Futuring Workshop
Futuring
Definition
Futuring workshops are a type of Co-Design that involve getting representatives from every part of an organization to come together with the express purpose of discovering pain points and creating definitive plans to address them.
“Each time a change was trumpeted
in a journal or at a conference there was often a chorus of researchers ready to announce the change, as if the world had in fact switched to the new idea. But in the day-to-day practice of developing computer systems, as in most practices, changes are slow, and, in fact quite small. ”
— Joan Greenbaum & Kim Halskov Madsen, Small Changes: Starting a Participatory Design Process by Giving Participants a Voice Pg 289
Procedure
Preparation
Have plenty of supplies for brain storming
Make sure your participants are not concerned for their jobs when making criticisms or proposals
Gather a representative group of people from all over the organization
Bring recording device
In person
Make sure that you create a comfortable space and address your participate in a kind manner to set them at ease.
Lay down ground rules so that everyone in the session knows that they are all on the same level here. There is no hierarchy.
Explain the goal of the workshop.
Often it is good to start with an easy, non confrontational prompt and just play it out for five minutes so the participant can get used to how the design iteration process works.
There are three distinct phases:
1 Critique
Brainstorm critical issues as a group and then have each person write down short statements and post them on the board.
Pick three main themes to focus on.
2 Fantasy
Again start with a brainstorm session about what people would do to solve the themes found in the critique.
This should be done with no regard for constraints of feasibility.
3 Implementation
Bridge the gap between the vision and reality. Add the constraints to the wild ideas and see what can be possible.
Most importantly create a step by step plan for making those ideas happen.
Analysis
In co-design, even the analysis is group worked. Make sure to get input and review from the participants.
The analysis and presentation method of the data should have already been done during the implementation part of the session so this should be done already.
Use Case
While researching the waste management procedures of the Eskenazi museum of art me and my teammates did a simple futuring workshop with a few of the building managers. We sat down and discussed what issues they were currently having at the museum and what they would like to do better. We ended up creating the design that we ultimately used as our research methods assignment.
Strengths
The great part about Futuring workshops are great at getting people involved so that they feel invested in the whatever comes out of the process. This way its not a group of designers from the outside saying that you should do things differently, but rather your own organization figuring out its issues.
Weaknesses
One issue is that it can be hard to find people who are willing to critique their organization openly.
Lastly futuring workshops take a large buy in from the organization because it take many employees many hours to complete.
