Navigating Ambiguity: UX in Early-Stage Product Development
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This document provides guidance on user experience (UX) practices for early-stage product development when there is high uncertainty. It recommends taking an iterative approach focused on validating assumptions quickly through minimum viable products and prototypes. UX methods like proto-personas, storytelling, and usability testing with proxies can help prioritize features and guide design when actual users are unknown. The document emphasizes collaborating cross-functionally, moving fast but not overcommitting, and continually tracking assumptions and gathering feedback to refine the product as understanding increases.
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Navigating Ambiguity: UX in Early-Stage Product Development
- 1. UX IN EARLY-STAGE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
- 5. ? ? ?
- 6. WHEN DOES THIS HAPPEN • Struggling to find Product-Market Fit • Lots of Unknowns – New Product or Service – Business Model Unknown – Customers/Users Unknown • New Technology – First Mover Advantage – Technological Leadership page 6
- 7. UNKNOWNS • Understanding Problem • Prioritization • Big Changes • Validity • Intuitive Approach to Ideation and Design page 7 Early-Stage Product Dev • Developing Process • Quality and Refinement • Incremental Change • Reliability • Analytical Approach to Ideation and Design Mature-Product Dev
- 10. END GAME Audience: Actual Customers Purpose: Determine market viability Form: Most essential elements of the complete solution - Not just ‘Minimum Features’ page 10 MVP Audience: Investors or Interested Parties Purpose: Determine market market or technology validity Form: Prototype • “Would someone buy this?” • “Does my idea work? PROOF OF CONCEPT
- 11. “There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know.” - Donald Rumsfeld page 11
- 12. KNOWN KNOWNS Plan for these
- 13. KNOWN UNKNOWNS Prepare for these (Assumptions you can call out)
- 14. UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS React to these (Assumptions you can’t call out) page 14
- 18. WHY PERSONAS • It’s a means to an end – Chaos to Simplification – Framework for Decision Making – Executive Alignment – Team Buy-In • Personas User Needs Features Prioritization page 18
- 19. PROTO-PERSONAS • Start with Assumption-Based Personas • Sketchy and Simple • Validate with research and customer feedback over time page 19 AKA Discussion Tool & Assumption Codification Device
- 20. page 20
- 22. COLLABORATE Audience: product managers, developers, designers Captures: core tasks, needs, wants, story arc Pro: Informs design decisions and feature prioritization Con: Lacks competitive insight page 22 UX Audience: sales, business development, C-suite Captures: demographics, purchasing behavior, trends Pro: Evaluates market opportunities and what products to develop Con: Can’t determine functionality Marketing/Buyer
- 23. USER RESEARCH • Sales demos • Find user proxies • Find user champions • Guerilla usability testing • Build feedback mechanisms and analytics into the product page 23 Market Undefined – Users Undefined
- 24. page 24 • UX TOOLBOX
- 27. KEEP IN MIND • Business Goals vary by Business Model • Business Model(s) may not be decided anytime soon • Business Goal = Impress Investors? page 27
- 28. BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS page 28 AKA Discussion Tool & Assumption Codification Device
- 29. By Strategyzer
- 30. “How will this change effect the product” - Me (Everyday) page 30
- 31. ALIGNMENT & FLOW
- 32. DRIVE SCOPE WITH STORY • Document WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY – User Flows – Process Flow – Journey Maps – Storyboard – Story Map page 32
- 35. UI DEVELOPMENT • Minimize Complexity – Rely on existing frameworks – Keep patterns and interactions simple – Functional First – Don’t over-invest in Branding, Custom Styles page 35
- 36. COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS page 36 AKA License to steal (or pay for) other people’s stuff
- 37. LIVE STYLE GUIDE page 37
- 38. “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference” page 38
- 39. MOMENT OF ZEN
- 41. page 41 • Move fast, but don’t overcommit Move fast
- 42. page 42 Low
- 43. page 43 Don’t bite off more than you can chew
- 44. page 44 Study Up
- 47. Resources: UX for Lean Startups by Eric Ries Design of Business by Roger Martin Designing for Emerging Technologies by Jonathan Follett Value Proposition Design by Strategyzer Business Model Generation by Strategyzer Experiment Board by Javelin
Editor's Notes
- Can’t define from start, need to figure out along the way or after a release. Things are happening and have happened. Your ability to percieve both will be challenged. UX detective, parsing information and structuring the conversation.
- NOT the most complete robust, user experience. Level of polish management is willing to invest is correlated with how competitive the market is. There won’t be a ton of features. You won’t have a lot of bells or whistles. You will not get to do everything you want to do.
- In the beginning -
- This is what makes people the most nervous
- You will churn through a lot of ideas
- Discussion Tool and Assumption Codification Device
- Proto-Personas “How to win or delight this person” Contextual Elements Most useful when you’re comparing variables that will be most insightful to you and your business
- Usefulness can be tricky Usability
- Structure experiements
- You may get looped into these strategic discussions, or you might only find out about them after the fact. But it’s to your benefit to stay in the loop. UX as planner, UX as detective, UX as facillitator. Offer up your services to facilliate these kind of discussions in order to get a seat at the table. Show your value by being able to connect decisions to consequences and the product.
- These should be things you can plan for - but not always. Especially if it’s a new technology
- Close collaboration is essential. Recongize that for all of your design related Unknowns, your developer has his own. Things are going to change Suss out edge cases Determine feasibility Negotiate trade offs Understand new technology
- First Movers Advantage or Technological Leadership
- If you don’t really know your audience, customers yet, don’t over invest in visual design and branding. Yes, you want to establish credibility. But you don’t really know who you’re speaking to yet.
- Priorization is everything – be a part of that MVP discussion. Use t
- In the case of new technology or new industry - become a subject matter expert. Find secondary sources