1.
Exploring heart tools to
elevate our IA practice
Yvonne Shek | @yshekster
Sept 26
EuroIA 2014

2.
Let me introduce myself…
And also a disclaimer for this talk.
hypocrite
/’hipe,krit/
noun
a person who indulges in hypocrisy.
synonyms: pretender, dissembler, deceiver, liar,
pietist, sanctimonious person, plaster saint; More
2

3.
How many of us have
lone-wolf jobs?
3

4.
It is often in the collaboration
that we fumble…
Collaborative work is harder.
Yet it is BETTER.
4

5.
Our community & our beloved tools
5
How do we collaborate to get
the best results?

6.
Known & Loved IA tools
6
“Technical” & done alone Managing Groups
A/B Testing Paper Prototype Affinity diagrams
Alignment model Personas Backcasting
Behavioural interviews Process Flow Collaborative inspection
Café test Site Map Collaborative sketching
Card sort Storyboarding Design the box
Concept model Scenario Description Swimlanes Five Sketches TM
Design pattern Task Analysis Five Whys
Diary study Taxonomy Free Listing
Ecosystem visualization Usability Testing Participatory Design
Ethnography User Scenario Rapid Facilitation
Experience Map Web Analytics Scenario Planning
GOMS Wireflow Six Thinking Hats
Heuristic Evaluation Wireframes Touchstone Tours
Kano Analysis Weighted matrix

7.
Known & Loved IA tools
7
“Technical” & done alone Managing Groups
AEIOU Mind Mapping Bodystorming
Affinity Diagramming Prototyping Business Origami
Artifact Analysis Questionnaires & Surveys Collage
Case studies Shadowing Crowdsourcing
Cognitive mapping Simulations Design Charette
Cognitive walkthrough Thematic networks Design Workshops
Competitive analysis Think-aloud protocol Graffiti Walls
Diary studies User journeys / maps KJ Technique
Fly-on-the-wall observation Wizard of Oz
Focus groups

8.
Other ia/ixd heart tools
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Ageing empathy exercise, OpenIDEO
https://openideo.com/challenge/mayo-clinic/ideas/ageing-empathy-exercise

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Other ia/ixd heart tools
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Love letter & break up letter
http://www.doctordisruption.com/design/design-methods-2-the-love-
letter-the-breakup-letter/

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Orthodoxy
right belief

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Besides our tools
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We’ve talked about practice a lot...
10,000 hours

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Orthopraxy
right practice

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The story of Sisyphus in Greek mythology

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Orthokardia
right heart

15.
Between the head and the heart…
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1 2
3 4

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Imagination and the heart wins.
Every time.

17.
A bit of history
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“To be is to be perceived.”
George Berkeley
(1685 – 1753)
“I think therefore I am.”
Rene Descarte
(1596 – 1650)
“As soon as you have made a
thought, laugh at it.”
Lao Tzu
604 – 531 BCE
“In the end these things matter
most: How well did you love?
How fully did you live? How
deeply did you let go?”
Gautama Buddha
c. 563 or 480 BCE

18.
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heart tools – drawing from the east
(and some blending with the west).
Integrating the head, body, and heart.

19.
A quick comparison between Eastern vs.
Western thought and values
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Western Eastern
Individual Universal / communal
Accumulation of knowledge Soul and intellect
Separate parts of the whole Interrelated and oneness
Master and control reality Harmony and unified
Life is a service (to God, business, money,
community, country)
Life is a journey and discovery
Outer-world dependent Inner-world dependent
Truth needs to be proved, through analysis Truth is given, does not need to be proved;
through meditation
Ethics Virtue
Linear Cyclical
Christianity, rational, scientific, logic schools,
Greek & Roman philosophy, aetheism
Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, yoga,
taoism, zen
Head + body + soul Head with body with soul

20.
The discombobulation in western thinking
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Floating Head Sculpture by Sophie Cave – Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, Scotland.

21.
=
Harmonized selves
– What does it
take?
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Meditate
Time
Management
Sleep
&
Nutrition
Exercise
Right breathing
Clear
Thinking
&
Harmony
stress
stress
stress
stress
stress
stress
stress
stress
stress
stress

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=
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1. Meditation
2. Mental walkthroughs
3. Creative visualization
4. PQ reps

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1. Meditation
Leaving this to the experts --
• Meditation
• Yoga
• Meditative prayer

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When to use this tool –
1. Surviving intense meetings
2. Workshops
3. Any setting where n > 1
2. Mental walkthroughs

25.
Why is the mental walkthrough an
important tool?
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“I’ve learned that people will
forget what you said, people
will forget what you did, but
people will never forget how
you made them feel.”
- Maya Angelou

