IBM Playbacks
Essentials of Enterprise Design Thinking
I recently completed IBM’s Design Thinking Module on Enterprise Design Thinking. I highly recommend the course for those looking to learn from new frameworks on how design thinking can be applied in your company.
What struck me the most was the concept of Playbacks. IBM suggests integrating Playbacks into your workflow. Here at City of Wind Design, we are testing these out during our agency meetings. 2nd meetings of the month will be an opportunity for teams to showcase ideas they are working on. Playbacks can be as informal as showing some sketches you’re working on to a formal presentation. Overall, Playbacks are designed to strengthen team alignment and bring clarity for the users you are designing for.
Playbacks are story-based presentations that share insights, ideas, and updates to a user experience. Designers should not simply list features they pulled from user insights, but tell a story of what they are working on.
Here are some ways Playbacks can be applied:
- Starting a new project or initiative.
- Deciding as a team on a future experience for your users.
- Reviewing progress as you deliver.
One of the goals of Playbacks is to receive feedback and identify team misalignment. What I think needs to be clearer in running Playbacks is how feedback is facilitated. Playbacks could end up turning into unintentional design critiques, so without the right structure teams might find themselves in sticky situations if they are not intentionally rolling these out with stakeholders.
I hope these thoughts and practices can be used in designing for inclusivity for your next design sprints. Let me know how it goes!
David is a Product Designer at City of Wind Design, a design studio that specializes in serving startups through UX design & software development with a bias toward accessibility & sustainability. To learn more about David Pinedo visit: https://www.davidpinedo.com or follow @davidpinedo24 on Twitter.
