if cats were made this way

Inspira(onal (tle goes here

And here goes an explana(on

1

What the presenta(on is about

• I was hired once to review implementa(on of UCD process in a modern and fast paced publishing company.• It turned out, that a good idea can go wrong, if there’s tempta(on to subordinate it to managerial comfort -‐ in this case, standardiza(on. Enough to say, the crea(ve process cannot be standardized at all.• My job was to get insight about the situa(on and find a solu(on.• AHer a two week long observa(on, I came with some conclusion and this presenta(on. It was just the beginning of fantas(c journey with people I love to day.

2

Agenda

• Issues and boKlenecks• Assembly line• Framework for successful design&deploy

3

Issues and boKlenecks

4

Issues

• Produc(on process is organized as linear assembly line.• No proper ini(a(on and closing for projects, therefore:• No proper evalua(on• Allocated share of liability• No quality check in the process• Speed, not thought oriented process

5

Speed over quality

• „Let’s do now -‐ we’ll start worrying later” aXtude (cut first, then measure).• Some products suffer „leaking boat syndrome”, that results in enhanced demand for resources for maintenance of defected products.• Quick fixes that are conceptual prostheses tend to accumulate, making development costly and sub effec(ve.• Loss of opportuni(es due to disappointed expecta(ons from Users.

6

7

Every project should start with a decent analysis of its business goals and expected outcome.

It turns out, that 30% design time is actually dedicated to finding creative solutions for aligning business needs with actual user needs.

It's challenging, but also very satisfying.

Business oriented thinking

8

Money. The only

Esperanto!

Use scenarios exploration reveals events of business importance.

These are called „Opportunity Moments” - moments where we can convince User to execute various actions - registration, purchase, reccomendation etc.

In simple words: we've got opportunities and we won't hesitate to use them!

Business oriented thinking

9

User Stories now

They're in fact basic requirements indexes.

Represent static concept of time. Everything here is just possibility waiting to happen with no actual hierarchy of actions.

No modality. Do not describe various states under specific conditions.

User Stories improved

Scenarios matching identified business goals and user needs.

Stories with real life background, giving answers for real life problems and needs.

Structured as sequence of events under different conditions.

10

Assembly Line

IA/GUI (food processing unit) Development(transformational unit)

deliverables

Project management (food chamber)

Sales(energy generator)

(caloric fuel)

Distribution(power grid)

Assembly line logic is I/O system

11

as long as it works ok, no one cares

In every I/O system failure starts at input

12

IA/GUI (food processing unit) Development(transformational unit)

deliverables



(less caloric fuel)

Distribution(power grid)

Low quality food (ambiguous input)

Stacks of unprocessed fuel(lower caloric value)

Low efficiency

and it oHen does

13

Development(transformational unit)

deliverables



IA/GUI (food processing unit)

Wrong food (irrelevant input)

Chaos (incommunicable madness)

Substandard produce

Wrong and uncontrollable reaction(days of joy and indomitable creativity)

Obliterated turbines, no energy produced

Diseases (self fired workers)

Some(mes it goes even worse...

If cats were made this way...

14

Project management IA/GUI UI testingCoders

Screens! Improvements!It's alive!

Business

Idea!User Story!

Sudden struck of insight

First draft Product design

Hey!

The Product

Interac(ve product is not ar(fact• Web applica(on -‐ in fact -‐ is conversa(on agent.

• Design for conversa(on/user experience needs different approach.

• 19th century idea of assembly line is dedicated to mul(plica(on by workforce (humans or robots), not electronic distribu(on system, where copies can be infinite.

• Assembly line works properly, when everything is standardized, but in crea(on process it’s fairly impossible.

15

• In 21st century user experience is strategic driver of growth for products.• It’s extension of brand value and people switch to products they find well designed, thoroughly thought, smart -‐ just as they wish they were themselves.

• The only way to avoid issues specific to assembly line, is to take design back to manufacture produc(on model, create great product prototypes together, then replicate.

