Agile Paradigms and Unconscious Deep Research (or, we did an eight hour insights sprint and here’s what we learned)
Agile development + deep insights?
Though most commonly applied to software, many of the principles of agile development—a time-boxed, iterative approach to problem solving that encourages rapid and flexible response to change—can benefit any organization looking to test their processes and push themselves. It provides an ideal pivot point to promote organization-wide innovation.
At Olson Zaltman, we have spent 18 years studying the complex landscapes of consumers’ unconscious minds, uncovering deep insights, and translating those insights into actionable recommendations that are capable of transforming brands and optimizing communications. We value thorough analysis, believing that the combination of talent and time spent on our projects yields the most impactful recommendations. Because of this, we are a company that would typically shy away from “quick-fix” methodologies.
But we’re also a company with roots in academia, and as such, we embrace innovation and learning. As part of our year-long rebranding process, we participated in a one-day insights sprint that would push us to turn around as much of a project as possible in only eight hours.
The logistics of an insights sprint
The client and objective
The Mattress Factory, a local arts institution with an international reputation, wanted to know how they could strengthen their membership program — particularly among young professionals — by gaining a better understanding of what young professionals value when getting involved with an organization.
ZMET + Agile Approach
We tackled their problem using ZMET (Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique) interviewing and analysis. ZMET uses metaphor exploration, laddering techniques, and storytelling to shine light on people’s conscious and unconscious thoughts and feelings. In eight hours, we completed four 90-minute interviews and built a report with both strategic and tactical recommendations.
Before the sprint, interview participants were asked to gather four to five images that represent their thoughts and feelings about the Mattress Factory and purchasing a membership. The interviewer used those images to guide the path of the the 90-minute conversation. Traditionally, ZMET interviews are one-on-one, but during the insights sprint we knew we would have to jump into analysis right away. For this reason, we had two Olson Zaltman team members in each interview room: one primary interviewer and one adjunct who took extensive notes in Google Docs and streamed the audio from the interview to the conference room where the rest of the team was working.
Client Involvement Throughout
After the morning and afternoon interviews were completed, we met with the Mattress Factory team to discuss our analysis and the insights we were planning to pursue in the report. The feedback we got from their team helped mold stronger, more actionable insights on which to build the report, which was completed during the sprint and delivered the next morning.
Actionable Insights/The “Deliverable”
Key Archetypal Insights
Determining archetypes for visitors and the Mattress Factory can help understand how the two groups shape each others’ experiences, and can illuminate common ground between a consumer and a brand.
- The Mattress Factory is the archetypal rebel, or outlaw. Rebels identify as outsiders and fly in the face of conventional ideas and behaviors. They destroy what is not working and disrupt or shock the norms to bring about revolution.
- The Mattress Factory’s target visitor or member is the archetypal explorer. Explorers seek out and experience new things to escape from boredom. They value authenticity and are true to themselves. Innovation is important for explorers because they desire to do and see things that they have not done or seen before.
Deep Metaphor Analysis
Selecting Deep Metaphors helps us understand how consumers frame their visits to and interactions with the Mattress Factory. The following Deep Metaphors are the ones that surfaced directly during the interviews.
- Journey — A visit to the Mattress Factory represents a unique journey: stimulating uncharted territory that’s exciting and complex. The Mattress Factory should provide robust way-finding for visitors to empower them to define their journey.
- Connection—Mattress Factory visitors seek connection with artists, themselves, other visitors, and the Mattress Factory’s mission. The Mattress Factory should create opportunities for connection and encourage members to connect with their organization as a whole.
- Container—Visitors’ lives can be boring and confining. The Mattress Factory provides escape from the everyday with new ways of thinking. Because of this, The Mattress Factory should avoid container language (like “insider” and “exclusive”) and bucketing visitors into distinct categories (age, gender, and income).
Strategic Recommendations for Overall Branding
- Return to the edgy, nonconformist values upon which the Mattress Factory was founded by removing institutional language like café, gift shop, and lobby.
