A guide to help practice and promote human-centered design and agile delivery to improve outcomes.

Awareness

If you don't know what you don't know, start here.

Questions you may have at this point:

  • What problem are we trying to solve?
  • What assumptions do we have?
  • What are the organizational goals?
  • What do we have to work with?
  • What questions do we have?
  • Where do we start user research?
  • What are people saying?
  • Who are the audiences?
  • How will we know if we're successful?
See all awareness methods

Observation

Once you know what you don't know, start interacting with customers and users.

Questions you may have at this point:

  • What are people doing today?
  • What data do we need to collect?
  • Who do we talk to next?
  • How well does the current solution work?
  • What mental models do people have?
  • What new questions do we have?
See all observation methods

Interpretation

When you have answers to your questions, make sense of what you've learned.

Questions you may have at this point:

  • How do we make sense of what we've seen and collected?
  • How might we interpret our findings?
  • How do we communicate findings that actionable?
  • What assertions or provocations can we make?
  • What are the pain points and opportunities?
See all interpretation methods

Exploration

Make some things based on your interpretation.

Questions you may have at this point:

  • How might we consider the whole experience?
  • How might we address the pain points and opportunities?
  • What ideas or hypotheses do we want to test?
  • How might we remain focused on the audiences and their needs?
See all exploration methods

Validation

See if you're on the right track.

Questions you may have at this point:

  • How do we know we're on the right track?
  • How do decide and move forward?
  • What did we learn from the latest iteration?
  • Did we confirm or refute our assumption?
See all validation methods

Fundamentals

Foundational methods for practicing design research.

Questions you may have at this point:

  • How do we find people to talk to?
  • What regulatory issues relating to privacy and paperwork burden do we have to consider?
  • How long will this take?
  • What does the overall process look like?
See all fundamentals methods