Laura Klein, Principal of Users Know, reflects on lessons learned from working in Silicon Valley tech startups. They discuss why organizations resist UX research, maximizing the value of UX, Eric Ries' influence, the importance of happy teams, and what user researchers need to understand about product managers.
Validating assumptions is crucial for product development and teams should prioritize and evaluate them through techniques like hypothesis tracking and post-mortems.
User research plays a significant role in making informed product decisions and should align with the organization's strategy and goals.
Senior business stakeholders should provide clear strategic goals and metrics to empower product teams and enable alignment between business objectives and actionable plans.
Deep dives
The Importance of Validating Assumptions
One of the main insights from the podcast is the significance of validating assumptions. Assumptions play a crucial role in product development, and teams need to identify and prioritize them. By writing down predictions and understanding why they believe certain things, teams can better evaluate and validate or invalidate their assumptions. The use of techniques like hypothesis tracking and post-mortems can help teams learn from their assumptions and improve their decision-making processes. It is essential to recognize that not all assumptions need to be validated or invalidated, but identifying the assumptions that can have a severe impact on the product's success is crucial.
The Role of User Research in Product Decision-making
The podcast emphasizes the role of user research in making informed product decisions. It highlights the importance of asking the right questions and understanding the value that research can bring to the business and the users. User research helps in gaining insights and mitigating risks. It is essential for product teams to have a clear understanding of what they want to know and how it would influence their behavior. Additionally, user research should align with the overall strategy and goals of the organization.
Translating Strategy into Actionable Goals
The podcast discusses the need for senior business stakeholders to provide clear and detailed strategic goals to product teams. A successful strategy involves setting meaningful metrics and empowering teams to achieve them. Detailed goals enable product teams to have a clear direction and autonomy in their decision-making process. Business stakeholders should focus on defining the desired outcomes rather than prescribing specific solutions like adding AI. The collaboration between business stakeholders and product teams is crucial in aligning strategic goals with actionable plans.
The Importance of Understanding User Research and Metrics
Understanding the importance of user research and metrics is crucial for product teams. The podcast episode emphasizes the need for product managers to talk to users, stakeholders, and team members to gain a comprehensive understanding of the company's goals and past research. By looking at past user research, product managers can avoid repeating mistakes and make informed decisions about feature prioritization. Additionally, the episode highlights the value of metrics, encouraging product managers to focus on outcomes over outputs. By considering the impact on users and aligning business objectives with user needs, product managers can make better decisions when designing and developing products.
Creating a Collaborative and User-Centric Culture
The podcast episode discusses the cultural and structural elements necessary to enable value-driven product development. It emphasizes the importance of involving engineers and other team members in the user design and research processes. By exposing engineers to real user problems and engaging them in testing, experimenting, and metrics analysis, product teams can improve the overall user experience. Furthermore, the episode suggests that stakeholders, including executives, should be exposed to users' experiences and involved in the decision-making process. Creating a culture that values user-centric approaches and prioritizes outcomes over outputs can lead to more successful and impactful product development.
Laura Klein reflects on the lessons learned from over 20 years of working in and consulting to Silicon Valley tech startups, including…
⭐️ Why do organisations resist UX research?
⭐️ What needs to be in place to maximise the value of UX?
⭐️ How did Eric Ries (author of The Lean Startup) shape her thinking?
⭐️ Do teams have to be happy to be effective in making great products?
⭐️ What do user researchers need to understand about product managers?
Who is Laura Klein?
Laura is the Principal of Users Know and one of the most well known personalities in the worlds of UX and product. She has worked as a UX designer, product leader and engineer. Laura is the author of “UX for Lean Startups” and “Build Better Products” and the co-host of the podcast “What Is Wrong With UX”. Both of her books have had a profound impact on the way that product people go about creating value for users and their organisations.
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Find Laura here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraklein2/
Website: https://www.usersknow.com/
Blog: https://www.usersknow.com/blog
Medium: https://medium.com/@lauraklein
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lauraklein
Listen to Laura’s podcast - What Is Wrong With UX:
https://www.usersknow.com/podcast
Treat yourself to a copy of Laura’s books…
Build Better Products: A Modern Approach to Building Successful User-Centred Products
https://bit.ly/3ssmLOP
UX for Lean Startups: Faster, Smarter User Experience Research and Design
https://amzn.to/3dQCnHC
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-space-in-between/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespaceinbetw__n/
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Host: Brendan Jarvis
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanjarvis/
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