DESIGNING BETTER FEATURES BY SOLVING BETTER PROBLEMS WREN LANIER
PROBLEMS MAKE US ANXIOUS
SOLUTIONS MAKE US FEEL GOOD
REAL TALK We ship too many solutions that don’t actually solve a problem
FALL IN LOVE WITH THE PROBLEM not the perfect, finished solution
BENEFITS OF BEING PROBLEM-ORIENTED • More emphasis on learning instead of deliverables • Better insights lead to better solutions • Easier to sell value of solutions to stakeholders • Brings clarity to prioritization discussions
UNDERSTANDING USERS by understanding their problems
https://blinkux.com/blog/agile-ux-research/
Image Credit: Renee Lin https://uxdesign.cc/a-crooked-little-ux-journey-at-a-big-bank-8f1f2f375989
STRATEGIC UX INPUT REQUIRES INDEPENDENT PROBLEM DISCOVERY Don’t ask for permission. Just do it.
DISCOVERY: GOOD IS BETTER THAN PERFECT • Doesn’t have to be part of a project timeline • Focus on users’ work & goals, less about your software • Ask lots of open-ended questions
ASK QUESTIONS LIKE Tell me about the last time you created a personal budget . • What’s the hardest thing about making & managing to-do lists ? • What’s the best new tool you’ve started using lately? • What do you wish you could do that you can’t do? • What do you need? •
“I’m hungry, and I don’t have time to eat a meal.”
DO YOU KNOW WHAT PROBLEM(S) your product is solving for your users?
DEFINING USER PROBLEMS State problems in the simplest language possible, no jargon • Relate each problem to an important user goal • Identify the pain point, something that is too di ffi cult / • too slow / too expensive / too complicated User problems are not software usability problems •
SHIFTING OUR WORK to focus on user problems
TALK ABOUT DESIGNS IN TERMS OF THE PROBLEMS YOU’RE SOLVING
INSTEAD OF Users need to go faster TRY Ti e problem users have is that their produce has a short lifespan which makes it hard to sell before it goes bad. Users want a faster way to get their produce to market and sell it before it spoils.
INSTEAD OF Users need more fj ltering options TRY Ti e problem users have is that they can’t fj nd their previous campaigns to see the results they achieved. Customers feel like our product isn’t providing any bene fj t because they can’t fj nd their results.
MAKE THE CONNECTION USER PROBLEM BUSINESS PROBLEM
EVOLVE HOW WE TALK ABOUT OUR WORK User Research Discovering User Problems Design Iteration Exploring Multiple Solutions Lean Experiments Validating Our Solutions
#GOALS Replace your roadmap with a list of high-priority user problems
MINING USER FEEDBACK to understand important problems
MOST USERS WILL ASK FOR SOLUTIONS (I.E. FEATURES) INSTEAD OF ARTICULATING PROBLEMS
Users asked for this a lot
FEATURE REQUEST I want to pin notes to my contacts. WHY? I need pins so I can FIND my notes. REAL PROBLEM I need to fj nd things more easily. WHY? Ti e search results aren’t useful.
DIG INTO FEATURE REQUESTS FOR CONTEXT Tell me about a time when feature would have helped you? • What’s most frustrating/worrying about not having feature ? • How do you deal with this situation today? • Ask about where they’ve seen or used feature before. •
USERS DON’T ALWAYS KNOW WHAT THE REAL PROBLEM IS OR THE BEST SOLUTION Ti at’s okay. Ti at’s not their job.
DESIGNERS NEED TO TRANSLATE FEATURE REQUESTS INTO PRODUCT INSIGHTS Ti is is totally our job.
VALIDATING USER PROBLEMS Target discovered problems with additional interviews • Look for similar problems in support requests • Look for similar problems in help site search logs •
PRO TIP Use a tool like Google Site Search to track the query terms customers use on your Help Site
IDENTIFYING BURGER KING FEATURES A request for customization, usually of the UI • Not painful enough to inspire user hacks • No underlying problem except users think they want it •
ORGANIZING FEEDBACK around user problems
NEVER ORGANIZE FEEDBACK AROUND FEATURE REQUESTS Seriously. Not even once.
DON’T ASK HORSE USERS TO INVENT THE AUTOMOBILE
BUILD MEASURE LEARN INNOVATION COMES FROM CONTINUOUS LEARNING
ORGANIZE FEEDBACK BY PROBLEM “I can’t fj nd things” • “I forget about things.” • “I need to share things with people who don’t have an account.” • “I haven’t done it yet because it seems too complicated.” •
Yes Slack, please remind me about this!
FOCUSING ON FEATURES LEADS TO MISSED OPPORTUNITIES When all you have is a hammer…
UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM IS OFTEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE Great design starts here.
BUSINESS GOALS DRIVE PRIORITIES By amount of pain (great when dealing with churn) • By user type, i.e. support your best users • By level of di ffi culty, to ship improvements as fast as possible •
CHANGE TAKES TIME …but it gets easier the more people you bring along with you
WORK ON PROBLEMS THAT ARE WORTHY OF YOUR LOVE & ATTENTION It will make you happier, I promise.
THANK YOU! WREN LANIER Find me @heywren or wrenlanier.com
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