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flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Friday 9th November
Paul Dawson, Partner at Fluxx
Walking the line: The Role of Product Development
• Product development is, or at least should be, a user-centred discipline, but often has a strained relationship with the design teams that have to bring that product to life.
• • We’ll look in this session at what the role of Product Development is,
how more and more companies are thinking of their digital services as ‘product’, and the very thin line Product Development has to tread in the user-centred design process between empowering a design team, and potentially alienating them altogether.
This document and its content is Copyright ©2012 Paul Dawson and UCD UK Limited. No rights are claimed over third party images, all of which are used under ‘fair use’ and whose origin is acknowledged wherever possible.
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Walking the line:The Role of Product
Development
Paul DawsonPartner, Experience & Innovation, Fluxx
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
The boring cred’s bit
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
A product & service innovation company
Setting Strategy & Vision Developing & validating products
Innovation practices & long term change
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Ideal outcomes from this session?
Digital UX
Product design
Product development.
How to get better briefs that allow you to explore interesting opportunities and less dispute with the people who are ‘leading’ it
How to get closer to the product you had envisioned, and create greater harmony with the team tasked with making it great
“wtf ?”
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
There are two types of organisation in the world
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Develop, design and sell prod-ucts
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Behave like they are a product company
Don't behave like a product company
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
New Product Development (NPD)
Strategy Ideas and insight R&D Concepts Developed & Validated Concepts
(Desirability, Viability, Feasibility) Partnerships and organisation Design & Build Operate
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
The ‘Non Product’ Approach
Strategy Ideas and insight R&D Concepts Developed & Validated Concepts
(Desirability, Viability, Feasibility) Partnerships and organisation Design & Build Operate
ResearchBusiness Case
Investment decision
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Strategy Ideas and insight R&D Concepts Developed & Validated Concepts
(Desirability, Viability, Feasibility) Partnerships and organisation Design & Build Operate
Opinions, guesswork
and speculation
The ‘Non Product’ Approach
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Fortunately, most digital projects I’ve worked on start
here:
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
But then they go one of two ways:
Exciting, interesting, innovative.
Empowered, creative, inspired
Detailed, monotonous, not thinking for myself
Demotivated, dis-spirited, ‘done to’
What if…
Wireframes
An exploration of why What new opportunities there might be within itNew ideas, ‘blue sky’ thinking,…
Well, they seem to have made up their minds, we’ll just get on and be the wireframe monkeys shall we?
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
What if companies who know they are product
companies did not behave like product companies?
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
An imaginary new product
“A new range of luggage specifically for the family”
The budget is setThe board is all behind it
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Stage 1: Research
When product companies don’t behave like product
companies
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Stage 2: Envisioning
When product companies don’t behave like product
companies
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
We could pre-load them with things people need
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
We could do niche products for specialist audiences
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Hey, what if the suitcase became a mode of transport?!
Hey, what if the suitcase actually became the holiday?
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
But then…
“Product Owner”
But suddenly…
The more radical thinking simply gets dropped as it can’t be validated
Ideas may be good, they might not. Nobody is in a position to judge before time starts running out.
“We’ve got a whole stack of basics to do first”
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Agile approaches in non-product thinking companies…
Things we know we can do
Things we know our customers value
The unproven ideas domain
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Stage 3:New ideas get pushed to the back and we focus in on the basics, having no time, resource or remit to
progress our half-formed ideas, no matter how brilliant they were…
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
but…
We have bright people, all eager to unleash their creative juices and we
lost them quite early on…
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
The Line
Exciting, interesting, innovative.
Empowered, creative, inspiring
Detailed, monotonous, not thinking for myself
Demotivated, dis-spirited, ‘done to’
Anything is possible
I have a very tight, prescriptive brief
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
We might have had the ‘right ideas’
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
but we haven’t been able to ‘make those ideas right’
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Now design something magnificent
What we needed was an inspiring brief with real possibilities
“Design a suitcase that children and parents will love.
We know that hassled parents and kids will love a ride-on case. We can save tired parent arms and tired toddler legs and
make travel fun.”
