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One aspect of my work is designing working sessions to draw other people into the design process. I’ve given up on sessions where I do elaborate presentations about research results or design concepts. Instead, getting stakeholders and team members engaged in the design process means making it an experience, engaging all their senses to draw them into the making decisions. This is challenging, of course, because it requires, in a sense, planning a magic show – an experience that isn’t just directed at the audience but instead makes them a part of the experience.
So, “participate fully” in this question refers to a person’s capacity for engaging with the material in an interactive, collaborative working session. But, like any session that engages multiple senses, participants need to know a few things. They need to know what’s expected of them, they need to know the rules of participating in this forum, and they need to know some context about the subject of the working session. For example, we might have learned some things about the target audience for their product, and it would be helpful if we all had a similar understanding. The intent behind this question is designing a format for the working session that incorporates bringing everyone up to speed on the knowledge they need to participate fully.
As the person planning these interactive sessions, I direct this question at myself. It is a challenge to remind myself that I have to help the participants “catch up,” so to speak, to where I am in my understanding of the design problem and approach.
To answer this question, I look at what I’m asking people to do in the course of the working session – say, prioritize design principles to guide the product design. I then think about what information I like to have on-hand to perform this task. In this case, having some insights about the business goals and target audience needs allows me to prioritize design principles.
ALTERNATE
ALTERNATE