(This talk was originally presented the VANUE meetup group in Vancouver, BC, on Wednesday, April 27, 2016.)
As user experience professionals, we sometimes run of the obstacles. We call them stakeholders. They are the ones who seem to
STAKEHOLDERSARE NOT THE PROBLEM(THEY’RE YOUR SECRET WEAPON)
@KEVANGILB
ERT
@DOMAIN7
In some ways, the UX community is years ahead of its time. We have been developing the "cocreative technology" of collaboration since the birth of our practice. So if what you see in these slides, and if what you hear in this presentation, begins to sou
“What’s obvious to you is
amazing to others.”
Derek Sivers
A slow project. Agonizing delays. Frustrated stakeholder, frustrated project team. A meeting was called: What can we do to improve this process? Answer: a co
It’s the future. It’s beyond overdue. Let’s go.
A STORY
“If this is such an
obvious, fantastic way to
work, why aren’t we all
doing it already?”
A smart client
While participatory methods of design have been accessible for a generation, some of us are still discovering the idea of building creative work together.
1. It’s new.
WHY ISN’T CO-CREATION
THE DEFAULT OPTION?
This amazing book just came out in 2016. While the material has been being shared widely online beforehand, the ideas contained there-in — combining the spirit of community engagement with the disciplined method of UX sprints
A lot of clients and agencies still have habits and expectations of how creative work gets delivered: you pay a smart person
1. It’s new.
2. Old
habits.
WHY ISN’T CO-CREATION
THE DEFAULT OPTION?
This style of work, the kind modelled by Mad Men, and classic agencies, is dead.
There is no creative genius that is going to come and rescue us.
Yet much of the business community is still oriented this way in its posture towards creatives: we pay you, you do it. Old habits die hard.
Frankly, choosing a co-creative, participatory approach is tricky. Facilitation skills aren’t easy to come by. Choosing the righ
1. It’s new.
2. Old
habits. 3.
It’s hard.
WHY ISN’T CO-CREATION
THE DEFAULT OPTION?
Don’t give up. The methods of involvement are legendary. These forces are what have shaped the world since its beginning. When human get together to seek potential collaboratively, huge breakthroughs happen. Counselling and therapy is built on this. Tea
BUT IT’S
POWERFUL
Specifically in the context of UX projects, it can trigger some needed breakthroughs. Speed can pick up. The number of connections, and thus innovations and ideas, can increase, leading to better ideas. Vision becomes a shared thing between stakeholders
Faster
projects
Diverse
ideas
Less
telephone
Empathetic
insight
Shared
vision
Better
products
WHAT YOU’LL GET
FROM CO-CREATION
And it’s not that hard: You’ll need you, the person willing to host. You’ll need participants, invited to contribute openly. You’ll need an agenda (a playlist) designed for the flow of great activities. You’ll need to know what factors you’ll use to mak
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
TO GET STARTED
A
facilitator
Engaged
stakeholders
A clear
playlist
Decision-
making
criteria
A readiness
to try
Sketching
supplies
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
TO GET STARTED
A
facilitator
Engaged
stakeholders
A clear
playlist
Decision-
making
criteria
A readiness
to try
Sketching
supplies
WHAT ELSE?
UX has done this type of collaboration for a while, right? We involve users, we stand up in meetings, we make things together
HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT
FROM OTHER UX ACTIVITIES?
“Co-creation” differs in that it comes after research. The point is to generate ideas. And the point is to truly involve key stakeholders so vision, buy-in can become the motor to power the work. And it’s not about making a document, it’s about the moment
After
research
Focused
on ideation
Stakeholder
powered
Not a
document
HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT
FROM OTHER UX ACTIVITIES?
We don’t need co-creation all the time, every time; we just need to reintroduce it to our arsenal. It’s a tool we ignore, and never use. We often default to meetings to solve problems.
Jeff Bezos’ management philosophy of having an “empty chair” to represent the user, as a cue to meeting participants to remember to keep the user in mind, is an example of a “Managing Together” style fantasizing about a Co
The visionaries we admire, the Henry Fords/Steve Jobs, the “artist/visionary” persona, the classic finger-pointing leader, the Don Draper, tend to inhabit the upper left: making, apart.
MAKING
MANAGING
TOGETHERAPART
CO-CREATION
MEETINGS
SOLO
People often complain about the hazards of involving too many people.Photo by Dennis Wong: https://flic.kr/p/92NVcg
Too many cooks in the
kitchen?
I say that’s a sign you’ve got a huge demand for engagement. Create the infrastructure to allow for greater involvement. Large-scale restaurants have the need for many roles, many types of cooks and helpers, and the space is designed accordingly. For be
Photo by Dennis Wong: https://flic.kr/p/92NVcg
Too many cooks in the
kitchen?REDESIGN THE KITCHEN
The Jeff Bezos management style of keeping a chair empty to rep the user…
Photo by ING Group: https://flic.kr/p/EGhyNT
Empty chair management?
..could take it a step further and actually involve the user.
Photo by ING Group: https://flic.kr/p/EGhyNT
Empty chair management?WHY IS THE CHAIR EMPTY?
…and create a more engaging environment by involving engaged, movement-filled exercises. No chairs needed.
Photo by ING Group: https://flic.kr/p/EGhyNT
Empty chair management?WHY IS THE CHAIR EMPTY?
AND WAIT, WHY ARE YOU
SITTING?
Henry Ford’s singular vision?
“If I had asked my customers
what they wanted, they would
have said a faster horse.”
- Henry Ford
I wonder what he might have discovered if he had tried to connect more deeply with people’s needs and approaches? He arrived at one idea of internal combustion engine whose contribution to planetary pollution we are spending a generation undoing. How mi
“If I had asked my customers
what they wanted, they would
have said a faster horse.”
- Henry Ford
WHAT ABOUT INVOLVING
THEM?
The classic creative director approach of insisting that bold innovation is an independent act of leadership…
“The public is not able to
envision the future; it must be
led.”
- Nory Emori / Hornall
Anderson
Photo by Troy Mason: https://flic.kr/p/sDBSH
….may be surprised by what the looked-down-upon public can truly add, when involved at the right moment, with the right tools.
“The public is not able to
envision the future; it must be
led.”
- Nory Emori / Hornall
Anderson
Photo by Troy Mason: https://flic.kr/p/sDBSH
HAVE WE TRULY TRIED?
Conventional problem-solving:
Look at what is not working,
find a solution to change it.
Co-creative problem-solving:
Look for the available potential,
create the space to draw it out.
We often see Stakeholders as the barrier getting in the way of use connecting users to the product more closely. We fantasize about systems where we can make great products, stakeholder
Stakehold
ersUsers
Prod
uctYou
The true job of UX is to create the space where stakeholders themselves can become a more connected part of the system of co-creating with users to make a bette product. Our job is to hold the space. To host environments where connections can happen.
You
Stakehol
ders Users
Product
We are in the midst of exploring and developing a shift that can transform not just our industry, but the business community and the world at large. When we can shed our outdated legends of leadership, where solo visionaries alone are awaited as the savi
Photos by Tracey Falk | Painting by Miriam & Rene Thomas