them. However, if anything is new or unclear, it's worth investing time to gain extra security.

If the situation is entirely new, however, then without any doubt, it's worth investing time for analysis, ideas generation, and planning the path to success. If you commit to doing anything, then better to do it with the best possible quality.

Conclusions

You decide what fits you and what doesn't, when it's too much and when not. "Less is More," or is it "More is less" – that is a great topic for a discussion.

Did you like this method and the description of it?

Do give me a note about it.

I will appreciate it if you include in your message what you did like, what you think should be improved, and of course, any other ideas that would be worth experimenting with.

Maybe you want to join me in some of the method experiments?

Do you have interest or experience in this method usage?

I would love to hear your example. Let me know.

When the challenges are the best that has happened?

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 07:54:00 +0000

Reading lengths: 15min;
Method: Sailboat;
Content: Usage example; Profesional case
Complexity: Moderate
Keywords: #ideas generation; #known and unknown; #work and fun; #team engagement; #solution ideas

Let's assume you have your personal goal or team goal that you have been going after already for a while. There might be specific achievements already, yet you are not really satisfied with the achieved result. And it's somewhat hard to move forward. Something is not happening as smoothly as expected. For something you might have lost the trust, why is it needed after all. Sounds familiar? I know these types of situations happens quite often since it occurs to me as well. The first step towards changing something is to acknowledge and admit – yes, this is happening right now. Only when you have acknowledged it's happening, you have a chance to change something. You could, of course, decide to stubbornly continue in the same manner and try to pull the baggage with all the strengths you can assemble. Or you could choose to help yourself by changing something. You could stop to think and rethink, understand what you need to change, and then continue the path with the enhanced version of your baggage and strengths. This article will describe how we used the sailboat method with my team in such a situation.

Why are we struggling so much?

This is a brilliant question. If we would always have a proper answer to that, there might be no struggle for us at all, wouldn't it? However, more often, we don't know the correct answer to this question.

We didn't have the correct answer also in the situation that I'm describing in this article. Or, more precisely – the answer most probably was hidden in multiple known and yet unknown obstacles. For the background – my team and I had a set goal that seemed achievable. We had done our analysis on what our strengths are and what we still need to improve. We had our strategy clear and did know the small milestones we had to achieve on the go. All was alright with the roles, knowledge, tools, and resources we needed for our goal achievement. Yet after a while, we realized that efforts were not paying off. Instead of first gains, we saw we were way much behind where we planned to be.

There was no other way than to conclude that we were missing something. Maybe we were missing team inner belief in the goal, strengths and energy, and time. Yet perhaps we were missing some of the external factors influencing our goal achievement. It was the right time to start asking the questions since they are the first push to step outside the box. If we succeed in seeing the bigger picture of our situation, we might discover something new that would change the whole game.

What don't we yet know?

The sailboat is a perfect fit method for such situations since it will allow tapping into all aspects essential to us. First of all, we will be able to structure know and discover the unknown at once. Stepping outside of the day-to-day routine and looking at the situation from the helicopter view always gives a chance to see a broader picture. Observing outside of the box is inalienable for any design thinking method, including this one. Second of all, as I've mentioned already in the article describing sailboat method {link} when playing this game right, it is an excellent booster for the team to rebuild trust in goal achievement. For me personally, this might have been the most important since I'm a firm believer in the unbeatable strength of a motivated and enthusiastic team.

So we have a willingness to do this, and we also find a time. Further in the article, I'll describe what we did in each of the steps. In this article cover photo, however, you can see a visual representation of the result. I know that most of the details in the picture are blurry, and that's on purpose. Not because I am ashamed of the ideas we have discovered. Since the case represents the professional world, I can't reveal concrete details about the goal and ideas. Yet, I believe this is an excellent illustrative example anyway. The core of this article is about the approach, not the ideas.

Method usage

Preparation

People. The first and essential decision to be made during preparation is people's participation in the game (the method execution). Of course, the team has to consist of the people primarily involved in the goal achievement. But not only. To have a holistic view, we needed to invite more people in. At a minimum those, who are somewhat impacted by goal achievement. Remember, a more diverse group will have more varied ideas. So invited other affected colleagues and made a group out of nine people.

The tools. Since we played the game at the highest point of digitalization and working from home, we also used digital tools. In the pre-Covid world, we for sure would have met face to face and used the paper, the post-it's and markers to play the game. Yet the world has changed, we couldn't wait, and the comfort level with the online event has also increased significantly. Thus we met in MSTeam virtual room; we all had a Miro board in front of us with the prepared template and all resources we needed.

Time. Since I focused on team engagement and spirit, I didn't want to rush this through at any cost. We must have had a space for discussions, jokes, and fun. So I've reserved 90 minutes of our time.

The island + The boat

The goal wasn't new for us. We knew what we wanted to achieve, and we didn't change that. We also had clarity about the boat – it was the team involved in the new service creation and delivery. However, we did discuss both the island and the boat in the beginning to be sure we were on the same page. And we were.

Sales

We didn't include the sails this time in the game. We have worked on the team strengths and advantages before already using other methods. So we felt we were clear about them. We didn't expect any changes there and didn't want to invest more time in that. Other aspects of the game seemed much more significant.

Anchors

But we did focus on anchors. At first, we spent 10minutes individually thinking about what was holding us back, and everyone wrote down their ideas. Then we shared the ideas with others, and here we started to get engaged in very interesting and valuable discussions and perspectives. I was glad about the ideas and arguments that we had, and it all summed up in a couple of observations:

There are a couple of themes that almost all of the participants did mention in their individual perspectives. It means that these themes seem to be the top priorities and have the most significant impact. That is obvious.
Some of the ideas that popped up weren't on our radar before. So they are the new discoveries, and it is excellent that we have picked them up now. Even if not all game members agreed with these observations initially, there certainly is something to dig deeper into.
And I'll mention as well that we had some of the quite funny ideas and nice visualizations entering our workboard. We did include, for example, snail in our map, representing the influence of the slowness, as well as hidden treasures box representing untapped potential. These are important since there is more than just ideas behind them. It also means that team is relaxed and positively energized, which is vital for the game.

