LukeW | SxSW: Get Unstuck Notes

Notes from the Get Unstuck: Moving From 1.0 to 2.0 panel at SxSW 2007 taken by Polly Ng:

Getting unstuck depends on perspective and there are multiple different methods.

Design process

Put early ideas out out in the open soon
get them out on a wiki, blog, flickr, etc . Rally groups to do the same in order to encourage comments and redesigning based on feedback.
Manage through conversation - Know what the user is actually saying. Talk a lot before getting to the design. Establish trust. Don't show anything before getting the client to understand what the user needs.
Continuous information in and information out
Always be engaged with information coming in. Put ideas out there and get feedback on them. Write them down and refine it and put it back into the loop.
Accept that things are in constant change and try to be fearless - It is better to be "lamboyant failure or mediocre success"
"5 Disfynctions of a team" book - The base is about the absence of trust. Tell the client/team what you don't know.
Write an article about it - and share it and change the conversation and the ideas by writing and talking.
If you're stuck in a corporate environment, talk to other groups and their experiences.
By getting ideas out early, you let people destroy them so that they can be reborn. Focus on the negative space - how they take it in. Let people in to affect it.
We live in a soundbyte society so keep things simple - Being very long and wordy can be taken it out of context. Think of simple things. Articulate a goal, keep it simple, so that you can focus on working on it.

Everyone is the designer - everything from the process to the goal.
If everyone works with design towards a common goal, we can achieve it
Focus on the commonalities and build on those to get forward - not on the difference
Use the deliverables of design, methodologies of design (rapid design), design principles without having to call it "design"
Do the groundwork to help define it don't be afraid of the menial task.
Believe in small teams with everyone being involved and having a focus (ie.language focus, user focus, etc)
make everyone feel loved. It's about honesty and communication. Making the team feel good about the product is important too.

It's not about selling - think about it as adding value any way you can.
Can you add value without talking about process?
Show a simple process
Look at what the problems are with the client - communicate, flirt, have a love match, describe why they need your help, then add the fine print (ie. in the proposal state 3 rounds of testing, etc.)
Adapt - people hire people, understand the environment
Get to know the client on a personal level to develop long lasting relationship
Hire your clients
Talk about their problem and their context - what are the results, what are they going to get. Study the in between, study the contexts. Tell them that you will know more after getting to know them.
It's about how you make the audience feel - have a one on one dialog with them.

Acknowledge business needs, identify user goals - make a chart to have a dialog with the client
Offer free usability session in front of the client to show a real need, use video or the net to illustrate the point
Under budget, how to add value? - Volunteer to do extra work; be resourceful
Frame it in their context - (ie. "better on bandwidth")
Shared priority - show what content is high or low priority on wireframes
Open conflict is good

Articulate simple goals, use simple ways to communicate them, communication is key.
Be open ("yes and..." here are some ideas)
Always have someone on the team to focus on the solution, focus on the common factors, keep the person in mind to keep focus
think about what you were celebrating, what have done and what haven't done yet.