The Essentials of Great Product Design

This talk will explore three key components to creating great products: understanding customer needs, rapidly prototyping and testing ideas, and true cross-team collaboration.

- How to discover customer needs through observation
- Rapidly test and iterate on new ideas without wasting development cycles
- Fostering cross-team collaboration that leads to customer empathy and a unified vision

Transcript

1. The Essentials of Great Product Design Matt Baxter • @mbxtr • March 16, 2016
2. Matt Baxter LEAD PRODUCT DESIGNER
3. We are a technology-enabled benefits management company that helps fill gaps in prescription coverage. In the pharmacy savings card business since 1993.
4. 50 million households reached every month active members save money with our products 1.2 million
5. Tens of millions of prescriptions filled annually average savings on prescription drug prices Over 40%
6. www.refillwise.com Rx Discounts Loyalty Points Cash Rewards
7. Data Science Technology Product Design
8. Product Design Is a holistic perspective Focused on the problem/solution fit Can be applied to any type of product; software, hardware, or service
9. Rapid Prototyping
10. Start “Done” Able to test Without Prototyping
11. With Prototyping Start “Done” Able to test
12. “The sprint is a five-day process for answering critical business questions through design, prototyping, and testing ideas with customers.” http://www.gv.com/sprint/
13. Make it tangible
14. LOW or HIGH
15. Prototyping 
 answers questions
 that meetings can’t
16. Learn to experiment and avoid the 
 sunk-cost fallacy
17. Prototyping
18. www.invisionapp.com
19. Framer www.framerjs.com
20. Or use what you have… Keynote Powerpoint
21. User Research
22. Your product is an answer to 
 someone’s problem
23. Just asking isn’t enough Q? A!
24. Find out why
25. Listen & Observe
26. Analytics & data reveal patterns
27. Qualitative research leads to empathy
28. “It’s the closest thing we’ve found to a silver bullet when it comes to reliably improving the designs teams produce… The number of hours each team member is exposed directly to real users…” — Jared Spool https://articles.uie.com/user_exposure_hours/
29. Research doesn’t have to be expensive and complicated
30. “Elaborate usability tests are a waste of resources. The best results come from testing no more than 5 users…” — Jakob Neilson https://www.nngroup.com/articles/why-you-only-need-to-test-with-5-users/
31. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/why-you-only-need-to-test-with-5-users/ “The cost-benefit analysis of user testing provides the optimal ratio around 3 or 5 users”
32. User Research
33. 30 - 60 minutes 1 computer ⏰ 3 - 5 users Testing Sessions
34. Reminder: We’re testing the product, 
 not the participant
35. everyone Share with
36. Collaboration
37. open communication Collaboration is…
38. open communication humility & empathy Collaboration is… +
39. “Each group, then, is trying to do the right thing, but they're pulling in different directions. If any one of those groups 'wins,' we lose.” — Ed Catmull, Co-Founder of Pixar
40. We start with open brainstorming sessions
41. Define the problem
42. Generate & Distill
43. Share 
 early and often
44. www.invisionapp.com
45. www.slack.com
46. Lower the barrier 
 of participation
47. The Essentials of Great Product Design Rapid Prototyping User Research Collaboration
48. Thanks! Matt Baxter Luscinia Health mbaxter@lusciniahealth.com @mbxtr