Considering the number of people in the game and the ideas we came up with (>40), we started to group similar ideas into themes already during the presentations. It is pretty essential to do so to get the bigger ideation space in the following steps. Since we will look at a theme as one anchor, we will have fewer anchors on our plate during solutions ideation.

The scissors and the buoys

This is probably my favorite part of the game since we can fully dive into discoveries in these steps. We can tune in our hidden creativity and surprise ourselves and others with the ideas crossing our minds. We spent here again 10 minutes to discover the scissors and 10 minutes to discover the buoys. After each of the 10 minutes rounds, we presented and discussed the ideas with others.

I will not relist all of the ideas we came up with, but I can assure you there were many exciting, promising, and funny ones. Only two anchors didn't get any attention– there were no ideas of the scissors or the buoys for them. Yet, it tells me that these are the least priority and impact issues for the team. However, the rest of the anchors received loads of attention, ideas, and potential solutions that might turn out to be game-changer. Many of these ideas, by the way, we for sure wouldn't have come up with if not this activity we did. So I'm glad we did.

Results we achieved

Without any doubt, I am satisfied with the output we have created. We fulfilled the content goal, and we fulfilled the emotional goal. We see there is no need for desperation, and we are not stuck. There are many different ways out of the situation.

To summarize all essential gains from the game, I've come up with five things:

We refreshed the navigation map, where we are and where we want to get to
We have multiple great ideas that can help us on the go
We have discovered some new themes, some of them indeed very inspiring
We have regained the trust and believe we can achieve the target
We recharged with positivity and engagement in goal achievement

Conclusions

When we are stuck, the best we can do is to step back and observe the situation from a different angle. The sailboat method is one of those methods that will help in doing precisely that. Plus, strive for diversity of ideas through inviting a diverse group of people to play the game. People plus the proper framework multiplied by positive energy for sure will help you in achieving the refresh.

However, the method and people are not the silver bullet, and you know that, right? The achievement of the goal at the end of the day is only dependant on what you will do with the generated ideas after the session. If you do nothing, nothing will also happen. A method is only a tool that can help you with direction, ideas, and execution potential. But somebody will still need to invest time and energy to turn the ideas into reality. Ideally, there are low-hanging fruits in the generated ideas pool that you can quickly implement and get quick wins. But most probably, most of the ideas will require further analysis, creativity, and implementation. And maybe you will decide not to implement all of them, so you will need to prioritize. For that, there are other better fit methods. But I'll speak about them later and in further articles.

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Surprise yourself with ideas you didn’t yet know, you know

Sun, 12 Sep 2021 13:28:00 +0000

Reading lenghts: 15min;
Method: Sailboat;
Content: Usage example; Personal case
Complexity: Moderate;
Keywords: #planning; #structure; #ideation; #strong sides; #risks and issues; #solutions; #kick-of activity; #personal goals

In this article, I will describe how I used the sailboat method to help myself plan the achievement of my goal. Whenever we start something new, our thoughts often bounce from one question to another. Should I do this, or maybe I could do that. All of these ideas are without any doubt good and worth to be written down. Yet, even if I see all of them in front of me written on A4 paper, it doesn't mean this list gives me a holistic picture of the situation and all essential factors impacting it. To gain such a view, I can use methods like the sailboat. The sailboat method will help structure known and hint at the areas still to think about.

When it's worth using this method?

It is always worth spending time and energy on the initiatives or goals significant for yourself. They say that the most important step in the right direction is the first step. From one side, I do agree since the first step is often the hardest. In the meantime, I disagree since the wrong first step can happen to be the killer of the idea and motivation. That's why I believe that the first step should be the right level of assessment and planning. And I don't mean work breakdown here– a list of things to do, start and due dates of these things, etc. Not because I'm against the work breakdown structures, but because I think it's even more important to understand WHY some of these tasks should be in the plan. Why they are needed, what will be the benefit achieved after the job is done, and to what extent it really impacts the achievement of the goal. And again – sailboat is one of those go-to methods for such analysis and planning.

By the way, it's valuable not only when we start something new. What about projects and goals we wanted to achieve but are stuck somewhere in the middle? Do we dedicate too little energy to these goals or focus on the wrong things? Hard to say? The same happens with me, no worries. And wouldn't it be a great idea to refresh the dream -> goal strategy using a different approach like the sailboat method? At first, it will give you a framework to sort out things you already know. And second – not less important – allow rethinking and discover several new aspects regarding the goal achievement.

What were my thinking and actions?

Further in this article, I will describe how I used the sailboat method to structure and plan a go-to-market strategy for this blog. I'll explain each step and give some examples of the discoveries and ideas I've generated. It took me approximately 45 minutes to finish the whole exercise. As it often happens, also I felt that I should spend more time generating ideas in the last steps. Yet, the steps are time-bound on purpose, and I've followed the rules. I can return to the exercise anytime later with the new ideas that cross my mind.

I'll also give some reminders about key focus points in each step to make it more transparent.

Preparation

Before I jumped in and got my hands dirty with ideas writing, I needed to prepare the workboard and all the materials I would use during the game.

If I would have used digital tools, I could enjoy using pre-made templates and not need post-its and markers. Yet, since I know digital tools are not accessible or comfortable for many, I've decided to give an example using the pre-Covid normal. We used to use a whiteboard (or white paper) and post its + markers for these sessions, so that's what I have done this time. The picture of the article gives a visual representation of that.

Island – what do I want to achieve?

The objective or the goal I want to achieve needs to be as simple and clear as possible. Preferably it also should be measurable. Otherwise, a broad description will steel my focus, and an unmeasurable formulation will make it hard for me to understand if I'm on the right path to reach the goal later on. Therefore it's worth investing time and finding the proper formulation. To give an example, I've described my thinking below.

At first, I need to understand WHY I am doing this.

The essence of why I am writing this blog and these articles is to share my ideas and experience of using these methods to, hopefully, inspire others to try them too. It can happen only if people know about my blog, so my core focus is on "People do know about my blog." But would it be a suitable formulation of the goal?

