Presented by Jason Ulaszek and Brian Winters at Interactions '13 on January 28th, 2013. Have you ever been enlisted by your company or client to create a consumer “vision” for the evolution of their product or service? As design-thinking principles and activities continue to become centerstage in transforming business models, creating new products and services to meet consumer and market demand, we'll be counted on to leverage our skill to help inform business direction. So, how do you do it? Design research is critical. Creating foundational, living documentation about the needs, beliefs and behaviors of your customer is of the utmost importance. And, being able to identify needs, opportunities and the future direction for the business, based on both sound process and analytical thought, will be your keys to short and long-term success. In this session you'll learn how to turn design research activities into a mental model, identify potential new business opportunities and derive business and experience direction from your newly found consumer insight. And, you'll look like a freakin' rockstar in your company doing it.

1. Setting Course:
Design Research
to
Experience
Roadmap
#ixd13
#research2roadmap
JASON ULASZEK
@webbit
BRIAN WINTERS
@bwinters

2. The Backstory

3. “Make no little
plans”
~ Daniel Burnham, Architect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Burnham

4. How can I understand and react
to my customers needs?
To instill empathy within the organization.

5. Where should I focus & engage?
How can I optimize what I have?
To create uniformity across an entire customer ecosystem.

6. How do I create greater brand
affinity?
To build engaging brand experiences that drive customer desire.

7. How can I shift the mindset of my organization &
create a common understanding of the customer?
To develop a customer-centric culture that drives innovation.

8. THE BACKSTORY
Ask yourself…
• How do I address these challenges?
• What do I pull out of my “UX bag of tricks” to tackle them?
What‟s your approach?
8

9. THE BACKSTORY
Here‟s our take…
ENGAGEMENT + INSIGHT + ITERATION
9

10. Step #1:

11. STEP #1: DISCOVER
KEY QUESTIONS
• How do we disrupt the market?
• How can we delight our customers?
• How & why do people use our products?
• Where are we strong and/or weak?
CC: Anas Ramadan, from The Noun Project
11

12. STEP #1: DISCOVER
GOALS
• Understand business objectives
• Know the competitive landscape
• Uncover people‟s needs
12

13. STEP #1: DISCOVER
SAMPLE ACTIVITIES
• Stakeholder interviews
Uncover the underlying business problem
and each stakeholders‟ perspective.
• Competitive Assessment
Know where you need to make a
difference.
• Target audience interviews
Gather data to inform an understanding of
people‟s needs.
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14. STEP #1: DISCOVER
Gather stakeholder insight
14

15. STEP #1: DISCOVER
Understand the competitive experience
Company 1
Company 2
Company 3
Company 4
Company 5
Company 6
15

16. STEP #1: DISCOVER
TIPS
• Think about how you will engage the
entire project team.
• Clearly define project goals with everyone.
• Focus and align your research approach
with project goals.
CC: Lemon Liu, from The Noun Project
16

17. Step #2:

18. STEP #2: DEFINE
KEY QUESTIONS
• What are the gaps in the experience?
• How do we use all this to make decisions?
• What can we act on now?
• What does it all mean?
CC: Anas Ramadan, from The Noun Project
18

19. STEP #2: DEFINE
GOALS
• Synthesize data into patterns.
• Build a model.
• Find gaps in the experience.
• Identify behavioral patterns.
• Understand how you support the entire
experience.
19

20. STEP #2: DEFINE
SAMPLE ACTIVITIES
• Build Mental Model
Collaboration is key in finding relevant
patterns.
• Align organization’s offerings with
mental model
Get a deep understanding of systems,
capabilities and offerings.
• Gap Analysis
Find gaps between what people expect
and what the organization really
provides them.
20

21. STEP #2: DEFINE
THE VALUE OF A MENTAL MODEL
• A visual way of seeing how people use
your product or service.
• Shows what they believe, feel, and do.
• It‟s an easy way to digest large
quantity of data.
• It‟s a foundational piece to creating a
roadmap.
21

22. STEP #2: DEFINE
How to build a mental model
Leverage existing research (good)
Combine all research (best)
Conduct exploratory interviews (better)
Mental Model
22

23. STEP #2: DEFINE
The foundation for your roadmap
Site Architecture Nomenclature Detailed Navigation
Personas Scenarios Use cases
Mental Model
Gap Analysis Interaction Design
Product Concepts
Concepts
23

24. STEP #2: DEFINE
A huge living document!
8 feet
24

25. DEFINE
25

26. STEP #2: DEFINE
TIPS
• Plan how you will use the Mental Model.
• Set up a dedicated workspace.
• Host show-n-tell sessions.
• Encourage active participation.
• Look for patterns.
CC: Lemon Liu, from The Noun Project
26

27. Step #3:

28. STEP #3: DIRECT
KEY QUESTIONS
• How should we prioritize?
• What are the evaluation criteria?
• What do we do first?
• What does success look like – for our
business & customer?
• How do we socialize this throughout the
organization?
CC: Anas Ramadan, from The Noun Project
28

29. STEP #3: DIRECT
GOALS
• Prioritize all opportunities
• Identify themes & organize them into
“chunks” (core of the roadmap)
• Define measures of success
• Create the roadmap
29

