UXINDIA18 - Human Empathy In Practice

Half day workshop - Day 1

2. Human Empathy In Practice Workshop - UX India 2018 Timothy Kolke / Senior Designer @ Hootsuite
3. The elevator pitch Want to improve your skills in uncovering customer needs when conducting interviews? This workshop teaches a technique that uses cognitive empathy to enable ux researchers to better understand the inner workings of those they interview.
4. Agenda Introduction to the Workshop (10 min) Understanding Empathy (20 min) Technique One / Going Deep (15 min) Technique Two / Letting Go (30 min inc. exercise) Coffee break (15 min) Technique Three / Setting The Direction (60 min inc. exercise) Further Discussion and Wrap Up (30 min) Total time 3 hours
5. Let’s take a break from the noise Robots turned off. Humans turned on.
6. Introduction
7. Why are you here? What do you hope to get out of our session today?
8. My goal for this session Create an opportunity to... Improve our ability to understand the inner workings of another person using a learnable skill called cognitive empathy
9. Where this technique fits within a UX research project
10. Phases of a research study Plan Objectives Key Question Target Audience Recruiting Conduct Scripts Interviewing Note-taking Synthesize Affinity diagrams Taskflow analysis Share Findings report Visualizations The focus for today
11. 3 different learning objectives Learning Objectives Understand Needs Validate a Solution Know if it’s Usable The focus for today
12. What we’re covering today Writing a prompt Practicing interview skills You’ll be doing... Giving and getting feedback We’ll provide - Scenarios - Research objectives
13. What we’re not coving Creating research objectives Writing a full script Recruiting participants The ‘Synthesis’ or ‘Share’ phases
14. Warm up
15. Warm Up Exercise I’ll ask you to draw or write the first image or word that comes to mind when I ask you the following question, you will have 30 seconds. It should be something you will feel comfortable sharing with your partner later in the session.
16. Warm Up Exercise Think of a memorable time or place you traveled, whether for work, family event or personal reasons? The distance doesn’t matter. It doesn’t have to be spectacular. Don’t analyze it or second guess.
17. Understanding Empathy
18. What is empathy The ability to understand and share the feelings of another. ~Oxford Dictionary
19. How we use it In our work Empathy helps teams align on a deep understanding of end users. ~Nielsen Norman Group
20. Thoughts vs feelings Emotional (Affective) Empathy Cognitive Empathy
21. Emotional Empathy Emotional Empathy: Feeling what someone else feels. “Through a process called emotional contagion, another person is actually infecting you with their emotion.” ~Psychology Today Source
22. Cognitive Empathy Cognitive Empathy: Understanding what someone else thinks. Discerning a person’s “inner voice” as a they aim at an intent or purpose” ~ Indi Young
23. Technique One Going Deep
24. So why is ‘purpose’ important in this definition of cognitive empathy? Understanding purpose takes us deeper into the mind, heart, feelings of another.
25. Staying on the surface We hear: opinion, preference, positions
26. Going deep We hear: reasoning, validation, why
27. How to take the conversation deeper Listen for the ‘why’ then prompt to go deeper... “Tell me more about that thing you said.” “I’m curious to hear more about that.”
28. Technique 2 Letting go
29. Get in the flow Pretend you are on a tour and the interviewee is the tour guide. Just follow along and be curious.
30. Turn off the noise in your head Mindfully bring your attention back to the speaker when your thoughts wander off.
31. Check yourself Be aware of your biases, assumptions, prejudice Don’t problem solve or offer solutions Don’t correct the speaker’s language Don’t inject your own experience Don’t read into facial expressions
32. You have one main job Be curious. Yes, that means no note taking either :)
33. Let’s practice Get in groups of three and... Seek to understand why they wrote their sticky note Listen for 5 min then switch
34. Technique Three Providing Direction To The Interview
35. So how do we get the information we need? We can’t just follow any train of thought can we? It’s our job to get useful information from our customers.
