Course Schedule

Due to the ambiguous and exploratory nature of UNSTRUCTURED research projects, the following course schedule, readings and assignments may change to respond to student progress and needs as the project evolves. Any changes will be announced in class and on this site.

6 August / Class 1: An approach to working, understanding and envisioning

Introduction to Business Design and Design Inquiry

• [course overview]
• Introduction to Business Design/Design Inquiry and their relevance to MBA education
• Team building
• What is Design?
• Foundations of working methods
• Analytic-synthetic loops
• Authentic listening
• Discovering unexpected outcomes
• Collaborative working methods
• Introduction to Ethnographic Research and fieldwork
• Introduction to Interviewing and writing narratives
• Project introduction

Readings due:

“The 10 Faces of Innovation” http://www.fastcompany.com/54102/10-faces-innovation

Boland and Collopy, Managing as Designing: Design Matters for Management (PDF on blog)

Reading Assignment due:

Reading Summary #1: Write a brief summary answering each of the following questions for EACH reading.  This summary will be turned in at the start of class and will count toward your participation grade.

1. What are 3 key points you took from each assigned reading. One sentence for each point per reading.
2. One key point you learned from the readings as a whole: one sentence maximum.
3. How do these ideas apply to you personally or professionally?

 

20 August / Class 2: All you can do to understand a situation and its context and stakeholders

Research Methods + Analysis

• Assembling a personal repository of tools for research and data collection
• Design process
• Iterations
• Thinking through visual means
• Introduction to Experience Mapping and visualizing complex systems
• Teamwork to share information collected and to develop a framework for assessment.
• Analyzing information from observations and fieldwork and synthesizing key insights
• Understanding the power of people and stories
• Developing a strategy and formal research plan for your project: What do you have? What do you need? What is missing?

Readings due:

“Informing our Intuition: Design Research for Radical Innovation” http://www.ideo.com/images/uploads/news/pdfs/Informing_Our_Intuition.pdf

Usibility.gov Personas

Reading Assignment due:

Reading Summary #2: Write a brief summary answering each of the following questions. Make sure to reference content from EACH reading.  This summary will be turned in at the start of class and will count toward your participation grade.

1. What are 3 key points you took from the assigned readings: One sentence for each point.
2. How do your personal research and fieldwork reflect the ideas and methods in the readings?
3. What are 3 ways you personally conducted research that were unexpected, uncomfortable, exciting or most unusual?
4. What are 3 things you discovered that surprised you?

Research Preparation due:

You will conduct ethnographic observation research related to your project.

1. You must conduct FIELDWORK and immerse yourself in the project domain of interest.
2. You must take at least 20 different pictures of a situation relevant to your project domain of interest. Photos should present a range of perspectives from general overview images to very specific details and situational context.

– Photos should be edited and duplicates/blurred images removed

– Annotate photos with comments, notes or diagrams (arrows, circles) to highlight important content.

3. Take at least 3 videos of 3 minutes each.

Interview Assignment due:

You must interview at least 3 people who represent stakeholders for your project.

You want to learn as much as you can about them and their personal relationship to the project domain of interest. Write a 1-2 page (full page minimum) personal portrait telling their “story”. Provide details and insights into their personalities, choices, preferences, and personal intellectual and emotion drivers. This is a story – not a Q+A summary. It is about WHAT THEY SAID, NOT WHAT YOU DID.

The interview assignments are opportunities to understand the relationship between PEOPLE and situations. Your goal is to understand what people want and need. Successful interview assignments usually involve multiple interviews and several pages of transcribed conversation that are summarized and distilled into a meaningful narrative. If your interview is very brief or cut short – I strongly suggest doing another until you have sufficient material.

 

11 September / Class 3: Design Challenge Kick-off

Learning from experts, broadening your research network

• Expanding the project research network and scope.

Readings due:

• “Using Customer Journey Maps to Improve Customer Experience” http://blogs.hbr.org/2010/11/using-customer-journey-maps-to/
• “7 Tips on Better Brainstorming”                                             https://openideo.com/blog/seven-tips-on-better-brainstorming
• Brainstorming Doesn’t Work: Try This Technique Instead

Reading Assignment due:

• Reading Summary #3: Write a brief summary answering each of the following questions for EACH reading.  This summary will be turned in at the start of class and will count toward your participation grade.
• What is 1 key point you took from each assigned reading: One sentence for each point per reading.
• What 3 challenges did you face in mapping your project?
• What are 3 insights you discovered by mapping your project?

Mapping Assignment due:

• Individually prepare a visual representation of your project as a system. Use Powerpoint (or other graphic software that enables you to generate a jpeg or pdf file) to create your representation. You may use any graphic tools, animations or effects to communicate your idea – but they must enhance communicating your ideas and you may only use 1 slide. THIS IS A MAP/DIAGRAM, NOT A PRESENTATION.
• Conduct any additional research to fill any gaps in the general research identified by the team.

18 September / Class 4: Design Challenge / Making sense of information

Synthesis and Visualizing Solutions

• Bringing it all together
• Developing personas
• Discovering unmet needs
• Building on key insights and brainstorming potential solutions
• Visualizing information and systems
• Team members will share visual representations and create a consolidated system representation.
• Building a project presentation.
• Presenting your findings

2 October:      Final Deliverable (due by 11:59pm)

• We will not formally meet on this day.

Assignment due:

• Final report document.
• Teams will submit a final document of their project. Use Powerpoint to create a report document that combines graphic and written summaries. A template for the document structure will be provided. You will be graded on the quality of your research (both qualitative and quantitative) and the insights you develop and your ability to translate these insights into evidence-based recommendations. You will also be graded on your ability to effectively communicate your insights and proposals VISUALLY. REMEMBER – THIS IS NOT A PRESENTATION. DO NOT THINK OF THESE AS PRESENTATION SLIDES.