user experience

Requirements Gathering or Requirements Generating?

This question hasn’t bothered me more in my career than in recent times after I went through an online UX course. So in UX parlance, what would be considered as a reasonable vocabulary — is it gathering of the requirements or is it generating of the requirements? Designers ought to comprehend user needs and generate feasible ideas for the real world, so clearly, it’s the connotation of the word ‘gathering’ which is at conflict here more than the approach itself.

According to the information given on his website, Joe Natoli is a speaker on topics of User Experience (UX) and Design for 29 years, from national and global conferences, and has launched eight successful online courses. Two of which I happened to reflect upon on Udemy a few weeks ago and both were insightful at the very least. However, it was his differentiation and comparison of requirements gathering versus requirements generating in both the courses that made me unusually inquisitive about the synonymous terms. It’s also purely language semantics at play here as I explain in detail below. But first, this is Joe’s take on the point in question from the UX Strategy Fundamentals course:

I want you to know about requirements up front (which) comes from a very smart lady by the name of Kim Goodwin who said that requirements cannot be gathered. OK this is important because I hear that phrase a lot (and) in the last 26 years I’ve heard it more times than I can count. We’re going to gather requirements which essentially means we’re going to get a bunch of people in a room and they’re going to tell us what they need and we’re going to write them down. We’re gathering from them. OK. It does not work that way. And if it does it’s not going to be successful. As she says there’s no requirements tree back. We’re not going to go pick requirements off the tree or any one of these and this one looks particularly good. I think we’ll do that. It doesn’t work that way. You have to iterate and generate requirements you have to kick them around and decide what’s right what matters what doesn’t matter what can work what isn’t going to work. It’s a process. It’s not an answer. You need to find out what users need to be able to do with your website in terms of functionality in terms of the content that they see and interact with in terms of data if they fill out a form and give you information or they look at reporting where they get data and information.

UX Strategy Fundamentals → Section 4: Determining and Controlling Project Scope – Lecture 17. UX Focused Requirements: An Introduction.
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Defining Memorable Customer Experiences

I can think of no other way to empathise with customer behaviour and interpret their concerns & needs other than stepping into their shoes. This primarily happens through my interactions at retail stores, coffee shops, or malls, and enables me to observe the standard of experience amongst various brands across the city.

I believe, the sales drive at a store level constitutes to be the most difficult segment for a brand when you consider its complicated customer experience. Sales executives have to constantly walk the tightrope in balancing between actually selling the product on one hand (purchase) and convincing the customer to buy the product on the other (pre-purchase / post-purchase). You may have noticed, in most cases, sales reps begin by courteously asking if you need any help today and go about their jobs promising you assistance when you want it, it’s reassuring for individuals who may not like to be hassled during the pre-purchase stage. But I also find going into some stores like jumping into a lake full of alligators without any respite from the constant nudging and tailgating although customer experiences need not be so painful.

First Experience

Let me narrate a store incident that went so well it defines how some customers might like to be serviced. I was at a MEC outlet recently and I was looking for a particular camera brand to strap to my body and shoot videos on a vacation. The idea behind this was to keep my hands free so I can enjoy the time with my family while it kept getting the shots. I found a lone sales executive who initially hadn’t heard about the camera brand but was enlightened after searching for the product through the internal portal, and soon after, I realized it was going way beyond my budget for a 4-day vacation. Sensing my disappointment; maybe the sales rep sized me up, she began narrating her personal experience to me. So it turns out, she was as an adventurer and an avid photographer who occasionally shoots videos using her Canon DSLR while bungee jumping! She not only impressed me with her knowledge for photography & adventure but convinced me that if I owned a DSLR it would serve the purpose of shooting high-quality videos at no cost. On that day, I may not have purchased that camera at MEC but the executive’s friendly advice and interaction left an impression on my mind enough to pay the store another visit in the near future.

I am respectful of how my relationship with the brand wasn’t just outlined on a professional level as a “customer” only. Letting customers like me into their personal space and treating them as guests by not persuading them to make a purchase, at the same time addressing their latent needs and concerns while being courteous makes the brand come across as more humane and leaves a lasting impression. It makes the customer’s visit memorable and they’re more likely to visit the store again with the intention to make a purchase. Personally, it’s the delight and the knowledge gained from the interaction that matters.

Second Experience

This was at a Nike store in an upscale Toronto mall. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, just visiting my favourite brand’s store. As usual, I was approached by a sales rep with whom I struck a conversation out of the blue — it started when I asked her curiously about the pins she was wearing and I was told that Nike gifts them exclusively to high-performers. So amidst all the talk about fitness and training, etc., I discover the sales rep I’d befriended a while ago was a CrossFit trainer and an athlete! During all my visits to Nike stores, what’re the odds of meeting an actual sports enthusiast, a real athlete? She also told me about her fitness regimen and how she manages time between coaching and store hours and so on. In fact, her dad was a marathon/triathlon athlete, and even her grandpa was into fitness training at some point. It’s worth noting here, that we’re simply having this conversation and she showed no signs of frustration or desperation to sell anything or push me into buying a product, she kept responding on her fitness and so on! I was ready to leave the Nike store after that enriching interaction but she got me interested in the apparel and I eventually ended up making a purchase.

