Published on | Prototyping: From UX to Front End — Medium Hayden Slaughter

Each week I answer a question from my mentee on the subject of UX.

Q: How do I know when I can (or should) conduct a workshop?

A workshop can be pivotal in setting you up for success, it is a vital tool in your UX toolkit. When applied at the right time and conducted in an effective manor it can bring clarity, cohesion and shared understanding across your team and organisation. Helping you to reach your goals and objectives in a timely and enjoyable manor.

However done at the wrong time and conducted poorly a workshop can have a detrimental impact on your colleagues, the business and your overall goal. We’ve all sat in boring workshops where we’re talked at for hours on end about, what seems to be, a never ending ‘point’ and no understanding of why we are there and seemingly no outcome in sight. You need to make sure that you don’t fall victim to running one of these counterintuitive sessions and instead time your workshops to extract maximum value and provide maximum benefit to you and your attendees.

When considering whether to run a workshop you need to understand what it is you are hoping to achieve from the session. Look beyond the workshop and consider what success looks like in the days and weeks after you’ve run it. Does the workshop assist in furthering where you want to be and is it integral to achieving that goal.

Workshop outcomes:

Exploration — Wide and deep from a range of people and departments
Alignment — Getting a group of people on the same page and in agreement
Understanding — Shine light on certain views, areas or problems
Input — Diverse and varied from many unique perspectives

Workshops are good for gaining a wide range of views or opinions from a diversified set of people with unique knowledge and experience. They are excellent platforms for sharing and disseminating this knowledge and allowing participants to feed off of one another. However there are times when a workshop isn’t the best option and other paths should be explored instead. Consider it from your attendees perspective. Are the people you are inviting going to benefit from or add value to the session. If the answer is no then think about uninviting these people to avoid wasting theirs and your time. If none of the outcomes outlined above will be achieved from the workshop then consider whether you should run one at all.

When a workshop might not be the best option:

Refinement and convergence of specific details
In depth granular discussions on a niche topic
When one on one discussions dominate
If participant input cannot or will not be used

Thats not to say that the outcomes from these types of sessions can’t inform or be shared with a wider team. Just consider those times when you’ve been stuck in a room listening to two people quarrel over a subject you have little understanding of or interest in. Sure it might be important but can’t they just do this in private and then summarise the outcomes. Don’t inflict this on your attendees, you will do long term damage to your ability to run effective workshops and get the most from the teams you work with.

There are hundreds of possible workshops you can run and unlimited situations to apply them to. If you look at the intended outcome and consider the attendees benefit then you will be able to make an informed decision as to whether a workshop is the right course to help you achieve your goal.

Should I run a UX workshop? was originally published in prototypr on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Should I run a UX workshop?

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