Jason Moore - Why releasing 50 features are less than 1 solution - BSDC 2016

Start with the Problem:
Why releasing 50 features < 1 solution
Jason Moore | UX Manager, Workiva | June 11th, 2016

2016 BigSky Devcon | Jason Moore
Ever encountered a project like this?

Or this….
Endless requests of features to build, hoping you arrive at success?

You’re not alone.
Recently, 200 enterprise product
managers and startup founders were
interviewed.
198 said they were keeping a list of
product features they wanted to make a
reality “some day”.
Source: “Validating Product Ideas Through Lean User
Research” by Tomer Sharon

How do I know if I am only releasing
features?

If a product doesn’t solve a problem, no
one cares.

A “...single-focus exercise product synonymous with the Nike
brand,” says Wohlsen. “If consumers simply want to track their
activity, they can do it on their phones; there is no need for an extra
device.”
Marcus Wohlsen, WIRED
April 22, 2014

Trying to beat Facebook at its own game is like
“trying to beat Google in search.”
Bradford Cross, CEO of Prismatic

Someday...
What’s most impressive is what the other two
startup founders were doing.
These founders were keeping a list of problems
they wanted to solve. They chose to fall in love
with a problem rather than a list of ideas they
wanted to build.

Experiencing your problem solved
Think about the first time you used a great product, digital or otherwise.

● It probably felt like it was designed for you.

● It was intuitive, or the barrier to learn how to use it, was low - if at all.

● It was intuitive, or the barrier to learn how to use it, was low - if not
nonexistent.
● You may have not even knew everything it could do and yet it still met a
need you had.

● It was intuitive, or the barrier to learn how to use it, was low - if not
nonexistent.
● You may have not even knew everything it could do and yet it still met a need
you had.
You might have said “wow” while using it.

#mindBlown, right?

Probably not.
The beauty of a well designed product is
how quick it embeds with your daily
life/workstyle.

An UBER Example
Why not just build a better taxi?
Well they kind of did, but they also solved pain points!

4 Distinct “wow” moments
1. How do I know if a cab is available right now?
a. Uber shows you cabs around you on a map.

2. When will my driver show up?
a. Uber shows you a map of where your driver is with an
estimated time of arrival

3. Will my driver take credit card or do I need cash?
a. Uber connects with your credit card.

3. Will my driver take credit card or do I need cash?
a. Uber connects with your credit card.
4. What should I tip?
a. Uber automatically includes a tip you set.

But the reality is...
...creating multiple “wow moments” within your product takes time to construct.
Uber took a year to build their first app and launched in just one city.

Yes.
image credits: http://jmoo.re/dope-jump

Why releasing 50 features < 1 solution
This question is critical.
By understanding your user and
the major elements of their
problem, it will drive the
development of your next product
or service into what users need: a
solution.
“How do users currently
solve [insert pain point]
today?”

When should I ask this question?
All. The. Time.
Continuously asking this question within your team is critical for product and
market fit.
Best time
to ask
Good time
to ask
When Planning When Building After Releasing

When Planning
The predictor of future behavior is current behavior. Planning to solve a problem
today paves the road to building it tomorrow.
Even if you have a “product idea”, framing it by what problem it solves will improve
it significantly.
Best time
to ask
Good time
to ask

When Building
Even in the middle of development, it’s critical to reassess what you are building
with fresh eyes.
You may find yourself fine tuning your idea, pivoting toward a better strategy or
even realizing your solution isn’t relevant in its current form.
Best time
to ask
Good time
to ask

After Releasing
By observing your audience, you are able to circle back and understand what new
problems may arise and how to help prioritize your next solution, or gain insight on
what to tackle next on an existing roadmap.
Best time
to ask
Good time
to ask

Asking questions is great
But getting answers is even better.
One of the best ways to arrive at an answer for “How do users currently solve…” is
through observation.

Observation can be referred to by many names
● Field observation
● Field study, fieldwork, field research
● Contextual inquiry
● Guided tour
● Fly-on-the-wall
● Shadowing
● Ethnography

Choosing the right tool for the job
The differences between these techniques is the level of interaction that happens
between you and the user.
While shadowing, or fly-on-wall techniques entail almost no direct interaction,
items like guided tours, or contextual inquiries involve much more of a back and
forth conversation.
Little Interaction More Interaction
EthnographyShadowing Fly-on-the-wall Guided Tour
Contextual
Inquiry
Field
Observation /
Research

The truth is that it doesn’t really matter what you call it.
As long as you are observing a person in
their natural environment, you are in the
observation business.