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3. Creative visualization
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“If you find yourself worried or
puzzled about anything, or feeling
discouraged or frustrated about a
problem, ask yourself if there is a
way you could use creative
visualization to help you. From a
creative habit of using it at every
appropriate moment.”
– Shakti Gawain

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Creative visualization
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1. Set your goal
2. Create a clear idea or picture
3. Focus on it often
4. Give it positive energy
* Works only for good

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We know all about doing and having.
This is not about that.
Focus more on being and becoming.
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being
doing having

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Your most wicked problem…
(creative visualization demo)
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Affirmations:
1. In the present
2. In the most positive way
3. Keep it simple
4. Has to be right for you
5. Create something new and fresh
6. Don’t contradict your feelings or self
7. Believe it
8. (Added) Stop being goal-oriented and
focus on being or becoming.

30.
Chamine Shirzad
author of:
Positive Intelligence: Why Only
20% of teams and individuals
achieve their true potential
(and how you can achieve
yours)
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Positive Intelligence & PQ reps

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破
壞
“To illustrate, when your mind tells you
that you should do your very best to
prepare for tomorrow’s important
meeting, it is acting as your friend. When
it wakes you up at 3 am anxious about the
meeting and racing in a loop for the
hundredth time about the many
consequences of failing, it is acting as your
enemy; it is simply generating anxiety and
suffering without any redeeming value. No
friend would do that.”
- Chamine Shirzad
Positive Intelligence & PQ reps

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Your Saboteurs
破
壞
者
• Judge *
• Stickler
• Pleaser
• Hyper-Achiever
• Victim
• Hyper-Rational
• Hyper-Vigilant
• Restless
• Controller
• Avoider The role of stress in all of this…

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Your Sage
The deeper and wiser part of you.
It has great powers -
1. To empathize with yourself and others
2. To explore with great curiosity and an open mind
3. To innovate and create new perspectives
4. To navigate and choose a path that aligns with
your values
5. To activate and take decisive action without the
distress, interference, or distractions of the
Saboteurs

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The Sage’s perspective
… is about accepting what is,
rather than denying,
rejecting, or resenting what
is. It accepts every outcome
and circumstance as a gift
and opportunity. Every.

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Even in a sales situation
“In order to get the sale, you need to let go
of needing to make the sale. In order to get
the result that makes you happy, you have to
let go of your concern for your own
happiness during the sale process. You need
to be completely focused on the other
person, not as a sales technique, but truly in
your heart.”
– Chamine Shirzad

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1. Weaken Saboteurs
2. Strengthen Sage
3. Strengthen PQ Brain

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What is a PQ rep?
• Shifting attention to the physical
How to remember:
• Having a break
• Between tasks
• Saboteurs
Infuse PQ reps into:
• Daily routines
• Physical exercise
• Eating
• Listening to music
• Playing sports
• Being with loved ones

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Why not fake it till you make it?
Because it
doesn’t work.
Katty Kay & Claire Shipman

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“Think less.
Take action.
Be authentic.”
- Katty Kay & Claire Shipman, authors of The Confidence Code

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1. Meditation
2. Mental walkthroughs
3. Creative visualization
4. PQ reps
Synergize & Socialize

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- PQ reps when you wake
up, brush your teeth, eat
your first meal
- Creative visualization for
your day
- PQ reps at the
gym
- Mental
walkthrough of
what’s ahead
- PQ reps for every breath
throughout the day
- Neutralize Saboteurs!
- Boost the Sage!
- Meditate
- Creatively visualize your
future
- Mental
walkthroughs
during work
- Creatively
visualize you,
your team, your
family, your
future
- Better managed resources:
empathy, exploration,
innovation, navigation, and
activation.
Meditate
Time
Management
Sleep
&
Nutrition
Exercise
Right breathing
Clear
Thinking
&
Harmony

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The anti-Sisyphus solution
A socialized heart

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“Not that I have already attained,
or am already perfected; but I
press on… one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind and
reaching forward to those things
which are ahead, I press toward
the goal…”
- St. Paul the Apostle

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References
Main sources:
1. Positive Intelligence: Why Only 20% of teams and individuals achieve their true potential
(and how you can achieve yours). Chamine Shirzad.
2. Creative Visualization – Use the power of your imagination to create what you want in
your life. Shakti Gawain.
Secondary sources:
4. Compassion and Meditation: The spiritual dynamic between Buddhism and Christianity.
Jean-Yves Leloup.
5. The Confidence Code: The science and art of self-assurance – what women should know.
Katty Kay & Claire Shipman.
6. Universal Methods of Design, Bella Martin & Bruce Hanington, 2012.
7. nform.com/cards (ux methods cards)
8. The Healing Code. Alexander Loyd and Ben Johnson.

45.
Thank you
45
Yvonne Shek / @yshekster