Teamwork
Our team created a charter (Fig 1), outlining our project’s vision and identifying each individual’s goals and expectations to align them. We defined our goals and referred back to them frequently. We identified team roles that evolved over time. We benefited from the learnings obtained by participating in all aspects of the project. Our main obstacle was different perspectives, and this is unavoidable with four people on a team, often causing a 50/50 split. A/B testing would mitigate this problem underpinning decisions with factual data. It is useful to include this in future team charters.
The use of Kanban charts was beneficial (see Appendix N). Kanban charts are malleable and maximise efficiency by visualising work in progress and work to be done, reducing unnecessary tasks. We adjusted the Kanban chart according to obstacles we were facing, for example, the Christmas period required adjusting. Despite Kanban charts being a beneficial tool for team-based work, their purpose is to allow quick user feedback by working quickly and extensively iterating. However, we did not utilise testing in the early stages of the process. One could argue we did not use the Kanban charts as intended.
At every stage of our design process, we presented our work to each other to obtain feedback and identify what is working best. Brainstorming and collaborative work was a significant strength of our project (Fig 2). In Industry, facilitators moderate these sessions. Designating a team leader at the beginning of the project that objectively facilitates sessions would help ‘prevent dominant figures asserting themselves and stifling creativity’ (Friis Dam et al., 2020).
Dot voting is a simple decision-making method implemented during collaborative group sessions to ‘democratically prioritise items or make decisions’ (Gibbons, 2019). Dot voting gives every team member a voice (Fig 3). At the beginning of our project, we stated that we would default to dot voting if we came up against friction points. We often did not do this until we underwent hours of lengthy discussions on which design approaches are best.
As a team, we collaborated very well. Towards the end of our project, we implemented an agenda, to prioritise important topics, and avoid burnout. We limited each issue to a set time and maintained momentum in the final weeks of our project. Considering we have never met each other and worked remotely, we aligned our schedules well and met weekly or twice weekly to check-in and make decisions.
References
Friis Dam, R., & Yu Siang, T. (2020). Learn How to Use the Best Ideation Methods: Brainstorming, Braindumping, Brainwriting, and Brainwalking. The Interaction Design Foundation. Retrieved 17 January 2021, from https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/learn-how-to-use-the-best-ideation-methods-brainstorming-braindumping-brainwriting-and-brainwalking.
Gibbons, S. (2019). Dot Voting: A Simple Decision-Making and Prioritizing Technique in UX. Nielsen Norman Group. Retrieved 9 January 2021, from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/dot-voting/.
