TL;DR Extract evidence-based solutions out of data-driven decisions
This is a proposal on how to conduct interview questions on the fly for the best possible collection of qualitative data to be considered as "ready for design thinking".
When you ask someone for feedback, they will lie to your face. The easy fix is to capture concrete Stories. In concrete stories, they will tell you about their actual behavior.
We begin with:
"Tell me about problemx."
At this point x can be anything. It can be a rant, it can be an anecdote, it can be a dealbreaker, it can be positive, it can be negative, it can be null. The overwhelming objective for every incoming data-driven x is to extract the evidence into a narrative worth solving.
In order to do this, we will apply a little pseudo algebra.
Algebraic Stories
Problem x | Desired Outcome y | Triggering Event z |
We must investigate what the respondent actually wants. This is modeled as Desired Outcome y.
y is the goal the respondent wants to reach.This is what we will consider ideating into Design Thinking for a value proposition.
Reciprocally, Triggering Events
z create a desire for the better.zs are important because they allow the respondent to focus on "when" while narrating the "what" without the "who".zs plant the seed in the respondents to engage based on bad experience, a change in circumstance, or finding awareness.zs give us actionable Stories.The Maths of Universal Design Thinking
x(y) = x(z)
Any of these lead to exactly what we want: contextual evidence that's less subjective versus subjective data with not enough context.
Getting the Triggering Event That Led to a Desire
z = x(y)x is useless to us until we solve for zIf
x comes to you as a Desire (Desired Outcome y) we must extract the Triggering Event z:"When did you realize that you wantedy?"
Answer:
z the triggering event that lead to the desireGetting the Desired Outcome from a Triggering Event
y = x(z)x is useless to us until we solve for yIf
x comes to you as a Trigger (Triggering Event z), we must find the Desired Outcome y:"So when you experiencedz, what did you want?"
Answer:
y the desired outcome from a triggering eventFast on your Qualitative Research feet
Desires and Triggers anchor the baselines for an investigative excursion on Qualitative Research with plenty of unknowns. Hitting these marks will capture what is usable as problems worth tackling for our MVP.
This Qualitative Research canvas posits that answers will bear completeness for such foreseeable post-excursion questions because they will render as actionable stories for the team to consider.
Candidates for Design Thinking
x = y/z
The status of
x will evolve as artifacts for review in Design Thinking. The overwhelming and underlying single objective is to be effective in the conducted survey during Q-Research so that the team can answer the following for each incoming x:Was problemxworth solving?
TL;DR Extract evidence-based solutions out of data-driven decisions
e = d(n) where the high-level proof finds evidence as the narrative of data