Last night we did a bodystorming in Chicago at the uxSEARS studio. We had a great group so people who came to do bodystorming and they enjoyed it. They were a mix of designers, engineers/Computer scientists, and actors. One of the most interesting comments of the evening was by Byron, my theater partner in this, who comments about half-way through to me that he had initially thought some of the engineering and computer science people were actors because they were getting into it so well.

That speaks to the importance of structuring an environment and activities. Everything about the evening was positioned and arranged to encourage people to bodystorm. We weren't just telling people "Ok, now bodystorm." Even though this is similar to improv and as such seems not to be scripted there is a lot of preparation and planning involved.

Roger Martin writes about "stance . . . the knowledge domain in which you define how you see the world around you and how you see yourself in that world." In last nights bodystorming we put people into a different stance and it resulted in encouraging exploration and innovation in how people saw and approached the design problem. As Martin also writes "The design thinker has a stance that seeks the unknown, embraces the possibility of surprise, and is comfortable with wading into complexity not knowing what is on the other side."

I enjoy very much how Martin write about design thinking and believe that bodystorming like this are one of the few ways to cultivate this kind of stance for people.

References

Roger Martin in "The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage." 2009

ProjectBodystorming

Issue Boards (Another Technique for Design Thinking)

Fresh perspective: value based service systems http://bit.ly/aOHyC2

Irene Ng has an interesting blog from the University of Exeter. Check out her recent post on systems thinking, service and business schools --it reads like a call for service design.

Labels: Service Design--fresh perspective

Sears is hosting an OpenID Summit today. Quite amazing that a company that is over 100 years old is at the forefront of technology. I'm sending out props to Rob Harles, Rod Rakic, Rob Mills and Imran Jooma for keeping us out in front.

We have an international participation here, from Belgium and Germany. Facebook to Google to Microsoft to Yahoo and beyond. All the big players are here and I couldn't be prouder that we are not only participating, we are freaking hosting.

Labels: Facebook, Google, Microsoft, OpenID, Summit, Yahoo

Bodystorming

On February 26th, 30 participants from around Chicagoland will come together to do a Bodystorm, a physical brainstorm that will result in solutions to problems facing retail in the future.

And we very much need the gift of your participation.

This will be an activity in which we learn about and then do a bodystorming exercise. A bodystorm is a live presentation (think: a short play) in which participants improvise several scenes and the audience asks questions.

Is it really possible to change the world simply by exchanging ideas with those who appear to have little in common with you? We look forward to showing you how.

Sincerely, Dennis Schleicher, uxSears and Byron Stewart, Dramatic Diversity, DD+D

Limited # of spots. First come-First Serve To RSVP and for further details please email byron@dramaticdiversity.com We will email you with logistics.

Resources

projectbodystorming.blogspot.com

tibetantailor.com

dramaticdiversity.com

Yes we use Balsamiq, but sometimes you just gotta go Old Skool. Here is Amy Willis using paper and scissors to put together some design alternatives. Sweet.

Mark Goetz and Nina Bieliauskas have discovered a new way to settle conflicting requirements.