1.
Lean User Testing
Best Practices
Lessons Learned From Running
Hundreds of DIY User Interviews
UX Camp Hamburg 2015

2.
The Agency Experience I
• 7 interviews of 90
min duration each
over 2.5 days
• Buffet was okay
• Attendees’ interest
spiked:
– At lunch-time
– In the late afternoon
stefan@age-of-product.com

3.
The Agency Experience II
• Costs: 3,000+ €/Interview
• Results:
– No real news for the Product team…
– …but stakeholder accepted the report
stefan@age-of-product.com

4.
The Do-It-Yourself User Lab I
• The Four NOs:
1. No observation room
2. No buffet
3. No 90 min interviews
4. No special event
stefan@age-of-product.com

5.
The Do-It-Yourself User Lab II
stefan@age-of-product.com

6.
The Do-It-Yourself User Lab III
• Recruiting of B2C Users:
1. Facebook doesn’t work. But newsletters do…
2. Use simple Google forms
3. Have a joker for each session available
4. Remind them (email & phone call)
5. Reward them (20 €, remember ‘attention’)
6. No show rate: 5-10% (Additional shows, too!)
7. 150 emails required for one interview
stefan@age-of-product.com

7.
The Do-It-Yourself User Lab IV
• Best Practices:
1. 30-60 min interviews are most effective
2. 5-10 min to onboard, 5 min to leave.
3. Post-interview muffins only
4. Crew: max. 2
5. Observers: 2-3
6. Let (trained) stakeholder run interviews
7. Screen recordings are rarely ever
watched again
stefan@age-of-product.com

8.
The Do-It-Yourself User Lab V
stefan@age-of-product.com

9.
The Do-It-Yourself User Lab VI
• Costs: approx. 200+ €/Interview
• Lessons learned:
– Better standing of the Product within the company
– Useless requirements could be rejected or ignored
– Low hanging UX fruit picked
– The best performing departments participated
actively
– Rapid product delivery possible
– Litmus test in Agile for the top management & the
organization as a whole
stefan@age-of-product.com

10.
„Hands-on Agile: Lean User Testing“
Email: stefan@age-of-product.com
Twitter: @AgeOfProduct @StefanW
Blog: https://age-of-product.com