MethodsA 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?
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?
Methods include
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?
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?
Methods include
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?
Methods include
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?