WELL, WE'VE DONE ALL THIS RESEARCH. NOW WHAT?

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Well, We've Done All This Research. Now What?
Steve Portigal
@steveportigal

Well, We've Done All This Research. Now What? ‹#› Portigal
Click to edit Master title style
Introduction 9:00 – 9:30
Observation Exercise 9:30 – 9:55
Synthesis 9:55 – 10:40
Break 10:40 – 10:50
Ideation 10:50 – 11:20
Share 11:20 – 11:55
Prioritization 11:55 – 12:05
Q&A + Wrap-up 12:05 – 12:30
Today

Click to edit Master title styleMore on Design Research
Tactics for planning research, asking questions
rosenfeldmedia.com/books/interviewing-users/
Interviews with in-house user research leaders
portigal.com/series/DollarsToDonuts/
Coming in 2016
rosenfeldmedia.com/books/epic-fail/

Click to edit Master title styleGenerative and Evaluative Research
Study people to generate
new ideas
Show solutions to people
to evaluate if they are
desirable, usable, useful

Click to edit Master title styleGenerative and Evaluative Research
new ideas
Usability Testing!Ethnography!

Click to edit Master title styleI think about it like this
new ideas
Learning about people’s
behaviors, beliefs, goals, etc.
will help you find opportunities
to innovate and reveal if you
are on the right track so far.

Click to edit Master title styleChristian Rohrer has the definitive model
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux-research-methods/

Click to edit Master title styleThe Business Question
What new products and
services can you offer to
help partners increase social
network stickiness (and thus
revenues)?
What entertainment activities
should you support to tap
into a growing middle-class
in China?

Click to edit Master title styleThe Research Question
What are the motivations,
successes, and frustrations
for current and prospective
users of our partners’ social
media sites?
How is family life changing in
middle-class China? What
are the critical digital and
analog technologies that are
being embraced?

Click to edit Master title styleThe Research Methodology
The methods we’ll use….
The methods we’ll use….

Click to edit Master title stylePain points: default research/business question?!
While we always uncover so-called pain points, the bigger
opportunity may come from understanding why – how did
we get here?

Click to edit Master title styleIt may not really be that painful
Satisficing (coined by Herbert Simon in 1956) refers to our
acceptance of good-enough solutions
These can drive engineers and designers crazy…but the
real problem isn’t always what it appears to be

Click to edit Master title styleTypical timelines
When working in tighter timeframes, consider where you want to cut
back. Be mindful of the tradeoffs!
Who do you
want to talk
to?
What do you
want to do
with them?
Fieldwork
Do
something
with the data!
2–3 weeks 2–3 weeks 2–3 weeks
Screening criteria,
recruiting
Methodology, field
guide, stimuli
Analysis,
synthesis, design
Interviews, self-
reporting, debriefs

Click to edit Master title styleGoing rogue
Who do you
want to talk
to?
What do you
want to do
with them?
Fieldwork
Do
something
with the data!
1 day 1 day 2 days
Who can you get?
Co-workers,
intercepts on the
street
Wide-eyed
observation,
winging it
DebriefSmall sample,
massively parallel
data gathering

Observation Exercise

Your mission: Imagine you are
working on a project for Gentrific8,
looking for inspiration for
redevelopment of Wellington’s
waterfront.
Explore In groups of 2 – 3
• Do it out loud!
• Capture (photos, notes)
• What, who, where, when, why,
how?
• People, interactions, environments
• Functionality but also meaning
This is not a design audit of signage
or merchandise displays
Exercise: Explore and Observe

Click to edit Master title styleObserving
Notice what… people, places
Notice how… processes,
sequences, interactions
Suspend your point of view
Avoid conclusions
Allow confusion
Do it “out loud”
Steve, practicing his “noticing.” You can tell
because he looks like he may be a little
confused.

You’re observing people within
their culture. Notice how cultural
artifacts reflect and define the
environment; and reveal what is
“normal”
Normal isn’t “right or wrong” – it’s
the set of background rules that
define much of what people
choose or ignore
Media
Products
Advertisements
Street Culture
Trends/ Fads
Cultural context
What are they selling?

Click to edit Master title styleCultural context

We resume
at 9:55!
Exercise: Explore!

Synthesis: From data to insights
9:55 – 10:40

Detailed
solutions
SolutionsStrategies
Insights Opportunities
Analysis
Synthesis
Ideation
Synthesis & ideation process

Fieldwork
Development
Synthesis
Ideation
Why a process?

Click to edit Master title styleAvoid jumping to conclusions

Click to edit Master title styleDTDT: Analysis vs. Synthesis
Analysis
Break large piece(s) into smaller
ones in order to make sense
e.g., interviews, transcripts into anecdotes, stories

Synthesis
Combining multiple pieces into something new
e.g., developing themes, implications, opportunities
Analysis

Synthesis
Analysis
The process gradually moves from one to the other

Click to edit Master title styleAnalthesis????
Synthesis
Analysis

Sense-making through an iterative
process of refining gathered data
Early, Informal data in your head
First, process the experience you
had collecting data
• Refer to debriefs and conversations
• Articulate and identify themes
• Outcome: Topline Report
Process-based, Formal heavy lifting
Then, process the data itself
• Individual and group analysis
• Pattern-identification, clustering,
models, frameworks
• Outcome: Opportunities
More narratively, what is synthesis?
Review, Refine, Rinse, Repeat

Synthesis naturally begins in
the field
• Resist meaning (for now)
• Focus on observations
• Get the detail
Create time to talk after each
fieldwork experience
• Worksheet to facilitate the
debrief
Write up real-time summaries for
the team, ASAP
In-field debriefing
Fieldwork highlights captured in the wild.

