The last session for day 1 is @almondalexandra & Karin Smith talking about You can prototype everything!
#dr2020
#dr2020
Alexandra and Karina start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land.
They'll be exploring today how everything is pretty much a prototype 
Wikipedia does a pretty good job of defining prototype is.
Alexandra defines it as a thong you use to provoke a response to learn from.
How we've traditionally used prototyping.
We don't want to have failures when we put things out in the world.
We don't want to have failures when we put things out in the world.
In the last few years we've been bring prototyping into the first diamond in the Double diamond in order to provoke a response and learn before we move into the design phase.
We find ourselves more and more often going into an environment where we have more knowledge.
This means we want to put something in the world to learn from, using the knowledge we already have.
This means we want to put something in the world to learn from, using the knowledge we already have.
The prototyping mindset is:
Being open to learning something you didn't expect to.
Putting something out into the world and saying "we don't know what we'll learn from putting this prototype into the world"
We have to be open to that, what else is going on around them.
Being open to learning something you didn't expect to.
Putting something out into the world and saying "we don't know what we'll learn from putting this prototype into the world"
We have to be open to that, what else is going on around them.
Prototyping is about moving around this figure 8, moving from learning and testing.
We can put hypothesis in, not to prove if they're right, but to help us deepens the understanding of who the cohort are, rather than if the design works.
We can put hypothesis in, not to prove if they're right, but to help us deepens the understanding of who the cohort are, rather than if the design works.
Alexandra describes it as moving back and forth between the problem and the solution space.
So how do we prototype?
Generative prototypes
Descriptive prototypes
Immersive prototypes
Pilots
Generative prototypes
Descriptive prototypes
Immersive prototypes
Pilots
This isn't linear, you may move back and forth in and out of prototyping as you yourself move through the service you are designing.
Concept cards.
They got people to sort concepts into categories — the gold is not the category, it's about the conversation you have with a person to inform you of how they're thinking.
They're intentionally loose so people can contribute to the design.
They got people to sort concepts into categories — the gold is not the category, it's about the conversation you have with a person to inform you of how they're thinking.
They're intentionally loose so people can contribute to the design.
Zooming between services.
When you put a touchpoint into a service you need to see the impact on the whole service in a quick way.
They would walk a person through the paper prototype.
The tool failed miserably in this session.
When you put a touchpoint into a service you need to see the impact on the whole service in a quick way.
They would walk a person through the paper prototype.
The tool failed miserably in this session.
What they found was part of the session involved a person sitting next to a service provider and the session focussed on how lovely sitting next to a person was.
They pivoted the session and eventually the design project to focus on the power dynamic, not the touchpoint
They pivoted the session and eventually the design project to focus on the power dynamic, not the touchpoint
Working with the DTO (before they rebranded to DTA) they used lo+fi prototypes so that the feedback was focussed on the right parts of the design.
The prototype on the right:
Feedback was about the experience
The prototype on the left:
Feedback was about the chairs
They reverted back to lo lo lo-fi to make sure the conversation was focussed around the right parts of the design
Feedback was about the experience
The prototype on the left:
Feedback was about the chairs
They reverted back to lo lo lo-fi to make sure the conversation was focussed around the right parts of the design
Lo-fi works in physical spaces as well.
What about hi-fidelity prototyping?
This is a real train in a warehouse that's been setup to physically test passenger movement on a train.
People we allocated a mood and told when. You get on a train
This is a real train in a warehouse that's been setup to physically test passenger movement on a train.
People we allocated a mood and told when. You get on a train
Give people a job to do, and watch them do that job.
The interesting thing about the prototype for Alexandra was that most of what they learned they could have done with tape and boxes on a warehouse, before the actual train had been built!
The learning from this went back into public transport Victoria for their future projects.
Myer were looking at a hub experience. They already had the technology and space so they went straight to pilot.
Every 2 weeks they injected new parts to the experience, iterated, and implemented over a 3 month period.
It helped inform the retail experience of the future
Every 2 weeks they injected new parts to the experience, iterated, and implemented over a 3 month period.
It helped inform the retail experience of the future
Things to remember!
Activity alert!!!
What would we need to learn?
More suggestions on how to find that information out
Why do we start from scratch in our research?
What do you need to plan when running prototype sessions?
Constraints are not a barrier, they are just the space you get to play in.
Everything you assume people will say and what will happen, will not happen.
Be open to seeing how they actually use it and how they actually speak about it!
Be open to seeing how they actually use it and how they actually speak about it!
Be really open to what participants are actually saying!
When you get the response, say 'thank you, that's a good point' even if you don't agree with it.
Make notes so they can see you're listening.
Make notes so they can see you're listening.
Alexandra and Karina are running through a roleplay.
The first version: when Alexandra receives a response she shuts down the participants and steamrolls Karina into a positive answer.
The second version—she reflects the question back on Karina—how do you think it would work?
The first version: when Alexandra receives a response she shuts down the participants and steamrolls Karina into a positive answer.
The second version—she reflects the question back on Karina—how do you think it would work?
When they are looking for feedback from internal stakeholders they set the context before asking the question to get more specific feedback.
How do you measure the effectiveness of your prototype?
It's important for you to consider all the lenses of 'is this a good idea'
They run these sessions together so everyone understands the interconnectedness of the concept.
How they deconstruct concepts.
Q: is there a general relationship between fidelity and the type of feedback you're looking for?
A: Karina—lo-fidelity will give you great conceptual feedback. Broad feedback.
Hi-fidelity is detailed granular nuanced feedback.
Hi-fidelity is detailed granular nuanced feedback.
Q: how do you choose the correct fidelity or convince people to actually prototype
A: If you can out a product out into market with no investment and no risk that's a fantastic way to prototype! Unfortunately that's rarely the case.
Don't ask whether you can do something, do it!
A: If you can out a product out into market with no investment and no risk that's a fantastic way to prototype! Unfortunately that's rarely the case.
Don't ask whether you can do something, do it!
If you call it a prototype that makes it very official, but of you just make it and test it you can come back with great feedback, missing the pushback and delivering results.
A: Karina—talk business language 'this is a risk mitigation strategy'
A: Karina—talk business language 'this is a risk mitigation strategy'
Q: How have you managed to sway stakeholders away from hi-fidelity prototypes?
A: Alexandra—its hard and it doesn't always work, just make the best of it. A strategy is to talk about time and effort. "we can do it today, or we can do it 6 months down the track for 300k"
A: Alexandra—its hard and it doesn't always work, just make the best of it. A strategy is to talk about time and effort. "we can do it today, or we can do it 6 months down the track for 300k"
A:Karina—video the lo & hi fidelity session and show the stakeholder the difference in feedback
Thank you both so much!!!!!
@threadreaderapp unroll please
