April Wensel: Developers, meet your users: Best practices for including developers in user tests

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcUbDJ4q7dw

Speaker: April Wensel is an international speaker and the founder of Compassionate Coding, a social enterprise focused on helping companies cultivate sustainable, human-­centered agile development practices and grow the emotional intelligence of their teams. She has spent the past decade in software engineering and technical leadership roles at various startups and research institutions. She also mentors with programs like Black Girls Code and Hackbright Academy in order to support diversity in the software industry. When not coding, she enjoys writing, running marathons, and cooking vegan food.

Abstract: Most UX designers recognize the importance of user testing to uncover user needs and build empathy for the user's experience with the product. However, in many companies, developers are completely left out of the user testing equation, or perhaps only included in second-hand accounts.
What a tragedy! Nothing beats seeing your users interacting with your product first-hand. If you're leaving the developers out of your user tests, you're missing out on a huge opportunity. By bringing their unique perspective to the user tests, developers can glean helpful insights and build empathy, which will have far-reaching effects on the future of your product. Not only that, but when developers participate in user tests, they gain a better understanding of the motivation behind designer requests, which facilitates better collaboration.
In this talk, developers will learn how to get the most out of user tests, and designers and others will learn how to include developers in user tests most effectively and avoid common pitfalls.

Twitter Link: https://twitter.com/aprilwensel

Transcript

1. DEVELOPERS, MEET YOUR USERS April Wensel Founder of Compassionate Coding @aprilwensel #MWDCon COMPASSIONATE C O D I N G Growing Compassion Through User Research
2. @aprilwensel
3. Cannon & Perry. A vocational interest scale for computer programmers. 1966. @aprilwensel 1966 - A vocational interest scale for computer programmers
4. “Programmers are crazy about puzzles, tend to like research applications and risk-taking, and don’t like people.” Cannon & Perry. A vocational interest scale for computer programmers. 1966. @aprilwensel
5. “PROGRAMMERS… DON’T LIKE PEOPLE.” Cannon & Perry. A vocational interest scale for computer programmers. 1966. @aprilwensel
6. CUSTOMERS SUFFER @aprilwensel
7. @aprilwensel
8. @aprilwensel
9. Animation by Steve Cutts - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VASywEuqFd8 @aprilwensel
10. http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/ silicon-valley-has-an-empathy-vacuum http://onbeing.org/programs/anil-dash-techs- moral-reckoning/ @aprilwensel
11. @aprilwensel
12. CAN WE DO BETTER? @aprilwensel
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18. COMPASSION @aprilwensel
19. “You may never have used the word compassion, but when you’re identifying somebody’s pain point and you’re trying to create something that alleviates it, that’s actually COMPASSIONATE PRODUCT DESIGN.” –Monica Worline http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/ what_does_compassionate_workplace_look_like @aprilwensel
20. USER TESTS @aprilwensel
21. 1.  WHAT are user tests? 2.  WHY should you care? 3.  HOW can you participate? THE PLAN @aprilwensel
22. Photo by Jon Rogers @aprilwensel
23. WHAT @aprilwensel
24. “HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN is all about building a deep EMPATHY with the PEOPLE you’re designing for…” http://www.designkit.org/human-centered-design @aprilwensel
25. “This approach enhances effectiveness and efficiency, IMPROVES HUMAN WELL- BEING…and counteracts possible adverse effects of use on HUMAN HEALTH…” https://www.iso.org/standard/52075.html @aprilwensel
26. Study of a USER in a CONTEXT using TOOLS to perform TASKS to achieve a GOAL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_7nqhQpmzg
27. @aprilwensel
28. WHY @aprilwensel
29. 1.  BUILD COMPASSION FOR USERS @aprilwensel Why
30. @aprilwensel https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/cast/ jimmy-fallon-14931/character/nick-burns-17301
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32. “If we BLAME THE CUSTOMER FOR BEING STUPID, we’re putting blame in the wrong place. WE’RE NOT BEING EMPATHETIC at all. We are the problem. We design the product or service!” –Monica Worline http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/ what_does_compassionate_workplace_look_like @aprilwensel
