effective customer interviewing
DESCRIPTION
To build the right product you need to understand the people who use it. Good interviewing should be one of your core skills - whether you are a designer, an entrepreneur, a product manager, or an innovator. This workshop will show you how to get the most from your conversations with customers. In a series of mock interviews you'll learn basic techniques, mistakes to avoid, common cognitive biases, and a number of lightweight analysis and synthesis techniques that work well in rapidly changing innovative and entrepreneurial environments. No Lean Startup or UX knowledge required. Just bring yourself. Presented at Lean UX NYC 2013TRANSCRIPT
Effective Customer Interviewing
Lean UX NYC 2013
Adrian Howard (@adrianh) quietstars.com
Hello!
Eh?
Ask questions
Tip: Drink!
?
Stand up
A – B - C
A = SpeakerB = InterviewerC = Observer
Speakers:Shut your eyes
Interviewers:Chat with the speaker about their best restaurant experience.
Observers:Watch what happens. Write observations on post-it notes.
2 minutes
Reflection
B = SpeakerC = InterviewerA = Observer
Speakers:Shut your eyes
Interviewers:Chat with the speaker about their best holiday experience.
Interviewers:One more thing.
Interviewers:After the first question – you cannot speak again. Shhhhh!
Observers:Watch what happens. Write observations on post-it notes.
2 minutes
Reflection
The opposite of talking isn't listening. The opposite of talking is waiting.
- Fran Lebowitz
C = SpeakerA = InterviewerB = Observer
Speakers:Shut your eyes
Interviewers:Chat with the speaker about how they decorate & furnish their home.
Tip:Remember to use silence and body language.
Interviewers:One more thing.
Interviewers:After the first question you can only ask “Can you tell me more about X?”
Interviewers:(where X is something the speaker has previously mentioned).
Observers:Watch what happens. Write observations on post-it notes.
4 minutes
Reflection
Tip:Reflect back what the speaker said.
Every clarification breeds new questions.
- Arthur Bloch
Relax...
?
Interviews ≠ Quiz
Interviews ≠ Survey
Interviews are AI-hard tasks
Rapport
Why do we do interviews?
Steve Blankat Ardent
At the top of his lungs he screamed, “You don’t know a damn thing about what these customers need! You’ve never talked to anyone in this market, you don’t know who they are, you don’t know what they need, and you have no right to speak in any of these planning meetings.”
“I want you out of the building talking to customers; find out who they are, how they work, and what we need to do to sell them lots of these new computers.” Motioning to our VP of Sales, he ordered: “Go with him and get him in front of customers, and both of you don’t come back until you can tell us something we don’t know.”
Learn from customers
Finding customers
Hassling people on the street
Tip: Bribes
Coffee shops
Tip:Don't look scary
Go where your customers are
Sales
Marketing
Customer Support
Online
craigslist
Ethnio.net
Learn from customers
Test our assumptions
1) Learn what?
2) From who?
Exercise time
Today you found a startup!
Exploring exciting new ways to create a great experience
eating out
Helping people have the holiday of
their dreams.
Democratising professional
interior decoration
Build Topic Maps
Individually write down topics on post-it notes
2m
Group and label them as a team
5m
Interviewing
A = SpeakerB = InterviewerC = Observer
Tip: Remember the person.
Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
5m
Reflection
Interviewing
B = SpeakerC = InterviewerA = Observer
Interviewers & Observers:Both note down speaker's key points.
Tip: Ask open questions.
What was the last book you read?
Can you tell me about the kind of books you read?
5m
Reflection
Interviewing
C = SpeakerA = InterviewerB = Observer
Interviewers:No notes
Observers:Observations vs insights
Tip: Ask for stories.
Can you tell me about the last time...
5m
Reflection
Reflection
Communicating results
Affinity Diagramming
Further Reading
Coming soon
And if you're keen
Ch 7 of "Mental Models" by Indi Young
Ch 10 of "User and Task Analysis for Interaction Design"
Ch 9 & 10 of "User and Task Analysis for Interface Design" by JoAnn T. Hackos, Janice C. Redish
Ch 6 of "Observing the User Experience" by Mike Kuniavsky, Elizabeth Goodman & Andrea Moed
Ch 4 of "Contextual Design" by Hugh Beyer and Karen Holtzblatt
Bonus Exercise
How do we build a better conference
experience
