2. “THERE ARE NO
FACTS INSIDE
THE BUILDING,
SO GET THE
HECK OUTSIDE.”
Steve Blank
Entrepreneur, Author,
Stanford Professor
Imagecredit:entrepreneur.com
12. Technique cheat sheet
• Establish rapport before you begin
• Be 100% present. Don’t multitask.
• Listen and observe. Pay attention to body language.
• Don’t follow a script line by line. Let the subject lead.
• Ask short, open ended questions – and practice active listening.
• ”Tell me about the last time…”
• “Tell me about how you…”
• ”You said XXX. Tell me more?”
• “Why?” | “Why not?”
• … 12
14. Simulation
• ”Tell me about the last time…”
• “Tell me about how you…”
• ”Tell me the story of…”
• ”You said XXX. Tell me more?”
• “Why?” | “Why not?”
• …
• TALK LESS, LISTEN MORE
14
16. Why interviews work
• Best choice when you don’t know
what you don’t know
• Excellent ROI for time invested
• Gives your customers a face and a
name
• Learnings will help you with future
research (qualitative or
quantitative)
16
19. Simulation: Luggage problem, cont’d
• Brainstorm 10-15 features
• Write down 1 feature per card
• Make the features as separate
as possible
• KEEP IT MOVING!
21. Pro-tips
• Make the features as small as
possible
• Run the card sorting in 2 stages:
• Elimination
• Prioritization
• Ask the test subject to keep
talking while sorting – and take
notes along the way
• KEEP IT MOVING!
21
23. Hypothesis template
• Basic structure:
• I believe [target market] will [do this action /
use this solution] for [this reason].
23
24. Example experimental design
24
Hypothesis: “I believe users will love our new
touch UI feature to pan and page the sleep
graph.”
Thing: Functional interactive prototype
Experiment: Usability benchmark.
Duration: 30 min UX test + 15 min debrief
Threshold: 50% of users will complete the task
without help.
25. In Class Exercise: Design an experiment
Take the top hypothesis you chose just now, and design an
experiment.
• What’s the hypothesis?
• What’s the Thing you use to test with?
• What is the design of the experiment?
• What’s the duration?
• What’s the measuable threshold to decide whether to
persevere or pivot?
25
27. Pro tips
• Best choice when you don’t know
what you don’t know
• Excellent ROI for time invested
• Gives your customers a face and a
name
• Learnings will help you with future
research (qualitative or
quantitative)
27
29. PMR, Procter and Gamble style
• Expensive (hundreds of
thousands of $ and up)
• Long (3-9 months)
• Often done in
conjunction with an
agency
29
Image credit: continuuminnovation.com
30. PMR, startup style
• Cheap
• Fast
• DIY. NOT rocket
science. You can do
this.
30
31. “THERE ARE NO
FACTS INSIDE
THE BUILDING,
SO GET THE
HECK OUTSIDE.”
Steve Blank
Entrepreneur, Author,
Stanford Professor
Imagecredit:entrepreneur.com
32. Learning more
• “Talking to Humans” E-book - Giff
Constable
• UX for Lean Startups: Faster,
Smarter User Experience Research
and Design – Laura Klein
• Resources section of ConceptSpring
website - Elaine Chen
• Templates and samples – Elaine
Chen
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