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When Fast Work Needs Slow Collaboration
I’ve recently become enamored with analog journaling. I’ve built a whole journal ecosystem: a leather cover that holds a small stack of different books including a monthly planner, a to‑do list scribbler, a commonplace book, my personal journal, and a…
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Packaging Workshop Outputs for Future You
You are standing in front of a board full of sticky notes, scribbles, and half-formed groupings. The session went well. People were engaged. You got what you needed. Now you need to capture it in a way you can actually…
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Are You Performing Workshop Theatre? (Video)
Earlier this year, I gave a talk at UX Camp Chicago about Workshop Theatre. Here’s the tl;dr: 72% of meetings are unproductive, costing $37B annually (Zippia). Sticky notes everywhere, outcomes nowhere. Are your workshops any better — or just Workshop…
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Designing Collaboration When “Back to the Office” Still Means Remote
You’re being told that going back to the office will fix collaboration. It might not. You may find yourself in the office more often while your team is still scattered across locations and schedules. In that scenario, “being together” becomes…
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The Part of Workshop Design AI Still Can’t Do
Last week, I hosted a small cohort for The Workshop Workshop. Unsurprisingly, we talked a lot about whether AI and machine learning can help with workshop design. For the most part, it is still too early. Not because AI can’t…
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How AI Is Quietly Replacing Working Sessions
Lately, I keep hearing the same line at work: “I put this into AI and it came up with this model / framework / analysis.” A few years ago, those same problems would have triggered a working session: get the…
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Less Explaining, More Doing
A workshop pattern to cut exposition without losing clarity When does your workshop make you talk too much? Think about your last workshop. How much of the time did you spend explaining what was about to happen, why it mattered,…
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Are your workshops too long?
Why workshop length is a design decision “We need a half-day workshop.” Sound familiar? I’ve found workshop length is often treated as a given before the session even gets designed. Workshop length is a design choice But workshop length is…
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Put the Naysayer in Charge of Critique
The moment you formalize the resistance, it starts improving the work. You’re not dealing with “difficult participants.” You’re dealing with a room that just lost momentum. You’ve seen it happen. Someone starts pushing back on everything. Not building, not adding,…
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Why That Workshop Won’t Land
No shared problem, no shared progress. Your client wants a workshop to “fix” another team. You’re in the scoping call, 20 minutes in. They describe the tension: Team A gripes constantly about Team B. Team A wants a session where…
