Group meetings rarely go according to plan. Can design help?

Characters dominate others, opinions are not shared and objectives are missed; or perhaps not even set all. Sound familiar? This scenario was similar to one observed at a company, where I was part of a design team investigating opportunities to improve project management and communication.

I helped create a tool aimed at helping users learn behaviors that encourage more productive group meetings. The tool is based on certain characters that push meetings, such as “The-White-Elephant”, “The-Devil's-Advocate” and the “The-Navigator”. The power of these characters is that each role is played without consequence and the dynamic of the meeting is more relaxed and play-like. Further, these cards acts as cognitive artifacts to make the task of working in a group less stressful and difficult.

“With role characters, group members can find their voice and make meetings more productive and successful”.

work