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Building a foundation with Lean UX Susan Wilhite UX RESEARCH/DESIGN IN STARTUPS @Maggid @startupUCLA

Lean UX Research in Startups

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An overview of how UX Research is conducted in entrepreneurial Lean UX organizations. Principles and practices of Lean/Agile UX teams in high-tech, mostly Silicon Valley, settings. Presented by Susan Wilhite to startupUCLA, an accelerator for UCLA students, on June 7, 2012 on the campus. Watch the startupUCLA web site for a video of the live presentation.

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Page 1: Lean UX Research in Startups

Building a foundation with Lean UX

Susan Wilhite

UX RESEARCH/DESIGN IN STARTUPS

@Maggid @startupUCLA

Page 2: Lean UX Research in Startups

“You can be so bad at so many things… as long as you stay focused on

how you’re providing value to your users and customers, you

get through all that stuff.”

Page 3: Lean UX Research in Startups

MARK ZUCKERBERG

“You can be so bad at so many things… as long as you stay focused on

how you’re providing value to your users and customers, you

get through all that stuff.”

Page 4: Lean UX Research in Startups

Compile your knowledge.

What do you know?

How do you know it?

What does it mean?

Build a spine.

What is your core?

What is unnecessary?

What is your niche?

TODAY’S KEY TAKEAWAYS

Focus on value.

Page 5: Lean UX Research in Startups

UX = USER EXPERIENCE

The customer side of a business

Page 6: Lean UX Research in Startups

LEAN UX DISCOUNT

“The downside of this whole lean startup thing is that a lot

of people seem to think it’s ok to launch crap. It’s not.” @MAXNIEDERHOFER Team Europe (Berlin)

“The point of lean is to try to iteratively drive to a series of

conclusions sooner with less cash consumed.” Bart Bartlett

@bbartle

Lean UX is about making the most of a short runway.

Page 7: Lean UX Research in Startups

LEAN UX USES SCIENTIFIC METHOD

At the core of Lean UX, you treat each design iteration as a hypothesis.

“Minimize the amount of time you're pursuing the wrong hypothesis. The

more wrong paths you can figure out quickly, the sooner you'll find the

right path.“ Jeff Gothelf @jboogie

To compensate for the absence of heavyweight deliverables, Lean UX works via

team collaboration. Lean UX methods involve the entire team as they are

happening.

Jared Spool, November 2011 blog post

Page 8: Lean UX Research in Startups

UX

Product & Biz

Development

The Old Waterfall Process

Page 9: Lean UX Research in Startups

UX

Product & Biz

Development

The Old Waterfall Process

Deliverables are sometimes more

enthusiastically given than received.

Page 10: Lean UX Research in Startups
Page 11: Lean UX Research in Startups

…running months-long

engagements.

…lab testing a dozen+.

…generating reams of formal

documentation.

Adapted from Andy Budd 2011

Instead of doing quick bursts of

user research…

Rather than doing café testing on

3-6 people…

Rather than sketching interfaces

out on paper and prototyping

them in HTML/CSS…

LEAN UX VERSUS REGULAR UX

Lean UX Regular UX

Page 12: Lean UX Research in Startups

IS LEAN UX BETTER THAN REGULAR UX?

Lean UX isn’t a different flavor of UX, just a subset.

Research, design, and testing is one extended, morphing multi -

phase study.

“Some projects are fine with a guerrilla approach while others require more

formality.” @AndyBudd 2011

Test Research

&

Prototype Test Prototype Research

Page 13: Lean UX Research in Startups

“Fully understand the most important attributes of your product.”

• What is it conceptually?

• How do users see the product

• Important in what way? To whom?

• Latent attributes

• How does the product/service fit into the user’s ecosystem?

• What does it displace or augment or compliment?

• What are the end-to-end experiences?

Page 14: Lean UX Research in Startups

THE UX LEAD

UX Research/Design role in the organization – what it’s like to carry the charge

Page 15: Lean UX Research in Startups

HOW UX WORKS IN THEORY

Habitually and harmoniously internalize

and actualize the implications of

customer needs/wishes, technical

and team processes, product

development and marketing history,

and the nature of external

relationships.

