This document provides guidance on user experience (UX) practices for early-stage product development when there is high uncertainty. It recommends taking an iterative approach focused on validating assumptions quickly through minimum viable products and prototypes. UX methods like proto-personas, storytelling, and usability testing with proxies can help prioritize features and guide design when actual users are unknown. The document emphasizes collaborating cross-functionally, moving fast but not overcommitting, and continually tracking assumptions and gathering feedback to refine the product as understanding increases.
6. WHEN DOES THIS HAPPEN
• Struggling to find Product-Market Fit
• Lots of Unknowns
– New Product or Service
– Business Model Unknown
– Customers/Users Unknown
• New Technology
– First Mover Advantage
– Technological Leadership
page 6
7. UNKNOWNS
• Understanding Problem
• Prioritization
• Big Changes
• Validity
• Intuitive Approach to Ideation
and Design
page 7
Early-Stage Product Dev
• Developing Process
• Quality and Refinement
• Incremental Change
• Reliability
• Analytical Approach to
Ideation and Design
Mature-Product Dev
10. END GAME
Audience: Actual Customers
Purpose: Determine market
viability
Form: Most essential elements
of the complete solution - Not
just ‘Minimum Features’
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MVP
Audience: Investors or
Interested Parties
Purpose: Determine market
market or technology validity
Form: Prototype
• “Would someone buy this?”
• “Does my idea work?
PROOF OF CONCEPT
11. “There are known knowns; there are things
we know we know. We also know there are
known unknowns; that is to say we know
there are some things we do not know. But
there are also unknown unknowns – the
ones we don’t know we don’t know.”
- Donald Rumsfeld
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18. WHY PERSONAS
• It’s a means to an end
– Chaos to Simplification
– Framework for Decision Making
– Executive Alignment
– Team Buy-In
• Personas User Needs Features Prioritization
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19. PROTO-PERSONAS
• Start with Assumption-Based Personas
• Sketchy and Simple
• Validate with research and customer feedback over time
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AKA Discussion Tool & Assumption Codification Device
22. COLLABORATE
Audience: product managers,
developers, designers
Captures: core tasks, needs,
wants, story arc
Pro: Informs design decisions
and feature prioritization
Con: Lacks competitive insight
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UX
Audience: sales, business
development, C-suite
Captures: demographics,
purchasing behavior, trends
Pro: Evaluates market
opportunities and what products
to develop
Con: Can’t determine
functionality
Marketing/Buyer
23. USER RESEARCH
• Sales demos
• Find user proxies
• Find user champions
• Guerilla usability testing
• Build feedback mechanisms and analytics into the product
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Market Undefined – Users Undefined
27. KEEP IN MIND
• Business Goals vary by Business Model
• Business Model(s) may not be decided anytime soon
• Business Goal = Impress Investors?
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47. Resources:
UX for Lean Startups by Eric Ries
Design of Business by Roger Martin
Designing for Emerging Technologies by Jonathan Follett
Value Proposition Design by Strategyzer
Business Model Generation by Strategyzer
Experiment Board by Javelin
Hinweis der Redaktion
Can’t define from start, need to figure out along the way or after a release. Things are happening and have happened. Your ability to percieve both will be challenged.
UX detective, parsing information and structuring the conversation.
NOT the most complete robust, user experience.
Level of polish management is willing to invest is correlated with how competitive the market is.
There won’t be a ton of features. You won’t have a lot of bells or whistles. You will not get to do everything you want to do.
In the beginning -
This is what makes people the most nervous
You will churn through a lot of ideas
Discussion Tool and Assumption Codification Device
Proto-Personas
“How to win or delight this person”
Contextual Elements
Most useful when you’re comparing variables that will be most insightful to you and your business
Usefulness can be tricky
Usability
Structure experiements
You may get looped into these strategic discussions, or you might only find out about them after the fact. But it’s to your benefit to stay in the loop.
UX as planner, UX as detective, UX as facillitator. Offer up your services to facilliate these kind of discussions in order to get a seat at the table. Show your value by being able to connect decisions to consequences and the product.
These should be things you can plan for - but not always. Especially if it’s a new technology
Close collaboration is essential. Recongize that for all of your design related Unknowns, your developer has his own. Things are going to change
Suss out edge cases
Determine feasibility
Negotiate trade offs
Understand new technology
First Movers Advantage or Technological Leadership
If you don’t really know your audience, customers yet, don’t over invest in visual design and branding. Yes, you want to establish credibility. But you don’t really know who you’re speaking to yet.
Priorization is everything – be a part of that MVP discussion. Use t
In the case of new technology or new industry - become a subject matter expert. Find secondary sources