No, it would not yet. First of all, knowledge doesn't mean that people would visit and read the content. Second, I haven't added anything that can be measurable and thus help me understand if I'm hitting the plan. So I have to be more concrete and specific. After meditating around the objective, I've formulated an alternative, "Mingler has 10 000 visitors by September 2022" which fits better. Yes, I know 10k sounds a lot from where I come from. Yet we should dream big, and more challenging targets mobilize more, so I stick with it.

The boat – what will help me reach this target?

In the same way, the definition of the driving force towards the goal achievement needs to be specific and concentrate on the core. It's worth investing the time to find a fit definition instead of picking the first that comes into mind. My thinking is below.

So what would be the core driving force to help my blog reach 10 000 visitors by September 2022? The first that comes into mind is "Me," isn't it? Yet it's not correct since I'm not going to find 10 000 and drag them one by one into the blog. But what would be then?

The next obvious is paid advertisement, isn't it? That would be easy – nice slogans, tempting call to action, and visitors do arrive. Kind of, yet it's not my target to have paid traffic. And I don't plan to spend the money on advertising at all. My target is to inspire people and engage them in using these approaches for their problem-solving. And the only way how I can do it is through exciting and engaging content. Only content can convince people and raise interest to come again.

So "engaging content" would be the proper driving force, do you agree? I think not yet; this formulation is not yet good enough. I don't have plenty of content in front of me to choose from; I still need to create it. And that's quite important in this context, so I stay with the formulation "I'm creating valuable and engaging content." Now feels comfortable to proceed.

The sails – what can help me boost the driving force?

If it was worth spending time to think and rethink the formulation and ideas in the previous two steps, then starting from this step is the opposite —the more ideas about the boosters of the content, the better. Don't waste time thinking about what is right or wrong, fit to the case or not. Simply write down all that comes into your mind on the post-its. Therefore sure will be the use of any idea.

I give myself 8 minutes and generate eleven aspects that could help my driving force "I'm creating valuable and engaging content" reach the target "Mingler has 10 000 visitors by September 2022".

I can see straight away that there are a couple of clusters my ideas are flying around. First, how I could use my experience and knowledge in the field. Second, the importance of site visitors' feedback. Third and then the majority, of course, is regarding the different content and topics I could write about to make it relevant.

Anchors – what obstacles could prevent me from reaching the target?

Still the same – more is better. No paralysis by analysis. Set a time limit, and off you go writing down all that comes into your mind.

I use the same amount of time, and this time I came up with five potential issues that could make it harder for me to reach the target.

I've generated fewer ideas than in the previous step, yet it's not a sign that there are fewer blockers are than boosters. Blockers like "People don't have time to read the content" could be more powerful than multiple boosters combined. Other blockers I've come up with also are significant and touching the relevance, interest, and availability themes.

Interestingly enough, I've included topics like "accessibility of information" in the boosters and blockers as well. It's not the same formulation in both cases, yet the underlying idea is the same. I am mentioning it to say it's not wrong, precisely the opposite – it is very good. It shows me how important this point is for my target. I can focus on this one instead of two different ideas, and, if done right, I can strengthen the driving force and eliminate the risk with the same effort. Can shoot two rabbits with one shot.

Buoys and the scissors – how can fight the anchors?

I typically spend more time on potential solutions generation since there are multiple aspects already in the anchor area, so there are more questions to think about. I spent 10 minutes on the scissors and 10 minutes on the buoys. The quantity continues to be the king, and I write down every idea that crosses my mind.

I can figure out at least one potential scissor for each of the anchors. For example, to minimize the risk of "People will not have time to read my articles," I thought I could develop alternative, shorter formats to pass the core idea with the hope to trigger curiosity in more people. Or, to minimize the risk of "People will not see significant value from the standalone method" I could create a series of methods or receipts for different circumstances that could help people see it through. Because often one method indeed might not be enough. Including this session – there are many ideas, but it would be even more valuable to continue with the other methods to sort and group these ideas, ideate about attractive implementation solutions.

I've figured out also some of the buoys that could help where scissors wouldn't. One good example regards the risk of "People will not find value/interest in content I've created" is the idea of an effective feedback mechanism allowing me to get more insights. Pure feedback mechanisms wouldn't eliminate the risk but would help me mitigate it for sure.

What's next?

I've generated 32 ideas and focus points in 45 minutes. While some of the ideas I wrote down were kind of obvious, others weren't. Especially buoys and scissors. So I'm pretty satisfied at this point. Yet it's not the end; it's only the beginning. First of all, I could spend extra effort on grouping and prioritizing all of the ideas. Second of all – there is plenty of work to do regards designing and implementing these ideas. But that's another method that will follow.

Wouldn't it be better to involve more people in this game?

Indeed, it would be precious. More people, more perspectives, and more ideas are always helpful. Not only would we generate more ideas, but we would also have a chance to discuss the ideas and see which ones complement each other and which ones on the opposite are confronting.

Yet, if you don't have or don't want to involve other people, it shouldn't stop you from doing the exercise at all—better something than nothing.

Did you like this method and the description of it?

Do give me a note about it.

I will appreciate it if you include in your message what you did like, what you think should be improved, and of course, any other ideas that would be worth experimenting with.

Maybe you want to join me in some of the method experiments?

Do you have interest or experience in this method usage?

I would love to hear your example. Let me know.

"SAILBOAT" method – HOW does it work and WHAT value does it add

Thu, 09 Sep 2021 08:19:00 +0000

Reading: 20min;
Method: Sailboat;
Content: Method desription;
Complexity: Moderate;
Atslēgvārdi: #structure; #flexibility; #game; #analysis; #ideas generation; #focus on strenghts; #risks and issues; #problem solving; #template in Miro tool

The sailboat method is an excellent method to use whenever you start something new or need a refresh. The method provides an easy framework to analyze and summarize different important factors regards the target to be achieved or the problem to be solved. Yet, since the method is quite flexible, it can be used in many different ways. Further, in the article, I'll talk more about specific details.

The widespread potential of the method

The method is one of my favorite methods to use in creative sessions. First of all, it is an excellent method to kick-start any new project, idea, or solution. At once, you can analyze and ideate different factors impacting goal achievement – strengths and buying factors, risks and issues, and solutions for the problem areas. It also will fit very well when teams are stuck in solving some existing problem. In such a case, most focus will be on understanding the situation better, listing the triggers, and ideating the different possible solutions for each of the triggers. And third of all, this is one of those methods that can gather the team together and rebuild trust in achieving the goal, rebuilding engagement. For example, many Agile teams use the method for retrospective meetings because of this.

