An end to end design thinking exercise. An inclusive activity for the whole team to participate. From designers, to researchers, to engineers and product managers.

1. FROM RESEARCH TO PROTOTYPING
NAVNEET NAIR

2. AGENDA
• Introductions
• The need for a process
• Forming groups
• Conducting research
• Synthesizing data
• Framing HMWs
• Brainstorming
• Prototyping
• Summarizing

3. NAVNEET NAIR
About 19 years of experience. Started off as a
copywriter. Have since then worked as a designer,
programmer, user researcher and product manager.
Design influences my philosophy and philosophy
influences my design.

4. THE NEED FOR A PROCESS

5. DESIGN PROCESS
• Need for a design process:
• Understanding users and their needs
• Envisioning an idealized future
• Learning through trying
• Scale, spread and sustain
• Good design can come from anywhere. Hence the process should be inclusive.
• A good process removes superfluous design
• A good process should bring about clarity

6. FORMING GROUPS

7. FORM GROUPS
• Number of groups
• Have a good mix
• Have at least one person who can sketch well in a
group
• Pick a group name and a product space (need not
be specific think mobile payments, healthcare,
payroll etc)

8. BUILDING TEAMS IN THE REAL WORLD
• Involve everybody
• Engineers, Product Managers, Business folks,
Designers and Researchers can all provide
valuable insights
• Have at least one person who can sketch out the
ideas into prototypes

9. CONDUCTING RESEARCH

10. QUESTIONS BEFORE STARTING
• Is your product idea new or is it an improved version?
• What is the space the idea or product is targeted?
• Is your audience defined?
• Do you understand the competitive landscape well?
Don’t ask yourselves question on time and cost (both can
be kept in control)

11. RECRUITING
• Recruiting need not be expensive
• Spend time in getting to talk to the right people
• Talk to at least 8-15 people
• Not everybody needs to speak to everybody
• Have groups of 3-4 researchers go and speak with
the participants

12. CONDUCTING THE INTERVIEW
• Be clear about the objectives of the interview. Do not loose
focus of it during the process. While small talk can build trust
always try to bring the subject in line with the interview
objectives.
• Validate any hypotheses and methods you may already have
and get them out of the way. If you have new insights validate
them. But don’t ask direct questions which give away the
objectives of the interview
• Gather data as unobtrusively as possible. Synthesize data when
you get the opportunity. Validate as often as possible

13. SOME USEFUL TIPS
• Stop sounding like you built the product (even if you did)
Ask, “What is important for you as a user?” and “What
would you expect?”
• Stop asking what, start wondering why.
• Do not expect your participants to provide you with new
ideas.
• After you ask a question, be silent, let the participant speak.
• Don’t run a conversation or intimidate the participant.

14. SYNTHESIZING DATA

15. CREATING PERSONAS
• Augment your interviews with quantitative data like user logs
and surveys to create a broad category of the user.
• See who among the set of participants is representative of
this data.
• Borrow liberally from the interviews. Use insights and
observations that you feel are important to
• Some people recommend 30 interview before seeing
patterns. Usually around 5-8 are more than enough.
Especially if you augment your data with quantitative insights.

16. A SAMPLE PERSONA
Carol
Carol is a 65 year old grandmother. Carol has a
part-time job in a local arts and crafts shop. She is
currently learning to use a computer to help out
with enquiries that come through the shop’s web
site.
She is normally very active but has recently been
hampered by a broken wrist sustained in a fall.
Although she usually deals with problems in an
optimistic and positive manner, she is finding the
plaster cast very cumbersome. Many everyday
tasks are now difficult and time-consuming.
Carol is particularly frustrated by not being able
to help and play with her grandchildren as much,
especially as Ellie desperately wants her
grandmother to finish the fairy costume she’s
been making for her.

17. CREATING PRODUCT STRATEGIES
• Based on Geoffrey Moore’s ‘Crossing The Chasm’
• Try and answer the following questions:
• 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)

18. CREATING CUSTOMER JOURNEYS
• Define you stakeholders
• Understand the user
• What are they trying to
achieve
• Touch-points with
product
• Emotional Journey
• Opportunities to improve

19. FRAMING HMW TO ADDRESS UNMET NEEDS

20. GETTING STARTED
• Everyone speak out their idea and paste post-its with
ideas on wall
• Use individual notes to avoid group think.
• Use the secret phrase: “How might we…”
• Let ideas flow freely. Using the phrase should inhibit
judgement.
• Use self editing to make the idea succinct and specific.

21. RANKING IDEAS
• Elect group captains for each team.
• The captain groups the similar ideas into a single point of view
(POV). While putting up ideas on the wall researchers can do this
grouping dynamically.
• Everyone votes on the ideas.
• 5 votes per person.
• Ideas with the most votes bubble to the top.
• Now each group picks up an idea they are most comfortable
handling

22. BRAINSTORMING

23. RULES OF BRAINSTORMING
• Defer judgement
• Collectively gather ideas. If people have similar ideas group them
together
• Encourage wild ideas
• Build on the ideas of others
• Stay focussed on the context
• One conversation at a time
• Be visual
• Go for quantity

24. IDEATING DURING BRAINSTORMING
• Begin with a Point of View (POV) statement.
• Amp up the good and prune the bad.
• Explore opposites and challenge assumptions.
• Change the status quo.
• Break a POV into smaller pieces.

25. PROTOTYPING

26. RUNNING PROTOTYPING SESSIONS
• Take a minute to think of an initial idea.
• Take turns sharing ideas.
• Group captain collects all ideas.
• Brainstorm for 7 minutes on each topic.
• When finished, count your ideas.

27. RAPID PROTOTYPING
• Building something quickly in
order to develop or test an idea.
• Don’t spend time building
something that everyone will
already recognize!
• Build your idea in 15min.
• Think of a 1 hour / $10 way to
introduce your idea as an
experiment
• Share your idea with your table
& give/get feedback

28. SUMMARIZING AND SHARING
HOW COULD WE DO THIS WORKSHOP BETTER?

29. Thank you.
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