One of the tenets of a ‘memorable experience’ is to have a fortuitous interaction that creates a personal appeal for the brand being represented. The interaction could revolve around things that define a product’s experience, for instance, not putting the focus solely on the purchase value itself. Perhaps, I was lucky to discover a fitness trainer within a Nike store but it was a fantastic and delightful buying experience, to say the least.

In a nutshell, empathy works both ways because our inborn tendency is to be drawn into personal experiences which are fueled by an insatiable thirst for curiosity and interest. Hence, skilful use of personal experiences during a sales cycle both offline and online (testimonials, persona stories) could create a vibrant and memorable customer experience by lending a human touch to something totally routine and lifeless. At the same time, one must be aware, that an individual who’s also a potential customer might judge these interactions from a different perspective. It’s important to keep up with that friendly approach in letting the customer decide on the valid time for making the purchase and to totally avoid coming across as negative and judgemental. Lastly, it’s not every time that customers are curiously looking to know your background during a sales journey, but it wouldn’t be a wasted effort to keep your cerebral antennae ready, just in case.

The Design Experience Dilemma

I read an excerpt from Don Norman’s revised classic book on UX ‘The Design of Everyday Things’ that pointed at the cognitive functions of the human brain in the context of good vs bad design experience.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible, serving us without drawing attention to itself. Bad design, on the other hand, screams out its inadequacies, making itself very noticeable.   [/perfectpullquote]

When you think about software and “bad” user-interfaces for instance, consistent periods of exposure to a clunky task flow in a working environment per se forces the human brain to adjust to the flawed experience, and the pressure to meet those goals increases the cognitive efforts towards learning those relevant skills quickly despite the experience being unwieldy in gaining familiarity with the UI for accomplishing those recurring tasks. It might be termed as “efficient” but leaves the user in a quagmire. Such onerous yet persisting functionality naturally forms a so-called ‘blind spot’ preventing its users from judging the experience as ‘good’, ‘bad’ or ‘poor’ since they have now settled into a comfort zone in this burdensome journey. In my experience, I have seen its effect leaving a huge mark on their individual productivity, moreover in some cases, it even compels the users to thwart attempts to bring any positive change to the system. This is one reason why design thinking and user-centred frameworks fundamentally emphasize on ‘observing’ the users in their natural surroundings rather than ‘interviewing’ them to test their inherent judgement in relation to the tasks which they undertake. It could be, that in this context, Dr Norman is mentioning the human experience from the point of view of ordinary systems which are unrelated to the hurdles of technology, because the “inadequacies” which stem from a bad UI may not be necessarily perceived by the end-users for the reasons that I mentioned above, and also because they are committed to achieving those goals regardless of the quality of the UI or experience.

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Understanding The Scope of Lean UCD Methodology

from Using the User-Centered Design (UCD) and Human-Centered Design (HCD) Methodologies, this is an attempt to capture the meaning and to introduce the ‘Lean UCD’ framework.

As a consultant and architect, I’m privileged to be using both the User-Centered Design UCD) or Human-Centered Design (HCD) frameworks in complex projects, and it’s natural to have pondered over the difference between the two. These frameworks have helped me set aside deep-rooted biases and bring empathy into product designs which the end-users were delighted to use. I did write about the difference between Usability vs UX some time ago, though I always wanted to present a third approach to this methodology called Lead UCD that I predominantly use in the context of reactive product design strategy, in that, I’ve to strategize upon a user-friendly product within limited time and budget and with no prior knowledge of its background is critical. The challenge would be judging user behavior patterns purely based on cynical user data.

While bringing a user-centric focus on the problems individuals & teams often consider several frameworks to reach a consensus on the design in collaboration with cross-functional leads particularly in the guidance of a UCD expert. So what would be a better framework to follow – UCD, HCD or a Lean UCD? Read on.

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Apple Is Changing User Behaviour, Not Just User Experience

The iPhone 7/Plus launched without the standard 3.5mm audio jack creating a storm on the Internet. The problem isn’t about the missing elements from a traditional user interaction perspective with a device such as the iPhone as it is about changing a user’s perception. It’s indeed very courageous of Apple to remove the audio jack completely replacing it with the lightning connector which means you cannot listen to music while charging (it’ll require a new $40 accessory). Simply put, we can’t charge AND listen to music or take calls simultaneously and we have to keep the iPhones charged. Suggesting that Apple wants the AirPods as your default hearing device regardless. Apple’s users have often had to reluctantly change the way they interact with devices based purely on how Apple defined its product line so ‘courageously’ and regardless of how frustrating it was. The astonished fans complained but eventually caved in. Now, this isn’t the first time that Apple has done something ‘courageous’ with its product line by removing a standard feature or software – the iPads didn’t support Adobe Flash (they still don’t even today), and yet if the sales numbers are correct the audience seems to have loved the iPad! From a product design standpoint with its power to innovate Apple really at the helm of changing user behaviour of this generation unquestionably. Perhaps Apple did contemplate the backlash of its decision to remove the 3.5mm audio jack from the iPhones and the ‘courageous’ comment from Phil Schiller is proof of defending itself from its perched place. So if there’s one product company which is going to affect our lives within the realm of technology and design innovation it’d be Apple.

Here’s Steve Jobs explaining ‘courage’ perfectly with Apple’s products.