don't solve the wrong problem rocketconf may 2016

D O N ’ T S O LV E T H E W R O N G P R O B L E M : U S E R R E S E A R C H F T W !

@bensauerR O C K E TC O N F 0 5 / 1 6

@beauvais

W H Y I S S O LV I N G T H E R I G H T P R O B L E M

S O H A R D?

THE ORG USERS

THE

WEB

SITE

EINSTEIN

If I had only one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining

the problem, and only five minutes finding the solution.

If you’re prepared to spend hundreds of thousands on your website, why can’t you

spend a much smaller amount making sure it’s the right website?

What mindset should you adopt?

“In the best teams we studied, every single team member spends an average of two hours every six weeks watching people use the product (or a competitor’s product).”

Jared Spool

W H AT K I N D O F R E S E A R C H S H O U L D

YO U D O?

What?Behaviour, outcomes Analytics, KPIs, conversion rate

SentimentVoice of Customer

Mini-surveys, feedback

Why?Experience

Interviews, usability testing

large scale

small scale

U S E R I N T E RV I E W S

Conducting user interviews is a core UX skill.

If your team isn’t doing them, start now.

STA RT W I T H R E S E A R C H O B J E C T I V E S

We want to know how students go about researching their choice of university.

PRIMARY

SECONDARY

What problems do they encounter using our website and our competitors websites?

T Y P I CA L I N T E RV I E W ST R U C T U R E

• Intro: why, brief, waiver, payment (5 mins)

• Interview: about them (20-25 mins)

• Usability testing (20-25 mins)

• Summary (5 mins)

D I S C U S S I O N G U I D E T I P S

• Condense the guide to an A4 sheet.

• Start broad, e.g.: “So… tell me about your work.”

• Group your questions into themes.

• Order themes in a way that narrows over time.

• Put your really important theme near the end.

• Uncover details to test later.

F I N D YO U R I N N E R Z E N I N T E RV I E W E R

The hardest thing is to avoid asking leading questions. Practise.

Q U E ST I O N S + T I P S

• “You applied to Birmingham…?” (parrot talk)

• “Tell me more about…”

• What, why, where, when, how

• “What are you currently thinking?”

• “Describe the steps you’re going through here”

• “Before you click, what do you think will happen next?”

• “That was.... ?”

• “Tell me what’s happening.”

• “You clicked on that because....?”

B A D Q U E ST I O N S

• “Do you like this?”

• “Did you feel…x?”

• “Were you thinking y?”

• “Let me show you how this works…”

I N T E RV I E W T I P S

• Remind them that you’re testing the system, not them

• Encourage them to think aloud

• Don’t keep people waiting around

• Set them at ease: make it seem informal

• Explain what you’ll be doing and how the test will work

• Remunerate them in advance so they understand it’s not

contingent on their performance

E X T E R N A L I S E T H E A N A LYS I S

Uncertain Certain

Ryan The Undecided

Delali The Visionary

If you buy *three* things, make it Silverback, and these books ...

C O M M U N I CAT I N G R E S E A R C H

Ryan The Undecided

“I sort of know *roughly* what I want

to do. Roughly.”

Summary18 year old Ryan lives in Brighton. He’s a little unsure about what to study; he’s looked

at a lot of sport-related courses but he hasn't got any closer to choosing. He hasn’t

been to any open days; his family haven’t been involved much as they didn’t go to

Uni. His initial choices of Uni are based on what his friends have told him, but he’s

leaving the whole process to the last minute.

GoalsRATIONAL: Find a good course and university.

EMOTIONAL: Get a bit of distance and independence from his family.

Challenges• Lorem Ipsum

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Choose subject Shortlist Refine Prioritise

The course selection funnel

Evaluate

Eliminate

APPLY

Behaviours

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Opportunities

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What should I study? Where could I go? Which ones do I like? What’s my best option?

Low Med HighDigital Opportunity

Undecided

Visionary

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Elimination criteria • Lorem Ipsum

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Evaluation criteria • Lorem Ipsum

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H OW WAS I T U S E D?

G U I D I N G P R I N C I P L E S

PA RT I N G T H O U G H TS …

• User research is a team sport.

• Don’t ask permission.

• Watch what they do, not what they say.

• Uncover mental models.

• Favour guerrilla over science, action over academia.

• Resolve differences with testing.

• Make raw findings visible and tangible.

• Never conflate value testing with usability testing.

Learn

Build

Measure

T i t l e Te x tYO U A R E N E V E R D O N E

Days since we met users

3

STEVE JOBS

“You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work back toward the technology -

not the other way around.”

Thanks

We are @bensauer and @beauvais