Content-wise, this method is somewhat close to the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) method widely used in business and projects. However, it's not the same since the sailboat method has significant advantages over the SWOT matrix. The flexibility I've already mentioned. Second – on top of listing problems, this method focuses straightaway on potential solutions for these problems. A fixing mindset is mighty. That leads to the third advantage – this method is much more exciting and engaging for the team to be part of. And that is very important.

The wind in sails, and let's go to the sea!

The flexibility of the method is reached through six elements of the game. Two of these elements are always present in the game; however, four can be used based on the needs of each case. Two always present elements will be the boat and the island.

The island in the framework represents the goal that the team is striving for. It is essential to have a very concrete goal to achieve maximum advantage of the game. For example, a "completed project" will often be a lousy goal formulation since it can mean many different things. An ambiguity of the goal will disperse the attention of the team, and it will be disadvantageous. Instead of "completed project," better options could be, for example, "client has approved concrete deliveries" or "product is available in retail stores," or anything else that is measurable and fits the key purpose.

The following fixed element in the game framework is a sailboat used to get to the island. Sailboat in this game represents a key instrument and driving force of goal achievement. The instrument or driving force also needs to be clearly defined and explicit. It can be the team. It can be a new product or service looking for the dream customers or anything else that is a better fit for the case.

The game also has four flexible framework elements that can be used depending on the needs of the specific face.

First of all, it is sails that will help the boat to reach the target. If the wind blows into sails, the boat will have a faster and easier voyage to the island. And the opposite – the fewer sails the boat has, or if there is no wind breeze in the sails, it will be more challenging for the crew to get to the island. The sails can be different obstacles in each of the cases. It can be strong characteristics of the team or unique knowledge. It also can be a competitive advantage of the product or the opposite – the external factors that can help. At this point team playing the game can start getting creative.

Fortunately or unfortunately, sails will not be the only attributes crew will need to navigate with. There always have to be hidden stones somewhere, and in this game, they are represented by anchors. Anchors slow the boat down and can prevent the boat from reaching the destination of sails and the wind. Anchors will be all the known or yet unknown risks and issues on the road. It can be people, products, partners, infrastructure, legislation, motivation, etc.

Will the crew give up because of the anchors? Certainly, they will not. The crew is real fighters who badly want to reach the island and relax after a challenging trip, so they will look for options that will allow them to cool down under the palm and drink refreshing cocktails. And to free themselves from the anchors' the crew can use one of the super tools – scissors and buoys.

Scissors are one of the most powerful super-tools that crew can use because these super-hard scissors are so powerful that they can cut the anchors and set the boat free. In the context of the specific case, scissors can be any solution, obstacle, or circumstance that can eliminate the risk or the issue (anchor). If the team can't find scissors for all anchors, they can use the second super tool - buoy. The buoy will not set the boat free from anchor weight but certainly will help hold the anchor and thus mitigate the impact of anchor weight.

2+4*X <= 6

As I've already promised before, the game is flexible and adjustable to specific cases and needs. The only two elements that will always be present are the island and sailboat since without these two elements the game will lose its meaning. In most cases, you will also use the anchors as the negative impact is often one of the game's key reasons, yet you can be flexible on that. In the same way, you can be flexible regards scissors and buoys usage. Depending on the time you have and the purpose of the game, you can skip these two. Or you can use only scissors or only buoys. Also, sails are one of the flexible elements of the game – it's always good to know and remind about strong sides in each situation; however, there might be the case where you don't really need them.

More details on how to use the method and play the game

Purpose: Identify and visualize the goal and the driving force
First of all, you have to define your island or the goal that needs to be achieved. I've mentioned already before it is essential to determine the goal as concrete as possible. Yet, it also depends on the reason why you are using this method and playing this game. If it is a kick-start activity for a new project or initiative, the vague goal could be acceptable, such as "satisfied client." In such a case, the vague goal would give broader space for new ideas generation regarding the advantages and potential problem factors, which could fit the purpose. However, if you play the game to get out of the problem you are stuck in, a more concrete goal will be a better fit. By giving the team a narrower goal, you will focus more in-depth on the real problem.
Guiding question examples: What result do we want to achieve? What is the deliverable we want to create? What are the tangible benefits we are striving for? How will we know when the result is achieved?
When the goal is set, you have to define the driving force towards the goal achievement – the boat. Typically it's much easier to determine the boat but not less important. The driving force will be the team most of the time, but it can also be something else. It can be product, service, client, methodologies, or maybe external factors?
Guiding question examples: What is the key aspect affecting the goal achievement? What is the key competency required for goal achievement? What are the most valuable tools that are available and important for goal achievement? What is the most significant value-adding factor?
Purpose: Agree on the rules and cadence of the game
Before you start the game, make sure all game participants know and understand the island and the sailboat in the same way. Discuss if someone has questions since it is essential to have the same understanding about these two. Also, explain the game's flow - what elements you will use and what each element means.
It is also the right time to remind everyone that the only thing not allowed in this game is hijacking others or criticizing ideas presented by others. Encourage your team to come up with any suggestions that have crossed their mind. Any idea can turn into gold after all.
Purpose: Each participant individually works with their ideas
Purpose: Explain generated ideas to others
Now work separately with each of the elements you have included in the game. Give each participant 5-10minutes of individual time to think about each element and their ideas that could represent the metaphor in your specific case. Ask each participant to write their thoughts down, one per post-it. When time is up, invite participants to pitch their ideas to others. When the idea is explained, place them in the respective area on your work-board. If multiple people have the same ideas – brilliant, group them.
- If you have included sails in your game, start with them. Ask all participants to write down what they think could help the boat to reach the island faster.
  Guiding question examples: What factors do strengthen the boat? What can make the boat more powerful? What obstacles or situations can speed the boat up? What are the competitive advantages of the boat?
- Then ask participants to think about obstacles that would interfere and make it harder for the boat to reach the island. All of these ideas place on board as separate anchors.
  Guiding question examples: What is holding the boat back right now? What are the factors that can stop the boat from moving forward ? What are the weak sides of the boat? What the boat is lacking? What makes other boats more powerful?
- If you include problem mitigating elements in the game, continue with scissors. Ask participants to think about factors that could release the boat from anchors. After presenting ideas, place them next to the anchor that would be released.
  Guiding question examples: What kind of obstacles or situations can eliminate the anchor? How might we make buoy out of anchor? What sort of circumstances would make the anchor lose its significance?
- Lastly, continue with buoys. Ask participants to think about factors that wouldn't eliminate the anchors but could mitigate their impact. Again – place them on the board next to a specific anchor.
  Guiding question examples: What kind of obstacles or situations can mitigate the anchor ? What could make the boat stronger so that anchor doesn't have such an impact?
4. Purpose: Review results and identify important themes
When you have reviewed all elements and discussed each person's ideas, you most probably have a board full of various perceptions and possibilities. Review all work together with the team and group similar things together. Maybe somebody has a new idea to add?
Discuss with the team the essential findings and conclusions, the WOW moments, and the common themes.
Purpose: Continue with the next methods
After the game, you will see some important aspects that require immediate attention and some themes to dig into more details. There will be better fit methods for digging into details, yet you have to plan for it.

