1.
Just Enough Research

2.
Erika Hall
@mulegirl
#justenuf

3.
2013

4.
2001

5.
“Ginger”

6.
“IT”

7.
“IT”
“IT”

8.
“Cities will be built around this device.”

9.
“As big a deal as the PC.”
“Cities will be built around this device.”

10.
“Maybe bigger than the Internet.”
“As big a deal as the PC.”
“Cities will be built around this device.”

11.
“IT”

12.
“IT”

13.
“IT”

14.
“IT”

15.
“IT”

16.
“IT”

17.
$6600
SEGWAY i2
Speed: Maximum 12.5 mph
Range: 16-24 miles
Weight: 105 lbs

18.
$449
“IT”
Public T7
Speed: Maximum ~30 mph
Range: Unlimited
Weight: 28.7 lbs

19.
Whose world?

20.
Why Research?

21.
Your
Assumptions

22.
Your The
Assumptions Actual World

23.
Your The
Assumptions Actual World

24.
Your The
Wishful Thinking
Assumptions Actual World

25.
Your The
Assumptions Hype Actual World

26.
Your The
Assumptions Risk Actual World

27.
Your The
Assumptions Risk Actual World

28.
Your The
Knowledge Risk
Assumptions Actual World

29.
“Cities will be built around this device.”

30.
That bike lane on the western span of the
Bay Bridge may or may not ever happen
—but it's already cost toll payers $1.25 million
just to take a look at the idea.
— San Francisco Chronicle

31.
Innovation!

32.
We don’t want facts to inhibit creativity.

33.
We don’t want facts to inhibit creativity.
We want blue-sky thinking!

34.
Why
Not?

35.
Objection:
We don’t have the time.

36.
Objection:
We don’t have the money.

37.
Objection:
We don’t have the expertise.

38.
Objection:
We’re already A/B testing.

39.
So
What?

40.
“Advancing the post-PC revolution by
inventing new applications that bring
people together through proximity ,
social and visual presentation.”

41.
$41 million dollars

42.
I thought we were going to build a better Facebook,
[but] within 30 minutes I realized, Oh my God, it's
broken. Holy s***, we totally f****d up.
—Bill Nguyen, founder of Color

43.
Fail!

44.
Fail!

45.
Fail!

46.
Learning through failure

47.
leaves needs unmet.

48.
Unmet needs are the right problems to solve.

49.
Unmet needs are the right problems to solve.

50.
Don’t waste anyone’s time or effort
on untested assumptions when you
don’t have to.

51.
Failure is an expensive way to learn.

52.
Let’s agree that succeeding is better than failing.

53.
What problem are you solving?

54.
And in what context?

55.
What is Research?

56.
“IT”
Research is just asking questions.

57.
Who is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi?

58.
Are all polar bears really left-handed?

59.
Pure Research

60.
SCIENCE!

61.
Applied Research

62.
Applied research serves a specific real-world goal.

63.
If your research* helped you
meet your stated goal,
it succeeded.
*applied

64.
Design Research

65.
Fergus Bisset adapted from Katherine Bennett

66.
Fergus Bisset adapted from Katherine Bennett

67.
Design research both inspires imagination and informs intuition through a
variety of methods with related intents: to expose patterns underlying the
rich reality of people’s behaviors and experiences, to explore reactions to
probes and prototypes, and to shed light on the unknown through iterative
hypothesis and experiment.
Jane Fulton Suri, the creative director, IDEO.

68.
Design research both inspires imagination and informs intuition through a
variety of methods with related intents: to expose patterns underlying the
rich reality of people’s behaviors and experiences, to explore reactions to
probes and prototypes, and to shed light on the unknown through iterative
hypothesis and experiment.
Jane Fulton Suri, the creative director, IDEO.

69.
expose patterns underlying reality
explore reactions to probes and prototypes
shed light on the unknown

70.
Design Research is Enough

71.
Design Research is not Enough

72.
Real World
Your Your
Organization Users
Context

73.
Context

74.
Flickr photo by HubSpot

75.
Flickr photo by No_Water

76.
Flickr photo by HubSpot

77.
Flickr photo by HubSpot

78.
There are more things in
heaven and earth, Horatio,
than are dreamt of in your
philosophy.

79.
There are more things in
heaven and earth, Horatio,
than are dreamt of in your
brainstorming session.

80.
What Research Is Not

81.
Research is not asking people what they like.

82.
Research is not asking people what they hate.

83.
Research is not a political tool.

84.
(Applied) Research is not SCIENCE.

