Closing the feedback loop with a little help from your friends

Closing the feedback loop with a little help from your friends Agile 2009 Jackson Fox August 26, 2009

A few things before we start 1. Feel free to ask questions at any time 2. Can also send questions to @jacksonfox 3. Please tag any posts #feedbackloop Agile 2009 2

A bit about myself... NAME: Jackson Fox JOB: UX Designer COMPANY: Viget Labs Agile 2009 3

e this q uestion Sinc a lot... com es up vi·get e Agile 2009 4

Previously... Comp Sci Major C Academic B+ Web Developer A Agile 2009 5

Previously... Comp Sci Major HCI Academic Cog Psych Web Developer Interfaces = User Experience Agile 2009 6

Product Team + Users = $ Agile 2009 7

w do w e make Ho this h appen? Product Team + Users = $ The $300 mil button Agile 2009 8

Ethnography Agile 2009 http://ﬂic.kr/p/3gXSyw 9

Usability Lab Agile 2009 http://ﬂic.kr/p/Kic8T 10

Most of the time, we need to be creative What Would MacGyver Do? (with apologies to m. jackson wilkinson) Agile 2009 11

Level of interaction with the customer 1. Talking to customers 2. Thinking like a customer 3. Thinking like yourself Agile 2009 12

Level of interaction with the customer Talking to customers Thinking like a customer Thinking like yourself Increasing quality of feedback & insight Agile 2009 13

Is there We rarely have step her another the time e? Talking to customers Thinking like a customer Thinking like yourself d too much W e spen time here Agile 2009 14

Everyone Else: Doesn’t Do Usability UX Person: Does Usability Your organizat ion Agile 2009 15

Wh y not? Everyone Else: Doesn’t Do Usability UX Person: Does Usability Your organizat ion Agile 2009 16

The big picture As an agile team, how do you collaborate with other groups in your organization in order to get insight into customer needs and get timely customer feedback on your work? Agile 2009 17

Our Agenda An example Step-by-step Making the plan Finding our allies Doing the research Making it a habit Agile 2009 18

Example: Choice Hotels EU Agile 2009 20

We had a simple plan 1. Build a prototype 2. Get feedback 3. Make awesome site Agile 2009 21

Just a few small problems ➡ Je ne parle pas français ➡ Ich spreche keine deutsch ➡ No hablo español Agile 2009 22

Just a few small problems ➡ No money for travel ➡ Those pesky time zones ➡ Local customs Agile 2009 23

We got everyone involved Training Remote Testing Viget Team Choice Team Users Agile 2009 24

The Results 4 Teams (UK, FR, DE, Australia) 4 Languages 50 Users 2 Weeks Agile 2009 25

Beneﬁts ➡ Choice teams felt like we were really listening ➡ Helped Choice teams take an active role in the design process ➡ Teams felt ownership of the design process ➡ Teams felt ownership of the user experience ➡ Helped resolve differences of opinion ➡ Gained skills for the future Agile 2009 26

Things this presentation isn’t about: Usability Testing Agile 2009 27

Thing this presentation isn’t about: Usability Testing Voice of the Customer Analytics Agile 2009 28

Making the plan... What do we want to know? How are we going to ﬁnd out? Agile 2009 30

“Designch” “User Resear Researc h” Empathy Context Insight Generate Two kinds of research tasks Evaluate Perform a Optimi zation nce Usability Agile 2009 31

The Rumsfeld Scale Known Knowns Known Unknowns Unknown Unknowns need t o know What do you goals? Where mplish your are peo t o acco problem ple havi s? ng Agile 2009 32

Good Research Questions Are concrete, with clear answers Don’t worry (yet) about how you’re going to answer them Are driven by near-term project needs (1-2 iterations ahead) Agile 2009 33

Meet TuningFork.com TuningFork.com is a specialized digital music store (not really), and you are the product team. TurningFork has been doing relatively well in their niche, but is facing increasing pressure from PolkaTunez.com. To fight back, TuningFork is planning to release a greatly improved shopping experience. In 12 weeks (6 iterations). Project Goal Decrease support calls related to purchasing and downloads Agile 2009 34

