Please solve the right problem!

AGILE GURUGRAM 2017
@ Agile Network India , All Rights Reserved. www.agilenetworkindia.com
MAY 26, 2017
BY JISHA SHARMA
PLEASE SOLVE THE RIGHT
PROBLEM!

Agenda
Basics of problem solving, User Research
THEORY: 20 mins
FEEDBACK/QUESTIONS: 5 mins
User Journeys and Opportunity Canvas
THEORY: 10 mins
Introductions and objectives for today
INTRO: 5 mins
User Research
PRACTICE: 5 mins
2

@ Agile Network India , All Rights Reserved. www.agilenetworkindia.com 3
As published in one of the Harvard Business
Reviews in early 2017, in surveys of 106 C-suite
executives who represented 91 private and
public-sector companies in 17 countries, it was
found that a full 85% strongly agreed
or agreed that their organizations
were bad at problem diagnosis,
and 87% strongly agreed or agreed that this flaw
carried significant costs

So how do we diagnose the right problem?
4
• There are four key steps
– Define the scope of work
– Interact with end users and map their entire
process for the problem area
– Understand the pain points, existing tools, emotions
and thought process at each step
– Identify opportunities that solve for the pain
points, user needs and helps them get to a happier state

4 step problem-solving process is a powerful framework for
diagnosing a problem
5
Define the
scope
Engage end customer/user
Understand pain points
Identify
Oppor-
tunities
Map the
business
process
3 Understand pain points4 Identify Opportunities
1 Define the Scope 2 Map the business process
• Be clear on how wide you want to go
while problem diagnosis
• Why: Team should be aligned on
the scope
• It is important to understand the process end
to end, it is about the service design and not
just a part of it.
• Why: This will help you have a wide picture
and help with overall adoption
• First understand the pain points and emotions
through the process
• Why: This will help us understand where the
pain is and where can be the gain.
Technology is only a part of problem solving
• Each step in the process needs to be
dived into and then identify the
opportunities there
• Why: This will help with all the
opportunities and then we should
maximize on one or two opportunities

User interviews, journey maps and opportunity canvas to help
through these 4 steps
6
Define the
scope
Understand pain points
3 Understand pain points4 Identify Opportunities
Identify
Oppor-
tunities
Map the
business
process
1 Define the Scope 2 Map the business process
• This needs to be done in a meeting with
the stakeholders basis existing
information/data, experience or
gut feeling
• User interviews is key for this
• Journey maps/experience maps can be
leveraged to document pain points, touch
points and emotions. Further they can be
used to identify opportunities
• Post journey mapping, an opportunity
canvas will help you detail out each
opportunity and maximize on it

This needs to be done in a meeting with the
stakeholders basis existing information/data,
experience or gut feeling
Ideation/brainstorming techniques could be leveraged
Define the
scopeScope can be defined in multiple ways

User interviews is a good starting point to map
the business process
Quiz question 1
8
“How angry do you usually feel when an
online order doesn’t arrive on time?
“Recall a time when an online order didn’t
arrive on time. How did you feel?”
“Recall a time when an online order didn’t
arrive on time. What did you think or feel?”

Speculative Question Based on Imagination: “Tell me what goes on
in your head when an online order doesn’t arrive on time.”
Context-based Question Grounded in Reality: “Tell me what went on
in your head the last time when an online order didn’t arrive on time.”
Quiz question 2

Specific Question: “What was the last thing you bought online?”
Open-ended Question: “Tell me more about the last time you
purchased something online.”
Quiz question 3

1. Know what you want answered, clear and concise goals
2. Reframe the problem statements
3. Build a list of questions
a. Don’t ask leading questions
b. Ask about specific incidents in the past, when possible
c. Ask more open-ended questions
d. You can ask more than one question to find out the same thing
e. Don’t ask if they’d buy your product
4. Paraphrase each question 2–3 times
5. Give the whole list of questions a structure
a. Introduction
b. Warm up questions
c. Main body questions
d. Wrap up
Things to keep in mind while conducting
user interviews

Reframe the problem statement per the
real need
12
Original:
“Why do people make purchases online?”
Reframe 1:“What makes people want to buy online?”
Reframes 2 & 3:“What makes a product saleable online?”
“What makes a product unsaleable online?”
Sample user guide in the handout

Journey maps can be very useful in
identifying pain points and opportunities
14
created by Sandeep Kumar Bajpai and Jisha Sharma, resolution low as confidential

Journey maps can show the original and the
expected journey beautifully
14
http://uxmag.com/sites/default/files/uploads/grocki-
illustratingthebigpicture/PregnancyJourney-Alt_1224.jpg
Print in the handout

Opportunity Canvas can be used to detail
out an opportunity
16
Sample in the handout

Tips & Tricks for creating your Opportunity Canvas
17
Users: Look for differences in user’s goals or uses that would affect their use of the
solution. Separate users into different types based on those differences that make a
difference. It’s a bad idea to target “everyone” with your product
Existing Alternatives: List competitive products or work-around approaches your
users have for meeting their needs. Your solution must help people do something
valuable in their lives. This value through use could be functional (I ripped through some
awesome analysis), social (I didn't embarrass myself with my team/client), or emotional
(I feel calm and in control). Great products address needs in all three dimensions and
create this value 10x better than existing alternatives--which include doing nothing, but
also usually email and Excel
Outcomes: The best measure of innovation is change in human behavior. Identify the
outcomes you need to see in order to know that people are using your product and you
will be able to create the desired impact. How should their behavior change? To
stimulate your thinking try to form sentences in the following structure
▪ “[User] can help us to achieve [Business Metric] by [Behavior] faster/better
▪ “[User] can obstruct us from achieving [Business Metric] by [Behavior] slower/worse
Business Metrics: These usually change as a consequence of behavior metrics
changing. Good metrics tend to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented,
Realistic and Timely

Reflection
18
• Let’s share what it was like to participate in this discussion
– What did you find easy, interesting, challenging?
– What can be improved?

THANK YOU
jisha14sharma@gmail.com

Please solve the right problem!

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