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All software, whether it's for consumers or workers, needs to meet the ever growing demands people have in today’s world. Greater user expectations and influence are forcing companies to create and deliver better products, but not every organization has a rich heritage in software creation like tech giants Apple and Google. Most companies need to be more customer-focused, become design specialists, and transform their cultures as they shift to become both software makers and innovators. Myers, a 16 year specialist in design and head of design services at Cooper, will share the elements of product success that companies need to possess and be market leaders: user insight, design, and organization. Myers will share principles and techniques that successful innovative companies use to truly understand their customers. He’ll also discuss the methods effective designers use to support their customers and create breakthrough ideas and delightful experiences. And he’ll finish by sharing the magic formula organizations need to deliver ground-breaking experiences to market. This talk was initially given at Visualize 2012.
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› Nick Myers @nickmyer5
The elements of product success
The challenges we face today in software creation The elements that lead to product success: user insight, design, organizational effectiveness Principles, techniques, examples of each element
What I’ll be talking about
More customer interactions are now digital
User experiences have improved
Products are now simpler
Expectations are now higher
Expectations are now higher in business
Expectations are constantly being redefined
It’s no longer enough to be intuitive. Competition is fierce.
www.flickr.com/photos/retrocactus/4949516534/
Brands are being defined by the user experience
As of Dec 2011, Facebook received 2.7 billion likes and comments per day.
Design is more valued
Many companies are now software makers
GE is now the 14th largest software provider in the world
Old methods and cultures limit product success
Michael Porter’s Value Chain model, a classic business strategy definition of of how companies should be organized to determine their market competitiveness
How do companies adapt to these changes and create amazing products?
User insight
Design
Organization
3 elements to product success
Some companies are good at one, maybe two elements. Few companies have it figured out.
Achieving excellence in all three is a monumental challenge. These are cultural values.
How do you, your teams, your company match up? What else is critical to success?
Take notes!
User insight
Only a deep understanding of your users will help you create something they love
Insight Principle
Let’s look at an organiza6on Many of us are stuck in the middle
Insight Truth
This was especially true of engineers
Insight Truth
All the action is happening at the edges of your organization
Effective product teams operate close to the edge
Insight Truth
We need to put people at the center of our thinking. “users” is a dangerous word.
Insight Truth
How? Seeing how people work helps you understand their needs and goals.
Insight Principle
Which leads to designs that support those needs and goals
Understanding people’s needs and context also helps you innovate new products
Traditional business requirements gathering doesn’t reveal people’s latent needs
Insight Challenge
Why is this method bad? Interviewees have a natural tendency to please the interviewer.
People are terrible at self-reporting and over generalize
“”
A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you
show it to them.
Steve Jobs
Don’t rely on the least-experienced person to guide your product’s vision
Ethnography – the practice of observations and interview
Ethnographic research helps us understand the context and motivations for user behavior
What’s a day look like? + Makes it feel less like a survey
+ Makes you less inclined to ask leading questions
We start with an overview question
Research Technique
Tell me about a specific instance when… + Ask for interviewees to tell stories
+ Ask for specific examples
We follow up with “case-focused” questions
Research Technique
We also look around the room
Process flows Workarounds
Team environment
Heavy use
Lots of codes to remember!
Research Technique
I really love that Starmine analyst rating.
Why?
Because it’s awesome. What’s awesome about it?
It tells me how good the analyst is. Duh.
And why is that good?
Because I need to feel confident when I use their
advice . Yahtzee!
Tell me about a part of the system that you love.
We ask “why?” a lot. A conversation might go like this…
Research Technique
We take an interviewer’s mindset: Apprentice
Research Technique
+ + =
In the end it’s simple
Magic Formula
Attention to people’s
needs & goals
Simple, elegant ideas
Execution on the details
Great products
So what do I do with all this research? Personas: The synthesis of user research
Design Tool
“”
The persona is the voice of the user, each has a goal. This
informs lightweight, quickly iterated designs.
Alan Cooper
They represent the needs of many
Scenarios, the common navigational pathways, bring personas to life
Design Tool
Scenarios naturally guide requirements, create more useful software
Design Technique
Other noteworthy research methods
Lightweight user research (street, friends) User research via web conference
Journaling Participatory design
At the very least, sketch personas can be based on a set of agreed-upon assumptions
If you can speak with authority about your users you will become an authority
How much do you know about your users?
+ How much do your teams (esp. designers) know your users?
+ Do people visit users in their environments often?
+ Do they use ethnographic techniques?
+ Do you know what they need and want?
+ Does your organization have and use personas?
+ Do you design from their point-of-view?
+ Do your customers love you and acknowledge that you “get them”?
Design
Design is hard
Fact
End results are simple. But simple is hard.
We’re making stuff. All made things take effort.
Fact
Design takes time. It isn’t tacked on at the end.