16

• We need a design studio approach• We need a different set of prac(ces

17

Framework

Techniques for successful design and deploy

18

Build half a product, not a half-assed product You can turn a bunch of great ideas into a crappy product real fast by trying to do them all at once. You just can't do everything you want to do and do it well. You have limited time, resources, ability, and focus. It's hard enough to do one thing right. Trying to do ten things well at the same time? Forget about it. So sacrifice some of your darlings for the greater good. Cut your ambition in half. You're better off with a kick-ass half than a half-assed whole. Most of your great ideas won't seem all that great once you get some perspective, anyway. And if they truly are that fantastic, you can always do them later. Lots of things get better as they get shorter. Directors cut good scenes to make a great movie. Musicians drop good tracks to make a great album. Writers eliminate good pages to make a great book. We cut this book in half between the next-to-last and final

You can turn a bunch of great ideas into a crappy product real fast by trying to do them all at once. You just can't do everything you want to do and do it well. You have limited time, resources, ability, and focus.

You need to approach your idea the same way. Details make the difference. But getting infatuated with details too early leads to disagreement, meetings, and delays. You get lost in things that don't really matter. You waste time on decisions that are going to change anyway. So ignore the details--for a while. Nail the basics first and worry about the specifics later.

Ignore the details early on

When we start designing something, we sketch out ideas with a big, thick Sharpie marker, instead of a ballpoint pen. Why? Pen points are too fine. They're too high- resolution. They encourage you to worry about things that you shouldn't worry about yet, like perfecting the shading or whether to use a dotted or dashed line. You end up focusing on things that should still be out of focus.

A Sharpie makes it impossible to drill down that deep. You can only draw shapes, lines, and boxes. That's good. The big picture is all you should be worrying about in the beginning.

Walt Stanchfield, famed drawing instructor for Walt Disney Studios, used to encourage animators to "forget the detail" at first. The reason: Detail just doesn't buy you anything in the early stages.

Excerpts from the book "Rework" by Jason Fried, founder of 37 Signals

Wireframes don’t work as crea(on tool

20

Good for:

Documenting: help other parties in the process get the idea of extent and nature of work

Bad for:

Innovation: describe page contents, not overall experience (wrong scope)

Explora(on

• Build an interdisciplinary team• Bring lots of ideas together• Pick best ones and remix

21

22

Exploration = Structured Brainstorming + Collaborative Design

New ideas Lot of funInnovationsReality check

lots of time saved for succesive iterations

Idea 1: don't waste time for documenting half-baked ideas. Instead, use this time to get best ideas fast, then document.

Productivity

sketch review repeat

Idea 2: it's 100x more effective to multiply brainpower here and now by teamwork, than letting team members do the job apart in process chain

Roles in the process (design team composi(on)

23

Project manager

Information architect UX Expert

Developer

Facilitator / Team Lead

- providing relevant business input- capable of making business decisions on-the-fly- visioning the product- identyfying opportunities

- providing web best practices, patterns- visioning interfaces and mechanics- being User's advocate- identyfying opportunities- translating sketches into wireframes and flow diagrams

- providing input in technical area of the product- providing best practices, new possibilities- reviewing feasibility

- structuring the process (keeping up with script)- moderating discussions- visioning product

Facilitators

• Facilitator role should be given to a person working across all projects.• Even though it’s not an excep(onal requirement, it’s beKer to have couple of individuals, that contain knowledge of all projects in the Organiza(on at their idea(on stages.• It helps to avoid requirements conflicts and duplicates between different projects.

24

Facilitator / Team Lead

- structuring the process (keeping up with script)- moderating discussions- visioning product

Process Structure

25

Business Analysis

Product Design

Design Sketches

User Scenario Analysis

Documentation

Business analysis

26

Business Analysis

Product Design

Design Sketches


Documentation

• We have 2 handy techniques at our disposal: CCU and Stack Of S+ckies

• Stack Of S(ckies is rapid method and does not require much effort. Works best in situa(ons where team is communica(ng directly with business owners (or BO is the team themselves), team is aware of general goals in the project. It can be completed in less than 15 minutes.

