
Listening Deeply
(foundation course)
Listening Deeply
(foundation course)
Self-paced Course
Listening techniques that free you from interview Q’s to build clear knowledge about complex human cognition. Learn transitions, trust-building & self-care.
- 46 videos, in 4 sections
- Total video time: 11.25 hours
- Demos and examples
- Practice, reflections & quizzes
- Closed captions
- Listen w/ or w/out the screen
Length of Access:
6 Months
About This Course
Prerequisites
- none
Recommended Knowledge
- Instead of this course, you could read Indi’s Book Time to Listen is a similar but different experience to this course; the book contains an additional bit about recruiting, but less about the method
- Essays about Listening Skills
- Essays about Demographic Assumptions
Listening deeply is a powerful skill. Most people are surprised to learn how much their own inner voice and emotions distract them from truly hearing another person. This course teaches how to pay rapt attention. And it teaches when and why to do it.
- Section 1 – Build Awareness
- Section 2 – Listening Session Techniques
- Section 3 – Transitions & Trust
- Section 4 – Handling Complexity
Some of the video topics:
- How the word “listen” includes written, drawn, and physical forms of communication
- Starting a listening session with a germinal question, with no interview questions at all
- Seeing the conceptual layers of a topic, and aiming for the core interior cognition
- Allowing the person to lead the conversation, to speak about their experiences as it is pertinent to them
- Developing trust with the person, showing that you see their thinking and emotions as valid, and becoming wary of your own assumptions
- Recognizing where there might be more interior cognition
- Self-care with regard to a listening session and to a career in product strategy
- Triggers, knowing your threshold in advance, and handling various situations with both the person’s safety and yours in mind
It may seem counter-intuitive to take time to listen when you want to solve problems, but it’s foundational. In product and service design, listening deeply allows you to learn other people’s thinking and approaches to the purposes your organization intends to support. It is the path to discovering whole new opportunities. To this point, listening deeply is the way to create an opportunity map and thinking styles. These let you consider how well you are helping people achieve their purpose using an approach matched to them. And it helps you explain clearly to your stakeholders how your solutions are actually harming people. Listening is the key.
Course Features:
- Videos that don’t require you to look at the screen
- Self-assessment quizzes
- Practice instructions and reflections
- Downloadable hand outs
- Closed captions for each video, along with descriptive transcripts
- Accessible PDFs
- Downloadable transcripts
- Membership in Indi’s Slack workspace (no time limit)
Who is this for?
If you are a researcher, a listening session is very different than an interview. Learn how to let the participant direct the conversation and how to encourage the participant to uncover a trio of concept types that provide the richness of understanding you need in your data.
If you are a leader or team member, listening deeply is how you build relationships, giving other people the gift of feeling heard. By understanding their guiding principles, you are able to collaborate more effectively, with less strife and misunderstanding.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: If I have questions about the course content, will Indi answer them for me?
A: Asking a question in the Slack community will give Indi, her team, and many other Slack members a chance to see the question and respond to it.
Q: Do the recordings qualify me for Indi’s Problem Space Certification Program?
A: Not quite. You will also want to join the Live Practice series for each course. In these Live Practice meetings, you get to work on exercises together with Indi and others. This is where we discuss nuances of context and share experiences that help others prepare to conduct their own research. Live Practice meetings give you a chance to double your knowledge and demonstrate your understanding.
Other Languages
Take this course in Chinese through UXOffer:
Take this course in Spanish with Bibiana Nunes:
Take this course in Portuguese with Amyris Fernandez: