Services Designers use it daily. Market Research use it often, and many business owner use is intuitively.

Ethnography is about knowing people as they are. Understanding their thoughts, feelings and needs by listening, observing, interacting and analyzing.

Immersing yourself in people’s daily lives listening to their stories (and complaints) will provide you with invaluable insights, many of them are surprising or seem nonobvious. To the world they are doing a certain thing, but to them, they are doing it for unique reason. If you are able to crack that code into what is the “reason”, you might have the best insight on other more creative ways of doing “that thing”.

To get to that insight, you need to clear your mind from your own assumptions and focus on what people do, say, and think. Observe everything in their context and notice the location, the spaces between people, & the objects they use. Twitter was not invented by asking people if they wanted to share quick updates in less than 140 characters. It met an unsatisfied need based on ethnographic insights. Whether you like it or not, it’s now worth over USD $5 Billion.

A simple observational research framework is called POEMS. It stands for People, Objects, Environment, Messages and Services. You can examine these elements independently as well as in an interrelated system. Go to the field to observe or ask about people’s activities and objects they use. Pay attention to the environment, the location and what key information and services they interact with. Try to understand the context through PEOMS, immerse yourself in ethnographic research, and take notes of all your insights. Great ideas pop up suddenly and are very context-dependent. You don’t want to wait a minute only to forget that amazing idea.

Happy observing,

Randah Taher

We promise ourselves goals each year. And we reiterate many of them every month. Sometimes a weekly reminder pops up on our phones.

Yet we don’t complete them.

We feel disappointment. Ashamed sometimes. Mostly sad.

It might not be the sense of losing our goal accomplishment that wears us out, maybe it is the promise that we make each time, and each time we break.

So let’s not make promises we can’t keep. Let’s conduct experiments.

For the remainder of this week, pick an item from the list of things you’ve wanted to complete this year.

One thing only.

First, break it down so little that you have the first step sorted into getting things ready, or setting the space, or following up on with someone. This could be a habit to start, an action to close a project, or a relationship you wish to reconnect with. Just one thing. Write it down.

Next, create an anchor. This is a physical item that sits or stands or hangs in front of you. It doesn’t have to make sense to anyone but you. It’s meant to be in front you where you see, smell or sense it daily.

Finally, for the next three days, make an effort to either start or continue this one little step towards the goal at the beginning or end of your day (the middle is always lost to chaos).  Promise yourself, that when the weekend comes, you remove the anchor and no sense of shame will remain if you’ve not completed the task.

This is an experiment, not a goal in itself.

See if it works. Let me know. I’m curious.

Randah

Who sees the human face correctly:

the photographer,

the mirror,

or the painter?

~ Pablo Picasso

We look into the mirror and assume what we see is exactly what it is. We sometimes forget that the mirror shows us the opposite of ourselves. If we touch our right ear, our mirror person touches its left. We no longer remember this detail since it’s part of our daily habits.  

Evidently, we spend most of our time in familiar places that no longer wow us. We take our surroundings for granted and we stop paying attention.

In his book “The art of noticing”, Rob Walker emphasizes that making a habit of noticing, helps cultivate an original perspective and distinct point of view. It helps practice our curiosity and embrace the thrill of discovering things on our own, and subsequently enjoy learning and growing. Also known as “joyous exploration”.

To do that, set your intention to notice something new everyday.

Stop signs.

Plants or weeds on the road and in between cracks.

Unique colors you notice on your daily walks

Stray traffic cones.

Cell phone towers or security cameras.

Your partner, children or friend’s smile in the morning.

There’s no aim other than the practice of paying attention to what you see. Your mind will start pulling in new source of inspiration for you to lean on in moments of desperate need for creativity.

Stay curious,

Randah

In the Netherlands, there is a type of therapy, called Snoezelen, that is used to treat developmental disabilities, brain injury, and dementia. The name is a combination of two Dutch words, snuffelen (to sniff) and doezelen (to doze). The practice tries to create multisensory environments that leads patients towards sensations that feel good to them.
Those therapeutic rooms are full of color, bold patterns, holograms and light displays, music, as well as fruity aromas such as orange and strawberries.

There’s something to be said about invigorating our senses to treat extreme cases of mental health, but why do we leave those feeling-good moments to the extreme cases only? Why not bring those sense alive when we are enjoying a relatively more stable mental health? (more or less, these days).

While I’m not here to offer you a Snoezelen therapy session – not yet 😉 – I’d love to give you a taste of what it feels like to involve your senses at work. And by senses, I go beyond the 5 traditional ones.
Recently, I spoke with seven mavericks working in global organizations, and asked them few questions about remaining curious, staying motivated and solving problems creatively. I put together an exciting and informative Creative Senses Challenge for you. One sense a day, a 20-minute conversation, and a sense challenge to test yourself.
Seven days in total and free for life. Find out more on the Creative Senses Challenge.

See you on the other side,
Randah Taher