• CCU is generally heavy, 1-‐2 day consuming workshop script, which is used to create precise vision of digital product. It’s also handy in situa(ons of ambiguous managerial input and helps to organize pieces of knowledge from various areas of organiza(on (in other words: for cleaning up mess).

Stack Of S(ckies

27

Business Analysis

Product Design

Design Sketches


Documentation

• Facilitator gives post-‐it cards to everybody in the team

• The task is to write one sentence goals for the project on each card. Each par(cipant works independently.

• Facilitator collects cards and puts them on wall. Groups similar cards and creates context areas. Duplicate cards can be disposed.

• Team examines and discusses the overall strategy to achieve its objec(ves.

WHAT WE’D LIKE TO ACHIEVE WITH THIS

PROJECT?

up to 15 min.

28

- Mission [something we pursue]:- Operational short term goals [ up to 1 year ]- Operational long term goals [ 3 years+ ]- What are communicational goals for the

project? What should Users remember in particular in context of the project? Is there a catch phrase, key thought we want to share?

- Are there any communicational elements of great importance?

- What are business goals for the project? (eg. building Client base, pursuit for specific position on the market etc.)

- Having a look on local and foreign markets, do we have something we can use as standard?

- Do we have any research input that could be helpful in the process?

- Technology defines constraints we must embrace when designing IA. What is our playground?

- What do we know about actions our competition takes in the area of our interest?

- What are our measures for mission fulfillment? KPI's? What is the measurement architecture?

Context Content Users- What is general idea of a structure we want to

build?- What is the rule/system we use to organize

content in the website?- Types of ads in the websitePareto rule: - 20% of content satisfies 80% users - what

content is it?- 20% IA capabilities is oriented to stimulate

consumption of 80% content - what content, what capabilities (features)?

- 20% functional capabilities meets 80% users needs - what main features are? What are secondary?

- What is the way we’d like to use so as to bind data within the system? Do we use manual CMS binding, or specific rules?

- Do we expect that content will accrue? What could result from it and what problems in the future could we expect?

- What is the way and who would be in charge to content entry? Do we anticipate need for content control (moderation)? How should we design CMS?

- In the system we expect that some objects from different categories will require crosslinks. What logic should we apply?

- What Users? Who are they?- What are they interested in?- Traffic sources?- How are we going to build value?

up to 16 hrs.

Business Analysis

Product Design

Design Sketches


Documentation

Product Design

29

• Product design in this process is basically discussion about Unique Value Proposi(on, about what user experience we want to give our customers• Techniques: Design-‐the-‐Box and Elevator Test

Business Analysis

Product Design

Design Sketches


Documentation Design-‐the-‐Box

30

Front Back

Design the Box

Think about:+ the value proposition the box should convey+ how the box is different/unique from other boxes on the shelf+ the key message (front of the box) versus reassuring details (back of the box)

Front Back

Design the Box

Think about:+ the value proposition the box should convey+ how the box is different/unique from other boxes on the shelf+ the key message (front of the box) versus reassuring details (back of the box)

This prac(ce helps bring ideas for overall user experience to the product.

Par(cipants draw their own ideas on boxes.

AHer they’re done, they present their ideas to the rest of the team.

Par(cipants can re-‐iterate, or take elevator test.

up to 1 hr.

Elevator test

31

Business Analysis

Product Design

Design Sketches


Documentation

The classic way to validate the product vision is to answer the elevator test:

“Can you explain your product in the (me it takes to ride up in an elevator?”

This test leads to a product vision that is clear, engaging, and brief.

Product Vision

A product vision helps team members pass the elevator test - the ability to explain the project to someone within two minutes.

- For (target customer)- Who (statement of the need or opportunity)- The (product name) is a (product category)- That (key benefit, compelling reason to buy)- Unlike (primary competitive alternative)- Our product (statement of primary differentiation)

less than10 min.

