Predict people's behavior when interacting with a new service

This method requires at least basic knowledge of group facilitation since it is possible to add new personas during the activity. It requires that the person facilitation has the ability to feel and see the need and act on the right time intervening in the group.

Preparation

‍1.Review scope and clarify prototyping questions: Start by reflection on what your group want to achieve with this activity:

What is your scope?

What do you want to learn from this prototyping activity?

Do you want to test the whole experience or just a part? What are the aspects and details you want to test for later?

Who you want or need to involve in this walkthrough? Is it just for within the project team, or are you planning to involve potential users or other stakeholders?

2.Prepare workspace and materials: 

Pick up the desktop walkthrough materials and a flipchart paper. Set up the paper on a table. Make sure that the table is not too big so everybody can stand around it and contribute at the same time.

3.Brainstorm an initial journey draft:

Select a customer or persona and do a brief brainstorm in the group: looking at your new service concept, what are possible steps in the customer journey?

Sort your sticky notes in chronological order. Do just enough to get a first draft of what the journey could look like. 

4.Create maps and stages: 

Based on the initial journey, what locations are important? Start by creating a big overview map that contains all the relevant locations of the service experience. Then, decide if and where you need to zoom in on certain locations for some part of the service. If necessary, create a detailed stage plan for each of these locations. 

5.Create roles, set, and props: 

Which roles need to be cast?

What needs to be built?

Pick a figurine for each of the roles/key stakeholders in your service and quickly build the essential set and props, using paper, cardboard, plasticine, or LEGO bricks to set the stage. 

6.Set up roles: Find your actors

Who is going to play which role? Also, it can be helpful to assign someone to keep track of the bugs, insights, and ideas queue during the walkthrough.

Research

‍1.The first walkthrough:

Who or what must move at each step in the journey?

Does everything fit together?

Put all the actors and props onto their starting positions and, loosely following the events from your journey draft, play through the service from beginning to end. Move your figures around on the map/stages. Act out all necessary dialogue and do all the interactions with other actors, devices, and so on. 

2.Keep a list of bugs, insights, and ideas:

After each run-through, take a few moments to reflect with your group: what worked? what didn’t work? what you would like to change or try next?

Document the results on a flipchart with insights, bugs, new ideas and questions.

3.Decide on the next variation and iterate:

Check off the idea that has just been simulated and, in your team, quickly decide (show of hands, simple majority) which of the still open changes and ideas you want to try next. Then go again. If you think that last walkthrough was a real cracker, create a quick, less than 60-second video pitch of the walkthrough to capture it for later. Stop iterating either when the set time for your workshop is up or when the group have hit a roadblock that requires them to switch to other core activities next – for example, doing some more research or more intensive ideation.

4.Document:

Document and finalize your work. Use customer journey maps, photo storyboards, or videos to document the latest version(s) of the service experience from your walkthroughs.

Briefly reflect on your documentation flipchart and identify the critical steps in this journey, other key elements, as well as problem areas or questions that need to be addressed in the next steps in the design process. 

5.Present (optional):

Using a storytelling approach, present your last iteration and key learnings to other stakeholders and gather feedback. It is often useful to also capture the presentation and the final feedback rounds on video and add them to your documentation

This method doesn’t have a specific form of evaluation, since it is qualitative and subjective. However, a good idea is to schedule a meeting after a period to see which changes were put into practice.

This model works with small groups only (from 3 to 6 people) it is important that everyone in the group have a voice and explain the changes they are making in the prototype one by one, so you can track (and document, if that is the case) all the ideas, suggestions and discussions. Also, since the whole model is based on the idea of having physical material and pieces to play, ideally it is done in a venue, not online.