Design StoryBoards (Basic)
Design StoryBoards is a method for collaboratively designing meetings and workshops to ensure they are productive and engaging. It involves a design team visually mapping out the purpose, participants, microstructures, and timing of a session to create a clear and actionable plan.
Use this method when you want to proactively design a meeting or workshop to avoid common pitfalls like unclear purpose, lack of participation, and wasted time. It's particularly useful when you want to tap into the collective intelligence of a group to create a more effective and innovative session.
Solves: Unclear meeting objectives, lack of engagement, dominant voices, wasted time.
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Step 1: Clarify the purpose of the work together. Use Nine Whys if needed. (2-5 min)
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Step 2: Describe the standard approach or microstructure normally used and assess its successes and failures. (5-10 min)
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Step 3: Reexamine and strengthen the purpose statement if needed. (2-5 min)
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Step 4: Reexamine and decide who needs to participate or be involved. (2-5 min)
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Step 5: Brainstorm alternative microstructures (conventional and Liberating Structures) that could achieve the purpose. Determine if the purpose can be achieved in one step. If not, what must be the purpose of the first step? Continue with first step only. (5-10 min)
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Step 6: Determine which microstructures are best suited to achieving the purpose; choose one plus a backup. (2-10 min)
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Step 7: Decide who will be invited and who will facilitate the meeting. Enter all decisions in the blank storyboard. (2-10 min)
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Step 8: Determine the questions and process to evaluate the design (e.g., Did the design achieve desired outcomes? Did the group work together in a productive way? Does something new seem possible now? Use What, So What, Now What?). (2-5 min)
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Step 9: If multiple steps are needed, confer with the design team and arrange a meeting to work on an Advanced Design StoryBoard. (5-10 min)
- Encourage rapid iterations and playful experimentation with different designs.
- Work in pairs or small groups to get diverse perspectives.
- Use icons and sketches to quickly develop shared understanding.
- Use the same approach to map ethnographic observations of a current practice.
- Use a pie chart to illuminate and balance the goals and flow of your design.