Design Truth
We’re all solving problems
http://dthsg.com/what-is-design-thinking/ Roger Martin’s Design of Business
Design Principle
What’s makes designers good? Abductive thinking: imagining what could be possible
http://dthsg.com/what-is-design-thinking/ Roger Martin’s Design of Business
Design Principle
Good designers consider the possibilities
Design Principle
Good designers are also filled with many design patterns
http://www.mobile-patterns.com/
We aren’t magicians, nor artists
We use methods
Project Charter
Stakeholder research
Domain research
Experience workshop
Ethnographicinterviews
Service Blueprints
User & DomainAnalysis
DesignImperatives
ConceptSketches
Interaction Models
VisualLanguageStudies
Detailed design
Form & BehaviorSpecification
Visual style guide
Prototyperefinement
User feedback
Front-enddevelopment
User & DomainAnalysis Exploration Detailed
Design
Scenario-based design
Product ecosystemvision
User feedback
Prototypedevelopment
FrameworkDesign
DevelopmentCollaboration
Productstewardship
Designsupport
Front-enddevelopment
Figuring out the big ideas first using sketches. They’re cheap.
Design Principle
Everyone can participate in idea generation
Great exercise you can do: what are ten ways I could solve this problem?
Design Technique
The exploration workshop
Design Technique
The more you explore the more we can create novel interactions
“”
It’s easy to be different but it’s difficult to be better.
Jonathan Ive Apple
We’re aiming for better
Design should be based on good rationale – great to ask why? a lot here too!
Design Technique
Ideas are best shared as stories
+ + =
Stories help people imagine how your idea will change their lives or the lives of others
A character we believe (persona)
A trigger that sparks a quest
(problem)
Journey to resolution (solution)
Great story (excitement)
Prototyping (aka visualization) is a more sophisticated exploration and storytelling method
Prototyping has become more important as interactions + motion are more pervasive
Prototyping helps you evaluate the design and refine faster
Designers are relentless down to the last detail
“”
Attractive things work better…When you wash and wax a car,
it drives better, doesn’t it? Or at least it feels like it does.
Donald Norman Author of the Design of Everyday things and Emotional Design
Why is this important? Aesthetic products are perceived as easier to use than less-aesthetic products
Rich prototypes are the best way to create excitement and win support
How design-capable are you?
+ Is design important to your company?
+ Do you have great designers?
+ Is design integrated with development?
+ Are teams generative?
+ Are there clear design processes that people use?
+ Do people communicate their design vision?
+ Do you care about the details before shipping?
+ Do you sell design with stories and prototypes?
Organization
Hard lesson: You can know your users, do great design, and still fail
Hard Truth
Plastic Logic Que Proreader
Beautiful design Multiple product delays Market changes Competition Expensive
It takes a great deal to be successful at product success
+ Leadership
+ Process
+ Principles
+ Tools
+ People
+ Education
+ Collaboration
+ Communication
Change is hard! Metro has taken years of effort
Hard Truth
P&G VP of Design, Claudia Kotchka said it takes 7 years to affect change
Effective design leadership is more operational
Opera6on Insight
Citrix VP of Product Design spends half her time marketing internally
Opera6on Insight
+ + = Small win
Show results
Share work Progress
Change: Create small wins. Show results. Share how you did it. Ask for more.
Opera6on Technique
Ask for more +
Experience workshops open the dialog about what design means
Images bring life to the conversation and guide an ideal experience
Create tools: UI guidelines inspire product teams to adopt a new system
Standards improve the baseline expecta6ons and share design ra6onale
Tool libraries save teams development time, improve consistency and quality
Going further, design principles foster culture change
Principles are now everywhere: UX, HR, training, legal, ID badges
Why design matters
Video credit: Energy Energy
The results for Citrix
Design is now one of their top annual objectives
Superpower: Socialize your ideas with individuals to gain support
Opera6on Technique
Innovative companies diversify their product strategies
hNp://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/02/0228_inshort/source/5.htm
Only truly innovative companies are willing to disrupt their own business
If you don’t disrupt your product someone else will
hNp://theonbuNon.files.wordpress.com/
New platforms let you leave behind legacy code and start fresh
Prac6ce Fusion has disrupted the healthcare space, now they’re disrup6ng their own products
Prac6ce Fusion’s web-‐based EMR
Practice Fusion iPad EMR app has disrupted their web software
The design was successful and the prototype excited the crowd
Practice Fusion is managing to achieve success in user insight, design and organizational will
+ Does your company have values in design and innovation?
+ If not, is it willing to change?
+ Does your leadership value design and product invention?
+ Do your teams have strong processes that incorporate user involvement and design?
+ Do you attract the talent?
+ Does your company support risk-taking?
+ Does your company value quality over deadlines?
How does your organiza6on measure up?
A few things to remember…
A deep understanding of your users will bring clarity to your requirements
Great design comes from simple elegant ideas and an obsessiveness to execute the details
Small wins with strong results lead to bigger opportunities and change
Insight, design, and hard work can excite your organization to change
Contact Cooper for strategy + design
User research, domain Research, and analysis
Education and mentoring
Product strategy and service strategy
Interaction design and service design
Visual design and branding
Prototyping and development
+1 415 267 3500 [email protected]
