Workshops

Why run workshops: comparing UX discovery methods

Workshops aren't the only way to conduct discovery, kickoff projects, or collaborate with stakeholders and users. I think they're the best way. These posts go into some of the rationale for when to choose workshops, as well as when not to choose workshops.

Plan winning workshops

Important takeaways and lessons to keep in mind when planning your own UX workshops.

Workshop roles, responsibilities

Clear roles and responsibilities let you work together as a team to ensure great collaboration with your workshop participants.

Workshop checklist

Free download — A checklist that collects 29 activities, including nine participant communications, that help wonderful workshops go off without a hitch.

Updated Mar 19, 2023

From the blog

Featured

How to mitigate groupthink in workshops

During workshops, groupthink works against the divergent thinking you want to facilitate. But there are five approaches that prevent this.

Critique people’s ideas for better brainstorms

Research suggests that groups who challenge each other, who offer good dissent, generate more, better ideas.

Rewarding participant behavior during workshops with stickers

What could we give away that was inexpensive and would still reward good behavior from workshop participants?

Three keys for better team collaboration

You don't own the product's experience. If you want to build really great products, you have to help your team work better together.

What to do about hybrid workshops

Good workshops require good outputs and good participant experiences. Hybrid workshops make the participant experience much more difficult.

What to do if your sticky notes won’t stick

“Archetypes in the Room and Facilitation” session — Feb 22, 2024

“Frame, facilitate, finish: an introverts secrets to better design collaboration” at UX Camp Winter 2024

Time Timer tricks for tracking activities within your workshop

Make sure your workshops run on time using visual clocks and marking when you should move from activity to activity.

9 out of 10 people agree: you’re wrong about penguins

Design thinking facilitation helps your team get on the same page, so they can make productive decisions and move forward.

Design Workshop: Collaborative design for agile teams & lean organizations

4-corners now in Portuguese

Optimizing design thinking discovery: workshops vs interviews

We often use design thinking as shorthand for workshops, but workshops are only one way to deliver design thinking, and you often have better options.

Collaboration + Facilitation + Workshops — Austin joins the Design Thinking 101 podcast

In a wide-ranging conversation with Dr. Dawan Stanford, Austin discusses product design, collaboration in design work, challenges that can arise when collaborating, designing within and for systems, workshop design, and collaboration facilitation.

The only three types of meetings you ever need to run

Master meetings by learning how to run three types of meetings. Are you meeting to inform? Answer a question? Or figure something out?

Managing brainstorms for breadth and depth

You have more control of brainstorms than you realize. Use ‘type’ and ‘frame’ to manage the breadth and depth of what teams brainstorm.

Frame-Facilitate-Finish: the secret structure to better collaboration

Collaboration often focuses on how to facilitate. However, the most important parts of any collaboration are the frame and how you finish.

Design thinking as a decision-making process

Design thinking structure and methods counteract group bias and ensure teams make better informed decisions for better outcomes.

Workshop activity: vote with your feet

Looking for dot-voting alternatives? The 'Vote with your feet' workshop activity identifies preferred ideas without alienating outliers.

Rethinking large workshops

Giant workshops are really about small groups of 6-12. How can we optimize giant workshops to help groups to work together better?

Collaboration is crucial (Experience Design podcast chat)

Tony Daussat graciously had me on his Experience Design podcast to talk about the importance of collaboration (very!).

Facilitation pro tips: Rules for sketching on whiteboards and flipcharts

If you're drawing on a whiteboard or flip chart in front of a group, keep these tips in mind.

Focus on outcomes for better UX meetings

Organize your meetings around outcomes. At the end of the meeting, what do you want to walk out with?

When in Rome

Cocreation: everything new is old again

Facilitation training and communities

Communities to learn, share, and explore the art of workshop facilitation.

Updated Jan 7, 2023

Remote workshop facilitation tools

Use digital walls to capture outcomes during in-person workshops, or facilitate entire remote workshops.

Workshop facilitation activities

Six sites that collect collaboration and workshop activities.

Updated Jan 7, 2023

Want to facilitate wonderful workshops and masterful meetings?

Learn how to build trust, so participants jump into activities and how to lead collaboration, so you everyone participates. In Work the Room, Austin shares his 15 years of experience facilitating design thinking, innovation, and strategy workshops.

Visit the book website to learn more.