Presentation from An Event Apart Seattle. Wish I could remove the crappy transcript without upgrading.

1. Just Enough Research

2. Erika Hall
@mulegirl
#justenuf

4. 2013

5. 2001

6. “Ginger”

7. “IT”

10. “IT”
“IT”

13. “Cities will be built around this device.”

14. “As big a deal as the PC.”
“Cities will be built around this device.”

15. “Maybe bigger than the Internet.”
“As big a deal as the PC.”
“Cities will be built around this device.”

16. “IT”

20. “IT”

21. “IT”

22. “IT”

23. “IT”

24. “IT”

29. $6600
SEGWAY i2
Speed: Maximum 12.5 mph
Range: 16-24 miles
Weight: 105 lbs

30. $449
“IT”
Public T7
Speed: Maximum ~30 mph
Range: Unlimited
Weight: 28.7 lbs

31. Whose world?

39. Why Research?

40. Your
Assumptions

41. Your The
Assumptions Actual World

42. Your The
Assumptions Actual World

43. Your The
Wishful Thinking
Assumptions Actual World

44. Your The
Assumptions Hype Actual World

45. Your The
Assumptions Risk Actual World

46. Your The
Assumptions Risk Actual World

47. Your The
Knowledge Risk
Assumptions Actual World

48. “Cities will be built around this device.”

50. That bike lane on the western span of the
Bay Bridge may or may not ever happen
—but it's already cost toll payers $1.25 million
just to take a look at the idea.
— San Francisco Chronicle

51. Innovation!

52. We don’t want facts to inhibit creativity.

53. We don’t want facts to inhibit creativity.
We want blue-sky thinking!

55. Why
Not?

56. Objection:
We don’t have the time.

57. Objection:
We don’t have the money.

58. Objection:
We don’t have the expertise.

59. Objection:
We’re already A/B testing.

60. So
What?

63. “Advancing the post-PC revolution by
inventing new applications that bring
people together through proximity ,
social and visual presentation.”

64. $41 million dollars

66. I thought we were going to build a better Facebook,
[but] within 30 minutes I realized, Oh my God, it's
broken. Holy s***, we totally f****d up.
—Bill Nguyen, founder of Color

67. Fail!

68. Fail!

69. Fail!

70. Learning through failure

71. leaves needs unmet.

72. Unmet needs are the right problems to solve.

73. Unmet needs are the right problems to solve.

75. Don’t waste anyone’s time or effort
on untested assumptions when you
don’t have to.

76. Failure is an expensive way to learn.

77. Let’s agree that succeeding is better than failing.

78. What problem are you solving?

79. And in what context?

80. What is Research?

81. “IT”
Research is just asking questions.

83. Who is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi?

85. Are all polar bears really left-handed?

88. Pure Research

92. SCIENCE!

93. Applied Research

94. Applied research serves a specific real-world goal.

98. If your research* helped you
meet your stated goal,
it succeeded.
*applied

99. Design Research

100. Fergus Bisset adapted from Katherine Bennett

101. Fergus Bisset adapted from Katherine Bennett

102. Design research both inspires imagination and informs intuition through a
variety of methods with related intents: to expose patterns underlying the
rich reality of people’s behaviors and experiences, to explore reactions to
probes and prototypes, and to shed light on the unknown through iterative
hypothesis and experiment.
Jane Fulton Suri, the creative director, IDEO.

103. Design research both inspires imagination and informs intuition through a
variety of methods with related intents: to expose patterns underlying the
rich reality of people’s behaviors and experiences, to explore reactions to
probes and prototypes, and to shed light on the unknown through iterative
hypothesis and experiment.
Jane Fulton Suri, the creative director, IDEO.

104. expose patterns underlying reality
explore reactions to probes and prototypes
shed light on the unknown

105. Design Research is Enough

106. Design Research is not Enough

108. Real World
Your Your
Organization Users
Context

109. Context

112. Flickr photo by HubSpot

113. Flickr photo by No_Water

114. Flickr photo by HubSpot

115. Flickr photo by HubSpot

128. There are more things in
heaven and earth, Horatio,
than are dreamt of in your
philosophy.

129. There are more things in
heaven and earth, Horatio,
than are dreamt of in your
brainstorming session.

130. What Research Is Not

131. Research is not asking people what they like.

132. Research is not asking people what they hate.

133. Research is not a political tool.

134. (Applied) Research is not SCIENCE.