85.
How to Research

86.
One Simple Process

87.
Consider
Form Analyze
Observe Data
Questions
Interview

88.
Consider
Questions Analyze
about the Observe Data
Organization
Interview

89.
Consider
Questions Analyze
about the Observe Data
Users
Interview

90.
Consider
Questions Analyze
about the Observe Data
Product
Interview

91.
Consider
Questions Analyze
about the Observe Data
Competition
Interview

92.
Insights

93.
Your
Insights Ongoing Success!
Work

94.
Forming
Questions

95.
Good Questions

96.
Good Questions
1.Simple

97.
Good Questions
1.Simple
2.Specific

98.
Good Questions
1.Simple
2.Specific
3.Answerable

99.
Good Questions
1.Simple
2.Specific
3.Answerable
4.Practical

100.
Critical
Thinking

101.
Critical Thinking

102.
Critical Thinking
1.Disciplined

103.
Critical Thinking
1.Disciplined
2.Self-correcting

104.
Critical Thinking
1.Disciplined
2.Self-correcting
3.Clear

105.
Critical Thinking
1.Disciplined
2.Self-correcting
3.Clear
4.Logical

106.
Observation

107.
Interviews

108.
We don’t want to be limited by
what our customers say they want.

109.
We don’t want facts to inhibit creativity.

110.
Good Interviews

111.
Good Interviews
1.Know Your Question

112.
Good Interviews
1.Know Your Question
2.Warm Up

113.
Good Interviews
1.Know Your Question
2.Warm Up
3.Shut Up

114.
Interviewing is not talking.

115.
Interviewing is listening.

116.
The
Interviewer

117.
The The
Interviewer Interviewee

118.
The
The The
Comfort
Interviewer Interviewee
Zone

119.
The
The The
Interviewer Comfort
Interviewee
Zone

120.
Out of your
comfort zone
and into theirs.

121.
Analysis

122.
Notes
Videos
Photos

123.
Observation
Observation
Observation Observation
Observation
Observation

124.
Observation
What is an observation?

125.
Never
remembers
password
A reported behavior

126.
“I run major
purchases past
my partner”
A direct quote

127.
Had to dig
through stuffed
backpack to find
phone.
An observed behavior

128.
Observation
Observation
Observation Observation Observation
Observation
Observation Observation
Observation Observation
Observation
Observation Observation
Observation

129.
collaborates on
purchases
Observation
Observation
Observation Observation Observation
Observation
Observation Observation
Observation Observation
Observation
Observation Observation
Observation

130.
collaborates on uses several
purchases devices
Observation
Observation
Observation Observation Observation
Observation
Observation Observation
Observation Observation
Observation
Observation Observation
Observation

131.
collaborates on uses several needs
purchases devices validation
Observation
Observation
Observation Observation Observation
Observation
Observation Observation
Observation Observation
Observation
Observation Observation
Observation

132.
Actionable
Inputs

133.
make product information
collaborates sharable
on
purchases save state in
purchase process

134.
Research Topics

135.
Organizational
Research

136.
Flickr photo by Iansand

137.
Flickr photo by Iansand

138.
Hello?
Flickr photo by Iansand

139.
Organizational Research

140.
Organizational Research
1.Requirements

141.
Organizational Research
1.Requirements
2.Politics

142.
Organizational Research
1.Requirements
2.Politics
3.Workflow

143.
Organizational Research
1.Requirements
2.Politics
3.Workflow
4.Capabilities

144.
Organizational Research
1.Requirements
2.Politics
3.Workflow
4.Capabilities
5.Goodwill

145.
?
? ? ?
? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ?

146.
?
? ? ?
? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ?

147.
?
? ? ?
? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ?

148.
?
? ? ?
? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ?

149.
?
? ? ?
? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ? ?

150.
User Research

151.
Ethnography

152.
“...true ethnography reveals not
just what people say they do,
“IT”
but what they actually do.”
-PARC

153.
The Four Ds of Design Ethnography

154.
The Four Ds of Design Ethnography
1.Deep Dive

155.
The Four Ds of Design Ethnography
1.Deep Dive
2.Daily Life

156.
The Four Ds of Design Ethnography
1.Deep Dive
2.Daily Life
3.Data Analysis

157.
The Four Ds of Design Ethnography
1.Deep Dive
2.Daily Life
3.Data Analysis
4.Drama

158.
The Four Ds of Design Ethnography
1.Deep Dive
2.Daily Life
3.Data Analysis
4.Drama

159.
The Four Ds of Design Ethnography
1.Deep Dive
2.Daily Life
3.Data Analysis
4.Drama

160.
The Four Ds of Design Ethnography
1.Deep Dive
2.Daily Life
3.Data Analysis
4.Drama

161.
Recruiting

162.
ethn.io

163.
Incentives

164.
Personas

165.
Background Goals
Attributes Needs
“I have
complex
attitudes.”

166.
Flickr photo by David Gómez-Rosado

167.
“Danielle”
Flickr photo by David Gómez-Rosado

168.
So what?
Flickr photo by David Gómez-Rosado

169.
So what?

170.
So what?

171.
So what?
Flickr photo by David Gómez-Rosado

172.
So what?
Flickr photo by David Gómez-Rosado

173.
Focus Groups

174.
Focus Groups are Worthless

175.
“Even when the subjects are well
selected, focus groups are supposed to
be merely the source of ideas that
need to be researched.”
Robert K. Merton, American Sociologist

176.
“Even when the subjects are well
selected, focus groups are supposed to
be merely the source of ideas that
need to be researched.
Robert K. Merton, American Sociologist

177.
“Even when the subjects are well
selected, focus groups are supposed to
be merely the source of ideas that
need to be researched.
Robert K. Merton, Creator of Focus Groups

178.
Competitive
Research

179.
Competitive Research =
How else might your target
“IT”
customer solve the same
problem?

180.
“IT”

181.
Your target customers have to love you
more than they hate change.

182.
Quantitative
Methods

183.
Why?

184.
Optimized
current
design

185.
Potential
Optimized
current
design

186.
How What
Much? & Why?

187.
Quantitative + Qualitative

188.
You need both.

189.
Who Should do Research?

190.
Everyone.

191.
9
Brief books for people who make websites No.
Erika Hall
JUST ENOUGH
RESEARCH

192.
What is “Just Enough”?

193.
Different for every project.

194.
Different for every organization.

195.
Just Enough Research...

196.
to identify real problems.

197.
to understand your organizational capacity.

198.
to empathize with your users.

199.
to get a clear picture of your competitive position.

200.
Cultivate a desire to be proven wrong.

201.
The fastest.

202.
The lowest cost.

203.
Context

204.
Context + Empathy = Innovation

205.
Thanks!

206.
Stay in touch with Erika Hall
@mulegirl
erika@muledesign.com
www.muledesign.com