Sessions

The Problem Solving Power of Stickies: Simple Tools that Deliver Great Results
with Kate Rutter, Adaptive Path

Rate this session1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (26)
Loading ... Loading ...

a picture of kate rutter

Learn the true power of the sticky note — yes, stickies! — to quickly and effectively organize data, visualize themes, and identify patterns.. We’ll start with an overview of how Adaptive Path uses sticky notes (aka: Post-Its) in user experience projects. Then, we’ll jump into a set of hands-on activities to test your stickies aptitude and gain experience in multiple methods.

You’ll learn methods for rapidly visualizing and organizing data into clusters using sticky notes and how these simple, elegant, and versatile tools can help you untangle problems, set priorities, understand complex work flows, and gather feedback from others.

You’ll leave with a greater appreciation for the sticky note, a killer vocabulary for how to creatively use stickies, and an enhanced ability to sort, track, and organize information. You’ll be amazed what you can do with these simple little tools.

About Kate Rutter

Kate Rutter is a Senior Practitioner for Adaptive Path. During her ten plus years in the Web industry, she’s honed her talent for bringing companies and customers closer together through smart strategies and inventive design. She actively embraces the term “specialized generalist.”

8 Responses to “The Problem Solving Power of Stickies: Simple Tools that Deliver Great Results”

  1. {sf} Sam Felder » Blog Archive » AP UX Week ‘07: The Problem Solving Power of Stickies Says:
    August 13th, 2007 at 8:46 am

    […] Blogged Notes from Adaptive Path UX Week 2007. The Power of Stickies by Kate […]

  2. Kate Says:
    August 14th, 2007 at 1:11 am

    I’ve been asked a couple of times about remote collaboration for these techniques.

    I’m sure there’s some way to cobble together screensharing and the personal sticky software, but the needs of the collaborative clustering aren’t met with this setup.

    I’m not aware of any great collaborative sticky tool, so if you know of one, post a link; I’d love to know about it.

  3. Mallory Says:
    August 14th, 2007 at 10:15 am

    great session - lots of applied techniques that I can us next week. Really interested in what Kate mentioned about printing directly to stickies!

  4. Kate Says:
    August 14th, 2007 at 2:24 pm

    Hi, all: Here are a couple of references that folks have requested:

    Printable stickies:
    #ONLinE Catalog Note that they ain’t cheap, but they save oodles of time.

    Books
    Rapid problem-solving with Post-It Notes by David Straker. This is a rigorous book with methods, directives and blueprints. This has been a terrific sourcebook for me in the path to ninjahood.

    Ideas that Stick by the 3M Post-it team. 222 ideas for use of stickies, most for personal use, but there are some selected tips for teams.

    Articles
    While you were out, the Post-it Went Home, New York Times [registration required] (Thanks to Kim for this link!)

    Please add other references as you find them…

  5. Kate Says:
    August 20th, 2007 at 1:27 am

    Hey all:

    I’ve updated the downloadable slides to include the how-to instructions for the methods. Email me if you have comments or questions. Go stickies!

  6. The problem solving power of stickies: simple tools that deliver great results « Put that button over there… Says:
    August 20th, 2007 at 10:05 pm

    […] […]

  7. Bri Says:
    August 24th, 2007 at 10:21 am

    In terms of remote collaboration tools, there’s CardMeeting: http://www.cardmeeting.com/

    I haven’t used this myself but it looks pretty interesting based on their website.

  8. Kate Says:
    September 4th, 2007 at 1:50 am

    Thanks, Bri. I’ll check it out.

    Also, I’ve been asked about the story I told about the ceramics professor who divided the class into 2 groups: the first group was graded on the quantity of all their work (50 lbs = “A”, 40 lbs = “B”, etc.) and the 2nd group was graded on quality (only one pot was needed, but it had to be perfect.)

    When grading time rolled around, a curious fact emerged: all the best work was created by the group graded on quantity. The quantity group was happily churning out work and learning from their mistakes, while the quality group was focussed on perfection, at the expense of learning how to produce anything.

    The story comes from a terrific book, Art & Fear, by David Bayless and Ted Orland. It’s in the section on “perfection” (p. 29 of the 1993 printing.)

    The story isn’t credited to a specific college or professor, although I’ve emailed them to try to find out more. I’ll post an update if I hear anything.

    -Kate

Join the Discussion

Supporting Documents

Keynotes