Visual Conversations

Head over to http://theconversationfactory.com/think-alone-think-together/ to watch the other videos and check out the medium articles in all their glory. Below is a striped down version of what's in the medium article! One of the things that’s most challenging for me about facilitating transformation in organizations is that it’s hard to know *why* something worked, when it worked. There are lots of articles to tell you *what* to do and *when*…even studies proving that whatever method works statistically. But that doesn’t tell me why…a question I’ve been asking since… forever! That’s one reason why I’m enjoying the Conversation OS Canvas that I’ve been developing. It helps me see the why in all the things I do. Visual Conversations: The Human Centered Design Hallway This week's video was on Visual Conversations, which you can watch here. I talk about how being visual transforms conversations by transforming the interface they happen in. Paper has a better memory than I do. Most conversations are like drawing on water…the air holds our conversations and then our brains do the best they can! Memories fade faster than sharpies on sticky notes. It’s a simple reason *why* shifting a conversational interface shifts a conversation. In this case, it makes it last longer. But shifting the interface in other ways can help dialog of all types. Like when an exchange on text messages seems to be going off course, you make a call. Texting is a “narrow pipe” while talking on a phone is a “fat pipe”. There’s a lot more information, more bandwidth, in a phone call than in a text. And even more in a face-to-face meeting.  If the interface for your conversation isn’t supporting your communication needs, shift it. Sometimes a narrow pipe is better — it’s direct, to the point. The idea is to be mindful of your choices and aware of their effects. Working at the Wall I wanted to share a recent post about a Public Library turning a staff maintenance corridor into a canvas for an ongoing human-centered design effort. In their own words: My team was taking an online course in human-centered design, and we got an idea: this hallway would be an ideal location to make our work visible as we started to explore human-centered design. We put books, resources, and materials in the hallway, located on makeshift tables made of shipping crates. We have a stack of Post-its and pens, and any staff member can add thoughts or insights when passing by. We also have personas posted in the hall so we don’t forget who our users are. Now, every time we walk through the hallway, we think about our specific users, like “Kate,” the working mom. You can read the rest of the quote/article here. Honestly, my heart melted reading this! This is such a simple way to shift conversations: make it visible. The hallway becomes a huge interface, holding the memory for a large group of people. How can you shift the interface of your conversations to make them more powerful, durable and effective?