33. @aprilwensel
34. “[T]he most valuable contribution of usability testing is made when PROGRAMMERS are forced…to VIEW TYPICAL USERS STRUGGLING with their programs. The programmers are SHOCKED and INCREDULOUS…” –Alan Cooper, The Inmates Are Running the Asylum @aprilwensel
35. “Usability testing is a USEFUL WHACK ON THE SIDE OF THE HEAD for recalcitrant software engineers, showing them that THERE IS INDEED A PROBLEM.” –Alan Cooper, The Inmates Are Running the Asylum @aprilwensel
36. @aprilwensel
37. “Our highest priority is to SATISFY THE CUSTOMER through early and continuous delivery of VALUABLE software.” http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html @aprilwensel
38. 1.  BUILD COMPASSION FOR USERS 2.  COMMUNICATE WITH DESIGNERS @aprilwensel Why
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42. “By including developers, designers, and product owners in the majority of decisions, it makes the entire design process FASTER and EASIER TO CHANGE…” –Laura Klein UX for Lean Startups @aprilwensel
43. 1.  BUILD COMPASSION FOR USERS 2.  COMMUNICATE WITH DESIGNERS 3.  FIND MORE MEANING IN WORK @aprilwensel Why
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46. "Actively participating in work that links PURPOSE, MEANING, and PASSION to advance the greater good is DEEPLY SATISFYING." Shawn Murphy. The Optimistic Workplace @aprilwensel
47. @aprilwensel 1.  BUILD COMPASSION FOR USERS 2.  COMMUNICATE WITH DESIGNERS 3.  FIND MORE MEANING IN WORK Why
48. @aprilwensel
49. Low Medium High Kimmy @aprilwensel
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53. HOW @aprilwensel
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55. @aprilwensel “To be together with all five senses is irreplaceable.” –Gloria Steinem
56. 1.  Ask them easy background questions about themselves to put them at ease 2.  Explain that this is not a test of them but rather of the product 3.  Ask them to speak their thoughts out loud as they use the product 4.  Ask them to perform tasks 5.  Watch and record observations, quotes, and interpretations* on sticky notes, one per note 6.  Debrief @aprilwensel
57. 1.  Ask them easy background questions about themselves to put them at ease 2.  Explain that this is not a test of them but rather of the product 3.  Ask them to speak their thoughts out loud as they use the product 4.  Ask them to perform tasks 5.  Watch and record observations, quotes, and interpretations on sticky notes, one per note 6.  Debrief @aprilwensel
58. @aprilwensel
59. 1.  Overgeneralizing from one user 2.  Letting user feedback too directly dictate designs Pitfalls @aprilwensel YOU  HAVE  5   NEW   NOTIFICATIONS  
60. 1.  Overgeneralizing from one user 2.  Letting user feedback too directly dictate designs 3.  Letting feedback hurt your ego Pitfalls @aprilwensel
61. “[Interviewing] requires that we interviewers KEEP OUR EGOS IN CHECK. It requires that we realize that we are not the center of the world. … At the heart of interviewing research is an INTEREST IN OTHER INDIVIDUALS’ stories because they are of worth.” –Irving Seidman Interviewing as Qualitative Research, 1991 @aprilwensel
62. 1.  Overgeneralizing from one user 2.  Letting user feedback too directly dictate designs 3.  Letting feedback hurt your ego 4.  Asking leading questions Pitfalls @aprilwensel “Wouldn’t it be better if…” “What’s confusing about this page…”
63. 1.  Overgeneralizing from one user 2.  Letting user feedback too directly dictate designs 3.  Letting feedback hurt your ego 4.  Asking leading questions 5.  Spending too much time doing it – maybe become a UX researcher or designer? :D Pitfalls @aprilwensel
64. 1.  Empathize with users to build more useful products 2.  Collaborate more effectively with designers 3.  Find more meaning in your work Benefits of User Testing @aprilwensel
65. 1.  Watch & Listen 2.  Record 3.  Analyze 4.  Implement 5.  Repeat! Process @aprilwensel
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68. “Remaking the tech industry…reforming it around being more ETHICAL and HUMANE…this is one of the most important missions around.” –Anil Dash @aprilwensel http://onbeing.org/programs/anil- dash-techs-moral-reckoning/
69. @aprilwensel https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/ 2016/11/the-binge-breaker/501122/
70. “If it is not tempered by COMPASSION and EMPATHY, REASON can lead men and women into a MORAL VOID.” –Karen Armstrong compassionatecoding.com april@compassionatecoding.com @aprilwensel Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life