36. What if you wanted to know... How do we get more of our free customers to move to paid plans?
37. To get this, set the scope of the conversation Using a single, well crafted question that does 3 things. 1. Indicates we want the cognitive data 2. Draws out the customer’s purpose 3. Generalizes the relevant product offering
38. Purpose framed questions What went through your mind when you were deciding on the best method that ensures that you keep on top your social media activities? Get the cognitive data Draw out a purpose Generalize your offering
39. Here are a few examples... • What went through your mind when you were deciding if… • Talk to me about your thought process when you did… • What were you thinking when you attempted...
40. Let’s practice Get back into your groups of 3 Here is your scenario...
41. Congrats, you just got a job as a UX researcher in a new cutting edge VR startup Your product... A social VR experience/platform that helps friends and family across great distances stay connected.
42. Your learning objective Your plan as a researcher, is to uncover the needs people have in connecting with friends and family. Especially ones that are not so obvious. Your goal in this, is that this data may open up ideas for innovative experiences for your new product.
43. Your research method You will conduct 1:1 needs identification interviews with potential customers.
44. Step 1 Work on your own Write a purpose statement based on your learning objective. You have 5 min
45. Your approach You have a hunch that by learning about how people interact with each other, you can uncover some useful data you can apply to VR. So… Don’t mention apps or technology in your question. Don’t focus on features. Focus on the why behind what makes people want to connect.
46. Purpose framed question template __________________________________ when you were __________________________ to help you _____________________________________? Get the cognitive data Draw out a purpose Generalize your offering
47. Okay go. And here are those examples again... ...
48. A volunteer to share their question ...
49. An example Tell me about a memorable conversation you had at some point in life with a friend or family member and why you think it was memorable? Generalize your offering Draw out the purpose Get the cognitive data
50. Step 2 Practice interviewing your potential customer Interviewer, Interviewee, Observer Listen for 7 min then switch roles
51. How this works Customer Interviewer Observer
52. Instructions for the customer Think of one social network/tool/platform that you use to stay connected to family and friends. Think about why you chose it and what you like / don’t like.
53. Instructions for the observer It’s your job to provide feedback to the interviewer. Fill in the interviewer’s scorecard and give your feedback at the end.
54. The interviewer’s scorecard Interviewer Behaviour Notes ✓ Purpose question was delivered well Asked for clarification when needed Prompted to go deeper when needed Got to the heart of the ‘why’ Let go and let the customer lead Did not offer solutions or correction Was not influenced by assumptions Got it back on track when needed
55. Instructions for the interviewer Begin the interview by introducing yourself and then asking your purpose framed question.
56. Tips for staying on track If you start moving too far off topic, gently bring it back. • Don’t draw undue attention to the speaker going off track • Dig deeper into something that was said earlier (I’m curious to hear more about that thing you said) • Re-state the scope statement if necessary • If you’ve gone as far as you can, end it and say thank you
57. More Tips • Dig deeper when you can, then let go and move on • Make sure you understand, ask if you’re not sure • Don’t ask survey questions like (how often do you…) • Don’t introduce your vocabulary or your story • Don’t say “I want” • Replace your emotional reactions with curiosity about what was said
58. Okay let’s go You have 7 minutes to interview your customer. Then the observer will have 5 minutes to provide feedback. Then you’ll switch roles (stay in your group).
59. Discussion and wrap up
60. Recap We covered 3 techniques (can someone explain the 1st one, the 2nd, etc…) How did you find the exercises? What did you learn?
61. What’s next Can you see yourselves using these techniques in your own workplace? How would you feel about running a similar workshop in your own company with people who may be talking with customers?
62. Thank you (^^) | Find me online… Twitter @timkolke LinkedIn /timkolke
63. Appendix
64. References 1. Indi Young 2. More to come...
65. Resources 1. Purpose statement template 2. Interviewer score card
66. What the business needs to know How do we get new customers? How do we keep our customers for life? How do we get them to buy more from us? How do we get them to bring us more customers like them?