After reviewing the empathy methods within the Bootcamp Bootleg (2016) and Design Kit (2015) resources, there are a few approaches that interest me and I’m finding it challenging to narrow down how I might apply only one to my needs assessment process through my design challenge, so I think I will take a blended approach. First and foremost, the method that I will choose to gain empathy for my end users will be through immersion. This method truly allows you to walk the walk and experience a day in the life of your user. The Design Kit suggests that shadowing the person (people) you are designing for is one of the greatest ways to interpret their needs and gain sufficient insight to begin creating something that would work well for them.
In my context particularly, I am going to immerse myself in two different ways to complete my needs assessment and gain empathy. I am fortunate that our yearly leadership and management training event is happening this week here in Calgary and I will be able to attend as a spectator and observe the content, case study assignments, and presentations in person. This will give me the ability to see how the users interact with the content specifically related to management training and which aspects they resonate with, gloss over, or when they become passive listeners. This will also give me some insight from an “extreme users” point of view as this group of people represent the highest performing, aspiring leaders within the organization who are actively involved in all operational aspects of the business and are the most connected to the needs and demonstrate inherent leadership skills and business acumen.
I will then shift my observation to in store, where managers work day in and day out. I will simply shadow the manager and observe what his/her daily struggles, schedules, and situations that come up that not only impact her ability to get her training and development in but to simply get her job done each day. I also hope to gather more information related to what type of training content would truly impact our managers by understanding their role at a deeper level.
Although I will be executing my empathic method through immersion and observation, I do think that applying the Empathy Mapping process will help me collect and make sense of the data I accumulate.
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
Hi Katie,
It is great timing that your leadership and management training event is happening this week and that you will have the opportunity to immerse yourself in the environment to gain further empathy for the end users.
It couldn’t have worked out better 🙂
Hi Katie,
I think it is great that you are able to shadow one of your managers and ‘walk their walk’. This is an invaluable experience and something that we encourage in our HS with teacher/admin/ students.
I am wondering what you may be most surprised by? Will you have any questions that are guiding your observation or are you going as an open canvas?
Excited to see how your training week turns out!
Bobbi
Hi Katie, it sounds like you have developed a comprehensive plan to immerse yourself in your user’s environment! In my current organization, I recently shadowed one of my users for our online learning and it was a very illuminating experience to better understand what they needed, so I could update current learning offerings. As a result of my experience, I learned a strategy that helped me get the most from my own shadowing experience and that I wanted to pass along. When I was synthesizing my findings from the user after the shadowing, I realized that I learned more about what users needed from simply observing them complete their everyday tasks, than by peppering them with pre-determined questions. For me, it was difficult to start the process by just sitting back and watching them, instead of asking them a number of questions that I wanted a specific answer to and that I had built up in my head over the past few months of designing learning for them. Not sure if this will also be a challenge for you but hoping this will be helpful to you in your own shadowing. Best of luck!
Hi Katie,
Great post and very enlightening! I look forward to reading about your observations after this weekend’s management training event.
Happy Canada day!
May
Hi All!
Thank you for taking the time to read my post and make some great suggestions.
Nicolette – I agree! For me, the challenge will be to stay quiet and simply observe. I have a hard time a) sitting still and silent and b) not wanting to probe and ask questions. I think it will be an invaluable experience to truly be in the learner’s environment and look at more than simply the content but their entire experience as a whole.
Bobbi – I plan to go in with no structured questions and simply observe. I won’t have the opportunity to interview so I’m going to take the blank canvas approach 🙂