Design at Scale: An IBM Workshop

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The workshop was lead by IBM facilitator Peter Perceval. Our task is to identify with the persona of "Darren" 30 years old: single dad, two kids, two jobs on public assistance and identify his problem(s) with a series of exercises.

At the start of our group discussion, we assess who the user is, what is their story?

With the crucial step of empathy mapping - we define - what he says, what he thinks, what he does and what he feels.

Our discussion led to journey mapping for "Darren" and the obstacles he may face or aspiration he may want, as a single parent with two jobs. This lead to what will his need statement and what would it be like?

Darren needs a way to ______ so that _____.

In being able to identify his problems, frame his needs, along with desire and goals. It will allow us to design around his situation, human-centered design.

Our solution for "Darren", or quick workshop idea, is to create a platform that can allow access to resources around the community with the ability to communicate to more single parents. Building relationships can eventually lead to taking turns and helping with tasks that single parents might typically face - taking group trips to school, carpool to baseball practice, plan extracurricular activities to further academic learning in group settings, etc. We would implement features for collaborative consumption; sharing economy but confined to a smaller scale for our single parents in order to cut costs and create an opportunity to have an extra stream of revenue. Trust would play a major factor but we feel it can be achieved when a small community can relate to each other and build relationships.

If this idea can be successful, we would like to scale a design that can provide a solution on a larger level. An ambitious idea that was pitched during our brainstorm session, involves policy change with municipals. A case study in NYC, offers free college to residents with stipulations. Although this idea is a far reach, we would like to aspire for the chance to many single parents, "Darrens", the opportunity and build a career on their education instead of having a job in order to pay bills. In turn, it will alleviate the stress of income, free time to spend with their kids and not depend on family support. The mutual benefit of having policy change will allow one less parent on public assistance and the ability to contribute to the economy.

Workshop Description:

In this workshop, IBM Design Thinking Facilitators will introduce you to IBM Design’s approach to design thinking. You’ll engage in a series of activities and learn methodologies that you can immediately implement to improve on your own practice. Whether you’re a solo practitioner, an in-house creative, or a studio designer, you will take something away from this deep dive into IBM Design Thinking.