When to use this method?

Since the method is fun and energizing for the team, use this method in any situation where refresh and boosting the energy is needed. This method is a great way to mobilize yourself and your team towards specific objective achievement. First of all, the method framework will help you structure the known things and organize them based on their impact. Second, the method gives many opportunities to ideate and discover new unknowns and new ideas towards the goal achievement. You and your team will strengthen your understanding of the advantages and also potential risk factors. Using the scissors and buoys will help you get into problem-solving thinking. The problems will not be solved yet, but the clarity will help you plan in the right direction.

It is pretty important to mention that when you review some product or service, don't forget to use customer feedback. Any feedback is a gift, but your real customers' feedback is a real treasure. All of the positive aspects of the feedback you can organize in the sails area. All of the neutral or negative you can turn into anchors and work with them during the sessions.

Other examples of method usage:

Professional world

Starting new project;
Kick-off activity for new goal achievement;
Rethinking failed target or redesign approach for target achievement;
Need for fresh ideas and perspectives;
Team engagement;
etc.

Personal world

Event planning;
Personal goal achievement;
Rethinking failed target or redesign approach for target achievement;
Need for fresh ideas and perspectives;
etc.

If you are interested to try this method in digital tools, here is a link to my template in Miro templates library.

When this method doesn't work

It will be hard to play this game in a new industry where you and your team lack experience. In such cases better to use some of the helicopter view methods.

References

If you are interested in this method, you can read more about different variations, for example, in these articles:

Did you like this method and the description of it?

Do give me a note about it.

I will appreciate it if you include in your message what you did like, what you think should be improved, and of course, any other ideas that would be worth experimenting with.

Maybe you want to join me in some of the method experiments?

Do you have interest or experience in this method usage?

I would love to hear your example. Let me know.

Hidden gem of socials networks

Mon, 06 Sep 2021 07:24:00 +0000

Reading time: 15min;
Method: Dot voting;
Content: Usage example; Personal case
Complexity: Easy;
Keywords social networks; #research; #people opinion; #another form of voting

The usage of the dot voting method in groups of multiple people is clear and straightforward. Yet what if you don't have a group of people in front of you, but you still are interested in other people's opinions about a specific question? You could take the phone and start calling your friends to ask what they think and get into discussions with them. Or you could try different approaches. In this article, I'll describe how to utilize always present social networks to gather more insights on questions interesting to you.

Social networks?

Social networks, for sure, are one of the most significant technological innovations impacting substantial parts of our life today. The biggest, I would say. Of course, it is only one of the innovations we have seen. And we could list and argue about other innovations bringing more considerable value to society. Yet, social media still have the most significant footprint on our day-to-day lives in this century. If we can trust the report summarizing internet and social networks usage in 2021, people from around the globe on average spend 2 hours and 48 minutes a day on social media. Moreover, this statistic is based on a substantial number of people – 4.48 billion people or 56.8% of the world population. 4.48 billion people and 2 hours and 48 minutes a day! It's twice as much time as people spend listening to the news and reading the printed media. It's almost one-third of the standard workday. The numbers are indeed impressive, and for sure social media have changed significantly our everyday life and the way we interact with the rest of the world.

So what?

4.48 billion people are many people to interact with and involve in testing our assumptions or asking questions we are interested in. Of course, we can't actually reach all of 4.49 billion people. It could be really hard to do and would require a lot of effort. Yet each of us has multiple people we are connected to in social networks. Each of these people potentially can be part of our virtual voting team. Not all of our connections will respond, that's for sure. We don't respond and get involved in every post and poll we see. Yet if we ask exciting questions or touch the relevant subject at a time, many people will.

How to use it for your own good?

Social networks can be a precious source of collective opinion that we can use for any question or subject we are interested in. You must have noticed that accounts representing the business world are already using social media users' opinions to validate their assumptions and gain answers to questions they are interested in. So why wouldn't anyone use it?

From the technical aspect, social networks provide multiple features to engage with other people in various ways. The most straightforward is the likes and shares, yet these are not the only nor always the best fit. Other features, like polls and interaction possibilities on the questions asked in stories, could work better. Using these will give more flexibility and often will be more convenient.

What was I interested in?

I've always been interested in people's motivation. What does motivate people to do something and the opposite – what refrains them from making the action. One specific question I'm curious about is people's motivation to participate in design thinking sessions repeatedly. Here it's important to clarify that I've organized many of them, and never I needed to work hard convincing people to participate. And I know for sure that people who participate are pretty satisfied after the sessions and will be ready to come next time. I'm confident about it since my gut feeling is telling me so, and I see it from the feedback I've received after the sessions (I always ask for that). People always mention that they have enjoyed the sessions and had lots of fun in their feedback. I often organize sessions like games, and the playful atmosphere and joyful interactions with team members are among the top buying factors. Another aspect that comes up regularly is the inspiration, surprising discoveries, and interesting ideas from team members. Of course, these are not the only "I liked" in the feedback, but these for sure are the ones I've heard the most. People often have said they feel energized and inspired after the sessions because of these emotions.

