Summary

Workshopping is a collaborative, creative, and interactive design process where multiple participants come together to co-create and explore solutions to specific design problems. It is an important method for UX researchers as it provides a platform for diverse perspectives, opinions, and insights to be shared and integrated into the design process. Workshops are typically structured, time-bound sessions that are facilitated by a UX researcher or designer. Participants are typically grouped into small teams and are given prompts, activities, and exercises to guide their exploration and discovery of potential design solutions. Workshopping is an effective way to generate and evaluate new ideas, build consensus and alignment, and make informed design decisions. Through the use of workshopping, UX researchers can facilitate collaboration, encourage active participation, and facilitate effective decision-making, resulting in the creation of high-quality user-centered designs. Workshops help teams move up the competency matrix by getting current information and understanding out in the open. The resulting conversations inform the team about which research methods could be employed next.

Types of Workshopping Activities

• Problem Definition and Ideation: I would facilitate a discussion with the team to identify the problem space and gather ideas for potential solutions. This helps to establish a shared understanding of the problem and align the team on the direction of the project.
• User Personas: This activity helps the team understand the needs, goals, and motivations of the users and make design decisions that are aligned with their needs. The goal is to create User personas, which are fictional characters that represent the target users of the product.
• User Journeys: I would facilitate a discussion with the team to map out the steps a user would take to complete a task or accomplish a goal with the product. This helps the team understand the user’s experience and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Ideating: In this activity, the UX researcher facilitates the ideation of wireframes and experience sketches. I would facilatate an activity such as crazy eights or brainwriting to get as many ideas out in the open on how to address the problem we are trying to solve.This activity helps the team create design for their ideas and make make prototypes to be tested.
• Stakeholder Alignment: I would facilitate a discussion with stakeholders to align on the direction of the project and gather feedback. This helps to ensure that the team’s work is aligned with the stakeholders’ goals and objectives.