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WREN LANIER
DESIGNING BETTER FEATURES BY SOLVING BETTER PROBLEMS WREN LANIER - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
DESIGNING BETTER FEATURES BY SOLVING BETTER PROBLEMS WREN LANIER - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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 dont actually solve a problem FALL IN LOVE WITH THE PROBLEM not the perfect,
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SOLUTIONS MAKE US FEEL GOOD
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We ship too many solutions that don’t actually solve a problem
REAL TALK
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not the perfect, finished solution
FALL IN LOVE WITH THE PROBLEM
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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
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by understanding their problems
UNDERSTANDING USERS
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https://blinkux.com/blog/agile-ux-research/
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https://uxdesign.cc/a-crooked-little-ux-journey-at-a-big-bank-8f1f2f375989
Image Credit: Renee Lin
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STRATEGIC UX INPUT REQUIRES INDEPENDENT PROBLEM DISCOVERY
Don’t ask for permission. Just do it.
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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
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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?
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“I’m hungry, and I don’t have time to eat a meal.”
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DO YOU KNOW WHAT PROBLEM(S)
your product is solving for your users?
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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 difficult /
too slow / too expensive / too complicated
- User problems are not software usability problems
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to focus on user problems
SHIFTING OUR WORK
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TALK ABOUT DESIGNS IN TERMS OF THE PROBLEMS YOU’RE SOLVING
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INSTEAD OF
Users need to go faster
TRY
Tie 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.
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INSTEAD OF
Users need more fjltering options
TRY
Tie problem users have is that they can’t fjnd their previous campaigns to see the results they achieved. Customers feel like
- ur product isn’t providing any benefjt because they can’t fjnd
their results.
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MAKE THE CONNECTION
USER PROBLEM BUSINESS PROBLEM
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EVOLVE HOW WE TALK ABOUT OUR WORK
User Research Design Iteration Lean Experiments Discovering User Problems Exploring Multiple Solutions Validating Our Solutions
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#GOALS
Replace your roadmap with a list of high-priority user problems
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to understand important problems
MINING USER FEEDBACK
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MOST USERS WILL ASK FOR SOLUTIONS (I.E. FEATURES) INSTEAD OF ARTICULATING PROBLEMS
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Users asked for this a lot
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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 fjnd things more easily.
WHY?
Tie search results aren’t useful.
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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.
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USERS DON’T ALWAYS KNOW WHAT THE REAL PROBLEM IS OR THE BEST SOLUTION
Tiat’s okay. Tiat’s not their job.
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DESIGNERS NEED TO TRANSLATE FEATURE REQUESTS INTO PRODUCT INSIGHTS
Tiis is totally our job.
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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
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PRO TIP
Use a tool like Google Site Search to track the query terms customers use on your Help Site
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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
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around user problems
ORGANIZING FEEDBACK
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NEVER ORGANIZE FEEDBACK AROUND FEATURE REQUESTS
- Seriously. Not even once.
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DON’T ASK HORSE USERS TO INVENT THE AUTOMOBILE
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INNOVATION COMES FROM CONTINUOUS LEARNING
BUILD MEASURE LEARN
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ORGANIZE FEEDBACK BY PROBLEM
- “I can’t fjnd 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.”
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Yes Slack, please remind me about this!
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FOCUSING ON FEATURES LEADS TO MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
When all you have is a hammer…
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UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM IS OFTEN THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE
Great design starts here.
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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 difficulty, to ship improvements as fast as possible
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CHANGE TAKES TIME
…but it gets easier the more people you bring along with you
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WORK ON PROBLEMS THAT ARE WORTHY OF YOUR LOVE & ATTENTION
It will make you happier, I promise.
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THANK YOU!
WREN LANIER
Find me @heywren or wrenlanier.com