Simple Ethnography
Simple Ethnography is a team reflection exercise for reflection and learning: it helps participants reflect on experience and turn observations into learning.
How to run it
- Explain the problem to be solved and the current understanding of the situation. 5 min.
- Identify sites to observe and people to shadow that will reveal user experience in depth. 5 min.
- Invite participants to visit sites and observe without speaking interactions and activities, recording details and internal reflections as they go. 10-180 min.
- Ask participants to then select behaviors observed that address the challenge in a novel fashion (in part or in whole) and follow up by asking the individuals they observed what they were feeling and doing as they engaged in the behavior. 20-180 min.
- Reconvene the group of ethnographers and use 1-2-4-All to compare notes and find patterns across observations or exceptional solutions. 15 min.
- Write up observations or compose stories that highlight needs and opportunities. 10-20 min.
- Feed insights into brainstorming and prototyping efforts. 10 min.
- You open the door to change and innovation by helping participants explore what people actually do and feel in creating, delivering, or using their offering.
Run this exercise live
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What participants need now
Materials:
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Prompts to use +
Explain the problem to be solved and the current understanding of the situation. 5 min.
Identify sites to observe and people to shadow that will reveal user experience in depth. 5 min.
Invite participants to visit sites and observe without speaking interactions and activities, recording details and internal reflections as they go. 10-180 min.
Ask participants to then select behaviors observed that address the challenge in a novel fashion (in part or in whole) and follow up by asking the individuals they observed what they were feeling and doing as they engaged in the behavior. 20-180 min.
Reconvene the group of ethnographers and use 1-2-4-All to compare notes and find patterns across observations or exceptional solutions. 15 min.
Write up observations or compose stories that highlight needs and opportunities. 10-20 min.
Run this with your AI assistant +
Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.
Adapt this exercise for my exact room. Exercise: Simple Ethnography. Readiness: Publishable Draft. Core moves: Explain the problem to be solved and the current understanding of the situation. 5 min.; Identify sites to observe and people to shadow that will reveal user experience in depth. 5 min.; Invite participants to visit sites and observe without speaking interactions and activities, recording details and internal reflections as they go. 10-180 min.; Ask participants to then select behaviors observed that address the challenge in a novel fashion (in part or in whole) and follow up by asking the individuals they observed what they were feeling and doing as they engaged in the behavior. 20-180 min.. Return a concise facilitator script with timing, wording, safety notes, and remote/in-person adjustments.
Origin unverified
- Where we observed it: The strongest current observations come from Liberating Structures; aggregators are listed as additional observations, not origin proof. (2 sources observed, including Liberating Structures, SessionLab.)
- What that means: we track where an exercise has been observed in public sources. We do not claim to know who created it, or how popular it is.
- No efficacy claims: appearing in this library is not a claim that the exercise is proven effective. Facilitator judgment and context decide whether it works for a given room.
- Corrections: if you have evidence of an earlier or more accurate source, read our methodology and trust boundary and tell us.