What I learnt from Sherlock Holmes

We’ve all been there - that moment when you, designers and researchers, are stumped and overwhelmed with hours of video, thousands of photos, artifacts, and documents. What should you do next? How do you do it? And how do you know when you've done a good job?

As with all detective work, design research is not a random search for clues; it is a structured, coherent and systematic process aiming to solve problems. In her talk, Razan will alternate between the detective hat and our UX hat as we take a look at the mindset, the skills, and the techniques we can learn from the greatest detective of them all - Sherlock Holmes.

Transcript

1. WHAT I LEARNT FROM SHERLOCK HOLMES # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
2. This Talk How and when to conduct user research. The benefits of user research to product development. Habits and practices to become a better researcher. ✓ ✘ ✘ @razsadeq
3. A LITTLE BACKGROUND # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
4. Computer Engineering Project Management Interaction Design Interactive Media UX Research Internships & art residencies My Journey # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
5. Nine Months Later…
6. Mentor /ˈmɛntɔː/ An experienced and trusted adviser. # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
7. Data. Data. I cannot make bricks without clay. Data.
8. 1. The Early Hypothesis 2. The Missed Opportunity 3. The Curious Incident 4. The Divided Attention 5. The Obsessed Researcher Five Cases # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
9. THE EARLY HYPOTHESIS CASE 1 # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
10. Holmes’ Method Understand the problem Collect Data Develop hypotheses Test the hypotheses Validation Present the conclusion Y E S . T H E S C I E N T I F I C M E T H O D CORRECT INCORRECT # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
11. A 5-Step Process F O R C O N D U C T I N G U S E R R E S E A R C H
12. A 5-Step Process F O R C O N D U C T I N G U S E R R E S E A R C H 1. Objectives 2. Hypotheses 3. Methods 4.Conduct 5.Synthesis Collecting Data # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
13. “It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts”. # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
14. Avoid Early Hypotheses To develop better and more informed hypotheses. To generate criteria to test the hypothesis against. To reduce sunk cost. ✓ ✓ ✓ # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
15. A Seven-Step UR Process 1. Objectives 3. Hypotheses 4. Plan Research 5.Conduct 6.Synthesis 2. Collect Data 7.Communicate # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
16. THE MISSED OPPORTUNITY CASE 2 # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
18. You see everything, but you fail to reason from what you see. You are too timid in drawing your inferences. “ ” — Sherlock Holmes, The Blue Carbuncle # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
19. Everything that you put in your brain matters in how you think, and how you approach problems. # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
20. The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes. “ ” — Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
21. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across. “ ” — Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
22. THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME CASE 3 # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
23. Camera access 12 Filters Self Timer Crop/Rotate Brightness/Contrast 14 Collage options Camera access 16 Filters Self Timer Crop/Straighten Brightness/Contrast 16 Collage options App 1 App 2 Price: Free Price: 3.99€ iOS / Android iOS 9 or higher # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
24. Omission neglect Omission neglect refers to insensitivity to missing information of all types—including unmentioned or unknown options, possibilities, and events. When people fail to think about what they do not know, they underestimate the importance of missing information. # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
25. Ask them to tell you a story Listen to what do, not just what they say Ask them about their emotions Follow up on interesting threads with “whys” and “hows”. # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
26. THE DIVIDED ATTENTION CASE 4 # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
27. # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
28. Any amount of divided attention almost always leads to some level of performance degradation.
29. No man burdens his mind with small matters unless he has some very good reason for doing so. “ ” — Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
30. “Do one thing properly, or a lot of things shitty.” — Ben # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
31. # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
32. Learnings from “Focus” 1. Multitasking is a myth. 2. Sharpened attention and focus makes you more productive and observant. 3. Entering a flow = Happiness. 4. You can train your attention through short daily practices # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
33. www.calm.com Meditate # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
34. # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
35. THE OBSESSED RESEARCHER CASE 5 # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
36. “It is quite a three pipe problem, and I beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes.” # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
37. Disengage # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
38. 1. The Early Hypothesis 2. The Missed Opportunity 3. The Curious Incident 4. The Divided Attention 5. The Obsessed Researcher Five Cases # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
39. Five Learnings 1. Don't come to conclusions before you have data. 2. Get the right knowledge, use your brain capacity wisely. 3. Notice the missing information and ask a lot of questions. 4. Be mindful and stay focused through daily practices. 5. Disengage and let the lower brain work for you. # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
40. “From long habit, the train of thoughts ran so swiftly through my mind that I arrived at the conclusion without being conscious of intermediate steps” # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq
41. THANK YOU # F T F 1 5 @razsadeq