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Knowledge Gap

Understand the current knowns and unknowns in knowledge relating to the problem space.

Knowledge Gap helps you identify the knowns and unknowns related to the problem space. Ask questions and answer them to the best of your knowledge. The knowns will guide your team to a shared understanding. The unknowns will guide your team to the areas that need further research.

5-10 people
60 minutes

What you’ll need

  • Pens or markers
  • Sticky notes (2 colors)
  • Sheets of paper
  • Easel pad

Prerequisite Activities

Downloadable Materials

Instructions

step 1

Share the problem statement

Reference the problem statement from the Problem Framing activity.

The user ________ [user’s name] ________
needs a way to ___ [a goal, job, or activity the user aims to accomplish] ___
because _________ [supporting information about your user] ________.

step 2

Ask questions

Assess what information you have. Have each person write down a question relevant to the problem. Use one question per sheet of paper or a different colored sticky note. Explore the past and current work, facts, and assumptions related to users, context, and business.

Use these questions as a starting point:.

 

About Users

  • What are the users’ objectives?
  • What goal, job, or activity do they want to accomplish?
  • How are they accomplishing it today?
  • What is most challenging for them?
  • What are the users’ current motivations for doing what they’re doing?
  • Where in the experience are users having positive and negative experiences?
  • How does this problem impact the user?

About Context

  • What is the context related to the problem?
  • What are the existing product(s) and competitors?
  • What are the political, economic, and environmental factors?
  • What are the technology factors?
  • What are the social and cultural factors?

About Business

  • What are the business objectives?
  • How does this problem impact the business?
step 3

Create a work space

You can use 3 large easel pad papers or draw 3 sections
on a whiteboard. Label the spaces: users, context, and
business. Draw a horizontal line in the middle of each space.
Label the top section as ‘known’ and the bottom section
as ‘unknown’.

step 4

Explore the known information

Post each question on a board around the room. Have everyone walk around and respond to as many questions as they can by writing answers on the other colored sticky note and putting it near the respective question.

step 5

Discover the gap in knowledge

Read all the questions and responses aloud to the team. Identify important questions the team still needs to answer by marking the question. What information is missing and how does this block your team from moving forward?

step 6

Prioritize unanswered questions

Make a list of these questions and prioritize them. Decide how the team can answer them.