- Instead of competing with museums, compete with places that provide meaningful, durable connections
- Give guests firmer starting/ending points like reaction boards and podcasts
- Highlight artist patronage and residency program; share imperfections and plans for the future
Tactical Recommendations for New Membership Program
- Create an “explorers’ map” that highlights Mattress Factory staff and artist-approved culture points in Pittsburgh and other cities (Similar to the Urbanist Guide and Design*Sponge’s City Guides)
- Provide behind-the-scenes documentation of installation process (Check out this great example: #WhitePeopleDoingYoga by *Pardon my Hindi)
- Host more events off-site and step outside of museum anchored-missions—consider co-branding events with revolutionary groups around the city like Bike Pittsburgh, TechShop, and Construction Junction
- Provide opportunities for explorers to bring and share with friends by offering free admission and/or events, or friend discounts
- Implement young leader host/planning committee to help promote the new membership program and plan events
- Move member outreach to automated communication workflows using MailChimp
The Mattress Factory team found that our analysis quickly got to the core of who they were as an organization. Samantha Strahota Paolo, Communications and Marketing Manager at the Mattress Factory, said: “Everyone here had a really positive experience. There were a lot of great new ideas, and although other ideas are things we had already discussed internally, hearing them from someone external helps to get buy-in and establishes the credibility of those ideas.”
Why our agile experiment was worth it
- Experimenting with our input-to-insight ratio can be enlightening. The insights sprint gave us a low-stakes opportunity to just see how far we could push our insights with a minimal amount of interviewing. While eight interviews provides the baseline of information needed to build validity and consensus for our usual analysis and mind maps, insight sprints with a small interview quota can still reveal enough information to get a general idea of Archetypes and Deep Metaphors and to produce some salient recommendations. This affirms both the depth and breadth of conscious and unconscious thought that can be revealed during ZMET interviews.
- Interviewing with an adjunct and using collaborative tools enables quicker turn-around. We were able to turn around deliverables hours after interviews were conducted by using adjunct interviewers, streaming audio, and Google Docs and Slides. Live streaming audio and G-Chat enabled analysts to send questions to the adjunct during the interviews, and following the adjuncts’ notes in Google Docs allowed analysts to test theories and brainstorm ideas as the interviews progressed. We used Google Docs to create, tweak, edit, and collaborate on our final report as our ideas evolved.
- A strict time box can restrict insights, but it also aids in editing ideas. Some team members have continued to have insights for the Mattress Factory after the insights sprint ended (some of which appear in this article). Many deep insights do not arrive on a schedule — that is part of the magic! However, our eight hour time box forced us to quickly trim ideas that were tangential or redundant and only focus in on our most important objectives.
- Client involvement is a delicate balance. In the beginning, it was crucial for us to meet with the Mattress Factory team to understand their needs. Re-connecting with members of their team after that was helpful when we had developed a concrete set of ideas and wanted to gauge their interest in each to help us manage our time. Re-connecting with the client in the early stages of analysis, however, deterred team members from experimenting with more creative ideas and halted the free flow of brainstorming.
- Face-to-face time is always better than FaceTime. Although Olson Zaltman is headquartered in Pittsburgh, we have team members who work remotely and our entire team travels often. During the sprint, we were all in the same room, around the same table, which enabled us to quickly build on each other’s ideas. By working simultaneously we were able to quickly generate a large number of recommendations that we could test and tailor to our clients’ goals.
- Having a rich diversity of thought on our team is one of Olson Zaltman’s biggest strengths. Our team’s interests are interdisciplinary. Together, our staff holds degrees in Marketing, Psychology, Business Administration, Anthropology, Urban Studies, Sociology, Marketing Research, Gender Studies, Communications, Public Relations, Arts Administration, International Studies, Social Work, and Art History. We are passionate about drawing from different disciplines, which gives us the unique ability to examine a problem from every possible angle.
- An insights sprint can be very beneficial when trying to get a quick read on a topic without investing a lot of time and/or resources. The Mattress Factory came to us with a very specific research question, so we were able to develop actionable recommendations very quickly. One-day research sprints are useful for clients who want to get a quick gut-check on a direction without expending lots of resources, or who want to perform a pilot study to inform a larger study. They are also helpful for exploratory topics, and can give companies/organizations a unique opportunity to hear their consumers thoughts and feelings in their own voices.
- An insights sprint cannot be used to solve a more complex problem. Although we were able to derive actionable next-steps for the Mattress Factory during our sprint, one-day sprints only reveal a small fraction of the insights can be gleaned from ZMET interview transcripts. For these reasons, one-day sprints are not an appropriate tool to use to address larger issues or determine a new direction. Not every question that is opened up during an insights sprint can be answered without a full, longer-term study.
- Breaking normal routines can inspire innovation. Although Olson Zaltman does more long-term studies than insights sprints, there is lot to be learned from challenging ourselves to work differently. Taking on a challenge without knowing what the outcome would be provided an opportunity for us to spontaneously innovate and test methods in a low-risk, high-reward environment. Innovation is key to ensure we can continue meeting the needs of our clients in the most effective ways possible.
Further Reading:
Dominique Dove is a research associate at Olson Zaltman.