Observation, your new friend
There are 5 important things to remember when observing:
Observing Listening Noticing Gathering Interpreting

Observing
Watching people as they go about their daily lives at
home, work, in between, or wherever is relevant to
what the product team is interested in.
Observing will help you uncover not only what
happened, but also why it happened.
Created by Mark Shorter from the Noun Project

Listening
Learn the language and jargon people use in their own
environments. Listening to people’s jargon has an
extra benefit of identifying words they use to describe
things.
For example, when using online banking, many people
struggle to find mortgage information because banks
use the word loan to describe a mortgage.
Created by Kamaksh G from the Noun Project

Noticing
Just standing there watching what people do can be a
challenging and overwhelming experience if you don’t
know what to look for.
Looking for and paying attention to behaviors such as
routines, annoyances, interferences, habits, etc. turns
“just being there” into an effective design tool.
Created by fcFrankChung from the Noun Project

Gathering
Collecting different things (aka, artifacts) that people
use or create to complete certain tasks might signal
user needs for the solution.
For example, an artifact you might find useful if you
were conducting an observation in a grocery store
would be a person’s grocery list.
Created by Mike Ashley from the Noun Project

Interpreting
After you’ve observed people either struggling with a
problem, or solving it in an interesting manner, you’ll
need to figure out what the observed behavior means
and why the person is doing it that way.
These interpretations sometimes become the outline
for “user personas”.
Created by Gregor Črešnar from the Noun Project

Why does observation work?
Observation is an effective technique that can help
you achieve several things:
● Validating team assumptions about users
● Identifying problems people might have
● Understanding user goals and motivations
● Understanding people’s workflows
Creative commons http://jmoo.re/1UaF4lM

Observation leads to empathy
“In order to get to new solutions, you
have to know different people, different
scenarios, different places.”
Emi Kolawole, Editor-in-Residence, Stanford University d.school

Why we Validate
There are 2 ways you can validate the solution, determine whether more work is
needed or realize you may be going down the wrong path.
● Internally through dogfooding
● Externally with users

Internal Validation
Because slack is looking to
improve team communication for,
they are able to use their own
software as part of their daily
workflow.
● Using your own tools
(dogfooding) is highly
recommended.
● Larger teams will have
segmented dept’s where they
can target different personas
and use cases.

External Validation
For smaller teams, or offerings that cannot be fully used internally, having a
communication channel to users is key.
Example of ways to collect validation
● Feedback within your app/offering
● 3rd Party Feedback tools
● Dedication IM channels for instant feedback
● Customer calls, or onsite visits

● Feedback form built within your application
● Can scale for both internal and external uses.
External Validation - Feedback within your offering

● Use a 3rd party offering like Ignite Feedback (Bozeman Shout Out!),
HelpScout or other widget based tools
External Validation - 3rd Party

External Validation - Dedicated IM Channels
Using a tool, such as slack, where users can be invited to participate live provides a number of benefits
● Instant, always on communication
● The ability to use add-ons to save and archive feedback for later consumption
● The user (internal or external) is left with a feeling of being valued, knowing their
feedback isn’t disappearing into an email box.

External Validation - Customer call and visits
The chance to meet virtually or in person has it’s
own value. If you are able to travel to a location, or
screenshare with a user, keep in mind:
● Talking to the right person: Find the metrics
that matter for your product. Is it organizational
role, license level, frequency of use, etc.?
Talking to the wrong user is a waste of your
time, but more importantly, it’s a waste of the
users’ time. They get it when you’re trying to
force it.
All Users
Your
Customers

External Validation - Customer call and visits (cont’d)
● Technology as a hindrance: Do a dry run before.
Make sure the technology doesn’t become a blocker to
your conversation (your product, or support software)
Be ready if it does. Have a plan in place if things go
south, whether:
○ You continue with screenshots
○ Screen recordings to walk through the solution
○ Have a set of backup questions to make the
most use of your time.

Building good products is challenging.
But, you can do it, even though
it may look* like this.
*not to scale
Research Concept Validate ReleaseIterate
BUILD

If you only remember these 5 things:
1. Successful products solve problems. Always.
2. Ask “Why”? ALL THE TIME.
3. Observing users before, during and after releases keeps a fresh perspective.
4. Empathy helps you relate to your user.
5. Validation confirms you know the user well enough to give them a solution, or
pivot toward one.
Recap

Where can I learn more?
http://greatproductsbydesign.com/http://jmoo.re/hooked-nir http://jmoo.re/ux-design-in-action

Thank you!
Questions?
jason.moore@workiva.com
@mooreplusone

Jason Moore - Why releasing 50 features are less than 1 solution - BSDC 2016

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Jason Moore - Why releasing 50 features are less than 1 solution - BSDC 2016