As discussed in Chapter 2, laddering is a technique where we ask participants “why?” to gain a richer understanding of their world. “Yes, And...” is an improv game and research mindset that practices this technique (Figure 10-2). To play, gather a group of two to five players. After choosing a scene or location, start a conversation with your counterparts. Each response should start with “Yes, and...” where the scale of the story is always increased. For instance, if the first phrase is “Do you want to go to the beach?” the response could be “Yes, and let’s take the invisible jet!”

Figure 10-2. Design workshop playing “Yes, And...”

A common method of warming up before an improv show is to stand in a circle with your teammates and shout out short (five words or fewer), random statements. These don’t need to make sense, or even be complete thoughts. They may be as concise as “The T-Rex is loose” or as unstructured as “bippity-biminy-bop!” The point is not to be funny, but to get used to saying the first thing that comes to mind. Likewise, when preparing to kick off research, it is not uncommon for teams to play rapid-fire Q&A to get in the mindset of reacting to their surroundings. While these questions and answers should be framed around the project, they don’t need to be complex or thorough. Asking “Why is the user here?” followed by “What are Terms and Conditions?” can jump-start your brain in reacting to and thinking about possible behaviors.

One of the most difficult improv games for us is called Only Questions (Figure 10-3). In it, two players act out a scene, talking to each other using only questions. This is a great opportunity for researchers to find questions out of existing information and to seek a richer understanding of their subject. If you struggle with this game as much as we do, it is also a humbling experience that makes failure in the professional realm more approachable.

Figure 10-3. Design workshop with two lines of participants playing Only Questions

Dinner Party (Figure 10-4) is an improv game where a single player acts as “host” for three to five other improv “guests.” The guests each portray a specific character or trait. This could be a historical person such as Abe Lincoln, a celebrity like Kim Kardashian, or a stereotype like a mime. The key is that while the audience and guests know their roles, the host does not. As the skit is played out, the host must guess their guests’ identity based solely on their behavior. This game requires a large degree of active listening and awareness and can directly inform behavior in a research session.

Figure 10-4. Design workshop with participants playing Dinner Party including “guests” acting as Pokémon Go players and a Gatsby elite

Played with four people, Evil Twin (Figure 10-5) starts with two actors performing a scene. At any point, one of the other two players can yell “Freeze!” At this point they will tap out a player and the scene will continue. The catch is that the new actor will perform as the original’s “evil twin.” After a few moments a player can call “Freeze!” again, at which point the original twin returns to the scene and has to rationalize, fix, or adjust based on the damage done by their evil twin.

Figure 10-5. Design workshop playing Evil Twin, set at the beach; in this case, the evil twin destroyed imaginary sand castles

Bodystorming (Figure 10-6) is an improv game where a prop (a bicycle helmet, a large foam die, or anything in between) is used to explore a new product or solution. For this game, a team of three to five actors are assigned roles specific to a problem or scene. They then make up ways the prop can solve the problem. The goal isn’t to come up with practical solutions but to see how analog objects can inform the creative process through nonlinear thinking.

Figure 10-6. Design workshop bodystorming new electronic health record behaviors with a plush fish toy

Where “Yes, And...” is a game of agreeing and pivoting, I’d Rather Not focuses on denial and offering countersolutions. Take this game at face value; it is one of the few times denial is encouraged in improv. The rules are simple: two players have a conversation and each response starts with, “I’d rather not, why don’t we...?” The idea is to take a small idea and come back with a larger one.

While slide projectors are a relic of the past, sharing vacation photos is timeless and universal. Slide Show (Figure 10-7) is a game where one player acts as the storyteller and the other actors (three to five) act as their family and friends in the photos. Usually the troupe begins by asking for story ideas from the audience. Then the narrator describes the selected story, and the other actors act out the scene in a series of stills. The “image” changes when the narrator makes a clicking noise. The players in the slides support the storyteller in the clues he gives, and the storyteller likewise reacts to the positions of his fellow actors.

Figure 10-7. Design workshop playing Slide Show, acting out a member’s first date

Sit-Stand-Lean is played in groups of three. You pick a scene or activity—for instance, folding laundry. Throughout the scene, one player must always be sitting, one standing, and one leaning. Try to change positions during the skit, while watching your fellow players. Since you are not the star, you want to build up what others are saying and doing so that your position supports the scene and story.

In Count to 100, often performed as a warm-up exercise, a group of individuals stands in a circle and attempts to count from 1 to 100 (Figure 10-8). Though this sounds simple, there are four main rules that make it more challenging:

This game brings together all the challenges of active listening, supporting players, and being willing to fail. Often teams find a groove and individual players start to “own” different numbers, supporting memory and building team trust in the process.

