Design-Led Design-led with participatory mindset Design-led
with expert mindset Expert Mindset Users seen as subjects
Participatory Mindset Users seen as partners Research-led with
expert mindset Dubberly Design Office Research-led with
participatory mindset Research-Led
Goal Driven Increase chance of success Reduce risk Skeptical
Mindset Willing to question the value of any approach
Design thinking is a humancentered approach to innovation that
draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people,
the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business
success. Tim Brown, president and CEO IDEO
Dogma
Context
Real World Your Organization Your Users Context
UX
Business Business UX UX Business UX Business UX UX UX
Locate your risk
Flickr/Kris Krug
Where are you coming from?
Commit to working collaboratively
Establish a process.
Overcome objections
We dont have the time.
We dont have the money.
We dont have the expertise.
Were already A/B testing
Everyone wants better products.
No one wants to read a report.
Design is active. Reading is passive. Research is active.
Embrace conflict
One Simple Process
Form Questions Gather Data Analyze Data
Form Questions Think Critically Analyze Data
Form Questions Observe Analyze Data
Form Questions Interview Analyze Data
Form Questions Read Analyze Data
Think Critically Observe Form Questions Interview Experiment
Read Analyze Data
Uncritical Thinking I hate yellow, so all yellow websites are
total failures.
Critical Thinking I hate yellow, but based on the evidence, it
might work for our audience.
Research and Collaboration Working together across disciplines
and making decisions based on evidence shouldnt be hard, but they
can be. Done right, research and working collaboratively reinforce
each other through a shared understanding of reality. Start with
your goal in mind, not with any process or buzzword. Asking
questions and cutting across traditional roles can both be
threatening to the established order. Commit to clear communication
and critical thinking. Research questions follow from goals,
assumptions, and risk. Always have a framework and a plan.
If we only test bottle openers, we may never realize customers
prefer screw-top bottles. Victor Lombardi, Why We Fail
Organizational Research
Organizational research is good for: Requirements Politics
Workflow Capabilities Goodwill
Requirements What are the top business priorities for this
project/ product?
Politics What does success mean to the individual
stakeholders?
Workflow Do we have to change how people are working together
to be successful?
Workflow How do we have to change how people are working
together to be successful?
Workflow How can we possibly change how people are working
together?
Capabilities What are the strengths and weaknesses of our
team?
Capabilities Where is the internal expertise?
Goodwill How can this project make your job easier (or
harder)?
Basic Stakeholder Questions What is your title? How long have
you been in this role? What are your essential duties and
responsibilities? What does a typical day look like? Who are the
people you work most closely with? How is that going? What does
success mean from your perspective, what will have changed for the
better once this project is complete? Do you have any concerns
about this project? What do you think the greatest challenges to
success are? Internal and external?
For each stakeholder, note the following: Whats their general
attitude toward this project? Whats the goal as they describe it?
To what extent are this persons incentives aligned with the
projects success? How much and what type of influence do they have?
Who else do they communicate with on a regular basis? To what
extent does this stakeholder need to participate throughout the
project, and in which role? Is what you heard in harmony or in
conflict with what youve heard from others throughout the
organization?
Stakeholder power moves Why are you asking me this? I dont
understand that question. It doesnt make any sense. I dont feel
comfortable talking to you about that. No one pays attention to
anything I have to say, so I dont know why I should bother talking
to you. How much more time is this going to take?
10 minutes practice. What is your title? How long have you been
in this role? What are your essential duties and responsibilities?
What does a typical day look like? Who are the people you work most
closely with? How is that going? What do you think the greatest
challenges to success are? Internal and external?
User Research
Ethnography Photo: Flickr/theloushe
The Four Ds of Design Ethnography
Deep Dive Daily Life Data Analysis Drama
...true ethnography reveals not just what people say they do,
but what they actually do. PARC
Photo: Flickr/lintmachine
The Art of The Interview
How to do bad user research: Ask what people want
Everybody Lies
Interviewing is not talking.
Interviewing is listening.
You The Comfort Zone Subject
You The Comfort Zone Subject
You The Comfort Zone Subject
You The Comfort Zone Subject
You The Comfort Zone Subject
Good Interviewers: Know Your Question Warm Up Shut Up
Introduction Body Conclusion
Introduction: Smile Express gratitude Describe the process Ask
to record Warm up questions
Body: Ask open-ended questions Probe for more Allow silence Use
questions as checklist
Conclusion: Transition to wrap-up Ask if there is anything else
Thank for time
You are the host You are the student
Interview Checklist Create a welcoming atmosphere to make
participants feel at ease. Always listen more than you speak. Take
responsibility to accurately convey the thoughts and behaviors of
the people you are studying. Start each interview with a general
description of the goal, but be careful of focusing responses too
narrowly. Avoid leading questions and closed yes/no questions. Ask
follow-up questions. Prepare an outline of your interview questions
in advance, but dont be afraid to stray from it. Also note the
exact phrases and vocabulary that participants use.
Interview Scenario You work for an e-Commerce site that wants
to develop a new service to help people give gifts. The goal of the
research is to identify unmet needs people might have with regard
to giving gifts.
Interview Practice Break into groups of 3-4 people 1
interviewee, interviewer , 1 notetaker, 1 observer (optional),
Switch in 15 minutes 3 rounds
Even when the subjects are well selected, focus groups are
supposed to be merely the source of ideas that need to be
researched. Robert K. Merton, Sociologist, the guy who invented
focus groups
Competitive Research
How else might your target customer solve the same
problem?