135. How to Research

136. One Simple Process

138. Consider
Form Analyze
Observe Data
Questions
Interview

139. Consider
Questions Analyze
about the Observe Data
Organization
Interview

140. Consider
Questions Analyze
about the Observe Data
Users
Interview

141. Consider
Questions Analyze
about the Observe Data
Product
Interview

142. Consider
Questions Analyze
about the Observe Data
Competition
Interview

144. Insights

145. Your
Insights Ongoing Success!
Work

146. Forming
Questions

147. Good Questions

148. Good Questions
1.Simple

149. Good Questions
1.Simple
2.Specific

150. Good Questions
1.Simple
2.Specific
3.Answerable

151. Good Questions
1.Simple
2.Specific
3.Answerable
4.Practical

152. Critical
Thinking

153. Critical Thinking

154. Critical Thinking
1.Disciplined

155. Critical Thinking
1.Disciplined
2.Self-correcting

156. Critical Thinking
1.Disciplined
2.Self-correcting
3.Clear

157. Critical Thinking
1.Disciplined
2.Self-correcting
3.Clear
4.Logical

158. Observation

162. Interviews

163. We don’t want to be limited by
what our customers say they want.

164. We don’t want facts to inhibit creativity.

168. Good Interviews

169. Good Interviews
1.Know Your Question

170. Good Interviews
1.Know Your Question
2.Warm Up

171. Good Interviews
1.Know Your Question
2.Warm Up
3.Shut Up

172. Interviewing is not talking.

173. Interviewing is listening.

175. The
Interviewer

176. The The
Interviewer Interviewee

177. The
The The
Comfort
Interviewer Interviewee
Zone

178. The
The The
Interviewer Comfort
Interviewee
Zone

179. Out of your
comfort zone
and into theirs.

180. Analysis

181. Notes
Videos
Photos

183. Observation
Observation
Observation Observation
Observation
Observation

184. Observation
What is an observation?

185. Never
remembers
password
A reported behavior

186. “I run major
purchases past
my partner”
A direct quote

187. Had to dig
through stuffed
backpack to find
phone.
An observed behavior

188. Observation
Observation
Observation Observation Observation
Observation
Observation Observation
Observation Observation
Observation
Observation Observation
Observation

189. collaborates on
purchases
Observation
Observation
Observation Observation Observation
Observation
Observation Observation
Observation Observation
Observation
Observation Observation
Observation

190. collaborates on uses several
purchases devices
Observation
Observation
Observation Observation Observation
Observation
Observation Observation
Observation Observation
Observation
Observation Observation
Observation

191. collaborates on uses several needs
purchases devices validation
Observation
Observation
Observation Observation Observation
Observation
Observation Observation
Observation Observation
Observation
Observation Observation
Observation

192. Actionable
Inputs

193. make product information
collaborates sharable
on
purchases save state in
purchase process

194. Research Topics

195. Organizational
Research

196. Flickr photo by Iansand

197. Flickr photo by Iansand

198. Hello?
Flickr photo by Iansand

199. Organizational Research

200. Organizational Research
1.Requirements

201. Organizational Research
1.Requirements
2.Politics

202. Organizational Research
1.Requirements
2.Politics
3.Workflow

203. Organizational Research
1.Requirements
2.Politics
3.Workflow
4.Capabilities

204. Organizational Research
1.Requirements
2.Politics
3.Workflow
4.Capabilities
5.Goodwill

205. ?
? ? ?
? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ?

206. ?
? ? ?
? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ?

207. ?
? ? ?
? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ?

208. ?
? ? ?
? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ?

209. ?
? ? ?
? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ?

211. User Research

212. Ethnography

213. “...true ethnography reveals not
just what people say they do,
“IT”
but what they actually do.”
-PARC

214. The Four Ds of Design Ethnography

215. The Four Ds of Design Ethnography
1.Deep Dive

216. The Four Ds of Design Ethnography
1.Deep Dive
2.Daily Life

217. The Four Ds of Design Ethnography
1.Deep Dive
2.Daily Life
3.Data Analysis

218. The Four Ds of Design Ethnography
1.Deep Dive
2.Daily Life
3.Data Analysis
4.Drama

219. The Four Ds of Design Ethnography
1.Deep Dive
2.Daily Life
3.Data Analysis
4.Drama

220. The Four Ds of Design Ethnography
1.Deep Dive
2.Daily Life
3.Data Analysis
4.Drama

221. The Four Ds of Design Ethnography
1.Deep Dive
2.Daily Life
3.Data Analysis
4.Drama

222. Recruiting

223. ethn.io

224. Incentives

226. Personas

227. Background Goals
Attributes Needs
“I have
complex
attitudes.”

229. Flickr photo by David Gómez-Rosado

230. “Danielle”
Flickr photo by David Gómez-Rosado

231. So what?
Flickr photo by David Gómez-Rosado

232. So what?

233. So what?

234. So what?
Flickr photo by David Gómez-Rosado

235. So what?
Flickr photo by David Gómez-Rosado

236. Focus Groups

238. Focus Groups are Worthless

239. “Even when the subjects are well
selected, focus groups are supposed to
be merely the source of ideas that
need to be researched.”
Robert K. Merton, American Sociologist

240. “Even when the subjects are well
selected, focus groups are supposed to
be merely the source of ideas that
need to be researched.
Robert K. Merton, American Sociologist

241. “Even when the subjects are well
selected, focus groups are supposed to
be merely the source of ideas that
need to be researched.
Robert K. Merton, Creator of Focus Groups

242. Competitive
Research

243. Competitive Research =
How else might your target
“IT”
customer solve the same
problem?

244. “IT”

254. Your target customers have to love you
more than they hate change.

255. Quantitative
Methods

257. Why?

260. Optimized
current
design

261. Potential
Optimized
current
design

262. How What
Much? & Why?

263. Quantitative + Qualitative

264. You need both.

265. Who Should do Research?

266. Everyone.

271. 9
Brief books for people who make websites No.
Erika Hall
JUST ENOUGH
RESEARCH

272. What is “Just Enough”?

273. Different for every project.

274. Different for every organization.

275. Just Enough Research...

276. to identify real problems.

277. to understand your organizational capacity.

278. to empathize with your users.

279. to get a clear picture of your competitive position.

280. Cultivate a desire to be proven wrong.

281. The fastest.

282. The lowest cost.

284. Context

285. Context + Empathy = Innovation

286. Thanks!

287. Stay in touch with Erika Hall
@mulegirl
erika@muledesign.com
www.muledesign.com