Week 1 — Exploring problem space
For this open-ended Interaction Design Studio project, our brief asked us to “design a collaboration tool or system that improves or facilitates the interaction between remote users to accomplish and perform tasks.” The final product would require multi-sensory inputs and outputs that go beyond the screen as well. Naturally, our first conversations were wide-ranging explorations of what that might entail. For example, Lulin mentioned that in landscape architecture, there is a need to make 3D space more visible and tangible, and that can entail working in VR. We also talked about the recent uptick in telehealth and examples like IKEA Place that use AR to help with interior design. At the same time, echoing the themes of our project, we would be working remotely from two different time zones, with only one team member able to travel to campus if necessary. We were curious what limitations might befall our prototyping in such circumstances.
Because of hesitations to make assumptions about particular professions, as well as the pervasiveness of long, synchronous Zoom calls in our daily lives, we gravitated towards live video meetings as an area for improvement. We talked about how video calls are incompatible with physicality, and how bizarre it is that you can’t even tell how tall someone is or what shoes they’re wearing from the small box on your screen. There is a lack of body language to assist with conversational flow, a tediousness to simultaneous conversations without breakout rooms, no eye contact, and the added cumbersomeness of audio lags, taking turns sharing screen, and not having a shared whiteboard where you can sketch out and discard ideas quickly.
After bringing this idea to class, our professors suggested additional questions for us to consider to help us hone in on a more specific problem space. For example what types of nonverbal cues might be most helpful to address, and in what scenarios specifically? (Psychotherapists rely on nonverbal cues, and so do salesmen making a pitch; several types of behaviors fall under the umbrella of nonverbal cues, etc.) Narrowing down the user group would be a crucial step in considering the direction we might take our project.
We used Miro to explore a variety of scenarios and users, expanding back out from office work, affinity mapped them, and used three dots to express the top areas where we might want to focus.
Collectively, we were interested in looking at employee onboarding in particular, because the lack of nonverbal cues in video calls can be even more pronounced when you’ve never been in the same room as one of your teammates. Additionally, we had just completed collaboration modules on our own team about our conflict and communication styles through CollabU, as well as working together on a team contract, so the topic was fresh on our minds. To be clear, we did not want to restrict onboarding to “here, fill out these forms”; we believed it encompassed more than that, such as getting to know your teammates’ working styles, understanding your professional trajectory with a company and how often you will revisit your performance, and understanding how the company’s values could and should play into your day-to-day work. We threw around ideas like a virtual map of the office where you’d hypothetically eventually work in person, some sort of points or currency to show appreciation for colleagues, and what technology might take remote happy hour to the next level.
Was there a way that our tool could facilitate or accelerate building the sense of trust and understanding you get from working with someone over a long period of time? Do our tools need to be optimized for efficiency, and does that preclude the “getting to know you” side of work?
We identified some acquaintances who had recently started new jobs, and prepared questions to ask them about how they’ve been faring, including aspects of belonging, productivity, communication, and ease. For example, Tell me about a time you felt especially connected with your team members at work. How did this experience make you feel that way?, How (if at all) has joining a team remotely been challenging? and What have you found most helpful in adjusting to your new role? We kept each other updated on our insights via slack and convened to discuss at the start of the next week.
