This class will introduce the idea of a scientific approach to product development. We’ll focus on how to make sure we build products customers love, starting with how to frame hypotheses and perform user research.
be able to frame ideas in terms of hypotheses understand purpose and problem as starting points know what an MVP is and isn’t understand variety of types of user research know how to make proto-personas & empathy maps learning outcomes
shareholder value https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/19/business/business-roundtable-ceos-corporations.html see https://opportunity.businessroundtable.org/ourcommitment/
SpaceX “the company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk to revolutionize space transportation and ultimately make it possible for people to live on other planets.”
Jack Andraka His parents, he says, never really answered any of the questions they had. Go figure it out for yourself, they would say. “I got really into the scientific method of developing a hypothesis and testing it and getting a result and going back to do it again.” http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2012/06/18/wait-did-this-15-year-old-from-maryland-just-change-cancer-treatment/
what problem are you trying to solve? why: can you deliver value to your organization and your users? what/how: what problem can you solve for your users? how? how will you measure success? discovery
identify risks and create risk log validate problem to solve—or not! identify personas define what success looks like in next month and next year in measurable terms identify key assumptions and design experiments to test them discovery outcomes
applies design thinking methods 1-4 week collaborative workshop product owner, key stakeholders, cross-functional team make sure we have validated the opportunity goal is to produce shared understanding discovery workshop
identify risks and create risk log validate problem to solve—or not! identify personas define what success looks like in next month and next year in measurable terms identify key assumptions and design experiments to test them discovery outcomes
3. feasibility risk (whether our engineers can build what we need with the time, skills and technology we have) 1. value risk (whether customers will buy it or users will choose to use it) 2. usability risk (whether users can figure out how to use it) 4. business viability risk (whether this solution also works for the various aspects of our business) measuring risk https://svpg.com/four-big-risks/
minimum viable product? “The MVP is that version of the product that enables a full turn of the Build-Measure-Learn loop with a minimum amount of effort and the least amount of development time.” — Eric Ries “An MVP should never be an actual product (where product is defined as something that your developers can release with confidence, that your customers can run their business on, and that you can sell and support). The MVP should be a prototype, not a product.” — Marty Cagan
avoid solution bias https://blog.leanstack.com/how-to-avoid-the- innovators-bias-for-the-solution-2a6f23cc0851 Create a unique value proposition (UVP) focused on helping someone become better at something
Personas and empathy mapping WHY WHAT HOW • Make assumptions and knowledge about users explicit • Give the team a common language to talk meaningfully about users • Building empathy towards users in a way that data can’t accomplish • Sketch out a person, their needs, and behavior • Look into the mind of the targeted persona & think about the sensory experiences of the character when interacting with your company and product • Work together in your teams and consider: Who are your users and why are they using the system? What behaviors, assumptions, and expectations color their view of the system? FURTHER READING http://www.innovationgames.com/empathy-map/ | Adlin, T., & Pruitt, J. (2010). The Essential Persona Lifecycle | http://www.cooper.com/journal/2014/05/persona-empathy-mapping