This document discusses the importance and methods of ethnographic research for lean teams. It advocates conducting in-depth research by observing a small number of customers in their natural contexts to develop a deep understanding of their behaviors, experiences and perspectives. This helps teams move beyond assumptions to discover true customer needs and insights. The document outlines key principles of ethnographic research such as studying daily rituals and habits, asking open-ended questions, recording detailed observations and collaboratively analyzing findings to identify patterns and themes. It also provides an eight step process for ethnographic research and emphasizes the importance of context, holistic observation, active listening and mapping insights back to the original problem hypothesis.

1. DESIGN
DESIGN
ETHNOETHNOGRAPHY
GRAPHY
FOR LEAN TEAMS
FOR LEAN TEAMS
FOR LEAN TEAMS

2. RULES
RULES
1. I talk really fast, get used to it
2. Stop thinking and listen
3. Live tweet if it helps you remember
4. Write your questions down, ask them later

3. DETRITUS
DETRITUS
Wifi: User: Alley NYC Guest, PW: beawesome
Hashtag: #LeanUX
Drinking Game word: CONTEXT
Next meetup:
Jabe Bloom presents "Lean Team Experience Design"

4. “A startup is a human institution
designed to deliver a new product
or service under conditions of
extreme uncertainty.”
–ERIC REIS

5. WHY
WHY
RESEARCH?
RESEARCH?
12
People
The most striking truth of this curve is that
zero users give zero insights
a lot
o
Insights

6. The tendency to believe
that everyone uses technology
exactly like you do.
MALKOVICH
MALKOVICH
BIAS
BIAS

7. Designing based on your own pain
with no customer research
is like buying a lottery ticket.

8. Lean Startup (and LeanUX) is
a risk mitigation strategy.

9. A DIRTY
A DIRTY
SECRET
SECRET

10. DON’T USE
DON’T USE
PROXIES
PROXIES

11. ETHNOGRAPHY
ETHNOGRAPHY
ETHNOGRAPHY
WTF?
WTF?

12. WHY
WHY
WHY
ETHNOGRAPHY
ETHNOGRAPHY
ETHNOGRAPHY

13. COMPLEXITY
COMPLEXITY
EVERYWHERE
is
Ethnography offers a way to make sense of
this complexity. It lets us see beyond our
preconceptions and immerse ourselves in
the world of others. Most importantly, it
allows us to see patterns of behavior in a
real world context – patterns that we can
understand both rationally and intuitively.

14. “If you want to understand what motivates
a girl to pick up a skateboard, you could
bring her into a sterile laboratory and
interrogate her… or you could spend a week
in a skatepark observing her interacting
with her friends, practicing new skills
and having fun.”

15. ETHNOGRAPHY
ETHNOGRAPHY
+
DESIGN
DESIGN

16. LEAN
LEAN
ETHNOGRAPHY?
ETHNOGRAPHY?

17. “We don’t see things as they are,
we see them as we are.”
–ANAIS NIN

18. NINE
PROBLEMS
WITH
LEAN
STARTUP
CUSTOMER
RESEARCH

19. Most teams practicing Lean Startup don't start with a customer hypothesis;
they work backwards from a solution hypothesis
Because teams start with a solution hypothesis, it's almost impossible
for them to generate multiple hypotheses for testing
If GOOB is not conducted in the appropriate context,
it almost never yields useful behavioral data
GOOB relies far too heavily on self-reporting, which is almost useless.
GOOB, when done poorly, is particularly prone to confirmation bias
Most teams have a very hard time formulating assumptions as hypotheses
Designing reliable experiments is a skill that takes time to learn
People new to customer research are really bad at listening for weak signals
When a customer interview is guided, it almost never provides
opportunity for serendipitous insights to emerge

20. DESIGN RESEARCH
DESIGN RESEARCH
as a
SYSTEMATIC APPROACH
SYSTEMATIC APPROACH

21. DESIGN
DESIGN
ETHNOGRAPHY
ETHNOGRAPHY
ALLOWS
ALLOWS
US TO
US TO

22. 1. Discover the semantics of living

23. 2. Decode signifiers of cultural practice

24. 3. Understand the language people use

25. CONTEXT
CONTEXT
KING
KING
is

26. SELF-REPORTING
MOSTLY SHIT
is

27. PEOPLE'S
PEOPLE'S
PEOPLE'S
HACKS
HACKS
HACKS
ARE A
ARE A
ARE A
GREAT
GREAT
INSIGHT
INSIGHT

28. EIGHT
EIGHT
STEPS IN
STEPS IN
ETHNOGRAPHIC
ETHNOGRAPHIC
RESEARCH
RESEARCH

29. 1. Define your customer hypothesis

30. 2. Identify the people and validate they exist

31. 3. Plan your approach

32. 4. Conduct Paired Research
#SHOEUPBITCHES

33. 5. Become a "habit-farmer"

34. 6. Search for Patterns & Themes

35. 7. Co-Generate & Share Insights

36. 8. Perform your narrative

37. KEYS
KEYS
TO GOOD
TO GOOD
ETHNOGRAPHY
ETHNOGRAPHY

38. Delve deeply into the context, lives, cultures,
and rituals of a few people rather than study a
large number of people superficially.

39. Holistically study people’s behaviors
and experiences in daily life. You
won't find this in a lab, focus group,
or 5 minute interview on the street.

40. Learn to ask probing, open questions,
gathering as much data as possible to
inform your understanding.

41. Practice “active seeing,” and “active
listening.” Record every minutiae of
daily existence, and encode on post-its.

42. Use digital tools for asynchronous data
gathering: tumblr, facebook, twitter, instagram

43. Use collaborative sense-making
activities like the Cynefin framework and
affinity diagramming for active sensemaking.

44. Map the stories from insights back
to the original problem.
Did it validate or invalidate
the customer hypothesis?

45. Did the new insights provide potentially
richer opportunities to solve?
NOW YOU CAN THINK ABOUT YOUR
SOLUTION HYPOTHESIS

46. THANKS
THANKS
@SemanticWill
WILL EVANS
DIRECTOR OF DESIGN