After fieldwork, collate reflections
and quickly externalize a starter set
of 5 to 10 thematic areas based on
•Pre-identified areas of inquiry
•Refer to debriefs and
conversations from the field
•New patterns that we observed
Identify interesting areas;
acknowledge that you don’t
understand details yet, identify
questions
Outcome: Topline Report
All right researchers… what did you see?
Early, informal synthesis (data in your head)

This sheds light on what excites the team and the stakeholders and
brings focus to the next stage of synthesis
The Topline Report

Go back through your raw data
very closely to move beyond the
Topline Report
Individually (heads-down) and
collaboratively (heads-up) develop
clusters, identify patterns, collate
and refine findings
• Process maps, eco-systems
• Frameworks, models
• Design implications
i.e.: What did other public announcements in
the study look like? What are the layers of
information and cultural context? What form
factors are favored? Why?
Process-based, formal synthesis (heavy lifting)

Heads down!
• Video
• Photos, field artifacts
• Transcripts
• DV→MP3→FTP→.docx
Transcript analysis
• Make marginal notes on
patterns, quotes, or what
seems interesting
• Ask yourself questions; give
labels; propose solutions
• Don’t worry about
implications, be descriptive
and reactive
Individual analysis (not today)

If you can’t get transcripts, watch
video/listen to audio (even sped-
up) and in near real-time jot
down the rough narrative of the
session
• When you make an observation
in your own voice, do something
typographic to call it out (ALL
CAPS, highlight, etc.)
Individual analysis (not today)

Heads up!
Present each interview (etc.) as
a case study. Introduce each,
and pick out the provocative
highlights.
Voice and document reactions,
a-has, support and questions
• Clustering with stickies
• White-board notes
Develop a new shared point-of-
view, beyond “findings”
Collaborative analysis

Easy to scan for patterns and relationships
Play with data by rearranging individual elements
Lo-fi way to makes data tangible, visible, and
sharable
Sticky work

As you are telling stories, quickly
get the key points (notes, themes,
observations, quotes) up
• Code with the source (interview
name, etc.)
Separate what was observed from
what you think it means
Write big and try to code visually
(e.g. colored dots, colored post-its,
symbols)
Sticky work

Group stuff
Be opportunistic, using whatever
makes sense at first
• You may want to re-use your topline
headings or you may want to be fresh
• Initial groupings may be “All things
related to shopping” or “what people
are doing” or “what people are
feeling” or “pain points”
Sticky work

Click to edit Master title styleSticky work
Re-group stuff
Now, go back and re-group at a
higher level
• What it means
• What people are trying to accomplish
(i.e., needs/motivations/goals)

Name your groups
These themes are the points
of view you will carry forward
• Individual stickies are
supporting evidence you can
return to
Sticky work

Click to edit Master title stylePlay with possible models and frameworks
The 2 x 2
Relationship
to other data
Timeline
Frequency

Spreadsheet analysis enables immersive refinement of data
Play with data by generating alternate views of the dataset
• Rewrite each sticky in a cell (adding commentary, explanation, context, quote)
• Processing each entry allows further synthesis and thought
More individual analysis (not today)
Tag each comment with
person, segment, market etc.
to allow you to manipulate data
Categories of
columns will
vary by project
Comment
comes from
rewritten sticky

Keep the human touch in
communication
Allow people to move
seamlessly between places
Allow people to integrate
seamlessly across different
devices and systems
Opportunities are not
• A reporting of “interesting findings”
• A list of solutions
Opportunities are
• Change we can envision based on
what we heard and observed
• About people
• In the context of, but reframing the
business questions
• Generative, inviting many
solutions
Developing opportunities
What should we do?

Topline
communication
devices and systems
Summary of analthesis activities
Externalize the data
in your head
OpportunitiesCollaborative
Analysis
Individual
Analysis
Individual
Analysis
The heavy lifting Play with individual
data elements
Play with the entire
data set
Determine generative
directions

In groups, identify 3-5
themes
• Areas where you have data
• Patterns, issues, surprises
• Don’t fuss over exact wording
Exercise 1 of 3: Topline
All right researchers… what did you see?

