Walking the Line: The Line of Product Development - Paul Dawson, Flux

Post on 27-Jan-2015

108 views 0 download

Tags:

description

 

Transcript of Walking the Line: The Line of Product Development - Paul Dawson, Flux

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Walking the line: The Role of Product

Development

Paul Dawson Partner, Experience & Innovation, Fluxx

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

The boring cred’s bit

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

A product & service innovation company

Se#ng  Strategy  &  Vision  

Developing  &  valida5ng  products  

Innova5on  prac5ces  &  long  term  change  

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Ideal outcomes from this session?

Digital UX

Product design

Product development.

How to get better briefs that allow you to explore interesting opportunities and less dispute with the people who are ‘leading’ it

How to get closer to the product you had envisioned, and create greater harmony with the team tasked with making it great  

“wtf ?”

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

There are two types of organisation in the world

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Develop, design and sell products

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Behave like they are a product company

Don't behave like a product company

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

‘Product’  is  what  is  on  the  shop  floor   ‘Product’  is  what  we  do  

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

New Product Development (NPD)

q Strategy q  Ideas and insight q R&D Concepts q Developed & Validated Concepts

(Desirability, Viability, Feasibility) q Partnerships and organisation q Design & Build q Operate

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

The ‘Non Product’ Approach

q Strategy q  Ideas and insight q R&D Concepts q Developed & Validated Concepts

(Desirability, Viability, Feasibility) q Partnerships and organisation q Design & Build q Operate

Research  

Business  Case  

Investment  decision  

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

q Strategy q  Ideas and insight q R&D Concepts q Developed & Validated Concepts

(Desirability, Viability, Feasibility) q Partnerships and organisation q Design & Build q Operate

Opinions,  guesswork  

 and  specula5on  

The ‘Non Product’ Approach

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Fortunately, most digital projects I’ve worked on start here:

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

But then they go one of two ways: Exci5ng,  interes5ng,  innova5ve.  

Empowered,  crea5ve,  inspired  

Detailed,  monotonous,  not  thinking  for  myself  

Demo5vated,  dis-­‐spirited,  ‘done  to’  

What  if…  

Wireframes  

 An  explora5on  of  why    What  new  opportuni5es  there  might  be  within  it  New  ideas,  ‘blue  sky’  thinking,…    

 

Well,  they  seem  to  have  made  up  their  minds,  we’ll  just  get  on  and  be  the  wireframe  monkeys  shall  we?  

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

What if companies who know they are product companies did not behave like product

companies?

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

An imaginary new product “A new range of luggage specifically for the family”

The budget is set

The board is all behind it

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Stage 1: Research

When product companies don’t behave like product companies

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Stage 2: Envisioning

When product companies don’t behave like product companies

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

We could pre-load them with things people need

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

We could do niche products for specialist audiences

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Hey, what if the suitcase became a mode of transport?!

Hey, what if the suitcase actually became the holiday?

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

But then…

“Product  Owner”  

But suddenly…

The  more  radical  thinking  simply  gets  dropped  as  it  can’t  be  validated    

Ideas  may  be  good,  they  might  not.  Nobody  is  in  a  posi5on  to  judge  before  5me  starts  running  out.      

“We’ve  got  a  whole  stack  of  basics  to  do  first”  

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Agile approaches in non-product thinking companies…

Things  we  know  we  can  do    

Things  we  know  our  customers  value  

The  unproven  ideas  domain  

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Stage 3: New ideas get pushed to the back and we focus in on the basics, having no time, resource or remit to progress our

half-formed ideas, no matter how brilliant they were…

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

but…

We have bright people, all eager to unleash their creative juices and we lost them quite

early on…

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

The Line

Exci5ng,  interes5ng,  innova5ve.  

Empowered,  crea5ve,  inspiring  

Detailed,  monotonous,  not  thinking  for  myself  

Demo5vated,  dis-­‐spirited,  ‘done  to’  

Anything  is  possible  

I  have  a  very  5ght,  prescrip5ve  brief  

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

We might have had the ‘right ideas’

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

but we haven’t been able to ‘make those ideas right’

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Now  design  something  magnificent  

What we needed was an inspiring brief with real possibilities

“Design  a  suitcase  that  children  and  parents  will  love.  

We  know  that  hassled  parents  and  kids  will  love  a  ride-­‐on  case.    We  can  save  5red  parent  arms  and  5red  toddler  legs  and  

make  travel  fun.”  

