Celebrating my 30th workshop. I’ve done them now for clients and internal teams, with small teams and with groups as large as 70. And yes, they get a bit unwieldy at that size. And here’s what I’ve learned along the…

Tinder’s use of a very familiar mental model – a stack of cards – is break through design work. Like a stack of cards it is a true thumb first expression of designing for mobile – first. The mental model –…

I’m still surprised to see ad agencies struggle after nearly 20 years but it occurred to me a few weeks back that most ad agencies are having a hard time modernizing and adapting to the needs of the new customer because…

Using Maslow to define need states, there is a hypothetical starter set of desirable features or services that, over time, are supported by learning. The mandatories – functional and usable – are built first. The topmost sections of the pyramid would…

Reframing – a tool for rapid innovation Reframing a question involves looking at the question from a different perspective and asking it in a way that changes its meaning or focus. Here are some steps you can follow to reframe…

Thoughts being those random things that jet around our heads. Attachment being the tension/reaction when becoming aware of the thought. Awareness being the “self” or emotional state that is defined by the attachment to that thought. Letting go is becoming…

This time with a financial services client. Always fun to do with clients whose product or service impacts our everyday lives so directly. We spent several months developing very robust personas – based on data and analytics from a wide…

Did a design workshop the other day. It was a very useful way for the team to build consensus and kickstart the project.

Getting better with using the color stickies. This one was for a story mapping session with our IBM client.

What data wants – creating learning loops to bring the customer closer. Top diagram represents a typical state – bottom diagram represents an optimal state. The more you learn – the closer you bring your customer – and the more…

Where the opportunity presents itself and the stakeholders/community/company respond with a whole bunch of ideas in response.  Develop a governance system that begins to build and expand learning while narrowing down to a single solution. The output is not only…

Spoke to a large gathering of our Asia Pacific team in Singapore this past week. Took them through story mapping and did a quick Jeff Patton style warm up exercise with them. If you look closely enough at the photo…

Story mapping is a facilitated group activity that empowers teams to think empathically and uncover opportunities to create valued products or services. It is visual, it is active and it is meant to inform the development of a testable hypothesis…