“Strong opinions, weakly held.”

Paul Saffo (Faculty, Singularity University)

Page 16: Lean UX Research in Startups

HOW UX WORKS IN PRACTICE

Stand up for your findings

and perspectives.

Have constructive and

objective arguments.

“Leave your ego at the door”

“Play well with others”

Page 17: Lean UX Research in Startups

“One world fair, a picnic, and a rodeo.”

Page 18: Lean UX Research in Startups

FIELD TRIP COORDINATOR OR IMMERSIVE JOURNALIST?

Page 19: Lean UX Research in Startups

The UX Value-add

Sell yourself, sell your methods, sell your thinking

• Propose theories backed up by well-chosen and well-illustrated empirical data

• Accept, expand on and facilitate collective + diverse thinking

• Keep D-school exercises handy (http://dschool.stanford.edu/use-our-methods/)

Page 20: Lean UX Research in Startups

RIDE THE CHAOS

Develop & practice team learning and processing.

Work from a strong, central spine. Know what/who you can depend on.

Prepare to improvise.

Page 21: Lean UX Research in Startups

ONE DOESN'T DISCOVER NEW LANDS WITHOUT CONSENTING

TO LOSE SIGHT OF THE SHORE FOR A VERY LONG TIME.

ANDRE GIDE

Page 22: Lean UX Research in Startups

IS IT OK FOR A RESEARCHER TO NOT BE A MAKER?

In an ideal world the person who brings in new ideas also designs the product or

service. Yet each role has its principles, knowledge, and skills.

Researchers generate data that become findings that inform everyone.

Designers think through research findings to generate design solutions.

This question is a work in progress.

Page 23: Lean UX Research in Startups

EXPRESS IMPLICATIONS VISUALLY

Page 24: Lean UX Research in Startups

COMPILE YOUR KNOWLEDGE

A rigorous learning structure supports breakthrough innovation.

Page 25: Lean UX Research in Startups

Build-Measure-Learn Lean UX dogma

Page 26: Lean UX Research in Startups

Build-Measure-Learn Lean UX dogma

Think-Make-Check (LUXr)

Page 27: Lean UX Research in Startups

Build-Measure-Learn Lean UX dogma

Think-Make-Check (LUXr)

Learn-Measure-Build Lean Startup Circle

Page 28: Lean UX Research in Startups

Learn. Measure. Build. Compile…

Research Analysis Design

Prototype

Testing

Evaluation

Requirements planning

Adapted from Read-Write-Web: “Bye-Bye Waterfall”

Page 29: Lean UX Research in Startups

COMPILE YOUR KNOWLEDGE

• Identify and investigate your most critical questions

• Connect your UX findings to what you already “know”

• Balance enthusiasm with skepticism

• Plan to reuse data

• UX Research/Design has a long shelf-life

• Build institutional knowledge

• Keep processing prior data and findings across roles

• Develop meta-conclusions and new hypotheses

Page 30: Lean UX Research in Startups

JOB QUALIFICATIONS EXAMPLE

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, Anthropology, Human Factors, Cognitive Science, or related

field and 3 years experience in consumer-based research design and analysis, user analytics,

or related field OR 5 years’ experience in consumer-based research design and analysis, user

analytics, or related field.

Preferred Qualifications

Master's Degree in Human Computer Interaction, Applied Statistics, Econometrics,

Psychometrics, or related field.

• 2 years’ experience researching front-end user experience solutions for mobile

applications on major smartphone platforms such as Android or iOS.

• 2 years’ experience conducting quantitative on-line research methodologies with

systems such as UserZoom or Keynote.

• 2 years’ experience conducting field-based ethnographic research.

Page 31: Lean UX Research in Startups

WRAP UP:

UX RESEARCH/DESIGN IN STARTUPS

• Focus on value to the customer

• Apply Lean UX: compile your knowledge

• Build a spine: a reliable infrastructure as a foundation for innovation

Page 32: Lean UX Research in Startups

SUSAN WILHITE, UX RESEARCHER

@Maggid Susan_Wilhite at msn dot com