That's undoubtedly is a significant achievement, and for me, as an organizer of these sessions, it is critical to make sure the level of positive gains continues rising. To do so, I need to understand what is the most significant contributor to such emotions. Obviously, everyone is a personality and has different motivating factors; there is no one-fits-all receipt available. Yet, it doesn't stop me from understanding common themes and understanding the majority opinion about specific aspects. Therefore, I'm curious to understand which one of these two ingredients I've already mentioned - joyful time and surprising discoveries - is more important for my session participants. Would people repeatedly come to a session to spend joyous time with colleagues but gaining minimum added value? Or would people repeatedly come to high-value sessions that are run in a tense manner?

Another uncertainty spiraling in my head is if these motives are valid for any person or just a specific field? I've gained the feedback I was talking about in my professional work. But how about people that I've connected with via other than professional channels? Would the same aspects motivate these people too? I'm sure that fun time would. Who wouldn't like to spend joyous time??? But would it be enough with just fun? If not – would the inspirational part and discoveries motivate these people more?

One evening I've decided to run a small question-rating survey in my social networks to satisfy my curiosity.

What did I do?

I've decided to use Instagram as my opinion gathering tool because Instagram stories provide more flexible features. This was my first step since the tool, and available features impact the shapes of questions I could choose.

The second biggest question in my head is how to formulate the right questions. A simple, straightforward question like "Does joyful time (inspiring ideas) motivate you to meet with people" would not work. I'm sure I would get the bold "Yes." Who isn't motivated by these emotions after all? But my motive is not to get confirmation. My motivation is to understand better which one motivates more. Then maybe I should just invite people to choose one of two? I'm not too fond of this idea either. People might feel they dismiss the other option by selecting just one, and it could get confusing. Such formulation would confuse me for sure, and I don't want to confuse my friends. That could lead to dismissing the questions at all, and that's the worst that can happen.

So I've decided to formulate the questions in "At what extend do you agree with" sentences. I thought such a format would allow my friends to rate each motivator separately and give them quite flexible answer options. If I get the same agreement extend to both questions, it means both are equal motivators. If not – the difference will show me which one seems more motivating. That's what I did:

I've formulated two questions representing simple everyday situations and tied one of the motivators in the case:

I'm motivated by a playful atmosphere and fun time (Statement: Other people's positive experiences and discoveries inspire me to start something new).
I'm motivated by inspiring ideas and discoveries (Statement: I'm primarily interested in having fun with friends. That's the only reason why I'm meeting my friends)

I've created pictures with these questions and put them in my Instagram account stories. I've asked my friends to help me understand and rate to what extent they agree with these statements.
After 24 hours, I got my results. The picture of this article also provides a visual representation of the survey I did (in Latvian):

There weren't hundreds of respondents to my questions, but still, more than 30 people responded.
Absolutely everyone responded they are motivated by inspiring ideas and discoveries. So it means this is very motivating for people.
There were fewer absolute responses to the question regards joyful time. It is pretty important for many, but not the only reason why people seek communication with others.
So after combining these two responses, I can conclude that joyful time is essential, but discoveries and inspiration are more important for people in my social network.

That's it; I've completed my little mission and satisfied my curiosity. And I'm glad that I have so many open-minded people in my social networks. Hope to invite everyone to a little co-inspiring session soon.

Conclusions

Of course, a survey run in this manner can't be classified as statistically correct research. It probably also wouldn't be usable for theory justification in academic work, etc. Yet, that also was not the purpose and objective I've described. It simply is a friendly and easy way how to understand people around us better. If there are questions, there will be answers. Or at least ideas for the following questions, I'm sure about that.

Patika šī metode un aprakstītais?

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When arguments don't work, the game might

Fri, 03 Sep 2021 06:56:00 +0000

Reading time: 10min;
Method: Dot Voting;
Content: Usage example; Personal case
Complexity: Very easy;
Keywords :#game; #no arguing; #getting to the results;#playing games with children; #fun and energy

There are battles where it is worth getting involved in and win. But then there are also battles where it's much wiser not to get involved. It is when you gain more by staying in an observer role. While there are so many situations like this around us, in this article, I'll give an example of a mundane family case where the dot voting game gave my family and me more benefits than getting into disagreements. I think this article could be especially intriguing for mothers interested in practical methods to outplay children's stubbornness.

One step between mundane situation and power battle

Holiday mornings in our house are pretty energetic and active. Since we don't have any appointments nor schedules to stick to, everyone is free to do whatever they feel the most up to. When everyone has had breakfast, all toys are dragged out of the boxes, played with, and admitted not engaging enough again; I feel it is the right moment to go outside for a walk. I'm very determined to do it, especially because of the constantly increasing noise level that risks entering my alert zone. I know for sure that these are the best occasion to change settings and get a breeze of fresh air. Both for the children and the parents. Yet my children have a different opinion, and I hear traditional "Nooooooo, I dooooon't wannnnnnttttt." This reaction does not surprise me, and I don't change my determination to get everyone out of the house. That's why I start convincing children using logic-based arguments like "It's very healthy to go outside every day" or "It's such great weather outside today, we have to use the opportunity to enjoy it". When this doesn't work (obviously!) I continue with more compelling arguments for children like "We could go to the playground…". Of course, this works better, and I kind of have sold my proposal to them since I hear "Wellll, Okkkk". Kind of sold.

I get the next wave of resistance at the very first step of the preparation step when I invite everyone to change their pajamas to something more appropriate.

My little deceiver obviously has decided to procrastinate as long as possible. She says she can't decide what to wear. I hear "Wellllll; I'm not sure" about every single closing option I propose. I clearly understand what is happening right now – if she can't convince me to stay home, she will try to delay going out as much as possible. She might be thinking that maybe it's a chance to skip it at all.