Figure 10-8. Design workshop warming up by counting to 100

Sales meetings are essentially one large improv performance, and the research is to understand the client needs. We often craft our capability decks and sales pitches based on a request for proposal (RFP) or understanding of a client’s business. The questions that are asked during these meetings are unique from pitch to pitch. As a result, we have to adjust our canned responses based on the specific needs of our prospective clients.

Voice from the Streets: Adam Polansky, UX Strategist at Bottle Rocket Studios

In a few words, describe your job.

Bottle Rocket is a leading mobile consulting, design, and development agency. I work with major brands to define and conceptualize applications across multiple platforms that support a mobile lifestyle.

How do you use improv methods in research?

Improvisation plays an important role when you’re bringing ideas to life. In my work, it begins with discovery. If you can get clients to come at things from a different perspective, you have an opportunity for broader discussion that drives bigger ideas. One example is getting everyone to pick an adjective to define project success. This gets them thinking about the essence of the goal rather than the carefully crafted objective statement they prepared. It’s hard for some to let go, but it helps define where opportunities really live. It’s good for stakeholders who say things like “We need an app because we need to be in the mobile channel” or “We need an app because our competitors have one.”

I tell my clients that for at least a day or two, the laws of physics don’t count. Right now, imagine the best possible outcomes for the user of our app, no matter how fantastic or difficult. We go into uncharted territory. I need them to imagine a great experience—one that meets a clearly stated or unmet need. If they can do that, it shifts the urgency of the conversation from “what” to “why.” Solutions may not be obvious or they may seem out of reach, but if the “why” is important enough to achieve, you’d be amazed at what a dedicated team can do. I want to get clients to break away from the examples they may cling to, the “me too” mentality, and consider ways to exceed their original vision and expectations.

Physics will come crashing in soon enough, but by getting my clients off their preexisting mental script, they are more willing to explore new options that may fundamentally change the way people experience something. The truth is, it doesn’t always work. You’ll have varying degrees of input and buy-in because every client and project is different, but it works well enough, often enough, that it makes going to work much more enjoyable because you’re making things that matter.

Don’t settle for mediocrity by only doing what’s expected. It’s hard, but it’s more fun to blaze a new trail, blow up those expectations, and do something remarkable. This is greatness!

Whether you’re delivering a sales pitch, presenting research findings, or sharing design directions, all presentations require improvisational skills. While we may write out our talking points, questions and distractions can come at any time. When you’re presenting research findings, what happens if a stakeholder feels the findings are counter to their hypothesis? How do you respond? Similarly, if a design direction differs from a client’s expectations, how can you shift the tone from accusatory or upset to one that exposes deeper goals, needs, and opportunities?

Idea generation is the closest to traditional improv during the design phase. The support we offer our teammates in a whiteboarding session requires an awareness of one another’s strengths and abilities often rivaled only by a professional improv troupe. More engaging ideation activities, such as playtesting or bodystorming, are research through creative trial and error, and they rely on a number of improv skills and techniques, such as affirming, supporting our players, and reincorporation.

Design workshops are another avenue where you can apply improv techniques. While very similar to idea generation sessions, design workshops often include stakeholders and participants outside of the core product team. This involvement with outside voices mirrors our work as researchers. Workshops may be categorized into two main groups: convergent and divergent.

Convergent workshops aim to seek consensus on a design idea. This may be the introduction of three design opportunities with the goal of integrating the best pieces from each into a single design. While you may have preferences or a hypothesis on what the direction will be, the ultimate result is unknown until it’s defined.

Divergent workshops, on the other hand, seek to explore as many different avenues as possible. Participatory design sessions, paper prototyping (Figure 10-9), and card sorting are all variations on divergent design activities.

Figure 10-9. A paper prototype of a mobile interface

We’ve discussed the importance of testing a prototype, having backups, and understanding the ability of different systems. When these variables inevitably happen to us, we have a choice to pack up for the day or to accept the “failure is OK” rule and press forward. Improv techniques can give us the mindset to change from a validation session to a design session, or a requirements meeting to a discussion of business needs and market segmentation.

Chapter 7 looked at the challenges of recruiting participants and noted that some sessions may appear less valuable than others. As we mentioned there, all participants have some value to add. If you are meeting with someone who seems out of the typical user type, see this as an opportunity to test your hypothesis with an edge case, or to explore a new hypothesis and uncover new design opportunities.

Discussion guides are intended as a tool to inform the conversation, not to be used as scripture. But what happens when an impromptu research session happens and no discussion guide is available? Or how do you respond when a well-crafted discussion guide turns out to be useless because a stakeholder has their own agenda during a meeting?

Embracing the flexibility of improv is key in both these situations. For impromptu research sessions, don’t be afraid to lean on your teammates and share the burden of moderating. When a business stakeholder derails your well-crafted agenda, embrace it as an opportunity to set them as the star, and to listen to what they and their fellow players are saying, to better inform your research initiatives moving forward.