Essays & Recordings
Essays
A Team that Is Switched On
what does non-hierarchical collaboration look like?
Sep 25, 2020 / Read More
How to Wield Empathy
This is what I mean by empathy. I tried thinking like Daren would think.
Aug 25, 2020 / Read More
Generating Focused Ideas Through Practical Empathy
Building awareness of cognitive bias, and solving for it with thinking styles and problem space research
Aug 24, 2020 / Read More
Remote Collaboration Tips
Time travel with me back to 2003, and discover the through-line.
Aug 24, 2020 / Read More
Yes to Problem Space Research
organizations are starving for knowledge, and they think everything is fine
Aug 08, 2020 / Read More
Watch past talks
People, Purposes, Patterns & Problem Space
Keynote: The Courage to Understand People Deeply
Listening Deeply - Understand People Before Solving Problems
Closing Keynote: Paying Better Attention to the Problem
Paying Better Attention to the Problem
Paying Better Attention to the Problem
Listen to other recordings
Podcast episode chat with hosts Lara & Chris and Indi as the guest.
Monthly Meeting: AMA with Indi Young
A Session On Empathy, Cognitive Bias, & Listening in an Overstimulated World
Indi Young on problem-space research for cultural organizations
Can Empathy Be Taught?
Indi Young & Brian Sullivan Fireside Chat
Published articles

Removing Bias from Your Solutions
Jan-2021 – User Research Explained, A Charity Collection of Essays for Pandemic Relief;


When You Listen, What Are You Thinking
Nov-2019 – Design Management Institute dmi:Review “Innovative Thinking on Diversity & Inclusion,” Vol. 30, Issue 3, November 2019, page 22;
Contributions

3 Ways to Select the Perfect Method for your Research Goal
Dec-2014 – UXmas – Advent Calendar for UX folk
Comics

Developing valid personas
Created by Indi Young & Brad Colbow
This comic introduces the basics of creating behavioral audience segments. The examples shown in this comic are labeled as roles by accident, so ignore that. .

Mental Model Diagrams Cartoon
Created by Indi Young & Brad Colbow
Designers focus on the details of experiences–flow, layout, connection to other channels, tone of voice, etc. The goal is to be as “user-aware” as possible, yet there are different kinds of users. How can you support them more completely? For that matter, how can you support even one segment of users in a manner that aligns with their inner thinking?
Featured Articles

Designing with Mental Model Diagrams – An Introduction
by Tiago Camacho and Leah Connolly
Understanding people and what they’re trying to achieve is a key part of a solid design process. Mental model diagrams are a powerful way to achieve this, as they help you map people’s experiences in-depth and in a scalable way.

Building Mental Model Diagrams
by Tiago Camacho and Leah Connolly
In our previous article, we introduced mental model diagrams, some of the theory behind them, and the kind of value we believe they offer organisations. In this more hands-on article, we’ll take you through our process of collaboratively building a comprehensive mental model diagram.

How I apply Indi Young’s problem space research approach in coaching my mentees
by Pei Ling Chin
Understand your mentees deeper and go beyond ‘what went well’ and ‘what went wrong’.

How I apply Indi Young’s problem space research approach in coaching my mentees (slideshow)
by Pei Ling Chin
It almost sounds silly to attend a talk on listening, because surely we know how to listen. But do we, really? I discovered during and after this talk that a lot of team issues can be resolved if only teams learn to develop empathy, and empathy can only be developed through listening deeply.