Lean UX Workshop I.I

Lean UXAssumption HypothesesWorkshop

Chris BarklemLean UX Labs & Just UX

What is a HypothesesLet us look at Feynman on Scientific Method on how science comes up with a new law.

What is a HypothesesFirst we guess, then we compute the consequences and then compare the outcome to see if it fits our guess.

• We declare our assumptions• We run experiments• If our results disagree with our ideas of the outcome, we are wrong.

Declare our assumptionsWhat assumptions do you have?

• About your customers?• That if proven false, will cause you to fail?

In other words: what do you need to know in order to move forward successfully?

Lean and the Design of Business

• Every decision you make about your offering is a design decision.• Every design decision is a hypothesis.• Declare your assumptions and test them.• Evaluate your results ruthlessly, and be prepared to change course.

Reduce Inventory, Risk and Waste

MONTHS

Reduce Inventory, Risk and Waste

HOURS

Less risk, more often

Nail it, then scale it. Key ideas…

• Prioritize learning over growth• Prioritize making over analysis• Frame your business as a set of hypotheses• Reality testing

Allows teams to move faster..

Typical product assumptions…

• Who is the user? Who is the customer?• Where does our product fit in their work or life?• What problems does our product solve?• When and how is our product used?• What features are important?• How should our product look and behave?

Typical business assumptions…

• How will we acquire customers?• How will we make money?• Who are our competitors?• What’s our differentiator?• What’s our biggest risk?• How do we expect to solve it?

Hypothesis: Write the test first

We believe .

We’ll know this is true when we see• Qualitative outcome and/or• Quantitative outcome• That improves this KPI.

Hypothesis StatementWe believe that

[doing this]for [these people]will achieve [this outcome].

We’ll know this is true when we see[this market feedback].

BeYou: Vision StatementBeYou will and .

We will succeed by:• • •

PersonasLightweight personas

• Model of what we know today • Low investment, easy to improve

Assumption: our usersWhat info do we need?

1. Name and sketch2. Demographic and psychographic (relevant)3. Needs4. How we address needs

Team exercise: our customers1. Name and sketch2. Demographic and

psychographic (relevant)3. Needs4. How we address needs

1 2

3 4

Exercise: Who could use our service?1. Flip size: Brainstorm a list of potential users.2. Be more specific.3. Identify groups of like mindedness.4. Choose the two you want to work on first.5. Personas are people, drill down from group to individual.

Exercise: Who could use our service?1. Name and Sketch• Draw• Age• She/He

2. Needs• Help with?

3. Demographics• Job• Education• Tech understanding• How does she use technology• Social media• Where is he/she• Physical challenges

4. How we addrees the needs

What is progressManufacturing: production of high-quality goods.Agile: working software is the primary measure of progress.Lean Startup: the measure of progress is a validated learning.Lean UX: Outcomes and impact.

Output, Outcome, Impact• Output: the software we build. The materials we produce. • Easy to measure

• Outcome: the observable change in the world after we deliver output.• Hard to measure

• Impact: the change we see over time.• Very hard to attribute

Output, Outcome, Impact• Output: a new log-in page (feature)• Outcome: users of this page log in at a higher success rate• Impact: increase in sales

Why manage with outcomes?From “Principles behind the Agile Manifesto.”• Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the

environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.• The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-

organizing teams.

Exercise: Detailed outcomesStep 1: individual brainstormWhat KPIs and metrics determine the success of our product/project?

Write one idea per post-it(use the black markers)

Example:• Increase in workouts, completed.• Decrease in the number of questions about making workouts directed

at the fitness coach.

Affinity Mapping• Time boxed, 6 minutes.• What KPIs and metrics determine the success of our

product/project?• One per post-it note.• Changes in behaviour that indicate our product is hitting the mark.

Organize into themes• Put all the post-it notes up onto the space. • Explain each post-it to the group.• Then as a team, come up with groups, themes of how you would

measure success.

Exercise: FeaturesStep 1: individual brainstorm

What features will serve our users and create our desired outcomes?Write one idea per post-it (use the black markers)

Example:• 10K preporation schedule• Losing 5Kg of weight for a wedding

Exercise Start6 minutes to create as many features that will serve our users and create our desired outcomes.

OrganizeLike before, place the features, explain the features to the group. Then organize into themes.

Hypothesis StatementWe believe that

[doing this]for [these people]will achieve [this outcome].

We’ll know this is true when we see[this market feedback].

Exercise: Create your hypothesesTake all your assumptions to the wall and group into themes with your team.

We believe For Will achieve Proof/Evidence

[Doing this] [These people] [these outcomes] [measured this way]

So as a team what do you believe first? You can grab post-its or rewrite the row in pen. Feature can address multiple personas, multiple outcomes and have multiple measures. Make some stripes.

Exercise: continuedOptimize these statements to form hypotheses for the project.You should have a set of statements that read:“We believe that doing this for these people will achieve this outcome.”

Its easy to fall into the feature trap• This exercise details how and why you chose features and for what

outcomes.• As a team you want to look at which assumptions are the most

riskiest to confirm. Which have the greatest impact on success. • Test the risk first. Remove it first.

Its easy to fall into the feature trap• This exercise details how and why you chose features and for what

outcomes.• As a team you want to look at which assumptions are the most

riskiest to confirm. Which have the greatest impact on success. • Test the risk first. Remove it first.

Test your riskiest assumptions first

Stop – Well done• You have:• Declared a series of assumptions around who we believe we are building a

product for.• What outcomes we would like to achieve.• What features we believe will drive those outcomes• We have written hypotheses from those.• The last assumption we need to define is how the product needs to look to

deliver these features. Which is what we will look at in a design studio environment.