Top 10 User Research SECRETS for Product Managers

Meaghan Reinecke Senior Usability Specialist

About the Speaker

•  Senior Usability Specialist, Macadamian •  7+ years of human factors and usability experience,

managing and providing strategic direction to clients on usability and business issues related to the overall user experience of their product.

•  Manages planning, designing, conducting, and reporting on wide variety of usability research activities, including usability testing and ethnographic studies.

•  Committed to delivering exceptional usability and customer research projects focused on delivering customer value and customer loyalty.

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Meaghan Reinecke

The most dangerous thing about research…

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“Anybody can ask a question.” - Paul Boyd, Director UX Oracle Healthcare.

The UX model

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Design research IS real science!

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Reality…

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Observe Reason Design Test

Our users don’t tell us what they need

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Users are NOT designers

•  Users are focused on solutions

•  Don’t consider context and other mitigating factors

•  Why? Why? Why?

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Avoid jumping to Solutions too quickly

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Staying in problem space leads to INNOVATION

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Go to: http://www.kickerstudio.com/casestudies/teapot/ for full story.

Talking to customers ≠ Research

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Consider Triangulating Research !

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Numbers can be deceiving…

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Sometimes numbers are not appropriate…!

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Qualitative Quantitative Attitude

(Preference) •  Focus Groups •  Interviews

•  Surveys •  A/B Testing

Behaviour (Performance)

•  Usability Walkthrough •  Ethnographic Research •  Job Shadowing

•  Usability Test •  Benchmark Test

Focus Groups & Usability Testing…NOT the same!

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What people say, what people do, and what they say they do are entirely

different things.

Photo credit: http://www.webusability.co.uk/what-we-do/mobile-testing/

Tale of Two methods

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Usability Testing Focus Groups Method One-on-one testing; observing representative

samples of end users using the product and measuring their performance on pre-determined tasks (n= # of individuals being tested)

Group discussion/exploration with up to 10 participants per group (n=1)

When to use Throughout development phase and during deployment

Pre-development; early in program verification

Key focus What will make the product easy for end users to learn and use?

What will motivate potential customers to buy the product? Determining market need.

Key motivation

How well can end users use the functionality a product provides? Can they realize the value promised?

What are the customers' wants and desires ?

Eight is sometimes enough

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It just depends

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Faulkner, Laura (2003) Beyond the Five-user Assumption: Benefits of Increased Sample

sizes in Usability Testing Behavior Research Methods, Instruments and Computers Volume

35 (3) 379-383

Raw data is NOT enough

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Translate data into meaningful requirements

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Don’t rely only on the Spec!

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More than words can say…

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Not just anyone can do research

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UX Researcher

•  Consider bring someone on board with a Degree in Human factors, HCI and/or soft sciences (e.g., Psychology, Sociology)

•  If conducting true user research, you’ll need someone with

knowledge and experience in research methods and/or experimental practices

•  Partner user researcher with business analysts and product managers for greater success!

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Ask the right questions! Use the right method(s) Analyze appropriately Use the right people!

Remember

Thank-You

Questions or feedback?: meaghan@macadamian.com For more information, visit: www.macadamian.com Follow Macadamian on Twitter: @macadamianlabs

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