After designing and building software for clients on more than 100 products over the last 20 years, it's become painfully obvious that there's no shortage of great ideas for new products. Equally obvious is that starting with a great idea doesn't necessarily mean you’ll wind up with a great product. Almost every wildly successful startup has found said success with a completely different product than they originally set out to build. How have these teams found the secret successful product hiding in the heap of (mostly unused) features their team is furiously designing, building, shipping, and supporting? Sure, you're supposed to get out of the building and talk to customers, but how do you actually do it, and what do you once you have? And what if you got into this whole industry partly because you don't actually like talking to people? In this issue: • 1 question you should be asking everyone you meet • 3 folds to a piece of paper that can turn anyone into a designer • 8 hours that just might turn your product into the next big thing • 100 dollars you should be spending on TaskRabbit every month

1. Leaner,
Meaner
Design @dhendee

2. Leaner,
Meaner
Design @dhendee

3. carbonfive.com

4. carbonfive.com

5. carbonfive.com

6. “How should we
build it?”

7. “What should we
build?”

8. SFMOMA

9. SFMOMA

11. Asian Art Museum

12. Asian Art Museum

14. Hire some rad
designers.

15. Hire some rad
designers.

16. Hire some rad
designers.

17. Cross-train.

18. Cross-train.

19. Cross-train.

20. Effective

21. Simple

22. Iterative

23. Collaborative

24. Lean UX

25. Agile Product
Development

26. Top 3

27. Empathy interviews
Opportunity statement
Provisional personas
Experience map
Six-up sketches
Paper prototypes
Wireframe walkthrough
Story writing & mapping
Cross-functional pairing
Three on Thursdays

28. Empathy interviews
Six-up sketches
Three on Thursdays
Opportunity statement
Provisional personas
Experience map
Paper prototypes
Wireframe walkthrough
Story writing & mapping
Cross-functional pairing

29. Empathy
Interviews
d.school

30. Empathy
Interviews
d.school

31. Talking to
customers is
great...

32. ...unless you’re an
introvert.

33. The FORD
technique.
Lifehacker

34. Family
Occupation
Recreation
Dreams
Lifehacker

35. “When’s the last
time you ____?”
d.school

36. “When’s the last
time you visited a
museum?”
Asian Art Museum

37. “When’s the last
time you swiped
your credit
card?”
Square

38. “When’s the last
time you talked
to someone
remote at least
10 minutes?” Skype

39. How/Why
Laddering
d.school

40. Do they have the
problem?

41. How do they solve
it now?

43. “Who should I
talk to next?”

45. Needs & Insights

46. Externalize

47. Externalize

48. Six-up
Sketches
LUXr

49. Structured
Brainstorming

50. Six sketches...

51. ...in six minutes.

52. ...in six minutes

53. Group ownership
of ideas.

54. Chown
/CHōn/ v.
To change the
ownership of a file [or
idea]. @dhendee?

55. “How might we
__________?”
d.school

56. “How might we
use technology to
reduce fraud?”
Square

57. “How might we
extend our visitor
experience?”
Asian Art Museum

58. “How might we
facilitate valuable
conversations?”
Skype

61. Show & Tell

62. Show & Tell

63. Dot-vote
d.school

64. Prototype

65. Prototype

66. Three on
Thursdays
LUXr via Carbon Five

67. Guerrilla Usability
Testing
Steve Krug, Don’t Make Me Think

68. Write a screener.

69. “Are you a
consultant who
uses video chat in
your work?”
Skype

70. “Do you never
carry any cash in
your wallet?”
Square

71. “Have you visited
a Bay Area
museum in the
past year?”
Asian Art Museum

72. Craigslist

73. TaskRabbit

74. LinkedIn

75. Externalize

76. 9am
11am
1pm

77. 9am
11am
1pm

78. Empathy Interview

79. Single use case.

80. Think Aloud
Protocol

81. “What do you
think will happen
next?”

82. One idea per
sticky.

83. One idea per
sticky.

85. Only fix the three
most broken
things.

86. Only fix the three
most broken
things.

87. So Now
What?

88. Just go back to
your desk and do
the job it says on
your business
card.

89. Be agnostic.

90. But Why?

91. On your next
feature...

92. ...try six-up
sketches.

93. At your next
hackathon:

94. Talk to People

95. Create Together

96. Experiment

97. Now who’s
a designer?

98. Thanks!

99. Thanks!

100. stickies.io
storymapper.io
Tinderbox
@carbonfive