Competitive Review How do they explicitly position themselves?
What do they say they offer? Who do they appear to be targeting?
How does this overlap or differ from your target audience or users?
What are the key differentiators? The factors that make them
uniquely valuable to their target market, if any? How do the user
needs or wants theyre serving overlap or differ from those that
youre serving or desire to serve? What do you notice that theyre
doing particularly well or badly? Based on this assessment, where
do you see emerging or established conventions in how they do
things, opportunities to offer something clearly superior, or good
practices youll need to adopt or take into consideration to compete
with them?
Your target customers have to love you more than they hate
change.
(Usability) Testing
A good research activity: Answers a key question Addresses
identified assumptions Informs specific decisions Involves your
team Fits your level of expertise Fits your schedule and
budget
Collaborative Recruiting!
How to find people: From your existing, high-traffic site
Social networks Friends and family Mailing lists Flyers
A good research activity: Answers a key question Addresses
identified assumptions Informs specific decisions Involves your
team Fits your level of expertise Fits your schedule and
budget
Fundamentally research is a simple process There are many
activities and definitions No pressure! Select the methods that
inform decisions Begin by understanding your organization Never ask
what people like People are lazy, forgetful creatures of habit Keep
each other honest Practice and learn
Analysis and Models
Creating Meaning From Data
1. Compile data 2. Analyze 3. Identify Insights 4. Create
Model
Analysis
Basic Analysis Closely review the notes. Look for interesting
behaviors, emotions, actions, and verbatim quotes. Write what you
observed on a sticky note (coded to the source, the actual user, so
you can trace it back). Group the notes. Watch the patterns emerge.
Rearrange the notes as you continue to assess the patterns.
Collaborates on purchases Observation Observation Observation
Observation Observation Observation Observation
Collaborates on purchases Observation Observation Uses several
devices Observation Observation Observation Observation
Observation
Collaborates on purchases Observation Observation Uses several
devices Observation Observation Observation Needs affirmation
Observation Observation
Ground rules Acknowledge that the goal of this exercise is to
better understand the context and needs of the user. Focus solely
on that goal. Respect the structure of the session. Refrain from
identifying larger patterns before youve gone through the data.
Clearly differentiate observations from interpretations (what
happened versus what it means). No specific solutions until after
youve gone through insights and principles. Solutions come
next.
25 minutes analysis. Break into groups of 6-8 people Each group
work together to fill out one diagram with the strongest patterns.
Negotiate and advocate for your perspective.
Models & Pictures
Extract information
Extract information
Get thoughts out of your head
Personas
Ive never seen a persona called Married woman, no kids, with
pristine hardwood. God, how I aspire to see that persona. -Steve
Portigal
Make a persona based on your interviews Back into the analysis
groups One person will describe the personas to everyone and well
decide whether they can be collapsed.
Other Models
ThoughtWorks
A concept map is a picture of our understanding of something.
Dubberly Design Office
Generate lists of words related to the main concept. The list
can come from research, reading, experts, brainstorming, or any
other source. The second step is to edit the list. Some terms may
be related to the subject, but not in a way that meets the project
goals. The third step is to define the terms on the edited list.
This is particularly important with unfamiliar or technical terms.
But it also helps with familiar terms, too. Create a matrix listing
all the terms down one side and repeating the list across the top.
Note the relationship in the boxes where a row and column
intersect. The resulting matrix of relationships provides a
checklist for building the concept map.
List terms Edit the list Define the remaining terms Create a
matrix showing the relations of terms Rank the terms Decide on main
branches or write framing sentences Fill in the rest of the
structure Revise Apply typography to reinforce structure
Revise
Analysis and Models Everyone on the team should be involved in
turning data into insights. A productive session requires rules.
Once you and your team have extracted insights from data, document
those insights in models. A model distills and documents thinking
so everyone on the team can see it and make decsions based upon it.
Remember than models are still an interim document. They are tools.
Think useful not precious. Update as needed. The affinity diagram
comes straight out of analysis sessions. Personas are one of the
most intelligible research outputs for people throughout the
organization.
Break!
Reporting and Sharing
How to make research meaningful to your organization
Flickr/Kris Krug
Flickr/Jerome Collins
You are collaborating with your future selves.
Design synthesis is the most critical part of the design
process. Yet in our popular discussions of design and innovation,
we've largely ignored this fundamental role. John Kolko
Building a Culture of Research
How to make research meaningful to your organization
It is your job to make it easy for everyone else.
Study Title Date Completed Research Goal Related Decisions
Activities Key Insights Supporting Observations Recommended Actions
Questions for Further Study Research Report
Clear goals Shared values Access to information Clear
decision-making
In summary Research creates a shared understanding of reality.
Asking questions is uncomfortable. Embrace that feeling. A truly
collaborative approach and environment is necessary for research to
be effective, and it also makes it more fun. Clear goals and good
questions are required. Choose only the research activities that
answer real questions and inform your top priority design and
development decisions. Practice! Observe and listen every day.
Document! Report! Share! Its easy to lose what you learn.
Any questions?
Brief books for people who make websites Erika Hall JUST ENOUGH
RESEARCH 9 No. You might enjoy the book. www.abookapart.com