Research  &  Insight:  

A  clear  product  proposi8on:  

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

And that’s what product development is

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Product Development is pure UCD

But it doesn’t design interfaces, and it’s not concerned with usability or ergonomics

desirable   feasible  

viable  

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Product Development’s Goals

1.  To flesh out and validate product and service propositions

Desirable: Customers will find value in it Feasible: We can make it work Viable: It can be an economic success

2.  Prove that this is the right thing to do, kill it early, or learn enough to turn it into the right thing to do

3.  To arm a design and build team with all they need to get the product designed and built in the right way

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

But what many product development teams miss is… That once they’ve ‘developed’ the idea into a

product, the customer experience still has to be designed

(because generally, they’re a bit crap at doing that bit!)

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

I’ve been on both sides

Digital UX Product development.

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

“The  CEO  had  a  designer  mock  something  up”  

“We’ve  had  a  product  design  consultancy  working  on  it”  

“We’ve  developed  a  new  brand,  and  the  branding  agency  have  

done  some  mock-­‐ups”  

Words that strike terror…

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

“Here’s how it could look”

Movie  UI  Design  by  Jayse  Hansen  

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Getting the wrong side of the line only leads to conflict…

“Arrogant  tossers,  they  just  don’t  get  it!”  

“Ha,  they’re  so  wrong.  This  is  a  much  beCer  idea.”  

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Today’s Line

Exci5ng,  interes5ng,  innova5ve.  

Empowered,  crea5ve,  inspiring  

Detailed,  monotonous,  not  thinking  for  myself  

Demo5vated,  dis-­‐spirited,  ‘done  to’  

Anything  is  possible  

I  have  a  very  5ght,  prescrip5ve  brief  

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Setting out to raise the bar

Exci5ng,  interes5ng,  innova5ve.  

Empowered,  crea5ve,  inspiring  

Detailed,  monotonous,  not  thinking  for  myself  

Demo5vated,  dis-­‐spirited,  ‘done  to’  

Anything  is  possible  

I  have  a  very  5ght,  prescrip5ve  brief  

“Mmmm. Nice concept, full of possibility. Will be fun to see how we make it work.”

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

So two key questions:

How do you do this cost-effectively? We already think we don’t have enough time for design – how do you make it worth investing in?

How  do  we  ensure  this  process  does  not  en5rely  alienate  design  and  development  teams?  

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Three answers

Focus on generating facts, not opinions; and be lean about it

Enable and equip your design & build team, don’t tell them what to do

Don’t be precious – about your ideas, or being right

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Focus  on  genera5ng  facts,  not  opinions;  and  be  lean  about  it  

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Flux[x] Labs

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

insight   idea   feasibility  

design  &  development   manufacture   distribu5on  

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Hard  to  do,  and  a  lot  of  risk  

manufacture  

design  &  development  

feasibility  

             

Idea  

distribution

insight  

Easy  to  do,  and  no  risk  

Star5ng  to  invest  5me  &  money  

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Hard  to  do,  and  a  lot  of  risk  

manufacture  

design  &  development  

feasibility  

             

Idea  

insight  

Easy  to  do,  and  no  risk  

Star5ng  to  invest  5me  &  money  

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

MVP = Minimum Viable Product

Q: What is the absolute minimum we can do to see if people actually value

our product?

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

distribu5on  

Dim  and  distant  past  

insight  

concept  

feasibility  

design  &  development  

manufacture  

Painful,  but  we  got  there…  

Dragon’s  Den  

Give  it  to  the  press  

Bankrupt  factory  

Dodgy  catches  

People  bought  it  

Licensee  liquidated  

Rob  Law’s  facts  were  generated  by  pu#ng  

his  product    in  the  hands  of  the  press,  

and  sure  enough  they  loved  it.  

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

He believed strongly because he had generated real facts

So what do the opinions of the dragons matter?!

The toughness of his journey was testament to the fact that his MVP could not be that minimal

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Fortunately…

This now happens in days, or maybe weeks, but certainly not months.

The Lab’s job within a product development cycle is to generate evidence-based learning, to

help get the ideas right, and make good decisions based on facts

labs

labs

Basic Insight

We found it really hard to find a whiteboard the

size we want and think that other people will

have the same problem.

labs

This leads to a value hypothesis that we can begin to test

“We think that people will value a premium service that makes and installs

whiteboards to a precise set of dimensions.”

labs

1.  Make a site that calculates the cost and puts customers in touch with us.���

2.  Get a phone!���

If people value this service as

much as we do.���Volume of people searching for it on Google���Requests for pricing���People who buy���

labs

The first MVP (c.2 days)

labs

The 2nd MVP

labs

The Lab’s Learnings

This is a viable, small, local business.

