better product definition with lean ux and design thinking by jeff gothelf - lean it summit 2014

BETTER PRODUCT DEFINITION WITH LEAN UX & DESIGN THINKING

Lean IT Summit - ParisOctober 2014

Monday, October 6, 14

@neoinnovate || @jboogieMonday, October 6, 14

@jboogie

“While the initial launch and traction proved extremely exciting, it misled us into believing there was a larger market ready to adopt our product.”

http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/22/post-mortem-for-plancast/


@jboogie

“100,000 have registered and over 230,000 people visit each month.”



@jboogie

“People often tell me “I like Plancast, but I never have any plans to share.”



@jboogie

“Most social networks feed primarily on vanity….Sharing plans, unfortunately, doesn’t present the same opportunity to show off and incur the same subsequent happy feelings.”



@jboogie

“…[lack of an invitation feature]…caused a situation where many people feel awkwardly aware of events to which they don’t feel welcome…”



@jboogiehttp://blog.capwatkins.com/formspring-a-postmortem



@neoinnovate || @jboogie

“…The first big project we worked on was a Formspring button that sites could embed at the end of blog posts... We had millions of users, so we figured it wasn’t a stretch to imagine they browsed other web sites and would gladly click a Formspring button at the end of a post ... This was just as the Facebook Share and Twitter “Tweet This” buttons were appearing...”




“…We spent months on that system. We had to make sure our servers could handle…huge influx of traffic, had to design & implement the feature, make sure the implementation was easy for publishers, make deals with publishers, etc.

We bet huge.

On someone else’s (Facebook and Twitter’s) plan.

Flop...”


@jboogie

@jboogie


@jboogie

software is continuous

@jboogie


@jboogie

11.6


@jboogie

Key questions:

How long do we wait before launch?


@jboogie

Key questions:

How long do we wait before launch?

How do we define the right requirements for our product?

What signals are we looking for from the market?


REQUIREMENTS ARE ACTUALLY ASSUMPTIONS

@jboogie@neoinnovate || @jboogieMonday, October 6, 14

@jboogie

Do you know this product manager?


Requirements = Assumptions



We know We believe



We know We believe

Let’s build it! Let’s test it!


DESIGN THINKING CAN HELP!


@jboogie

Design Thinking

“As a style of thinking, it is generally considered the ability to combine empathy for the context of a problem, creativity in the generation of insights and solutions, and rationality to analyze and fit solutions to the context. ”

- Tim Brown, CEO & President, IDEO


I’VE HEARD GOOD THINGS ABOUT THIS LEAN UX THING TOO


@jboogie

Lean UX

Inspired by Lean Startup and Agile development theories, it’s the practice of bringing the true nature of a product to light faster, in a collaborative, cross-functional way with less emphasis on deliverables and greater focus on a shared understanding of the actual experience being designed.

That’s me!I said this.


PRIORITIZE LEARNING OVER GROWTH


CUSTOMER PROBLEM SOLUTION

BUSINESSMODEL COMPETITION KEY COMPETITIVE

ADVANTAGE

CUSTOMEROUTCOME

CUSTOMER ACQUISITION

EARLYADOPTER

360° ASSUMPTIONS


PROBLEM SOLUTION


ADVANTAGE

CUSTOMEROUTCOME


EARLYADOPTER

360° ASSUMPTIONS

Socially-active, young professionals


SOLUTION


ADVANTAGE

CUSTOMEROUTCOME


EARLYADOPTER

360° ASSUMPTIONS


Need to stay aware of interesting

events



ADVANTAGE

CUSTOMEROUTCOME


EARLYADOPTER

360° ASSUMPTIONS



events

Social event sharing network



ADVANTAGE


EARLYADOPTER

360° ASSUMPTIONS



events


Increased awareness and attendance at

events



ADVANTAGE

EARLYADOPTER

360° ASSUMPTIONS



events



events

Meetups, Twitter promos



ADVANTAGE

360° ASSUMPTIONS



events



events


Silicon Valley techies, VC’s,

entrepreneurs


COMPETITION KEY COMPETITIVEADVANTAGE

360° ASSUMPTIONS



events


???


events



entrepreneurs


KEY COMPETITIVEADVANTAGE

360° ASSUMPTIONS



events


??? Evite, Facebook, Outlook, Meetup


events



entrepreneurs


360° ASSUMPTIONS



events


??? Evite, Facebook, Outlook, Meetup

No invitation feature!


events



entrepreneurs


@jboogie

…which we then turn into hypotheses…


@jboogie


We believe that


@jboogie


We believe that [building this feature]


@jboogie


We believe that [building this feature] [for these people]


@jboogie


We believe that [building this feature] [for these people] will achieve [this outcome].


@jboogie


We believe that [building this feature] [for these people] will achieve [this outcome].

We will know we are successful when we see [this signal from the market].


@jboogie

Hypothesis: We believe that creating the ability for people to share events will provide them with better awareness and greater enjoyment of their social circles.


@jboogie

Case Study: TheLadders


@jboogie


Requirement: Provide each paying customer with a personal job search assistant available via email and phone


@jboogie


Requirement: Provide each paying customer with a personal job search assistant available via email and phone

Hypothesis: We believe that providing a personal assistant to each customer will drive up customer satisfaction, renewals and retention rates


@jboogie



@jboogie


How could we have better defined our products?


