I am always looking for new tools to add to my toolbox, so I got all geeked up when I saw these Discovery Cards at the XPLANE booth at VizThink 09...
This card set is designed to facilitate the discussion of issues. There are four subsets in the deck - 'crisis', 'growth', and 'change' form the issues portion. The participant(s) will recognize their current issues in this set and set this side. They then tell the story of their problem.
When this step is completed, the fourth subset - 'action' - is used to identify possible actions.
I love using visual and kinesthetic tools to facilitate discussion. I call them 'Externalization Engines'. Photos, Legos, Cards, Physical Modeling, Drawings, Posters: all of these allow people to present thoughts and feelings that are difficult to articulate.
My set of cards arrived today and they look great.
I can't wait to find a opportunity to use them.
Make sure to check out XPLANE's Discovery Cards, and I'll update you as soon as I use them.
9 comments:
I am actually quite surprised that they would rip off ideo so completely with that idea.
If you want the original cards go see the folks @ ideo
http://www.ideo.com/work/item/method-cards/
Shame on you vizthink
Hey Anonymous,
Do your homework. The "original" XPLANE Discovery Card set was released in 2000 and the IDEO cards were released in 2002, so who is copying who? Also they are completely different in aim and content. The only thing they really have in common is that they are card decks.
Anonymous,
You should try using both decks before commenting.
I own both decks and I've used the IDEO set for a few years. The IDEO cards are intended to be "inspiration for designers" (this quote is taken from the instructions). They are a great tool for stimulating new ideas and approaches.
The XPLANE cards (I used them for the first time, yesterday, and my colleague and I were thrilled with them - we're ordering more) are used to "rapidly diagnose how your clients view issues" (quote taken from the instructions). They are a great tool for stimulating conversation and they are a very different tool.
Could there be some overlap in how/where you use these? Sure.
Would the results be dramatically different? Yes.
Will I carry both in my toolbox? Yes!
I also carry Michael Michalko's "Thinkpak" and Roger Von Oech's "Whack Pack" for generating ideas and discussion.
You (and anyone reading) should check them all out.
One other note - My blog entry clearly states that the cards a product of XPLANE, not VizThink.
Thank you Glenn, you said it much better than I did. I get a bit testy when people suggest that IDEO somehow invented the idea of putting information on cards. At the same time I think the IDEO cards are wonderful and very useful. I applaud IDEO for making their process transparent to the world, not for inventing the idea of using cards.
Also worthy of mention is Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies card deck which is an excellent tool for breaking out of habitual thought patterns.
I was one of the creators of the XPLANE Discovery card deck and the inspiration was Pokemon and Tarot, not IDEO. Pokemon and Tarot gain their strength and utilityfrom juxtaposition and sorting. The IDEO cards and Brian Eno deck seem (to me) to be more like a catalogue of ideas -- different in kind.
Funny you mention Pokemon, Dave.
I almost wrote that the Method Cards owe more to Topps than IDEO. Both Method Cards and Pokemon cards have a baseball card feel that IDEO doesn't have. Pokemon more so, as they have the statistical component.
Being an Eno fan, I'm surprised I haven't heard of his Oblique Cards (though the name alone is so Eno-esque that they'd have to exist in his world).
Thanks for passing along that suggestion!
My understanding is that Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies card deck (http://www.rtqe.net/ObliqueStrategies/) started as a christmas present for friends and only became public later, due to popular demand.
As I thought more on the whole "card thing" today I realized a couple of things:
1) The original inspiration, I now remember, was watching all those business people on airplanes playing solitaire on their laptops. What makes that so engaging? I wondered? And I thought: What if we could make something that was equally engaging but actually helped people think through business challenges? The Pokemon and Tarot insights came later.
2) Reflecting on IDEO's method cards and some other similar card decks, like the user experience cards by nform (http://nform.ca/tradingcards), and some cards (not for sale at the moment) that we use only internally at XPLANE, derive their inspiration (I would guess) not from playing cards like Pokemon, Tarot and the good old Bicycle deck, but rather from recipe cards. Each card is essentially a recipe, to be pulled from the deck when it can be useful and executed "according to plan."
I think you're on to something, Dave, regarding the 'recipe card' metaphor - but I would suggest there's more to it than that.
Instead of explaining here, I'm putting up a long post with a graphic I just whipped up to make sense of this (makes sense for me, anyway).
Glenn
I just got a deck of the discovery cards and after just looking at a few I was immediately inspired to use this concept to create cards for requirements gathering. What's funny is I'd seen them already on Flickr, but I guess I had to hold them in my hands to get inspired (or maybe it was my recent requirements writing experience).
Hi Charlene,
"I guess I had to hold them in my hands to get inspired"
I totally agree. There's just something about that tactile/spacial experience that cards provide.
There are a few sites that 'automate' the random card process, like this oblique strategies site:
http://www.ultrapasty.com/oblique-strategies/
But it's just not the same as shuffling a check...
Glenn
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