Duo Gets Mental
Part I: All for One (for everyone)
What is it you would say you do here? You work everyday 9-5 doing….. You have your elevator pitch down to a natural rhythmic persuasion. You’re a well-oiled machine working harmoniously with those around you. You understand perfectly the complete business from start to finish. You couldn’t be more efficient. Right?
Wrong. Let’s be real, your world most likely revolves around interactions with your smart phone or computer. And you most likely know very little about what the people you work with actually do.
Additionally, if you’re like many other businesses we know, it’s been a chaotic couple of years with little time to think about such things. Recently we’ve stopped long enough to confront our own reality. What are we actually doing versus what it is we say we do? And a better question, how we can we do it better?
Duo values people – with strong values and opinions. While that gets the job done, it doesn’t provide as much continuity as we’d like.
In order to bring our duoverse back into alignment we have to get a complete picture of what’s happening on the ground. That is, we have to understand what each individual is doing – before we can decide how to move forward as a whole. Our challenge: how do we preserve our culture of self starters and independent thinkers while creating and maintaining continuity? While it sounds like a daunting task, it’s really simple. All you have to do is ask. We’re asking each individual what it is they do specifically and more importantly, we’re listening to one another. Over the next six weeks, we’re creating a Mental Model of how we work internally.
Why a Mental Model? We’re on a mission to create a better user experience for our clients. A Mental Model will provide us confidence in our decision making, clarity of our content and consistency in direction, ensuring we can achieve our long term vision.
I’ll be taking you on this adventure through a series of blog posts week by week as each piece unravels.
Stay tuned.
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Part II: One for All (for practitioners)
Right now you’re probably asking, are you a mad woman? Yes…yes I am. And I encourage each of you to be equally as mad in your quest for confidence, clarity and consistency in direction. Anyone with questions or who is interested in creating their own internal mental model, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Below is an outline of what I have managed to squeeze into the next six weeks. (In case you don’t know this isn’t the typical approach to a Mental Model, as most are done by a 3rd party and not internally – more on that next week)
The Plan
Duo Gets Mental
Week 1: Stakeholder Interviews & Goal Setting
Week 2: Employee Interviews
Week 3: Create Existing Content Map with Stakeholders
Week 4: Analyze Transcripts
Week 5: Build the Model & Present
Week 6: Revision & Gap Analysis
Resources
The Book
Mental Models, Aligning Strategy with Human Behavior by Indi Young
Internal Mental Model Example
Case Study: Project Manager Mental Model by Indi Young
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[...] II is for practitioners, researchers and UX’ers alike. Additional resources will be listed last. Read Last Week’s Post [...]
[...] Duo Gets Mental Week 1: Stakeholder Interviews & Goal Setting Week 2: Employee Interviews Week 3: Create Existing Content Map with Stakeholders Week 4: Analyze Transcripts Week 5: Build the Model & Present Week 6: Revision & Gap Analysis [...]
[...] Duo Gets Mental Week 1: Stakeholder Interviews & Goal Setting Week 2: Employee Interviews Week 3: Create Existing Content Map with Stakeholders Week 4: Analyze Transcripts Week 5: Build the Model & Present Week 6: Revision & Gap Analysis Resources Creating Concept Maps Neato Flickr Concept Map Book: Sticky Wisdom (A must have for all Creatives) [...]
[...] Duo Gets Mental Week 1: Stakeholder Interviews & Goal Setting Week 2: Employee Interviews Week 3: Create Existing Content Map with Stakeholders Week 4: Analyze Transcripts Week 5: Build the Model & Present Week 6: Revision & Gap Analysis [...]
[...] Duo Gets Mental Week 1: Stakeholder Interviews & Goal Setting Week 2: Employee Interviews Week 3: Create Existing Content Map with Stakeholders Week 4: Analyze Transcripts Week 5: Build the Model & Present Week 6: Revision & Gap Analysis Resources Wondering what the heck I’m talking about? Post a Comment or Email me. [...]
[...] in Portfolio, User Experience, problems solved by admin | No Comments Over the summer I created an Internal Mental Model for Duo Consulting. Psssst… I work there as a Creative Strategist, which is a title I invented for myself and [...]
[...] Duo Gets Mental Week 1: Stakeholder Interviews & Goal Setting Week 2: Employee Interviews Week 3: Create Existing Content Map with Stakeholders Week 4: Analyze Transcripts Week 5: Build the Model & Present Week 6: Revision & Gap Analysis Resources Wondering what the heck I’m talking about? Post a Comment or Email me. Gamestorming your workplace! [...]