Pick your strongest themes and
state the problem, articulating
your point of view
• Move from
There’s a lot of choices
to
Overwhelming choices stop people
from quickly finding a transit solution
Exercise 2 of 3: Findings

Start each opportunity with a verb
Opportunities are not
• A reporting of “interesting findings”
• A list of solutions
Opportunities are
• About people
• Change we can envision based on
what we heard and observed
• Generative, not specific, inviting many solutions
• In the context of but reframing the business questions
Exercise 3 of 3: Opportunities
What should we do?
communication
devices and systems
What should we do?
communication
devices and systems

Click to edit Master title styleBreak! (10:40 – 10:50)

Ideation: From insights to solutions
10:50 – 11:20

Click to edit Master title styleTypes of problems, a simplification
Simple
Complex
Wicked
The problem is known
and thus the solution is
known.
The problem is known
but working out the right
solution will take some
exploration.
The problem and solution
are unknown (and may
even be unknowable).
Users keep looking on the
right for the submit button
which is actually on the left.
Users don’t understand the
difference between submit
and enter.
i) Innovate in our category.
ii) Fix homelessness.

A simple step moves you from
Opportunities to Ideation
Questions, reframing them
into actionable language
How might we
Ideate!
keep the human touch in
communication
allow people to move
allow people to integrate
devices and systems
How might we
How might we
Ideation questions

Solutions exist across many
different business areas
Functionality
Visual design
Marketing
Architecture
Public Services
Partnerships
Events
Software
Form factor
Packaging
Policy
Retail design
Even if you are unlikely to impact
certain business areas, it’s crucial
that you set that constraint aside
for ideation
Scope of solutions
How many business and civic areas to impact
can you spot in this picture?

Responses to any ideation question can lead in different strategic directions
Finding: Students have to smoke outside, but they get cold and wet
Opportunity: Improve the experience of students who smoke
Ideation Question: How might we improve the experience of students
who smoke?
Developing strategies
Create a protected
environment for smoking
Support underlying needs
and behavior by embracing
the finding
Eliminate smoking
Question needs and
behavior, seek change by
challenging the finding

who smoke?
Strategies
Solutions
Strategies can inspire solutions
Create a protected
Facilities
Build a
pavilion
Admin
Allocate
interior
room
Partners
Align with
nearby
cafe
Eliminate smoking
Online
Smoking
cessation
games
Admin
Ban
smoking
Partners
Stop
smoking
coaches

who smoke?
Solutions can suggest strategies
Create a protected
Eliminate smoking
Admin
Allocate
interior
room
Admin
Ban
smoking
Strategies
Solutions

Click to edit Master title styleOther strategies
The carrot
(a financial reward for
behavior we want to
encourage)
The stick
(a financial cost for behavior
we want to discourage)
Make a new behavior
acceptable by concealing it
Make a new behavior
acceptable by enabling
everyone to participate
Make a new behavior
acceptable by masking it to
look like an existing activity

This is a collective, out-loud activity!
Talk, listen, build on each other’s
ideas
• Don’t worry about a “bad” idea… it
may lead to a “good” idea
Don’t correct; generate alternatives
• “Yes, and…”
This is a visual activity! Sketch,
draw…
• Quantity over quality; go quickly
Individual ideas matter less than
what the collective produces overall
How can a sour lemon help keep things working
smoothly?
Collaborative generation

Click to edit Master title styleStuck?
Come up with bad ideas
• Immoral
• Dangerous
• Bad for business

Click to edit Master title styleThe ideation process
Time
Pace of idea
generation
Addressing
needs with
low-hanging
fruit

Click to edit Master title styleDon’t forget your second wind
Time
Pace of idea
generation
Addressing
needs with
low-hanging
fruit
Innovative
Breakthrough
Wacky

Questions Business Areas Ideation and Sharing
How might we
Ideate!
keep the human touch
in communication
seamlessly between
places
allow people to
integrate seamlessly
across different devices
and systems
How might we
How might we
Summary of ideation exercises
Shift to “How
might we…?”
Figure out where
we can play
Remember, “Yes, and…”

Apply How might we…?
to each of your Opportunities
How might we
Ideate!
keep the human touch in
communication
allow people to integrate
devices and systems
How might we
How might we
Exercise: Ideation questions

Let’s collectively list possible
business areas to design for
• Think about whatever Gentrific8 could do
or affect
Use this list as a starting point
Functionality
Visual design
Marketing
Architecture
Public Services
Partnerships
Events
Software
Form factor
Packaging
Policy
Retail design
Incentives
Exercise: Business areas
How many business and civic areas to impact
can you spot in this picture?

Use your ideation questions to
generate strategies and solutions
• Out loud
• Visual
• Collaborative
Consider the range of possible
business areas
Bounce back and forth between
generating strategies and
solutions
Most ideas will not turn out to be
winners; the goal is to practice
connecting research data to
solutions
Exercise: Ideation
Apply lemon as needed.
Don’t forget your second wind

Quickly align on your team’s best
ideas and message
Choose a messenger
Exercise: Share
The wise team will choose a bold, expressive
spokesperson

Click to edit Master title stylePrioritization

Click to edit Master title styleBig group voting

Click to edit Master title styleSmall group ranking…and reconciliation
Color indicates voting winner Ranking factors may even
include how clear the idea is

Wrap Up

Development
Synthesis
Ideation
How experts use frameworks
Fieldwork

@steveportigal
steve@portigal.com
www.portigal.com
Thank you!
What did you get out of
this workshop?
How will you apply it?

WELL, WE'VE DONE ALL THIS RESEARCH. NOW WHAT?

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