Incorporating a UX mindset

into early stage product developmentPresenters: Corey Dulimba & Eric McGregorPresented at Product Camp AustinFeb 11, 2017

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Goals today

Focus on 3 key areas that we applied to a recent project:

● How to find the right people to talk too

● Ask the right thing to the right people

● Validate the solution

We’ll uncover:

● The advantages of involving UX early on in product development

● How a PM can start having a UX mindset

Product’s evolving relationship with UX

Old School: Siloed, waterfall style workflow for PM, Engineering and Design.

Modern Approach: Collaborative, parallel workflow of discovery, iteration, and testing across disciplines.

Partnering early

If you have UX or design resources, incorporate them early on.

If you don’t, bake in a few key practices to enhance your process.

• Could you be getting more of the right people to talk too• Get more out of your client interviews• Help you recognize and overcome biases • Capture, document and communicate at higher fidelity

The Beginning

There is a problem

Problem

Communicating technical problems to clients are mostly reactive

Solution

A single client health view that consolidates the "health" of major technical configurations.

Customer Segments

External Business UsersInternal Technical Teams

Now what...

Schedule

1-2 3 4-5

Find the right people totalk to

Ask the right people the right thing

Validate the solution

Constraints: ● Limited UX availability● Delivery timeline● Limited access to clients

Find the right people to talk to

Find the right people to talk too

UX Mindset/Advantages: Internal Interviews

1. Collaborative knowledge: build a shared reality at the start, not at the end.

2. Overcome blockers: scapegoat your UX partner and play the “new-guy” card.

3. People love to be heard: internal interviews are an opportunity to build relationships.

4. Focus on who: begin to build personas at the same time you validate your business case.

5. Listen without judgement: look for underlying motivations by listening to reactions.

Outcome

Talked to internal technical user -

Refine persona. Problem scenarios. Who should we talk too

Challenges

1. Don’t want to harm the relationship

2. Renewal

How to overcome

1. Get the group excited2. Set expectations

Outcome

We choose email to approach the business persona:

1. Clear ask2. What’s in it for them?3. How long is the commitment4. What to expect5. What’s in it for them - rephrased

“Thanks for reaching out. I’d love to carve out some time.”“Happy to help!”“Thanks for the invite to share feedback, I would be happy to partake”

Ask the right thing to the right people

Ask the right thing to the right people

UX Mindset/Advantages: Client Discovery Interviews

1. Structure: get more value out of your interviews by building a persona.

2. Overcome bias: sometimes you only hear what you want to.

3. Commitment: scapegoat UX to get the solution interview.

4. Create learning environment: listen and avoid pitching your product.

5. More Jazz: the freedom to go off script but the discipline to get back on.

How to personaBasic Structure

• Warmup: “What do you do at your company”

• Discovery: “Tell me about your experiences with this problem”

• Ideation: “How would you expect this problem to be solved”

UX mindset• Questions: asking what someone “thinks” or “likes” or “wants” doesn’t count. Focus on what people do.

• Answers: unpack underlying motivations of “think”, “like”, and “want” answers by asking “why”.

• Results: turn motivations into persona goals and design principles.

• Solutions: let them provide ideas for a solution without prompting.

• Stop: as soon as you get bored hearing the same thing again.

Outcome

1. We validated that the problem was real and worth solving

2. Clients wanted to participate more

PM’s takeaways on having a UX mindset:

3. You are there to learn not to pitch

4. Look for patterns and be ready to move on in the process

5. Have other team members sit in (engineering, UX, etc)

6. Be open to new problems

Validate the solution

Validate the solution

UX Mindset/Advantages: Client Solution Interviews

1. Structure testing around persona goals.

2. Let customers struggle... and fail.

3. Silence is ok.

4. It can be ok to iterate your prototypes constantly.

5. The fidelity of your prototype can hurt you.

Outcome

1. The two personas we identified had two unique workflows2. The business persona itself was broken out more into 2 add’l segments3. Had learnings to finalize UX/design

PM’s takeaways on having a UX mindset:

4. Some testing is better than none

5. Use neutral language

6. Invite team members

7. Leave time afterwards

Wrap up

Applying a UX mindset early

In 5 weeks (with part time UX) we were able too

1. Validate customer segments

2. Validate the problem was worth solving

3. Test out biggest assumptions

4. Engage team members

My aha moment

Empathy

We used a 3 step process

1.Find the right people to talk to

2.Ask the right thing to the right people

1. Who2. Problem3. Solution

3.Validate the solution

1. Check functionality, design, UX

1. Create persona2. Test and iterate how to

reach them

Lots of other ways to apply a UX mindset, just make sure you do it!

Questions

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