After reviewing the define methods in the Bootcamp Bootleg and the Design Kit, I think the most helpful methods for my design challenge are the 2×2 matrix, point of view Madlib, and how might we questions. Outlined below is an illustration of how I applied each of these methods.
2×2 Matrix
The 2×2 matrix outlined in Stanford’s Bootcamp Bootleg (2016) helped me identify the types of users affected by my challenge and what their requirements were. Two examples are below. Another example not shown included defining my users by regional vs head office and temporary vs permanent. This allowed me to confirm that I was focusing on regional, temporary employees, not permanent employees of any kind, or temporary employees who work in head office roles. In the example below, you’ll see I used the same horizontal spectrum in both diagrams, hired vs not hired. This allowed me to link what I documented in the first diagram with another level of detail in the second diagram.
Point of View Madlib
The point of view Madlib outlined in the Bootcamp Bootleg provided the following basic structure for me to work with: “[USER] needs to [USER’S NEED] because [SURPRISING INSIGHT]” (Stanford, 2016, p. 21). Using this fill-in-the-blank approach, I came up with the following point of view statement for my challenge:
[Tax academy learners] need to [create an LMS account without an employee ID as the unique identifier] because [not all learners who complete tax academy training are hired].I found this statement accurate but not inspiring, so I expanded on it by using a couple of the statements outlined by Wollery (2017), noted in italics below:
[I] was amazed to realize that… using an email address as the unique identifier for an LMS account resulted in a significant number of duplicate user records that required a lot of manual intervention to reconcile.
It would change the [company’s] world if… I could prevent duplicate LMS accounts from being created.
How Might We Questions
Using the point of view statements created above, I came up with the following “how might we” questions (Stanford, 2016). The bolded text refers to the Bootcamp Bootleg (Stanford, 2016) suggestions for generating “how might we” statements. These questions are intended to launch brainstorming sessions, and some of the questions below definitely lend themselves more to idea generation than defining a problem.
- Challenge: How might we prevent duplicate LMS accounts from being created? How might we create an LMS account without using an employee ID?
- Remove the bad: How might we use a unique identifier other than email to create an LMS account?
- Amp up the good: How might we create a student ID as a unique identifier?
- ID unexpected resources: How might we use company-issued email aliases?
- Play against the challenge: How might we link an email address to a unique identifier?
- Change a status quo: How might we provide a unique identifier instead of asking for one?
- Go after adjectives: How might we make the process of creating an LMS account easier to understand?
- Create an analogy: How might we learn from other institutions that have a mix of students and employees?
- Question an assumption: How might we remove the need for an LMS account altogether?
References
IDEO. (2015). Design Kit – Methods. Retrieved from http://www.designkit.org/methods
Stanford University Institute of Design. (2016). Bootcamp Bootleg. Retrieved from http://dschool-old.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/METHODCARDS-v3-slim.pdf
Wollery, E. (2017). Chapter 3: Define. Design thinking handbook.Retrieved from https://www.designbetter.co/design-thinking