Task: Research Questions Project Goal Decrease support calls related to music downloads Our Task What are 5 research questions we should be asking? [5 min] Agile 2009 35

Pick the method that ﬁts the question, not the question that ﬁts the method Agile 2009 36

Research Methods Usability Testing Contextual Interviews Remote Usability Testing Surveys Guerilla Usability Testing A/B Testing 5-Second Tests Multivariate Testing Card Sorting Divide the Dollar Field Research These are all useful, but don’t get hung-up on them, try to be c reative in finding ways to approach your question Agile 2009 37

Task: Research Methods Project Goal Decrease support calls related to music downloads Your Task What research methods could we use to get answers to our research question? (Pick one question from our list.) [5 min] Agile 2009 38

Finding our allies... Who do we want to talk to? Who can help us? Agile 2009 39

Is there a speciﬁc group of customers we want to talk to in order to answer our questions? Agile 2009 40

Task: Which Users? Project Goal Decrease support calls related to music downloads Our Task What are 5 characteristics of the people we should be talking to? [5 min] Agile 2009 41

Identifying Allies Access Who is already in contact with users? Who is already in contact with your users? Mutual Interest Who would be interested in this information? Who else has a stake in your project goals? Strengths Who already has complementary skills? Agile 2009 42

Who are these people? Agile 2009 43

Task: Which Allies? Project Goal Decrease support calls related to music downloads Our Task Within your groups, brainstorm a list of roles/people within an organization that might serve as allies on our project. Think about groups with access, groups with mutual interest, groups with complementary strengths, and groups that might have all three. [5 min] Agile 2009 44

How Do We Collaborate? ➡ We’re looking for collaborators, not subject ➡ Split up the work (planning, recruiting, testing) ➡ Share your experience ➡ Review results as a team Agile 2009 45

Doing the research... Creating the infrastructure Getting good results Agile 2009 46

Creating The Infrastructure ➡ Clearly define which users we want to talk to ➡ Identify and test out the tools ➡ Document who is responsible for specific tasks ➡ Document the process ➡ Do a practice run Agile 2009 47

Getting Good Results ➡ No, seriously, practice ➡ Identify the information you want to collect ➡ Decide if you’re going to record sessions ➡ Create a form for collecting information Agile 2009 48

Agile workﬂow ➡ Focus on information needs 1-2 weeks or iterations ahead ➡ Identify information needs in user stories ➡ Make it a habit Agile 2009 50

Building a customer-centric organization Agile 2009 51

Vision Feedback Culture Jared Spool IA Summit 2008 Agile 2009 52

Feedback In the last six weeks, have you spent more than two hours watching someone use yours or a competitors design? Agile 2009 53

Our Results ➡ Teams felt like partners in the design process ➡ Teams felt ownership of the user experience ➡ Resolved conflicts based on individual opinions and preconceived notions Agile 2009 54

Keeping the channel open ➡ It’s easier to get feedback through open channels than it is to work from a cold start every time ➡ You can get user feedback when you need it, not when it’s most convenient to get Agile 2009 55

Recap Agile 2009 56

Stop, Collaborate, Listen ➡ There are times when we don’t have the time or the opportunity to do the research we need to feed the design process ➡ There are other people in your organization who want to know the same things you do ➡ You can fill in knowledge gaps by collaborating ➡ Keep research efforts targeted, and focus on project goals ➡ The best results and efficiencies will come when you make this a regular part of your process Agile 2009 57

Good ➡ Can provide insight and feedback in circumstances where it otherwise wouldn’t have been possible ➡ Exposes more of the organization to the needs of your users ➡ Helps the rest of your team and your organization become part of the design process Agile 2009 58

Bad/Ugly ➡ May require a good deal of effort and political will to find allies ➡ Never as good as being there in person ➡ High up-front costs depending on methods and practice Agile 2009 59

Questions? Agile 2009 60

The End You’ve Been Awesome http://spkr8.com/talks/1389 Agile 2009 61

Get in touch! NAME: Jackson Fox EMAIL: jacksonfox@gmail.com TWITTER: @jacksonfox Agile 2009 62

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Closing the feedback loop with a little help from your friends

by Jackson Fox

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