Storytelling – Once upon a time

I’ve been fascinated by the power of stories in the most diverse contexts. Be it while inventing a crazy tale for my kids (fun, specially when the kid loves surreal random stuff and girl loves consistency… a delicate balance), or during a presentation as an analogy or stage setting, sometimes during meetings to convey a strong message.

All cultures use stories. We are naturally hardwired, so it seems, to understand stuff through a narrative. It may be the best way ever invented by humankind to transfer implicit knowledge.

The Pixar story style is one vehicle to lay down a story. It uses a structure we can infuse with action, drama, suspense and humor. It goes like this (one of Pixar 22 rules):

Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

I suggest you try this now for yourself. For something happening you need to share.

Katina, the impala and the tree, some rights reserved

One of my own I wrote while walking around Maputo for my older princess as an example:

Once upon a time there was an impala. Every day, she would jump over lions and sometimes would hit a tree, she found out trees are hard. One day, impala asked a giraffe what should she do to prevent hurting trees (and most of her frontal body). Giraffe said: “Change direction every jump”. Because of that, impala stopped hitting trees. Because of that, more trees survived. Until finally, giraffe had more leaves to feast upon.

Dan Pink has written a great book on this and other topics (clarity is a must) around selling ideas – a critical skill nowadays.

Interviewing (viewing internally)

Dialogue by Sharon Mollerus from Flickr, Some Rights Reserved

Some notes from my experience interviewing people in project context.

Preparation

• I propose two possible dates, making sure there is time in between for writing down what I’ve uncovered.
• If it it’s not clear who fits the role I need, then I describe what he does and his responsibilities. Also, I state the main goal and topics of the interview I wish to go through.
• I find two, maybe three, interviews per day is my maximum for really good interviews. Beyond that I can’t do it well – it’s demanding and draining.
• In one paper sheet I list the context, goal and topics (preferably the interviewer already knows these beforehand) and put a few open questions that I can recall during the interview. I check them out at the end just in case.

Doing it

• Throw first, present yourself and context: why are we here? Then what you want to know.
• Begin with easy, non threatening questions, to overcome fear.
• Look for interesting topics that come up. Rephrase them – that ensures you confirm your understanding and shows real listening attitude.
• Allow for time, don’t rush the interview.
• Be quiet (hard, really hard for me) and let them finish what they say.
• I prefer a plain notebook and a pen. No computers. It’s a barrier.
• At the end I always thank for the time and ask permission for further questions just in case I need more information.

After

• Reserve 30 minutes right after the interview to jolt down your fresh notes in digital form. Trust me on this one.
• Sometimes I use colors to isolate different types of information. This way I don’t have to force a structure in unstructured notes and still identify higher level qualitative information. More on this here from a previous comment.