It’s hard to understand peopleEarly stage customer development

Johanna Kollmann - @johannakollLean Startup Machine London, 23 June 2012

Photo by NASA JSC Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa_jsc_photo/7257865176

Photo by Bottleleaf http://www.flickr.com/photos/bottleleaf/2258627441/

UX helps you to get out of the building

(Some) research methods (yeah we have a lot)

Generative

Evaluative

Contextual inquiryMental modelsInterviewsDiary studies

Quantitative Qualitative

Adapted from figures by Janice Fraser, Nate Bolt, Christian Rohrer

Automated card sortSurveysAutomated studiesAnalyticsA/B TestingMulti-variant testing

SurveysInterviews

Usability testingModerated card sortWizard of Oz

Before you leave the building

Photo by angelamaphone http://www.flickr.com/photos/angelamaphone/2663422833//

Plan who to talk to where about what and why

What topics shall the interview cover?

Buying

food

Preparing

food

Eating out

Dieting

Exercise

Busy

lifestyle

Struggles

Prompts rather than set questions

Day-in-a-life (today,

yesterday)

Decide what to eat

Last time on a diet

How active (want vs. do)

Preparing food for oneself

Preparing food for

family/friends

Have a ‘softball question’ ready

Please tell me a little bit

about your cooking this week.

Could you tell me about the

last dish you prepared

yourself?

Photo by TheeErin: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theeerin/4729019845/

Out in the wild

Ask open questions – don’t lead

YAY

• Who

• What

• When

•

Wher

e

• Why

• How

NAY

• Did

• Have

• Are

• Were

• Will

Were you trying to do A or B?

What were you trying to do?

Some great all-purpose questions

By Janice Fraser

• Has there ever been a time when you had x

experience?

• Could you tell me about that?

• What was great about that?

• What was awful about that?

• Why did you do that?

• And then, what happened?

• If you had a magic wand, what would you make the

situation be like?

Photo by Hilde Skjølberg http://www.flickr.com/photos/hebe/3004800079/

Do’s and don’ts

DoBe the learner, not the expert

Ask naïve questions

Ask for specific stories

Allow people time to think

Listen!

Take notes or record

Take photos or collect artefacts

Photo by Tomas Hellberg http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomhe/35312882/

Don’tBe an interrogator

Ask questions that sound like blame, or argumentative

Ask for solutions

Try to solve problems during the interview

Ask what features people want

Ask people to imagine theoretical situations

Photo by G Meyer http://www.flickr.com/photos/kainet/144703613/

Making sense of what you saw and heard

Photos taken at DesignJam London events by Rachel Winch and falkowata

Source: http://www.uie.com/articles/research_to_personas/

Notes from my Leancamp session on this topic http

://johannakoll.posterous.com/ux-research-tips-for-customer-development-not

Mental Models by Indi Young

Storytelling for User Experience by Whitney Quesenbery & Kevin Brooks

Remote Research by Nate Bolt & Tony Tulathimutte

Undercover User Experience by Cennydd Bowles

Designing for the Digital Age by Kim Goodwin

LUXr resources and materials by Janice Fraser (

http://www.slideshare.net/clevergirl/) and Lane Halley (

http://www.slideshare.net/LaneHalley/)

Articles on User Interface Engineering (

http://www.uie.com/browse/usability_testing/)

Resources