It would be a good idea to make the whiteboards erasable!

It is possible in a week to prove out a digital & physical business in a lean way

labs

“The High Street Bank”

A real life case study

labs

Amongst others, we created one

experiment designed to test

something that had been debated

for ages at the bank

labs

It was a thorny subject.

It involved using customers’

personal data to do something we

thought they would like and value.

labs

But would they accept it, or would

they go nuts and call the Daily Mail?

We put it l ive in a few weeks in an MVP to

several thousand real customers who didn’t know

it was just an experiment.

labs

But before we did…

labs

It was usability tested

It  panned!  

Only  24%  of  people  said  they  would  do  it  

labs

How many ACTUALLY did it in

real life?

96%  of  people  just  jumped  right  on  in!  

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

“What people say they will do and what they actually do is often

very different and can be greatly affected by their level of

awareness of the task at hand”

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Market Research (quant and qual)

Usability Testing Prototype Testing

A/B Testing Multi-variate testing

True ethnography

MVP/Lean

Market Intelligence and behavioural data

Unaware Aware

Product/Service Maturity Level

Idea/Concept

Partial/Fully Developed

Is the User aware of the test?

The fluxx ‘Tested User’ Framework

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

A wide variety of opinions, ideas and

stories

Usability Optimising where there are multiple

options

Proving an idea one way or the

other

History

Unaware Aware

Product/Service Maturity Level

Idea/Concept

Partial/Fully Developed

Is the User aware of the test?

The fluxx ‘Tested User’ Framework

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

The outcome of which is…

Armed with facts, a product development team can simply ‘tell’ they don’t ‘sell’

It’s hard to argue with, & people don’t want to

It’s equally obvious how to apply that data to influence the design later on

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

A key point here though is…

An MVP does not a design make

Which leads us to:

Enable and equip your design & build team; don’t tell them what to do

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Briefing the team means focusing on the outcome

“Nice concept, full of possibility. Will be fun to make it work.”

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Briefing the team

Present the trail of evidence •  A user-centred journey •  Help the team understand the

insight on which the product was founded

•  Don’t hide any facts •  Show your wrong turns

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

What it should be like, not what it should look like

Briefing the team

Describe, don’t prescribe

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Create useful assets. Things that wi l l enable , not conf ine your des ign team

Draft Personas If you don’t know these, then the product you’ve developed isn’t worth the Omnigraffle it’s visualised on!

Product and Experience Principles Distil your experience of the product development learnings into principles that will help guide the design and build team

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

What we don’t say: “Yeah, we already prototyped it”

Product development should never be testing a UI, or a brand VI We ask questions like: •  Is the content valuable to our audience? •  Is the function that it performs valuable? •  How easy or low cost does it have to be to become, in

order to become valuable?

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Which has led us to a unique design principle:

Make it as bad as you can get away with

(So long as you don’t get in the way of the core testing objective)

“I’ve never been asked to make my work

‘more sh*t before!”

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

How do you brief in how a product ‘feels’?

I’ll give you a briefing I’ve used many a time

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Let me tell you why I love Virgin Atlantic

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

After a briefing like that, it should be easy to sum it up as something

as simple as: Brilliant basics, magic touches

… and a number of other principles to which a user experience or product would have to

conform in order to be the one that we believe customers will love

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Finally

Our brief must be full of possibility

“It’s clear to us that people want a degree of serendipity; for the finding of information to have

a ‘fuzzy edge’ that allows them to stumble on something that they love, but weren’t

expecting”

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Creating a product design brief with possibility

Always guide, never prescribe Set principles, not guidelines Design experiments, not UI Say how it feels, not what it does In short: Let the design team design it…

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Finally: Avoiding the ivory tower

Don’t be precious – about your ideas, or being right

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Talk about the dead ends Experiments never fail or succeed, they merely have outcomes

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Take input wherever you can

Regularly take time to gather intelligence, ideas and product

thoughts from everywhere you can, and credit your sources

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Be inclusive

Get the design and development team to develop the MVP

A RapidStart approach looks to get an

experiment out in under two days

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Product Development can be a state of mind, not a department

For complex products where there is a high degree of uncertainty, it’s

an upfront investment

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

For new features in existing products, it can become a ‘spike’

in the existing process

Product Development can be a state of mind, not a department

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

Playing to each other’s strengths

flux[x] @fluxxstudios @poleydee

paul@fluxx.uk.com  

Phew… J