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Shared Understanding

2:15 with Tomer Sharon

Figuring out what happened during research and what it means is a team effort.

Klocek, S. (2011). Better together; the practice of successful creative collaboration. Cooper Journal.

Lindstrom, J. (2011). Design Studios: The Good, the Bad, and the Science. UX Booth.

Creating an Affinity Diagram Sophie Brenny and Freek de Bruijn

Using Affinity Diagrams Arizona Public Health Training Center

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    An African proverb says, if you wish to go far, go together.

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    I couldn't agree more, especially when it comes to user research,

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    analysis, and synthesis.

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    Figuring out what happened during research and

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    what it means is a team effort for two excellent reasons.

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    One, a shared understanding clarifies what

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    different people in the team learn from research.

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    Sharing those learning bits increases everyone's understanding.

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    Two, a shared understanding also means everyone in

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    the team is committed to what's coming after reasearch is done.

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    If people agree on what's next, they are more committed to making it happen.

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    Jeff Patton is visually explaining the concept of

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    shared understanding in a brilliant way.

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    Let's apply his concept to making sense out of research data.

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    First, different team members have different insights from research.

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    Yet, since they were all involved in research as moderators, observers, or

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    people who go over the data, they think they agree on what they saw and

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    what it means.

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    As soon as each person's understanding is put into the sketch, or

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    some kind of a written form, everybody understands they were seeing, thinking or

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    concluding different things.

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    The team then shapes their various learnings, understanding and

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    insights through a process of analysis and synthesis.

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    In the end of the process, the team has reached a shared understanding about what

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    happened during research and what should be done about it.

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    Shared understanding is the collective knowledge of the team that builds up

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    over time as the team works together.

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    Shared understanding is the currency of user research.

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    The more a team collectively understand what it's doing and why, the less it

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    has to depend on second-hand reports and detailed documents to continue its work.

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    Your key takeaway is to involve as many team members as

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    possible in research in general, and specifically in

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    the process of coming to conclusions after data collection has ended.

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    Next, we'll introduce the first analysis and

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    synthesis technique, the experience sampling classification.

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