1.
JANEL BLATTLER | DESIGN MANAGER | ATLASSIAN | @JBLATTZ
Tear Up Your Roadmap
And Get Out of the Building

2.
IMAGINE REVIEWING YOUR
ROADMAP
BUT YOU DOUBTED IT ADDED
ANY CUSTOMER VALUE.

3.
WHY DID I DOUBT IT?
Shipping random
features doesn’t
guarantee
customer value.

4.
WHY DID I DOUBT IT?
Shipping random
features doesn’t
guarantee
customer value.

5.
What would you do?

6.
What would you do?
A. Sit back and do nothing.
B. Plot how you’ll throw your team under
the bus later when this doesn’t work.
C. Run a research spike with your team.

7.
Great, how do I start?

8.
TYPICAL RESEARCH PLAN
Define what you
want to learn
Today

9.
TYPICAL RESEARCH PLAN
Define what you
want to learn
Recruit & run
research
Run more
research
Analyse your
research
Share with
stakeholders
Today Week 1 Week 4Week 2 Week 3
Run a
retro!
Week 5

10.
Participants are all around you

11.
Support
Experience customer pain on
a daily basis.
Participants are all around you
Community
A highly engaged audience of
power users.
Sales teams
Understand the context of
the customer’s environment.

12.
Self-service booking
Tools like Calendly or Ethnio
enable customers to book
your time.
Time zones
Remember to block out times
you don’t want scheduled.
Scheduling pro tips

13.
What happens in a customer
interview?

14.
Customer
Interviews
Discussion
Guide
Roles
Prep before the interview
Who's facilitating the interview? Who's taking notes?
Make sure your research team has talking points ready
before each interview.
Introduce yourself
Start off the call by introducing the team and the
purpose for the chat. Explain how you'll use the data you
collect. Always get consent if you're recording.
Say thank you
Acknowledge that the customer has taken time out of
their day to give you valuable feedback.

15.
Customer
Interviews
Agenda
Roles
Pick a role
There are two roles you can have during the interview:
scribe or interviewer
Role #1: Scribe
Takes detailed notes verbatim. Your team will reference
them later during analysis and discussion. Always
capture quotes, rather than paraphrase.
Role #2: Interviewer
Leads the conversation and asks open-ended questions
so the customer can share their perspective. They listen
more than they speak.

16.
Make an
interview
template

17.
DURING THE SESSION
Have a peer
transcribe the
session.
This saves time later!

18.
Imagine you are a scribe:
Listen to this audio clip
and take notes
ACTIVITY TIME! - ACTIVITY #1

19.
Imagine you are a scribe:
Listen to this audio clip
and take notes
ACTIVITY TIME! - ACTIVITY #1

20.
VERBATIM NOTES ARE

21.
VERBATIM NOTES ARE
POWERFUL

22.
Imagine you are an
interviewer:
Listen to these
real-life questions.
ACTIVITY TIME! - ACTIVITY #2

23.
Part 1: Ask a question.
Part 2: Ask a follow-up question.
ACTIVITY TIME! - ACTIVITY #2

24.
Part 1: Ask a question.
Part 2: Ask a follow-up question.
ACTIVITY TIME! - ACTIVITY #2

25.
Part 1: Ask a question.
Part 2: Ask a follow-up question.
ACTIVITY TIME! - ACTIVITY #2

26.
DON’T BE TEMPTED TO
FILL THE SILENCE.

27.
Imagine you are an
interviewer:
What questions
would you ask?
ACTIVITY TIME! - ACTIVITY #3

28.
What happens after an
interview?

29.
Analyse your interviews

30.
Get peers
involved
It’s a plus if they didn’t
attend the research.
Hard copies
Print out multiples,
have people highlight
and scan for themes.
Consolidate
themes
Use sticky notes or a
digital tool like Mural.
Analyse your interviews
Do you have
transcripts?
You need them to
code for themes.

31.
Highlight what
stands out to you in
the transcript.
ACTIVITY TIME! - ACTIVITY #4

32.
FINDING MULTIPLE THEMES

33.
FINDING MULTIPLE THEMES
IS EXPECTED

34.
Our research analysis
looked like this

35.
Group your analysis
into themes and
identify patterns.
ACTIVITY TIME! - ACTIVITY #5

36.
Journeys, not features
We learned how customers use collaboration tools
in their day-to-day work, about our power users and
more about our competitors.
Research as a team sport
Getting the entire team involved in the entire
process. Everyone benefits from exposure to
customers.
Overwhelmed with demand
Hundreds of customers responded to our request for
research. We selected from a variety of organizations
sizes and locations.
Did we
succeed?

37.
Journeys, not features
We learned how customers use collaboration tools
in their day-to-day work, about our power users and
more about our competitors.
Research as a team sport
Getting the entire team involved in the entire
process. Everyone benefits from exposure to
customers.
Overwhelmed with demand
Hundreds of customers responded to our request for
research. We selected from a variety of organizations
sizes and locations.
Did we
succeed?

38.
Journeys, not features
We learned how customers use collaboration
tools in their day-to-day work, about our power
users and more about our competitors.
Research as a team sport
Getting the entire team involved in the entire
process. Everyone benefits from exposure to
customers.
Overwhelmed with demand
Hundreds of customers responded to our request for
research. We selected from a variety of organizations
sizes and locations.
Did we
succeed?

39.
Journeys, not features
We learned how customers use collaboration tools
in their day-to- day work, about our power users and
more about our competitors.
Research as a team sport
Getting the entire team involved in the entire
process. Everyone benefits from exposure to
customers.
Overwhelmed with demand
Hundreds of customers responded to our request for
research. We selected from a variety of organizations
sizes and locations.
Did we
succeed?

40.
Could you run a
research spike?
If not, why not?
BE HONEST

41.
JANEL BLATTLER | DESIGN MANAGER | ATLASSIAN | @JBLATTZ
Thank you!