Storytelling in Product Development: How Knowing Users' Stories Leads to Better Outcomes

Sarah Doody | Knowing your users & their stories 1
Storytelling in Product Development
Knowing your users & their stories
@sarahdoody
Sarah Doody
www.sarahdoody.com
sarah@sarahdoody.com
#storytellingUX
October 2, 2013

Sarah Doody | Knowing your users & their stories
Every great product starts
with a great story.

I’m a user experience designer.
But I realized that above all, I’m a storyteller.

Neuroscience
of fact and fiction.

Broca’s
area
Wernicke’s
area
Brain’s response to fact

Broca’s
area
(language)
Wernicke’s
area
(language)
Brains response to ﬁction
Frontal
cortex
(emotion)
Motor cortex
(movement)
Sensory cortex
(sensation / touch)
Olfactory
cortex
(smell)

Novels (stories) go beyond simulating
reality to give readers an experience
unavailable oﬀ the page:
the opportunity to enter fully into other
people’s thoughts and feelings.
From: Your Brain On Fiction by Annie Murphy Paul (New York Times)

The project that went wrong.

Which header do you prefer?
Header A
Header B

69
I had mail.

PRODUCT &
DESIGN
TECH BUSINESS
UX

Telephone Game

Observation
Far too often teams
focus on execution
before deﬁning a
product opportunity or
value proposition.

Symptoms
Product Team Users
• Scope creep
• Extended timeline
• Over budget
• Scope reduction
• Chasing tasks
• Burn out
• Declining passion
• Growing frustration
• Confusing ux
• Slow adoption
• No adoption
• No word of mouth

It doesn’t matter how good
your (engineering) team is if
they are not given something
worthwhile to build.
Marty Cagan
Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love

Root Problem
We focus on the how
and what of a product,
letting why get left
behind.

what howwhy
Product Development Timeline

what howwhy
solutionstory / problem

If I had one hour to save the world I
would spend 45 minutes deﬁning the
problem and only 5 minutes ﬁnding the
solution.
- Einstein

why how
story
what
solution

It all starts with storytelling.

What about personas
and user stories?

Personas are polarizing.

Users stories focus too much on
utility and not enough on the user.

As a
I want to
so that

Stories that make us care
aren’t created by chance,
they are created by design.
Andrew Stanton
Director, Screenwriter, Producer at Pixar
From: TED Talk : The Clues To A Great Story by Andrew Stanton

Good stories give you a promise that
they’re going to lead you somewhere
that’s worth your time.
A well told promise carries a story
through to the end.
Andrew Stanton
Director, Screenwriter, Producer at Pixar

Good products give you a promise that
they’re going to lead you somewhere
that’s worth your time.
A well told promise carries a
customer (& team) through to the end.

How do you ensure your
product is rooted in a great
promise (story)?

CHARACTERS + CONTEXT + CONFLICT
Intro
Rising
Action
Climax
Falling
Action
Resolution
Story Structure

Eat the audience
Story Principles: Characters
- Hillman Curtis

By developing characters ﬁrst,
the plot of your story will
emerge organically ...
From: Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey” by Scott Myers
- Scott Myers

Case study:
Fact Check

the square barista

If you want to build a product
that’s relevant to people, you
need to put yourself in their
shoes. You need the write the
story from their side.
- Jack Dorsey

Story Principles: Context
- Frank Gehry
Work from the inside
out.

The functionality of
a single page
...
the
WHAT

WHAT + WHY
are they on this
page or screen?
HOW
did they get
here?
WHERE
are they going
next?

Context forces us to zoom out
from a moment in time or
speciﬁc functionality so we can
understand someone’s greater
experience.

We can’t assume context
because today, we’re
tethered to technology.

Story Principles: Conﬂict (Cause)
- Jason Goldberg
What’s your one
thing?

All well drawn characters have a
spine -- an inner motor, a dominant
unconscious goal that they’re
striving for, an itch that they can’t
scratch.
- Judith Weston, Acting coach
From: TED Talk : The Clues To A Great Story by Andrew Stanton

Wall-E
Find the beauty.
Woody
Do what was best
for his child.
Marlin
Prevent harm.

Cinderella
moments.
Everyone’s
private driver.
Daily design
inspiration
... smile.

What’s your one thing ...
your one conﬂict or
cause?

Every great product starts
with a great story.
What’s yours?

Storytelling in Product Development: How Knowing Users' Stories Leads to Better Outcomes

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