Research & Insight:
A clear product proposition:
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
And that’s what product development is
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Product Development is pure UCD
But it doesn’t design interfaces, and it’s not concerned with usability or
ergonomics
desirable feasible
viable
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Product Development’s Goals
1. To flesh out and validate product and service propositions
Desirable: Customers will find value in itFeasible: We can make it workViable: It can be an economic success
2. Prove that this is the right thing to do, kill it early, or learn enough to turn it into the right thing to do
3. To arm a design and build team with all they need to get the product designed and built in the right way
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
But what many product development teams miss is…
That once they’ve ‘developed’ the idea into a product, the customer experience still has to be
designed
(because generally, they’re a bit crap at doing that bit!)
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
I’ve been on both sides
Digital UXProduct development.
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
“The CEO had a designer mock something up”
“We’ve had a product design
consultancy working on it”
“We’ve developed a new brand, and the branding agency have
done some mock-ups”
Words that strike terror…
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
“Here’s how it could look”
Movie UI Design by Jayse Hansen
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Getting the wrong side of the line only leads to confl ict…
“Arrogant tossers, they just don’t get it!”
“Ha, they’re so wrong. This is a much better idea.”
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Today’s Line
Exciting, interesting, innovative.
Empowered, creative, inspiring
Detailed, monotonous, not thinking for myself
Demotivated, dis-spirited, ‘done to’
Anything is possible
I have a very tight, prescriptive brief
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Setting out to raise the bar
Exciting, interesting, innovative.
Empowered, creative, inspiring
Detailed, monotonous, not thinking for myself
Demotivated, dis-spirited, ‘done to’
Anything is possible
I have a very tight, prescriptive brief
“Mmmm. Nice concept, full of possibility.
Will be fun to see how we make it work.”
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
So two key questions:
How do you do this cost-effectively?
We already think we don’t have enough time for design – how do you make it worth investing in?
How do we ensure this process does not entirely alienate design and development teams?
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Three answers
Focus on generating facts, not opinions; and be lean about it
Enable and equip your design & build team, don’t tell them what to do
Don’t be precious – about your ideas, or being right
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Focus on generating facts, not opinions; and be lean about it
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Flux[x] Labs
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
insight idea feasibility
design & development manufacture distribution
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Hard to do, and a lot of risk
manufacture
design & development
feasibility
Idea
distribution
insight
Easy to do, and no risk
Starting to invest time & money
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Hard to do, and a lot of risk
manufacture
design & development
feasibility
Idea
insight
Easy to do, and no risk
Starting to invest time & money
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
MVP = Minimum Viable Product
Q: What is the absolute minimum we can do to see if people actually value our
product?
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
distribution
Dim and distant past
insight
concept
feasibility
design & development
manufacture
Painful, but we got there…
Dragon’s Den
Give it to the press
Bankrupt factory
Dodgy catches
People bought it
Licensee liquidated
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
He believed because he had generated facts
The toughness of his journey was testament to the fact that his MVP could not be that minimal
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Fortunately…
This now happens in days, or maybe weeks, but certainly not months.
The Lab’s job within a product development cycle is to generate
evidence-based learning, to help get the ideas right, and make good decisions
based on facts
labs
labs
Basic Insight
We found it really hard to fi nd a
whiteboard the size we want and think
that other people will have the same
problem.
labs
This leads to a value hypothesis that we can begin to test
“We think that people will value a premium service that makes and
installs whiteboards to a precise set of dimensions.”
labs
1. Make a site that calculates the cost and puts customers in touch with us.
2. Get a phone!
If people value this service as
much as we do.Volume of people searching for it on GoogleRequests for pricingPeople who buy
labs
The fi rst MVP(c.2 days)
labs
The 2nd MVP
labs
The Lab’s Learnings
This is a viable, small, local business.
It would be a good idea to make the whiteboards erasable!
It is possible in a week to prove out a digital & physical business in a lean way
labs
“The High Street Bank”
A real life case study
labs
Amongst others, we created
one experiment designed to
test something that had been
debated for ages at the bank
labs
It was a thorny subject.
