A Conversation with Sharon Boller

The other day I had the pleasure of speaking with Sharon Boller about her new book she co-authored with Laura Fletcher about the subject of Design Thinking. The topic is receiving a great deal of buzz in our industry so the book could not be more timely.

Fortunately, I got a sneak peak at the book and was able to be a stop on the virtual book tour. It's great to be on a tour of a book that has such great practical advice, real-life examples and enough theory and background to provide the right level of knowledge for anyone who wants to begin or hone the process of design thinking.

If you need to know about how design thinking meshes with instructional design, this is the book you need to purchase. A good read for those quarantine nights. The good news is there are so many tools and methods for conducting the process of design thinking virtually that you won't miss a beat. From simple Jamboard from Google to more sophisticated tools.

I've worked with Sharon for many years so I know she's implemented the processes in this book, pondered the results and honed her craft until she is able to expertly facilitate the process and now she's sharing what she's learned.

I particularly like the part of the book that talks about how to "Ideate, Prototype, and Iterate." The sections is a great guide for the process of determining a path forward, prototyping that path and iterating on discoveries. Not dissimilar to the instructional game design process but applied to typical instructional design efforts. The book contains tools, ideas and approaches that are understandable and explained in a manner that makes sense.

So here is my conversation with Sharon.

Kapp: Why did you write a book on the topic of Design Thinking? Why now? Was it customer driven? Or have you introduced it to customers?

Boller: We get into the "why" early in the book: Too often (okay, most of the time) it seems like learners aren't part of the conversation or design process when a need for a "training" solution comes up. Instead, "subject matter experts" dominate the conversation. The focus is on the business need. Business needs matter, but I could see that results weren't getting achieved because the solutions weren't really designed to meet learners' wants and needs.

I could also see an "event focus" to everything - with an eLearning course being an event. Seriously how much change can we expect simply by having people complete a single course? We all know behavior change is a process and habits are tough to form so why would we think a single course or workshop is going to change behavior....but that's how we often design learning - as an event.

Seriously how much change can we expect simply by having people complete a single course?--Sharon Boller

Kapp: What would you say to a client who might say "Design Thinking seems like a great idea but it seems like it might take a lot of time"?

Boller: Honestly, I can't see how it takes more time. I think it's more efficient, by far, that traditional task and needs analysis - which is often a key objection. I think there are creative ways to get learner input that don't require scads of time. "Measure twice, cut once," is an adage that applies here. Once you make those cuts, if you are wrong about what you are building, then you've just wasted a ton of material AND time. I also think a design thinking approach saves time in myriad ways: 1) by discovering issues early that have a dramatic impact on mindset and issues; 2) by getting to the right problem and solving for that problem instead of something that isn't the true problem 3) by prototyping and testing early before you've got a lot of sunk costs in the solution.

Kapp: In this era of COVID-19, how have you adapted Design Thinking for our new online reality? Are there changes that need to be considered? What might those change be?

Boller: There's no real need to adapt "design thinking" with the exception of realizing that there ARE ways to collaborate in a meaningful way when virtual. We've embraced Miro as our online collaboration tool, along with all the suite of things available in Microsoft Teams. I've personally discovered that I like having 90-minute to 2-hour design sessions across several days rather than a marathon session in one or two days' time. This allows for the processing and reflection time that often gets shortcut in all-day sessions.

So - I've seen less about adapting design thinking than I have seen how its strengths really allow people to effectively re-design for virtual. The problem to be solved with virtual is not really different than what we do in-person: how do we create meaningful, memorable, and motivating experiences for learners that drive / support performance in a way that achieves business goals?

Kapp: What is the biggest mistake you've seen as instructional designers work to embrace the concepts of Design Thinking?

Boller: I won't speak for others' mistakes; instead, here's two of my own. First is not getting the right players engaged early....failing to identify that KEY stakeholder who can swoop and poop on your entire effort. This issue, by the way, can be mitigated by using the stakeholder mapping technique outlines in Chapter 4 as well as the strategy blueprint tool.

The second is trying to use a Design Thinking approach when the client's not buying what you're trying to do. This one is hard to figure out ahead of time because clients will head nod and agree with you that OF COURSE the learner's wants and needs should be considered. You can be midway through ideation phase before you realize....they don't mean it. They want what they want, and if the insights you gather don't point in that direction then you must abandon the insights in favor of their viewpoint. Here's where Section 5 of the book can add value: helping you sell the case for Design Thinking approaches and techniques to problem-solving. Chapter 11 is about getting buy-in from stakeholders, which often means you have to show them the potential ROI of a Design Thinking solution. 

Kapp: Do you have any advice for my graduate students in Instructional Technology about Design Thinking? 

Boller: LOL - read the book:-). Seriously - I'd read this book and I'd read Tim Brown's Change by Design. It's a powerful book on influencing behavior via design.

Kapp: Thanks Sharon! Great talking to you again and wonderful advice to students, in fact, I'd share that advice with everyone.

If you want the learning perspective on Design Thinking, this is the book you want to purchase, read, dog ear and keep with you at all times. A good road map for the design thinking process.

Pick up your copy today. Design Thinking for Training and Development Today!