New Means for #DEEPdt
We have the DEEPdt Playbook/FlashLab. Inside this book are a plethora of tools that guide designers through rapid cycles, iterations, and/or full scale DEEPdt challenges. In my practice of DEEPdt, I find often times the need for something that I can't exactly find in the Playbook, yet. Which is cool because DEEPdt is a fluid methodology (never stagnant) and when in need, design something for the USER. The following tools are just a sampling of some ideas and needs I have been tossing around inside my head for awhile. I love the moments away from "the job" as my creative juices start flowing even more than normal.
The tools are "Who 'dat", "Brain Solo", & "Dart Board".
Who 'dat is a persona map for either a User or part of the design team. One way of using Who 'dat is to simply prime the pump of the User to fill out to move them into a space of reflection and openness. Another way is open a dialogue among design teams or potential opportunities for change... For me, a power of DEEPdt is not scripting the outcome nor the beginning...
Brain Solo is all about the individual designer before being launched into the group brainstorm. Call it a cheat sheet, call it a crutch, call it what you will, some designers need a little solo space to get ideas to float to the top. Brain Solo gives an intentional pause to the design teams forward motion, so designers can catch their breath and share out some indie ideas. Once these indie ideas are shared out, it is a great opportunity to practice building on the ideas of others....
Dart Board is a riff off of the d.School's Selection tool Safe Bet, Long Shot, Most Meaningful. An area of weakness for me is the focus (never the flare) especially when it comes to narrowing the ideas and getting into the weeds. I can do it, I just prefer to stay out of the weeds. The d.School's Selection tool is a common practice of using 2 blue dots, 2 yellow dots, & 2 red dots to narrow the brainstorm list. My difficulties with this tool is I forget what the colors mean as well as the board tends to look all speckled in colors that create confusion for me. My tried and true method for Selection is to simply point tends to irk people. I am not sure why this is but it happens every single time. So the Dart Board riffs off the d.School's tool using the following selection choices Most Compelling (MC2), Easy Peazy (EP2), and Pie in the Sky (PITS2). For me, I can grab hold of these and still "point" in a way by taking aim with some darts. :)
