The 4-Step Experience Design Playbook

Today’s Thoughts ☠️

Hey there 👋,

Today it’s all about making sense of great design work.

I’ve seen the good bad and ugly of the design world. L&D is no different. We tend to believe x = y, but that’s not always true.

I want to share a recent story with you, plus my own 4-step playbook on thoughtful learning design. I’m no expert, but these have served me well.

Get your tea 🍵 or beverage of choice ready. We've got lots to discuss!

In today’s chat 👇

• The 4-Step Experience Design Playbook

• What Harvard and BCG discovered with ChatGPT for business

• The first wave of L&D vendor generative AI tools is here

The Big Thought
How To Be Thoughtful With Experience Design

This is a classic mistake with digital courses.

Someone asked why my course only takes about 3 hours to speed through.

They wanted more. It was a crash course, FYI.

This is my answer 👇

Having:

1. 300 lessons

2. 1000 hours of video

3. 200 PDF documents

Doesn’t make your digital experience more valuable.

The goal is always to get a user to their goal in the quickest time possible.

If there are two learning experiences with the same outcome but one is 2 hrs vs 40 hrs. Guess what I’m buying?

Good design is about looking through a user’s eyes.

We too often fall prey to the more must be better fallacy. In most scenarios, it is not. Think about your own consumption methods, how many times have you:

• Not finished that course

• Not finished that book

• Fallen asleep halfway through that bloated project update email

We tend to make this more complex than they should be.

That’s my experience after 15 years in the industry. I’ve been part of many experiences which would have been more useful as a 5-minute article.

This is why thoughtful design is such an important element of most work.

It’s not L&D exclusive. Anyone who builds products will benefit from more thoughtful design.

The thoughtful design playbook

1. Understand the user's goals and objectives

If you don’t know this, you’re in trouble.

Use research techniques to identify their needs, pain points, and desired outcomes. You cannot build the best solution to solve the problem without this. This can be done through techniques such as user interviews and surveys.

Get as close to the problem as possible.

• What do the users know about it today?

• What are their motivations for solving it?

• Do they even care about it?

The more you know the better you can help.

2. Simplify complex concepts and information

A thoughtful design should aim to simplify complex concepts and information.

I always see any L&D operator's role as a context guide. You can be most effective when providing context on a complicated subject. The ability to lift the veil and say “Hey, this is what it means” is your superpower.

Once again, speaking to your audience helps here.

Knowing your user's current knowledge and motivations on the subject will inform your design. It has to, otherwise, you end up building something that no one wants.

3. Prioritise usability and ease of navigation

This is ‘THE’ crucial aspect of thoughtful design.

It doesn’t matter if you built the best solution our world has seen. If it’s drowned in a poor user interface and experience, it’s worthless. I know this sounds harsh.

Yet, I see this happen every day.

It literally happened an hour before I typed these words. I enjoy learning from smart people, but even they fall victim to poor design. I had to stop reading a newsletter this morning, even though I knew the content was fantastic.

It was horribly formatted.

My eyes were overwhelmed with huge blocks of text with never-ending paragraphs.

I kept scrolling and they kept coming. It doesn’t matter how great the content is if I can’t clearly and easily consume it. Users should be able to effortlessly navigate through an interface and find the information they need.

You must order content in a logical and intuitive manner

Get smart. Use clear labels and headings, and provide search and filtering options. Make it easy for users to unlock the value your design provides.

4. Test and iterate based on feedback

Experiment, test and improve - always.

The best way to do this is through your users. Build minimum viable products (MVPs) for your audience to play with. Then talk to them.

Discover what worked, what didn’t and you might even uncover things you never thought of before.

Build feedback reflections into your design process.

It’s really a no-brainer if you want to build solutions that solve problems and will give people value.

Final thoughts

In sum, challenge yourself on what is useful, why is it useful and how can you share this in the simplest possible way.

More content doesn’t equal more value.

It often leads to bloat, poor experiences and no performance outcome.

Be smart, and design with a human mind.

If you want to take that crash course on working smarter with AI. I’d love to have you onboard.

Deep Thought
3️⃣ Key Takeaways: ChatGPTs Impact On Productivity and Work Quality

Here’s a breakdown of Harvard and BCG’s latest AI productivity research. You can download your copy here. These are my personal takeaways.

1️⃣ What happened?

The study involved 758 consultants, representing about 7% of the individual contributor-level consultants at Boston Consulting Group.

Participants were divided into three groups.

One had no access to AI, the second had access to GPT-4 AI, and the third had access to GPT-4 AI along with a prompt engineering overview.

The study focused on 18 realistic consulting tasks to measure the capabilities of AI in a work setting.

2️⃣ What they discovered

• More Tasks, Less Time: Consultants using AI completed 12.2% more tasks and did so 25.1% faster.
  

• Quality Over Quantity: The quality of work improved by over 40% when AI was involved.

• Know the Limits: Interestingly, for tasks that were outside the capabilities of AI, consultants performed 19% worse.
  

3️⃣ Two types of AI users emerged

The study uncovered a few useful insights for successful AI use.

1. The Collaborators: These consultants used a mix of AI and their own skills.

2. The AI Worshipper: These went all-in and relied heavily on AI for their tasks.

The Dojo
Skip this if you don’t want 40% higher quality work output

A recent Boston Consulting Group and Harvard report discovered people working with ChatGPT:

• Completed 12.2% more tasks

• 25.1% faster task completion

• Over 40% higher quality work

If you want to work smarter and future-proof your skills - I’ve got you covered.

Leverage the power of ChatGPT for L&D with this Crash Course.

I like to say the Crash Course is much more than a course.

That’s because you get:

1. Monthly course updates

2. Free monthly course newsletter with actionable tips and tools

3. Access to the private L&D ChatGPT community with over 60 students

It’s a continuous learning experience, not a one-time event.

Also, check out the snazzy course promo 👇

LinkedIn

I post so much on LI, even I lose track of all the stuff. Here’s a quick roundup of drops to keep you and me in the loop:

1️⃣ 5 ways to leverage ChatGPT Enterprise For Your Talent Strategies

2️⃣ Using custom instructions in ChatGPT for L&D work

3️⃣ The 6-step blueprint to a high-performing talent strategy

Smart Thoughts

Content that has caught my attention and might interest you too.

🤔  LearningPool launches its first Gen AI product

Let the tidal wave of generative AI products and add-ons in workplace learning begin!

This one is built on ChatGPT-4. It’s likely 90% of all these AI products from learning vendors will be. This is why it’s useful to know your way around ChatGPT (**cough…check out my course…cough).

Basically, it works by recommending off-the-shelf solutions or helping you build custom ones. It’s plugged into MindTools content as a central source.

💡 World’s most successful banker predicts 3.5 day workweek for next generation with AI

JP Morgan CEO, Jamie Dimon is excited about generative AI.

It’s used by thousands of employees at his firm, and he believes it will bring a better quality of life for humans.

He even thinks we’ll see a 3.5 workweek because of it! I’ve never heard a banker so excited about anything other than money my whole life.

🔥  Navigating the future of L&D

I spent time this week giving dubious speculations about the future of L&D with the Greenmusk team.

I’m not an oracle or a guru. These are things we might see based on all the nerding out I do on industry data weekly.

How I can help you👇

1/ My L&D toolkit stack with 20 zero-cost tools.

2/ Work smarter with AI in HR and L&D in my ChatGPT Crash Course.

3/ Work with me on your projects and L&D challenges.

Please share your thoughts with me on these pieces or anything I share on LinkedIn or hit 'reply'. Chat to you soon.