Designing the right thing

When we have a good idea, we often just want to dive in and get started. But how do we know the idea is actually good? Learn some design thinking methods to help you 'design the right thing' instead of 'designing the thing right'. We'll explore some simple ways to make sure you are on the right path, and be confident that it is the right path.

Transcript

1. Designing the right thing Donna Spencer
2. About me • Principal Product Designer at MakerX • 20+ years of design experience • Author of 5 UX books • @maadonna • Linkedin: Donna Spencer
3. It’s easy to design the thing right… It’s better to design the right thing
6. A design funnel instead
7. Research expands our options
8. Customer / user research lets us check fitness of the idea
9. Idea generation
10. Generate more ideas from the original
11. Select some to continue with
12. Idea exploration
13. Deepen the ideas by going into them in more detail
14. Select ideas to prototype
15. Prototype
16. Prototypes test feasibility and desirability
17. Idea generation methods
18. Brainstorming Free-form idea generation No critique/judgement Doesn’t happen naturally Structure and prompts can improve outcomes
19. Paperclip brainstorm Give people a paperclip Think about how many uses it could have Good warmup before brainstorming
20. 3-12-3 brainstorming 3 min: write starting ideas individually and throw them in the pool 12 min: pair up, draw 3 ideas and develop a concept 3 min: report back Needs strict timekeeping and a ticking clock. Another good warmup
21. Collaborative sketching Sketch an initial idea Share with the group Using the ideas shared, sketch again Variant – pass your idea to someone else and they revise your idea (this is also called brainwriting)
22. SCAMPER Substitute Combine Adapt Magnify/Modify Put to other uses Eliminate Rearrange / Reverse
23. Reversal A specific version of SCAMPER Ask people to create a worse idea than the starting prompt Good for loosening up a group Always fun!
24. Keyword combinations Create a list of words related to the problem Technology, adjectives, different markets Use these words in novel combinations
25. Idea exploration methods
26. Bodystorming Brainstorming in physical space by acting out an idea
27. Elevator pitch For (user or customer) who has (a particular need) the (thing – idea, feature or product) is a (category – broad idea that describes these kind of things) that (main benefit). Unlike (closest competitor if there is one) the thing (unique differentiator).
28. Newspaper story from the future Imagine it’s 3 years from now. What would put your product on the front page of the newspaper?
29. Design the box Design the box for a product • Name • Tagline • Features • Description
30. Prioritisation and selection methods
31. Prioritisation matrix 2x2 matrices to help determine priorities
32. Divide the dollar Give everyone $100 They can allocate features to that $100
33. MoSCoW Must: essential to the product, legal requirements, safety requirements or that other features are dependent on. Should: provide significant value. Could: technically feasible, but may need more research to determine if they are valuable. Won’t: technically not feasible, that yet have no known value, are included in a different product or are otherwise out of scope.
34. Thank you! Find me at • @maadonna • Linkedin: Donna Spencer (tell me you met me here) • Work: makerx.com.au • Methods at designmethods.com.au (very unfinished)