Don't solve the wrong problem - Design club 2017

Transcript

1. DON’T SOLVE THE WRONG PROBLEM: USER RESEARCH FTW!
 @bensauer DESIGN CLUB 10/17
3. Why do you do what you do?
4. WHY IS SOLVING THE RIGHT PROBLEM SO HARD?
5. Curious Rituals produced by The Near Future Laboratory
7. Curious Rituals produced by The Near Future Laboratory
8. THE ORG USERS THE WEBSITE
9. EINSTEIN If I had only one hour to save the world, 
 I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem, and only five minutes 
 finding the solution.
10. The product death cycle
11. Talking to users is not enough: observation rules.
12. If you’re prepared to spend thousands on your products, why can’t you spend a much smaller amount making sure 
 it’s the right product?
13. What mindset should you adopt?
16. What we actually know What we think we know large scale small
 scale
17. “In the best teams we studied, every single team member spends an average of two hours every six weeks watching people use the product (or a competitor’s product).” Jared Spool
18. WHAT KIND OF RESEARCH SHOULD YOU DO?
19. What? Behaviour, outcomes Analytics, KPIs, conversion rate Sentiment Voice of Customer Mini-surveys, feedback Why? Experience Interviews, usability testing large scale small
 scale
20. COMBINED INTERVIEWS AND TESTS
21. Conducting user interviews 
 is a core digital skill. If your team isn’t doing 
 them, start now.
22. START WITH RESEARCH OBJECTIVES We want to know how students go about researching their choice of university. PRIMARY SECONDARY What problems do they encounter using our website and our competitors websites?
23. THE TWO THINGS YOU WILL TEST Can people use this? EMPIRICAL SPECULATIVE Would they use this? Mostly  just  clues Evidence
24. RECRUITMENT TIPS •Pay em! •Ex-users are the best. •Screen out the freeloaders and the quiet ones •A mix of people over a perfect demographic
25. TYPICAL INTERVIEW STRUCTURE •Intro: why, brief, waiver, payment (5 mins) •Interview: about them (20-25 mins) •Usability testing (20-25 mins) •Summary (5 mins)
26. DISCUSSION GUIDE TIPS •Condense the guide to an A4 sheet. •Start broad, e.g.: “So… tell me about your work.” •Group your questions into themes. •Order themes in a way that narrows over time. •Put your really important theme near the end. •Uncover details to test later.
27. FIND YOUR INNER ZEN INTERVIEWER
28. The hardest thing is to avoid asking leading questions. Practise.
29. Testing
30. SETTING TASKS You have 200+ books in your fiction collection, currently in boxes strewn around your living room. Find a way to organize them. GOOD TASK BAD TASK Search for a bookcase
31. IMPROVISED VS. PRESCRIBED You’re traveling from home to visit your _____ in ______. Find the cheapest route on public transport. IMPROVISED BAD TASK You have 200+ books in your fiction collection, currently in boxes strewn around your living room. Find a way to organize them.
32. TIPS • “You applied to Birmingham Uni…?” (parrot talk) • “Tell me more about…” • “Describe the steps you’re going through here” • “Before you click, what do you think will happen next?”
33. BAD QUESTIONS • “Do you like this?” • “Did you feel…x?” • “Were you thinking y?” • “Let me show you how this works…”
34. INTERVIEW TIPS • Remind them that you’re testing the system, not them • Don’t keep people waiting around • Set them at ease: make it seem informal • Remunerate them in advance so they understand it’s not contingent on their performance
35. EXTERNALISE THE ANALYSIS
36. FIND THE SUBTEXT
37. Uncertain Certain Ryan The Undecided Delali The Visionary
38. If you buy *three* things, make it Silverback, 
 and these books ...
39. COMMUNICATING RESEARCH
41. Ryan The Undecided “I sort of know *roughly* what I want to do. Roughly.” Summary 18 year old Ryan lives in Brighton. He’s a little unsure about what to study; he’s looked at a lot of sport-related courses but he hasn't got any closer to choosing. He hasn’t been to any open days; his family haven’t been involved much as they didn’t go to Uni. His initial choices of Uni are based on what his friends have told him, but he’s leaving the whole process to the last minute. Goals RATIONAL: Find a good course and university. EMOTIONAL: Get a bit of distance and independence from his family. Challenges • Lorem Ipsum • Lorem Ipsum • Lorem Ipsum
42. Choose subject Shortlist Refine Prioritise The course selection funnel Evaluate Eliminate A P P L Y Behaviours Lorem Ipsum • Lorem Ipsum • Lorem Ipsum • Lorem Ipsum • Lorem Ipsum Lorem Ipsum • Lorem Ipsum • Lorem Ipsum Opportunities Lorem Ipsum • Lorem Ipsum • Lorem Ipsum • Lorem Ipsum • Lorem Ipsum What should I study? Where could I go? Which ones do I like? What’s my best option? Low Med High Digital Opportunity Undecided Visionary • Lorem Ipsum • Lorem Ipsum Elimination criteria • Lorem Ipsum • Lorem Ipsum • Lorem Ipsum Evaluation criteria • Lorem Ipsum • Lorem Ipsum • Lorem Ipsum Lorem Ipsum Lorem Ipsum • Lorem Ipsum • Lorem Ipsum
43. GUIDING PRINCIPLES
44. PARTING THOUGHTS… • User research is a team sport. • Don’t ask permission; find the time. • Watch what they do, not what they say. • Uncover mental models. • Favour guerrilla over science, action over academia. • Resolve differences with testing. • Make raw findings visible and tangible. • Never conflate value testing with usability testing.
45. Learn Build Measure Title Text YOU ARE NEVER DONE
46. Days since we met users 3
47. STEVE JOBS “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology - not the other way around.”
48. Technology is not things, it is practise. therefore… Outcomes, not outputs. URSULA FRANKLIN’S ‘THE REAL WORLD OF TECHNOLOGY’ @bensauer
49. Thanks I am @bensauer