Also mommy has her tricks

The situation is not unique since we have been through it a couple of times before. Therefore I have already some experience with different approaches for resistance like these:

Bribing is working brilliantly. But I try to use it as little as possible, and therefore will not use it for a small argument like this.
Giving some more extra time will not work for sure, that I know. It has never worked before, and I have no reason to believe it could play out differently this time.
Choose the closes instead of my child and simply inform her that she has to wear it? It could be a solution theoretically, but honestly never has worked before. Whenever there is one specific option pushed on her, she confidently says that THIS is what she definitely will not wear.
I could also use force and dress her myself. A pretty drastic approach that also is not on the list of my favorite approaches. Especially because it's very likely that the kid will start to pull the closes off in anger, and here we are where we began. The only achievement so far - ruined mood for everyone.
It would also be the case if I would start yelling and raising my voice. So no go for me.
After all, I could also let the situation go its course and give up on the plans to go outside.
But then again, I could not. Giving up is not my style.

So I have to come up with something more creative and extraordinary than usual.
What do kids like the most? Games and surprises! So I have to think of ways to turn dressing up into a game with some surprise elements. If I succeed, I expect the kids to shift the roles from the opponent to active participant.
And I don't need much time to figure out a suitable game. I try to hook my kid with, "Listen, maybe let's play an interesting game if you can't decide on your own? Let's pretend we are your assistants, and we all would have a secret target to help you find the prettiest outfit. That would be a kind of competition. What do you think?"
BINGO! I got her! I see the sparkle of interest in her eyes, and she starts jumping around the room. Finally, I hear also, "Yes! Yes! Yes! And I would also participate, right?!" Well, of course!

How did we play it

I based the game on the basic principle of the dot voting method – everyone votes for their best options out of available. What the best means for everyone, that's not important and there are no rules regards it. So what we did was:

We picked a couple of clothing options and put them all on the floor. For sure, here you need more than two options to make it enjoyable. On the other side, too many choices would not fit the purpose as well; it would make the game too complicated. So we picked 7.
We found more people than two of us to participate in the game. Every family member could participate, as more people as more fun is there. We were 4.
We needed to give voting tools to every participant. Voting tools can be anything. It can be "post it's", it can be pasta or toys, it can be books or Lego cubicles. It can be anything available at home.
The next question is, how many voting tools everyone gets? That's very dependant on the game's obstacles – how many options are there and how many choices are there. The number of available votes should be at least by one more than there are choices available. To make sure that at least one choice has more than one vote. Kids will undoubtedly appreciate getting more than one voting option just because it's pure fun for them.
When all is set up, every participant of the games votes for their favorite options. The only rule here is that participants couldn't give all their votes for a single option.
When everyone has voted, we summarize the results and detect which option has gathered the most votes. That option is the winner and the one selected for wearing that day.

After kids have got the energy and fun from playing the game, there is no further resistance. Who wouldn't like to wear the prettiest set of closes????

Playing the game takes some 10 to 15 minutes, which I consider not a massive investment of time—especially considering the infinity it could have taken if we would continue as we started. Moreover, the positive mood, playfulness, and ability to participate in the creative process are vast added value.

P.S. I have to add, however, that there is one downside of this game. The other options, which didn't get the majority score, are still on the floor, and the kids are not very enthusiastic about picking them up. Yet that's minor and manageable and not stopping me from playing this game again😊

Conclusions

We often face situations that can become arguing-game because everyone involved has different expectations regarding the outcomes. That's certainly present in the professional field but also at home and with our families. And while we can't avoid such situations, we can choose our behavior in these situations. When it's essential to get drugged in an argument, and when it's not, that is everyone's individual decision.
However, with this very mundane example of dot voting method usage, I wanted to show how universal this method is. It can be used in many situations when we don't want to get involved in the battle, from business and professional matters to getting our children dressed up on Saturdays. Avoiding conflicts doesn't mean not getting to the results. Everyone wants to be heard and feel that their opinion does matter and is taken into account. Especially when we want to keep people engaged.
Therefore I invite everyone to think creatively, look for constructive solutions, and use dot voting whenever there is a place, a time, and space.

Did you like this method and the description of it?

Do give me a note about it.

I will appreciate it if you include in your message what you did like, what you think should be improved, and of course, any other ideas that would be worth experimenting with.

Maybe you want to join me in some of the method experiments?

Do you have interest or experience in this method usage?

I would love to hear your example. Let me know.

"DOT VOTING" method - HOW does it work and WHAT value does it add

Sat, 28 Aug 2021 13:39:00 +0000

Reading: 15min;
Method: Dot Voting;
Content: Method description;
Complexity: Very easy;
Keywords: #individual vs group opinion; #prioritization; #understanding; #insights; #usage examples

In this article, I will describe one of the basic design thinking methods – Dot Voting. I will start with an explanation of why the dot voting method is so important and widely used. I expect it could be more interesting for those of my readers to whom design thinking is still a new area. After that, I'll describe in more detail how to use this method. I will give a short description and key attention points of each step. And I'll finish by giving some examples where the method can be used in a wide range of situations, including outside the professional field and design thinking framework.

The person with the loudest voice does not always represent the majority opinion

The ability to interact and communicate for sure is one of the most essential human abilities. It is vital to understand that the "ability to communicate" means more than knowing the words in the specific language, building sentences out of these words, and speaking. Ability to communicate means also listening – being able to hear and understand what the other person is saying, and being able to accept it as well. By the way, effective communication has been highlighted as one of the critical skills required for the future workforce. With that inclining that this is something to be improved.

Why do I talk about it at all? Because very often we mix communication with talking and hearing. In our private lives, it is our personal responsibility and the sign of the emotional intelligence of the groups we belong to. But it's pretty different in the professional and creative fields. Focusing on our own opinion and not hearing and accepting other people's views impacts the creative process. Not to say that discussions are to be avoided. Not at all. Discussions are great, and there are many situations where having an open debate is the best way forward. For example, when we need to get to the essence of the problem, discuss reasons, brainstorm, etc. Yet then there are other situations where the discussion is not the most constructive and fast approach.

Most of the support = the most popular opinion

In every design thinking project, we concentrate our attention on the concrete problem that a specific group of people faces. Our ambition and purpose are to find the best possible solution for this problem and this group. And a group of people is always more than just, for example, Ann or Jhon. Therefore the most important for us is to understand the views and opinions that the majority of the group has, not only Ann and Jhon. It might be that it actually is the same. However, more often, it is not. And to understand this majority opinion, we often choose dot voting over discussions about "which one of these is the most important." Simply because discussion format tends to be not so constructive and productive. Instead we use dot voting, a method where everyone can silently express their own opinion, which is afterward summarized to show the group's majority opinion.

