Ideas About Moderating a User Story Map

Process & Techniques
#1

Today, in class, we were tasked at just creating a User Story Map for a hypothetical task. We, an enthusiastic bunch of designers, threw ourselves at this new objective with gusto… and never decided on a dedicated Moderator to help regulate the process.

(O.o)
^(Me, after having survived that intense social/intellectual duress.)

As a temporary group, we all agreed that some kind of leader figure (A ‘Moderator’ appears to be the traditional term) to help the process move along.

We are soon taking the User Story Map Exercise to our long-term group projects. I have volunteer to act as a Moderator for this, yet I can’t seem to find any articles or resources on tips and tricks for new Moderators.
Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
-braydn

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#2

So, first time moderating experience happened yesterday. Here are some tips I’ll pass along from that:
-Ensure that everyone is pre-prepared to talk about the USER - this gives the meeting its needed, collective Focus.
-That said, Encourage and Explore tangents when they come up - doing so helps that individual feel listened to AND helps you see what’s on their mind. (Additional Note: Too many tangents will deter people from Focusing on the User; watch for this.)
-If you have a Primary Persona prepared, bring that with you and reference it often.
-Establish a voting method at the start of the exercise.
-If you wish to have a ‘Talking Stick Mechanic’, make sure that everyone is on board with using it from the start.

Hope this helps,
-braydn

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