Asking the questions to get the right answers - workshop at UX Hong Kong

1. WQusability
Choosing the Right UX Method
Asking the questions to get the right answers
UX Hong Kong 2012
Whitney Quesenbery

2. Questions and answers
Understand the questions
Explore ways to get the answers
Be ready to adapt

3. Baseline: your last project(s)
 What’s your UX process?
 What research, design, evaluation method
do you use?
 At the end of the workshop, think about how you might
change this process.

4. Process or improvisation?
Learn
Context of Use
Specify
Define
Try
Evaluate Designs Check Requirements
Propose
Produce Solutions
ISO 13407ISO 9241-200

5. Implicit questions
Scope of the research
Context Product
Source of the data
Opinion Observation
Type of conclusions
Qualitative Quantitative

6. Triangulation
 Combine methods to look for
confirmation, overlaps, and
contradictions

7. Ask “why” to uncover deeper issues
Let’s test in another country.
WHY?
Because it’s a different culture.
Why does that matter?
Our product was designed for users here.
Why does that make a difference
We don’t know if the [feature] will work there.
Why is that important?
Because the success of the product is based on the value of
[that feature].

8. Design studio
Your company has a product which has been
successful in the local market.
You are planning a big update and to introduce
the product into a broader market.
Design a UX plan that will make sure the
launch is a success.

9. Get ready…
 Form into teams
 Pick some details – type of product, region
where it is currently in the market
– Online service? Device? App/software?
– Geographical regions?
– Audience or type of users?

10. Explore the questions
 Brainstorm your questions
(aim for quantity).
 Use the 5 why’s to explore them more
deeply.
 Decide on the core questions.
 Brainstorm 3 different UX techniques to
answer each question.
 Sketch out your team’s UX plan.

11. Review and critique
 Each team does a 5 minute presentation of
their plan
 Identify strengths and weaknesses
 How could it be improved?
 Think about
– Does the type of product make a difference?

12. Designing user research sessions
Hint: you can answer more than one question
at a time

13. Case study
Project brief:
Design an online database of medial research
papers for cancer researchers to help them recruit
patients to clinical trials for new treatments.
What are our questions?

14. Case study
These were my questions:
 What does a cancer researcher do?
 How do they recruit patients now?
 Do they think there is a problem?
 Don’t they already have access to this medical
research?
How do we organize this project efficiently?

15. Case study
We mixed user insights and requirements
gathering
 Interviews in their clinics
 Asked to see researchers and support staff
 Walked through tools and process
 Showed them “Rorschach sketches”
(not “designs” but a way to get a reaction to
ideas)

16. Sketches to collect reactions

17. From their tasks to your tasks
1. Explore their own interests first
– How, when, where, activities, goals
2. Start with their own activity
– Recall a recent activity and repeat
3. Find the best match in your list
– Adjust as you need to to use what’s available and
still be relevant.
4. Ask them to do other things on your list
– Last, ask them to do anything that hasn’t come up
organically.
5. Be ready to think on your feet

18. Case study
Project brief:
1. Decide how to divide information between
the public and signed-in section of the site.
and
2. Explore the mental models of how the
members think about their relationship to the
site
Can we do this in a single project?

19. Case study
 We mixed card sorting with a participatory
design exercise
 We asked them to talk about why they chose
different ways to both group and present
links and information.

20. Mixing methods
Go back to your project plan.
Look at the questions you want to answer.
Can any of them be combined, mixing methods
in one session?

21. Adjusting to constraints
The usual suspects:
Time
Resources
Budget

22. Constraints
Resource constraints affect your choice of
technique
 Who do you have to work with?
 How many people can you work with?
 How rich do you need the data to be?
 What resources to you have or need?

23. Who do you have to work with?
Best
People who really use the product
People who used to use the product or
were recently in the users’ role
People who work with people
“Recruit loosely and who really use the product
grade on a curve”
People with specialized knowledge that
is not typical
Experts, analysts and other designers
Internal staff used to represent real
Worst users

24. How many people will you work with?
Statistically
significant
Large, but is the group
representative?
How much
confidence to you
need in the data? Focus on one aspect of users, or
one group
How varied is the
audience’s behavior
and experience Small convenience sample, matching
some characteristics
Small opportunity
sample

25. How rich a mix of data do you need?
Thinner data
Unmoderated
Self-reporting only
Add tracking of activity
What is the affect of
language on the Add audio or video from user
sessions? Moderated
Voice only
How well do you Add screen sharing
know the audience Add video chat
already? In-person
Informal setting
In a lab, with screen capture
Thicker data In their context

26. What resources do you have or need?
Slow or expensive Specialized equipment
Formal methodology for sessions
and analysis
What UX gear or
Many users = many hours
staff resources do
you have available? Lab or gear you have
Staff already experienced
Do you need rocket Time included in schedule
surgery?
Informal, light-weight approach
No special equipment
Fast or cheap Few users

27. Mixing methods
Go back to your project plan.
How can you make this project easier (faster, less
cost, fewer resources)?
What is the least you can do and still answer all
the questions?

28. Other constraints
 Accessibility
How will you work with assistive technologies
and different interaction styles
 Eyetracking and timing
Do you need uninterrupted work to get data
from instrumentation?
 Language
Handling language differences?

29. Wrapup
Instead of looking for an ideal process, think
carefully about the questions and your UX
planning will be more creative.

30. Storytelling for User
Global UX:
Experience:
Design and research Universal Design for
Crafting stories for
in a connected world
better design Web Accessibility
UX Whitney Quesenbery
Whitney Quesenbery & Sarah Horton &
& Daniek Szuc
Kevin Brooks St o ry Whitney Quesenbery
www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/storytelling/
Japan: http://amzn.to/ueXUgl
US:
www.wqusability.com/storycards.html
www.amazon.com/gp/product/012378591X/