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Design Thinking at ctrl ALT del 2019 Authored by Robert Blacksberg, Blacksberg Associates, LLC

Andy Peterson of Design Build Legal (https://www.designbuildlegal.com/) led the full audience at ctrl ALT del 2019

through a design thinking workshop that spanned three of the four days of the conference. Design Thinking had been

a major focus of the ALT 2018 conference. The 2019 sessions built on those skills in a practical, very engaging and

involving experiences. A document covering all the activity and contributions made during these sessions could easily

overwhelm the reader (and this writer, too). This report shares the method and samples the experience of the Design

Thinking sessions.

I. Introduction to Design Thinking

Andy refreshed the audience’s familiarity with Design Thinking, describing a process captured in this graphic:

The three working sessions engaged participants in all these components. Some of the keys to success in the process

were:

Non-hierarchical brainstorming teams share ideas and evaluations beyond those emerge in top-down

planning.

Fledgling concepts and solutions have an opportunity to be developed and get prompt response.

Feedback from rapid construction and testing, followed by revised prototyping creates a virtuous circle, with

significant positive impact.

II. The Design Thinking Experience

For the three sessions, the audience, including the presenters and ALT Tech panels, broke up into about twelve groups

of six to ten people. Each group had a flip chart, a supply of markers and a stock of adhesive green dots for voting.

Two of the sessions led off with empathy time – sharing personal interests and experiences. The problem statements

had been constructed by Andy Peterson, so the empathy time could help develop the groups cohere with the topics

for design already set.

Following the empathy period, each group posted as many brainstorming concepts as possible. Then the group

organized them topically and ranked the most important by each participant voting with green dots.

With priorities identified, each group constructed a solution prototype. In the second session, these prototypes were

presented to the entire audience. In the last session, several of the organizers served as “testers” by responding to the

prototype. These led to refinements of the prototype and in some cases, a further presentation.

Empathy Understanding needs, stories and emotions of your end user

Framing Developing a “north star” persona of your user and a Problem Statement

IdeationBrainstorming potential ways of solving the Problem on behalf of your user

Prototyping Rapidly building something you can test with your user to get feedback

Testing Geeting feedback from your user so you can go back to ideation and repeat the cycle

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Figure 1 – A brainstorming idea, ready to post.

Figure 2 - Organizing and voting on brainstorming ideas

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Figure 3 - Presenting and Explaining a Model Solution

Figure 4 - Another solution presented.

III. Building Empathy and Eliciting Issues

Andy emphasized how important it is that the Design Thinking team gain empathy with users.

Engage

• Ask questions to elicit needs, stories and emotions

Observe

• Be a “fly on the wall”

Immerse

• Embed yourself in the client's daily work

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Good questions elicit the raw materials for Design Thinking. Andy offered these:

“Tell me more.”

“Why?”

“Tell me about a time when that happened.”

“How did you feel about that?”

“What happened next?”

“Has that happened again?”

“Let’s back up a bit. Tell us how you got there.”

IV. Problem Statements

Problem statements create a framework for brainstorming, organizing and developing solutions. Andy began with

this general form of a problem statement. The elements of the problem statements focus thinking and discussion on

positive solutions (“better way”) and novel indicators of success (“surprising insights”).

Figure 5 - General form of problem statement

A. On Boarding

The first session’s problem statement explored development of innovative solutions to onboarding outside counsel

from the perspective of in-house counsel.

Figure 6 - Problem Statement for first design thinking session

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Figure 7 - Brainstorming ideas organized with votes, concentrating on metrics for onboarding success

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Figure 8 - Staffing “engagement coordinators” emerged as a popular brainstorming idea.

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Figure 9 - A scorecard solution emphasized structure and communication in the onboarding process.

B. Uniting the Far-Flung Team

Figure 10 - First problem statement of second design thinking session

The first problem statement of the second session sought to connect far-flung teams. The constraint of a one-hour

meeting helped make solutions precise.

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Figure 11 - Brainstorming ideas, before organization and voting

C. Software Adoption – International Challenges

Figure 12 - Second problem statement of second Design Thinking session

An excess of riches for a solution may generate practical ideas in real life.

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Figure 13 - Ideas before voting

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Figure 14 - Ideas ranging from serious to silly.

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D. Marketing Software Vendor

Figure 15 - Third problem statement of the second Design Thinking session

Figure 16 - Ideas for bridging the communications gap

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Figure 17- Further ideas

E. Clients and Data Security

Figure 18 - Problem statement for third and last Design Thinking session

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Figure 19 - Ideas with votes and organization.

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Figure 20 - More ideas with votes

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Figure 21 - A solution corralling all the players

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Figure 22 - Another solution incorporating client security profiles