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The first step of the co-design journey relies on identifying and engaging with potential users, which requires specific efforts. It should be understood as a progressive process focused on staging a fertile ground for interactions and collaborative work. Its key goals are to establish visibility and trust, while simultaneously gaining insights from the perspective of potential users, creating a foundation for collaborative working relationships.
The overall process for approaching users can be broken down into four main steps that support a progressive path from the coarse understanding of complex use ecosystems towards the initialization of co-design relationships with engaged users. These steps and associated actions are documented in the essential worksheet 1 as follows:
1. The preliminary diagnosis (step 1) focuses on a first exploration of the potential use ecosystem based on data collection from secondary sources (public reports, etc.).
2. The identification of potential users (step 2) focuses on targeting a set of promising
potential users based on the analysis of the information collected during the preliminary
diagnosis.
3. The user approach (step 3) focuses on establishing first contacts with targeted users
to assess their interest. It may rely on preliminary interactions by email, phone call and
other communication methods.
4. The user engagement (step 4) focuses on establishing closer interactions with targeted users to engage them within the co-design process. It typically relies on preliminary meetings focused on building the foundations for the co-design streams to be launched.
While this entire process allows to engage with unknown users, any service providers can begin their journey at different stages if potential users have already been identified, approached or even engaged.
Regardless, beyond documenting the different steps of this process, the co-design toolkit offers tools to support the journey towards user engagement, through a dedicated User Monitoring Framework documented in the essential worksheet 1. This framework focuses on establishing a fine-grained understanding of potential users to support the emergence of promising relationships and to facilitate the initiation and execution of joint co-design activities.
At this stage, this framework is intended to be used by service providers for engaging in co- design activities with potential end-users during the initial stages of service design. However, as stated earlier, the goal is for it to evolve into a resource that can be used by a broader range of stakeholders.
Worksheet 1.0 — Approaching Users & the user monitoring framework.pdfWorksheet 1
Approaching users and the user monitoring framework
This document constitutes the Essential Worksheet #1 “User Monitoring Framework”. It focuses on the first phase of the co-design process, which relies on identifying and liaising with potential users. The User Monitoring Framework focuses on establishing resilient relationships with promising potential users, for building, and launching joint co-design activities with them. As such, eventually, this framework is intended to be used by service providers for engaging in co-design activities with potential end-users during the initial stages of service design.
Two complementary streams of activities that can be performed to engage and monitor users in the earliest phase of co-design, which are covered by the User Monitoring Framework:
1) A preliminary diagnosis based on public reports can help to structure a consistent knowledge base about users' needs, skills (in particular design skills) and challenges.
2) The initiation of the relationship with users can be managed through a series of steps aimed at gradually building a solid basis for collaboration.
The Worksheet first introduces the process and toolchain that would support service providers in identifying, selecting and engaging promising users in order to build a strong, resilient co- design relationship.
After providing some critical recalls on the co-design methods, this document introduces the step-by-step process for user approach, then, it introduces and clarifies the relationship between the process for user approach and the toolchain.
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