Q 623. What is the AEIOU framework in Design Thinking? Explain its utility along with an example.

 

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AEIOU are the vowels in alphabet but can be an end to end story in design thinking. Similar to vowels forming echolia in language , this framework forms the base of design thinking.

 

A- Activities

E- Environments

I - Interactions

O- Objects

U - Users

 

In a software development world, if one has to develop one feature, can be explained by design thinking AEIOU framework

 

For example the feature that needs to be built is a bot for case management tool.

 

Activities involved will be built the bot and test it

 

Environment will mean whether to build in a live environment or a test environment

 

 

Interactions would involve Developer to Bot, Tester to Bot and User to Bot or Bot to User

 

Objects would include BOT creation in Ui path or Blue Prism

 

Users would be the parties involved- Business Analysts, Developers, Testers and End Users

 

Now what did this whole framework tell us?

It definitely helps develop an operating model framework in our minds and gives a basic idea on how will an wnd product work.

 

AEIOU is a methodology to capture important points during observation.

It was developed by Rick E Robinson.

It stands for

A-Activities

Activities are the tasks that done for the output.

all the activities from input to out put are included in that.

E-Environment

Environment states that where the work has been taking place.

The conditions of work place and equipment.

I-Interaction-Interaction is the relation and co-ordination between the employees with each other and with the environment machines.

O-Objective 

It defines that what is the goal for which we are giving our input.

U-Users

Users are the employees who are involved in the process.

 

Quote

"Design Thinking is about cognitive flexibility and the ability to adapt the process to the challenges" and AEIOU with in design engineering is an powerful framework that can be used to document contextual Inquiries during ethnographic research and studies. 

 

 

 

The journey of design thinking starts with empathy. It means that a design thinker must first be capable of effortlessly understanding the perspective of the end user completely in order to realize what are his/her needs that are truly not being met with. 
The concept of design thinking is such that as a design thinker , trying to come up with the solution to a problem, does not necessarily need to have any or much experience in the field of profession the problem belongs to. The thinker has to simply follow 5 steps , that is, AEIOU.

A stands for Activities and helps the design thinker explore the range of behaviour that is being exhibited by the stakeholder. 
E stands for Environment, that is, the intricate details of the ecosystem with which the user is interacting with respect to the problem under observation.
I stands for Interaction and helps the design thinker to focus on how the stakeholder is actually reacting to all the events occurring in the given environment.
O stands for Objects and helps the design thinker narrow down on the items that the stakeholder is actually associating itself with.
U stands for Users and helps the design thinker to conclude who the actual stakeholders in this ecosystem are.

 

AEIOU supports design thinkers magnificently by enabling them to consistently concentrate on the needs of the user that are not being provided by anyone else. 
It is especially quintessential when a design thinker is trying to provide solution to an exceptionally complicated problem through the collection and analysis of data in a systematic manner. It supports the design thinker to absorb each element in the problem environment entirely. And finally , it acts as a strong catalyst to creative , out of the box and innovative solutions to problem.

 

An example : Raymond Damadian invented magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 1977. Immediately after it was implemented in hospitals on a large scale he made a trip to one of the biggest hospitals to collect Customer Feedback about the machine. A silent spectator to the full body scan of a 13 year old girl, he observed, from the MRI machine specialist room , how nervous and terrified the child was as soon as she arrived at the MRI room. Her parents persistently tried their best to calm her down and prepare her for the scan. She finally volunteered for the scan but half way through the scan had to be stopped as the child could not take it anymore. The MRI specialist had to give her anesthesia in order to complete the procedure. On further research Raymond Damadian learnt that most kids are given anesthesia either in the beginning of or half way through the scan in order to complete the procedure. This was a huge problem for Raymond as a brilliant and potentially life saving machine was giving patients nightmares. So he performed AEIOU as explained below:
Activity is the full body scan that patients direly need for the diagnosis of the significant health conditions they have.
Environment is the MRI machine into which patients must enter and stay in a static position for an hour for the scan to be successful.
Interaction is the fear and paranoia that claustrophobic and / or young patients experience during the scan due to the internal ambience of the machine.
Objects are the loud thundering sounds that the machine produces and the frequent violent jerks that are felt by the patient during the scanning procedure. 
Users are patients who direly need to go through a full body scan but want avoid it at any cost.

 

The result of this exercise was a MRI machine that had a larger internal diameter and looked like a pirate ship , into which young patients must enter and go on an adventure for an hour. From the moment a patient would arrive at the MRI room an audio would begin playing, welcoming the patient and addressing it as a dangerous pirate that is going to begin its journey in the violent sea. As the patient would lie down and gradually enter into the machine, the audio would play sounds of lightening and thunder, covering the loud sounds and jerks of the machine. At the end of the scan patients would come out of the machine extremely happy and excited about the experience they just had and looking forward to the next scan. 
This brilliantly creative and out of the box solution to the users problem was a result of Design Thinking, resulting into extremely happy patients who would no more feel terrified or need anesthesia to complete a full body scan.

AEIOU is essentially a Framework to structure all observations you make on the field mostly used during user research. AEIOU stands for Activities, Environments, Interactions, Objects, and Users.

 

Activities are goal-directed sets of actions. Who are the people, what is the work &/or specific activities and processes they go through to get the results.

Environments include the entire area of where activities take place. What is the function of each individual spaces.

Interactions are between a person and / or someone or something else; they are the building blocks of activities. What is the nature special interactions between people / objects in their environment.

Objects are building blocks of the environment, capturing all the key elements in a process. What are the objects and devices in their environments and how do they relate to their performed activities?

Users are the people whose behaviors or process are being observed. Who? What is roles and relationships?

 

Example

A = Activities. 

Developing on 3D Printing parameters for 0.5MM layer thickness.

E = Environments.

Inert gas in chamber while printing with contact 5 bar pressure  

I = Interactions.

EOS 400 Machine, IN718 powder

O = Objects. 

Additional supports provided for supporting hangover of parts. Steel re-coater used.

U = Users. 

Oxygen, Nitrogen & Hydrogen were in control as per defined specification if IN718 powder.   

Sriya has provided the best answer to the question. Other answers are also worth reading.