It involved using customers’
personal data to do something
we thought they would like and
value.
labs
But would they accept it, or
would they go nuts and call the
Daily Mail?
We put it live in a few weeks in an MVP to
several thousand real customers who didn’t
know it was just an experiment.
labs
But before we did…
labs
It was usability tested
It panned!
Only 24% of people said they would do it
labs
How many ACTUALLY did it in
real life?
96% of people just jumped right on in!
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
“What people say they will do and what they actually do is often very different
and can be greatly affected by their level of awareness
of the task at hand”
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Market Research (quant and qual)
Usability TestingPrototype Testing
A/B TestingMulti-variate testing
True ethnography
MVP/Lean
Market Intelligence and behavioural data
Unaware Aware
Product/ServiceMaturity Level
Idea/Concept
Partial/FullyDeveloped
Is the Useraware of the test?
The fluxx ‘Tested User’ Framework
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
A wide variety of opinions, ideas
and stories
Usability
Optimising where there are multiple
options
Proving an idea one way or the
other
History
Unaware Aware
Product/ServiceMaturity Level
Idea/Concept
Partial/FullyDeveloped
Is the Useraware of the test?
The fluxx ‘Tested User’ Framework
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydeeflux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
The outcome of which
is…Armed with facts, a product development
team can simply ‘tell’ they don’t ‘sell’
It’s hard to argue with, & people don’t want to
It’s equally obvious how to apply that data to influence the design later on
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
A key point here though is…
An MVP does not a design make
Which leads us to:
Enable and equip your design & build team; don’t tell them what to do
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Briefing the team means focusing on the outcome
“Nice concept, full of possibility.
Will be fun to make it work.”
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Briefing the team
Present the trail of evidence• A user-centred journey• Help the team understand
the insight on which the product was founded
• Don’t hide any facts• Show your wrong turns
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
What it should be like, not what it should look like
Briefing the team
Describe, don’t prescribe
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Create useful assets. Things that wil l enable, not confi ne your design team
Draft PersonasIf you don’t know these, then the product you’ve developed isn’t worth the Omnigraffle it’s visualised on!
Product and Experience PrinciplesDistil your experience of the product development learnings into principles that will help guide the design and build team
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
What we don’t say:“Yeah, we already prototyped it”
Product development should never be testing a UI, or a brand VI
We ask questions like:• Is the content valuable to our audience?• Is the function that it performs valuable?• How easy or low cost does it have to be to become, in
order to become valuable?
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Which has led us to a unique design principle:
Make it as bad as you can get away with(So long as you don’t get in the way of the core testing
objective)
“I’ve never been asked to make my work ‘more sh*t
before!”
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
How do you brief in how a product ‘feels’?
I’ll give you a briefing I’ve used many a time
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Let me tell you why I love Virgin Atlantic
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Which is easily summed up as:
Brilliant basics, magic touches
… and a number of other principles to which a user experience or product would have to
conform in order to be the one that we believe customers will love
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Finally
Our brief must be full of possibility
“It’s clear to us that people want a degree of serendipity; for the finding of information to have a ‘fuzzy edge’ that allows them to stumble on something that they love, but weren’t expecting”
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Creating a product design brief with possibility
Always guide, never prescribeSet principles, not guidelinesDesign experiments, not UISay how it feels, not what it does
In short: Let the design team design it…
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Finally:Avoiding the ivory tower
Don’t be precious – about your ideas, or being right
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Talk about the dead endsExperiments never fail or succeed, they merely have outcomes
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Take input wherever you can
Regularly take time to gather intelligence, ideas and product thoughts from everywhere you can, and credit your sources
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Be inclusive
Get the design and development team to develop the MVP
A RapidStart approach looks to get an experiment out in under two days
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Product Development can be a state of mind, not a department
For complex products where there is a high degree of
uncertainty, it’s an upfront investment
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
For new features in existing products, it can become a
‘spike’ in the existing process
Product Development can be a state of mind, not a department
flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee
Playing to each other’s strengths