30. STEP #3: DIRECT
SAMPLE ACTIVITIES
• Prioritize the opportunities
Diffuse political tension by
collaborating on scoring all
opportunities.
• Identify key themes
„Bubble up‟ the common themes
to begin visualizing the
organization of the roadmap.
• Define the roadmap
Connect themes and look to build
upon incremental changes.
Connect with existing metrics if
possible.
30

31. STEP #3: DIRECT
Prioritize the opportunities
Identify Assess Prioritize
Gather and document opportunities Determine evaluation criteria and Identify opportunities to be done first
identified through each project activity. score each opportunity accordingly. based on feasibility, importance.
31

32. STEP #3: DIRECT
EVALUATION CRITERIA
• Importance to the Business
• Importance to the Customer
• Technical feasibility
• Resource feasibility
CC: Scott Lewis, from The Noun Project
32

33. STEP #3: DIRECT
Evaluation Criteria
Importance to the Business Importance to the Consumer
IMPORTANCE
› Increases investment/conversion › Facilitates access to product information
› Promotes product and brand awareness › Provides research and insights
› Increases credibility and trust › Offers client-ready sales/education materials
› Provides additional advisor value/education › Helps me with my business
Technical Feasibility Resource Feasibility
FEASIBILITY
› Difficulty of implementation › Do we have the data and tools to do this?
› Does solution need front or back-end › Do we have the people to do this?
coding, or both? › Is the solution cost-effective?
› Does the solution require integration with
other systems or third-party solutions?
33

34. STEP #3: DIRECT
Prioritization
CC: Michael Young, from The Noun Project
34

35. STEP #3: DIRECT
Identify the key themes (samples)
Foundational Updates Content
› Site structure, navigation and labeling, branding › Thought leadership, practice management, and
and multi-device capability client-facing content
› Content refresh and optimization › Multimedia/interactive content
› Analytics program › Social/community and third-party content
› Content processes: editorial calendar, controlled
Features/Functions vocabulary
› Document accessibility
› Advisor site (registration required) Tools
› Comments/discussion and event calendar › Fund finder and comparison tool, portfolio map
› Context-specific feedback › Benchmark performance and exposure analysis
› Targeted content and content syndication › Price performance and premium/discount charts
› Correlation tracker and stock screener
› Portfolio constructor/analyzer
35

36. STEP #3: DIRECT
Define the roadmap
CAPABILITIES: CAPABILITIES: CAPABILITIES: CAPABILITIES:
› Updated site structure, › Thought leadership, › Tools for advisor analysis › Advisor comments and
navigation and labeling research and insights › Multimedia content discussion
› Refreshed design/branding content › Advisor site (registration
› Client-facing content
› Mobile-friendly platform › Credibility-enhancing required)
› Social media and
content (case studies, etc.) › Content syndication
› Content community content
refresh/optimization › Tools and processes for development › Additional third-party
content maintenance content
› Web analytics › Feedback and surveys
› Additional Contact › Targeted content delivery
› Event calendar
Us/About Us content
› Document accessibility
› Controlled vocabulary
36

37. STEP #3: DIRECT
Sample Release (r2 Engagement)
CAPABILITIES:
• Thought leadership,
research and insights
• Credibility-enhancing Increase editorial efficiency Standardize terminology
and About Us content
• Ensure
Tools for content Develop more “real” content
maintenance document
to build credibility
• Document accessibility accessibility
• Controlled vocabulary
BUSINESS
BENEFITS:
• Improved user
engagement
• Improved site and
brand credibility
• Internal productivity
gains
MEASUREMENT:
• Site Catalyst Offer advisors additional, Facilitate advisor
metrics qualitative research and insights communications with
• Contacts and sales
leads generated
• Repeat visits
37

38. STEP #3: DIRECT
TIPS
• Involve key decision makers in the prioritization
exercise to ensure buy-in and alignment with
business (and customer) goals.
• Ensure an open dialogue exists to tackle the tough
decisions that both business and technology will
need to make (e.g., budgets, operations changes,
technical architecture, etc.)
• Problems can be opportunities in disguise. It all
depends on how you frame it.
CC: Lemon Liu, from The Noun Project
38

39. Parting Thoughts

40. PARTING THOUGHTS
TIPS TO STAY SUCCESSFUL
• Create an approach for socializing the
foundational research.
• Plan for incremental updates to the Mental Model.
• Watch for changes in the competitive landscape.
• Look to leverage your research assets as genesis
for all experience design projects.
• Think about developing institutional knowledge
and staff your team accordingly.
• Set aside time for refinements, at minimum 1-2
times per year.
CC: Lemon Liu, from The Noun Project
40

41. PARTING THOUGHTS
Create a shared understanding
41

42. The Plan for Chicago (1909)

43. Thank you!
CONTACT:
JASON ULASZEK
jason.ulaszek@manifestdigital.com
@webbit
BRIAN WINTERS
brian.winters@manifestdigital.com
@bwinters
WEB: manifestdigital.com
FACEBOOK: Manifest Digital
TWITTER: @manifestdigital