Business Analysis

Product Design

Design Sketches


Documentation Personas• Personas are aKribu(on models used to envision future product users.

• Describe how ordinary people try to accomplish things in their daily lives.

• In our framework we start modelling business processes using personas as entry points.

32

up to 1 hr.

Name, Last Name

age education income

motto

personality

marital status, familial situation

technical skills

interests, hobbies

attitude and experience in area related to the product

goals, lifetime expectations

end goals, expectations related to product

Business Analysis

Product Design

Design Sketches


Documentation User Scenarios

• User Scenarios are explora(ons of ac(ons that could possibly be executed by Personas. We purposely give them some restric(ons and Persona-‐specific issues, so as to examine how would they behave in real situa(ons.

• We start giving them tasks, that contain possible obstacles. These obstacles stand for opportuni(es if removed, so in fact, this is value building exercise.

• Extensive background and storytelling makes these scenarios even more detailed.

33

up to 4 hrs.

Business Analysis

Product Design

Design Sketches


Documentation User Scenarios

34

up to 4 hrs.

step step step

• We post scenario events on wall as steps of the process.

• Every step stands for a screen.

• We like to use S(ckies, because they’re very easy to rearrange.

• Every persona should be examined against at least 2 situa(ons.

• Scenarios of other personas can be reused, though it requires examining against other Persona’s restric(ons.

Business Analysis

Product Design

Design Sketches


Documentation

Collabora(ve Design

35

up to 4 hrs.

• Prac(ce of bringing ideas for interfaces and itera(ng with team members

• We use method of successive approxima(ons, leading to genera(on of mul(ple ideas and narrowing choice op(ons.

Business Analysis

Product Design

Design Sketches


Documentation

Design Sketches: HP

36

up to 4 hrs.

Every participant sketches 6 different ideas for one home page.

Team discusses all designs. Pick 3 designs that contain most promising ideas.

Team sketches chosen designs in higher fidelity

Team discusses 3 favourite designs. Pick 1 that is the winner, or decide to mix ideas.

Home Page is design guide for other pages,

so they don't require so much treatment.

Courtesy of Adaptive Path

39

Putting everything together

40

BusinessDiscussion

Area

Scenario Lane

Scenario Lane

Scenario Lane

Scenario Lane

Persona

Persona

Persona

Persona

Prototypes Area

misc. annotations

This shows how You can structure Your sketchboard. This structure proved to be very successful in many of my projects, but You can modify it to your taste.From now on, it's Your map to the user experience in Your product.

Business Analysis

Product Design

Design Sketches


Documentation

41

PersonasBusiness goals index(in groups)

Scenarios, User Journeys, Use Cases

Sticky Notes

Sticky Notes

Sticky Notes

step step step

step step step

step step step

step step step

Sticky Notes

Sticky Notes

Sticky Notes

Sticky Notes

Paper prototypes and annotations

42

After it’s done, IA can put everything into Axure and craft a prototype...

43

...that could be tested on real user

So, if cats were made this way...

44

Collabora(ve design of a cat

45

Has to be cuteHas to chasemice. People

hate mice

Low milk consumption

Good hearing,eyesight and

agility

Functional requirements to meet Product Purpose

Technical requirements

Unique Selling Proposition(user experience)

Product purpose

Business Analysis

Product Design

Design Sketches


Documentation

Cat product design

46

quadrupled motoric system

sonic navigation subsystem

ophtalmic navigation subsystemmilk intake port

olfactory sensor (navigation subsystem and fuel recognition device)

CPU waste outlet (compatible with Brand™ cuvettes only)

Cuteness generator

mice graspers

Cat run motoric phases

Runs on CatOs v.1.1Minimum requirements:- CPU- 128Mb RAM- Cache 32kb- bioFlash memory: 64Mb

Business Analysis

Product Design

Design Sketches


Documentation

47

Cat at user tes(ng sessions

48

Cat ready for shipping

49

Thank You!

In case You'd need to contact me:

Tomek Jakubowski

[email protected]

+48 510 196 996