07 5 / 2010
On P.O.I.N.T. of Human Centered Design and another template for iWork Numbers
Design firm IDEO uses the P.O.I.N.T. technique to translate the Problems and Needs identified in told stories into Insights and grouped into Themes to find new Opportunities. I use the structured method to solve any type company problems and to brainstorm new product or marketing campaign features. While it’s still probably better to do on a white board and/or use stickies… I can imagine it would be really cool to do on iWork on a new iPad. So I started working on making a template for it as well.
The method starts by hearing people (stakeholders) stories and getting specific and descriptive details. The 5 W’s- who, what, when , where, why, how. Drilling down asking why 5 times. Really listening to the different problems and needs.
Then ID-ing patterns by extracting key insights. Insight = Observation + Quote. Being able to add pictures to numbers documents and adding quote text below is really useful. As it makes it easier to group/regroup and arrange/rearrange to where you can see how each relates to each other, if there is a process, and how some fall into natural categories. So in the template, I create different index cards like the Scrum template, so you can write in different problems and needs and place them into appropriate column. Then putting in insights as well. Then group or copy n paste them under the Themes category. From there it you can ask yourself ‘how might we…(insert verb + theme)’ to where it might help you find new opportunities.
P - Problem
O - Opportunities
I - Insights
N - Needs
T - Themes
For better explanation of the method and other Human Centered Design methods check out the free toolkit at the IDEO website.
And again message me if you want the iWork Numbers template when it’s completely done.
