Acknowledging Project Ambiguity with Frame-storming
Frame-storming is a technique which encourages questions. When this technique is incorporated into a workshop, it creates the time your team needs to air all the ambiguity and anxiety around a new project or idea without fear of judgement.
A frame-storming sessions goal is to prioritize unknowns and generate next steps for a project. These sessions are particularly helpful in the early stages of a project before a roadmap has been established because this is typically when challenges are on everyones minds and the path forward is the most unclear.
We can use this frame-storming to encourage innovative solutions, quick iteration, and clear road mapping that might not have taken into account all aspects of the business otherwise.
Frame-storming helps align and set group expectations going forward and provide actionable outcomes. All groups should be represented in the workshop (Design, Tech & Business). After the frame-storming is done assign ownership of questions and hold them accountable to complete.
Working in consulting I find myself …thrown into the deep end on occasion. When this happens the first thing on my to do list is to find my ground by identifying where we are in the project, the goals and of course any blockers or potential blockers
If you recently find yourself on a project where their is a lot of gaps in information, and just general confusion around the project … now is the time to conduct a frame-storming session.
At the end of a frame-storming workshop you might be surprised to see a pattern in employees concerns emerge along with a new sense of comfort, direction and energy in your project team.
I once was brought onto a project for an insurance company. This company had a big project ahead of them and a lot of concerns. The scope and timeline had not been established yet and the teams needed to become aligned. It was clear to us from the warning signs that this client would benefit from a frame-storming session. We gathered several different departments to attend the workshop (marketing, technical, compliance etc.) Myself and one other designer was tasked with running the workshop.
We started off by stating the first activity will be about asking questions. No one is to answer these questions, we are not to discuss any of them yet! Simply jot down on a sticky note questions regarding the project and raise your hand to read it aloud to the group. Write down as many questions as you have.
At first the room was slow with the standard questions but as more people felt comfortable sharing it sparked questions in others. It did not take long until everyone was shouting out question after question. Everyone was flagging fears that were never talked about before. It was amazing to see the room come to life and the anxieties, complexities and challenges around all the unknowns of the project coming forward.
The second activity we went through the questions again. This time creating questions from the questions.
How do we stay compliant?
Becomes… What kind of compliance checks do we need to put in place? Who is responsible? etc.
This gives everyone a chance to unpack questions which encompass more than a single consideration for the greater group.
The third activity is all about categorizing the questions. Together the team creates buckets and discusses where they fit best.
The last activity: everyone in the room is given stickers of different colors. Each person was able to pick which 4 categories of questions was most important to them to get answers for.
Next steps: So we developed our questions and prioritized the ones that were most vital to seek answers for. For next steps we assign people at the workshop that would be held accountable to finding these answers and everyone was able to go home knowing that they were not in the dark starting this project.
