Alignment and Research Through Workshops

Methods and Philosophy

1. Clear plan and objective

   • Iterative meetings with key stakeholders

   • Reviewing previous known research

   • Creating primary and secondary research

   • Research plan signed and agreed to by all key parties

2. Specific invite list

   • Leverage suggestions from stakeholders

   • utilize a workshop pre-screener (typically through Qualtrics) to understand use cases of potential participants

   • For those who will need to be flown in, time is of the essence so I like to send out these prescreeners at least 6 weeks in advance

3. Carefully curated agenda

   • The majority of the work for a workshop is held in this step

   • Each activity needs to point to the objective while still being compelling and engaging

   • Many run throughs will be held

   • Frequent demo of the agenda to business owner and UX team for feedback

4. Key teammates available for co-facilitation and live documentation

   • I have found having a lead facilitator with one co-facilitator works best

   • Having other teammates available for at-the-moment digitization of stickies and insights and photographing progress is key to a smooth path for step 9 (from a mentorship and team growth perspective, I like the team member in charge of digitization to be someone who has an interest in gaining experience in workshops. It is a great place for them to dip their toes into the water)

5. Pre-meeting with participants

   • Through trial and error I have found that a 30-60 minutes pre-meeting is much more effective than sending out pre-reads

   • Time can be used to review current state process maps and address questions around daily logistics, dress code, and any questions from those flying in

6. Expertly executed workshop

   • The best laid plans of mice and men sometimes fail, so having a plan B and a plan C through Z is key

   • I am an expert at pivoting on a dime when something unexpected comes up. Examples that we've had to work through include new insights or experiences that didn't come up during pre-research, tech issues, key stakeholders unable to come last minutes, fire alarms, and intruder alert drills.

7. Prompt follow up for feedback

   • I have a post workshop survey completed and approved weeks before the workshop even begins

   • I work with our CX team to have a thank you email ready for concurrent distribution through Qualtrics along with the survey

   • Each workshop I have facilitated has had "Satisfied" or "Extremely Satisfied" for overall experience of the workshops

8. Roadmap for closing the loop and keeping participants in the know

   • Closing the loop allows our stakeholders and participants to stay bought-in and guides them to become our biggest advocates for the projects. From follow up emails to phone calls to reaching out to them first to test prototypes, I am adept at keeping the vision strong

9. Synthesis and Analysis of findings

   • The research plan at the outset of the workshop gives me clear guidelines as to what the expected artifacts are from the workshop and allow for a smooth transition from post-workshop high to work mode. 

10. Retro

    • No workshop is perfect. There is always something to learn. Holding a retrospective with UX team members allows us to learn from what went well and from unexpected hiccups.