And we can act similarly in many situations in our private lives too. True, in design thinking projects, we have digital and physical tools that make it easier to organize different voting sessions, yet it is optional, not mandatory. I'll give some personal examples of how I've done it and used dot voting in different circumstances in other articles of this blog. You can find links to these articles below.

Isn't it a little bit too silly?

Maybe yes, but perhaps no. At first, let's acknowledge that we use different types of direct and indirect voting every day of our lives.

Direct voting obviously is voting in elections (also choosing not to participate in elections is voting); we participate in different surveys; complete various types of forms; rate the products and service providers, and so on. All of this is voting – we put a bold check in many areas of our lives.

We make decisions and with that – vote – indirectly too. We choose to support one company over another, one product or service over another. We decide to participate (or not) in different public affairs, use social media functions, etc.

Therefore – like we or not – every day we leave our footprints in so many ways and forms in society. And I think it's terrific. We have a lot of power. So why wouldn't we use this power more in our lives and our favor? If we can help with our voice to promote some idea or project, why wouldn't we?

How does the Dot voting happen?

It is a straightforward and flexible method that is easy to use. Using the simplest version of the method will also not require a lot of time, just a couple of minutes. Overview of the process you can find above, however more detailed steps are described below:

The aim: Formulate clear expected result
Before starting the voting session, it's important to formulate and clearly explain the expected results to the participants. It might seem unworthy since often it seems straightforward; however, it's not so, and this step often is significant for getting authentic results. Simply because every voting participant will feel more comfortable if they know the purpose of the activity and how the consolidated results will be used. And the more comfortable the participants will feel, the more open and honest they will be when making their decision. It is also good to clarify if the results will be used as-is or the results will be used as an input for other activities.
The aim: clarify the voting rules
Explain and agree on the voting system that the team will use. The system can be different in different situations, depending on the purpose and the expected results. For example – how many votes will each participant have? If more than one vote – do they have to vote for different options, or can they use all votes on the same option? Do the voting tools (post-its, voting dots) have different colors and shapes? If so – how do the differences matter? Is there going to be just one voting round, or will more follow? If yes – at what sort of circumstances? How much time do participants have to make their vote? Shortly – a lot of small things to agree on. Yet all must have the same understanding of the rules.
The aim: introduce everyone to available options
Make sure that all participants have access to all voting options and understand them in the same way. For example, if that's a list of solution ideas, is it written in a readable and understandable manner? Is it accessible for review? And more importantly – does all participant have the same understanding what each of these options means? For example, if one of the options is "Provide training" – does all of the participants understand what training implies in the same way? Because if one participant assumes it must mean six months of training and another participant believes it means two hours of online training – they might vote for different things, which might matter a lot. Therefore everyone must have the same understanding.
The aim: each participants votes individually
Make sure that each participant has the tools and place to choose and vote for their favorite options or options. The most important is to make sure that voting happens in silence. There shouldn't occur any discussions or comments about what other people are doing. Otherwise, it inevitably will impact some people's decisions and actions. The facilitator needs to make sure this does not happen because the fundamental purpose of this method is to provide a framework where everyone can make their natural choice not impacted by other people's opinions.
The aim: consolidate voting results
Consolidate voting results to define the most popular opinion. Of course, taking into account the initially defined process. Typically it means simply counting the votes and writing down the summary scores. Please make sure the scores are visible to everyone, and everyone can have a look at them. It can be one of the most exciting moments. Let's be honest, isn't it interesting to compare your views with those of others?
Often voting session ends with more than one option having the maximum amount of votes. What to do then? Depending on the initially agreed process and the objective set for results. If it's Ok for the set goal to have more than one result, it's Ok then. If not, another voting round can be conducted. Or one of the key stakeholders can make the final decision.
The aim: repeat if necessary
If it is agreed to continue with the voting rounds to shrink down the list of options, do so. This time use only the top voted options from the previous round.

When to use this Dot Voting?

Use this method whenever there is no clear decision between multiple options. Multiple options are key here because obviously, voting doesn't make any sense if there is only one option chosen already. And when looking around, you might start noticing that there are many situations to practice this method for more clarity or fun.

I also want to mention that understanding the majority opinion is huge but not the only benefit of using this method. The design thinking process and methods used also give an incredible amount of inspiration for people that are part of the process. People do like to be part of this process. People do like to feel that their opinion does matter and is taking into account. When practicing these methods, people have a chance to switch their minds to something unordinary, out of their daily routine. And people are surprised how many exciting ideas they can come up with. The motivational part is my favorite part. Therefore I suggest using this and other methods as often as possible. Below you can find some of the usage examples:

Professional circumstances

Any decision that needs to be made at the workplace where the most important decision criteria are teammates opinion;
Any decision about a concrete solution where multiple solution options are available;
Any decision about a new idea, product, or service where the most important decision criteria are users opinion;
Any decision regards workplace where the most important decision criteria are people priorities;
And others.

Personal circumstances

Private projects or hobbies where other people opinion matters;
Planning the event or occasion with multiple people
Family decision with various options;
Games where various people are involved;
And others.

Practical usage examples for different circumstances

Own priorities: the beautiy of the method is getting to understand what other people think and validate your thinking. It's not usable if there is just one person. Yet for helping your own decision-making process you can use Pros/Cons or weighted score methods as a substitute.
With people closest to you : Create a game to play with your children
Broader audiences: Variation of the method to use in social media

When not to use this method?

Obviously, it's when people's opinion doesn't have importance in the decision-making process. Suppose the decision is made already or is to be made based on other criteria, it's not only useless but also can demotivating to involve other people in the process. Because if people invest their time and energy, that has to be for some purpose.

Did you like this method and the description of it?

Do give me a note about it.

I will appreciate it if you include in your message what you did like, what you think should be improved, and of course, any other ideas that would be worth experimenting with.

Maybe you want to join me in some of the method experiments?

Do you have interest or experience in this method usage?

I would love to hear your example. Let me know.