User Experience Fishbowl
Share practical know-how by having a few experienced people talk candidly in an inner circle while everyone else listens, then opens it up with questions. Adapted from Liberating Structures (https://www.liberatingstructures.com/user-experience-fishbowl), licensed CC BY-NC 3.0.
4 parts · 6 phases
A few people with direct experience — the "fish" — sit in the inner circle and talk. Everyone else observes and takes notes without interacting.
- The inner circle shares the good, the bad, and the ugly
The fish have a real conversation about their experience. Two rules: no speeches, and talk to each other — not to the outer circle.
- What did you observe? What do you want to ask?
In small groups, the outer circle turns observations into questions for the fish.
- Outer circle asks, inner circle responds
Bring the questions to the fish and let them respond.
- What seems possible now?
Debrief together: What happened? So what does it mean? Now what seems possible?