@jboogie



Articulated our assumptions


@jboogie




Defined our hypotheses


@jboogie





Run lightweight tests to validate the need


@jboogie





Run lightweight tests to validate the need

What outcome were we targeting?


@jboogie

What problem are you trying to solve?


@jboogie


How will you solve it?


@jboogie


How will you solve it?

How do you know it will work?


@jboogie

How does this change the way a team approaches a project?


@jboogie


The measure of progress changes…


@jboogie


The measure of progress changes…

…from output to outcome.


@jboogie



@jboogie


Output: the stuff we make, aka features


@jboogie




Outcome: a measurable change in customer behavior attributable to specific output


@jboogie




Outcome: a measurable change in customer behavior attributable to specific output

Impact: a high-level measure of the business’ health


Works as designed is no longer good enough...


@jboogie

You can launch features…and they can still suck.


@jboogie

Output


@jboogie

Outcome


@jboogie

Impact


@jboogie

Many companies currently manage to output - because it’s easy. It’s binary.

Instead, we need to focus on delivering outcomes.

(and not task teams with responsibility for impact)


@jboogie



@jboogie


14%@neoinnovate || @jboogie


MAKE DECISIONS BASED ON OBJECTIVE OBSERVATIONS


@jboogie

Kill


@jboogie

Pivot


@jboogie

Double-down


@jboogie

The easy parts...


@jboogie

The easy parts...

Measuring: analytics, usage, metrics


@jboogie

The easy parts...



Talking to customers: qualitative insight into “why” customers are behaving certain ways


@jboogie

The easy parts...



Talking to customers: qualitative insight into “why” customers are behaving certain ways

Pausing & reflecting: team-wide discussion of learnings and progress


@jboogie

The hard part...


MITIGATE RISK BY NOT BUILDING THINGS PEOPLE DON’T WANT...


@jboogie

Case Study: Children’s media company


@jboogie


Entering a new market


@jboogie



Heavy investment


@jboogie



Heavy investment

High risk


@jboogie



Heavy investment

High risk

Long term initiative


@jboogie



@jboogie


In-class observation


@jboogie



V1 = PDF content test


@jboogie




V2 = card sorting


@jboogie




V2 = card sorting

V3 = clickable prototype


@jboogie




V2 = card sorting

V3 = clickable prototype

Not a line of code written


...WHILE MAINTAINING DELIGHT IN YOUR DESIGNS


@jboogie@neoinnovate || @jboogie

Case Study: TwoDo


Case Study: Xiaomi


Case Study: Xiaomi

100,000 phones released every Tuesday at noon


Case Study: Xiaomi


Hours (not days) to collect feedback from customers


Case Study: Xiaomi


Hours (not days) to collect feedback from customers

Hours (not days) to get feedback to engineers


@jboogie

Case Study: Agile UX NYC 2012

@neo_innovation || @jboogieMonday, October 6, 14

@jboogie


Would anyone attend our conference?


@jboogie



Lots of up front costs


@jboogie



Lots of up front costs

Increasing fidelity of tests


@jboogie



LEAN UX AND DESIGN THINKING ARE NOT JUST FOR DESIGNERS


@jboogie

Cross-functional teams…


@jboogie


Bring perspective to the product definition process from all disciplines


@jboogie



Possess increased empathy for the user


@jboogie




Understand the “why” behind every initiative


@jboogie




Understand the “why” behind every initiative

Learn more, faster, by sharing the discovery and creation process


Build shared understanding


Build shared understanding

This is my neighbor...and his f&*(ing leaf blower.


@jboogie@neoinnovate || @jboogie

Competencies over roles

Je!rey Allen "Je! Skunk" Baxter (born December 13, 1948) is an American guitarist, known for his stints in the rock bands Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers during the 1970s. More recently, he has been working as a defense consultant and chairs a Congressional Advisory Board on missile defense.


SOMETHING TO CONSIDER...

@jboogie@neo_innovation || @jboogieMonday, October 6, 14

@jboogie

How can we get feedback sooner?


GREAT!HOW DO WE GET THESE PROJECTS FUNDED?


67

Business model validation

Product validation

Small team


67

Business model validation

Product validation

Small team

Culture / Infrastructure to support continuous learning

Stakeholders

Small-chunk, outcome-based, predictable funding

$$$


@jboogie

Defining the right product…


@jboogie


Reduces the time spent building the wrong product


@jboogie



Builds team-wide momentum & shared understanding


@jboogie



Builds team-wide momentum & shared understanding

Ensures that resources are spent on the right initiatives


@jboogie

By shifting the way we work…


@jboogie


Requirements are assumptions


@jboogie



Focus on outcomes


@jboogie



Focus on outcomes

Work together to come up with ideas


@jboogie



Focus on outcomes

Work together to come up with ideas

Test those ideas ruthlessly


THANK YOU!

@[email protected]

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http://www.leanuxbook.com




better product definition with lean ux and design thinking by jeff gothelf - lean it summit 2014

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