SOFTWARE DESIGN: SESSION 2

MANNING THE LOOKOUT-

CREATING ACTIONABLE
OBSERVATIONS
Alex Cowan

2015 COWAN+
THE VENTURE DESIGN PROCESS
How did the customer CUSTOMER Was the implemented
/user react? DISCOVERY & story relevant to the
EXPERIMENTS proposition?
?

E
M

WH
W

AT
S HO
PRODUCT &

IF
PROMOTION

?
VALUE
Did the PROPOSITIONS &
USER STORIES implementation ASSUMPTIONS
& PROTOTYPES deliver on
the story?

E?
AL
PIVOT?

SC
Do we understand
this person? What ?
AT
makes them tick? WH
Is the problem
PROBLEM relevant? Is the
PERSONAS WHO? SCENARIOS & proposition better
ALTERNATIVES
vs alternatives?

2015 COWAN+
THE VENTURE DESIGN PROCESS- PERSONAS

Do we understand
this person? What ?
AT
makes them tick? WH
PROBLEM
PERSONAS WHO? SCENARIOS &
ALTERNATIVES

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PERSONAS- THINK SEE FEEL DO

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PERSONA: BAD
Women
Age 28-45
Has kids
Socialize with other moms
Online with Facebook
86% said theyd like to be more
organized
70% said theyd use an application
that organizes them

2015 COWAN+
PERSONA: BAD
This is a huge population- Women
not exact
Age 28-45 Bullet points are almost never
Has kids vivid or detailed

Socialize with other moms

Online with Facebook
86% said theyd like to be more
These responses are fake actionable- organized
survey responses like this are
unreliable 70% said theyd use an application
that organizes them
Stock photo- not real
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PERSONA: BETTER

Mary the Mom

Mary is a mom by choice. She had a successful career in
accounting, but welcomed the opportunity to be a stay at home
mom. She loves it. But its not like having kids purged her
creative, social instincts. She wants to connect, she wants to
learn, she wants to interact. Being a mom is a job and she wants
to do it well. That means corresponding with other moms on
child education and keeping track of what works. She posts to
Facebook at least twice a week and responds to other moms
items more often than that.
She has a few blogs and publications she reads regularly

2015 COWAN+
PERSONA: BETTER
the use of a first name helps w/
vividness (a little)
these full sentences look like a good
start towards something vivid and
detailed
this is a real photo of a relevant
person taken with an iPhone in the
real world
Mary the Mom
Mary is a mom by choice. She had a successful career in
accounting, but welcomed the opportunity to be a stay at home
mom. She loves it. But its not like having kids purged her
creative, social instincts. She wants to connect, she wants to
learn, she wants to interact. Being a mom is a job and she wants
to do it well. That means corresponding with other moms on
child education and keeping track of what works. She posts to
Facebook at least twice a week and responds to other moms
items more often than that.
She has a few blogs and publications she reads regularly
2015 COWAN+
A LITTLE GAME FOR BETTER PERSONA DISCOVERY

Day in the Life

We look at a few photos for a given persona (not a full picture, just snippets)
You make some guesses about them
There are no right answers BUT
There is a right process: observe and infer

OBJECTIVE:
Get a feel for whats real; start to create something vivid

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OUR CAST

Sally the
Single Mom

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WAKE UP!

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WAKE UP!

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GEARING UP FOR THE DAY

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AT WORK

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AFTER WORK

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PRE-BED

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BED

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GEAR

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IF I HAD 3 EXTRA HOURS

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ABOUT SALLY THE SINGLE MOM
Whats her favorite kind of music?
Where did she buy her last pair of shoes?
What movie did she last see?
What did she drink with dinner last night?
If she had a dog, what kind?
Whats her favorite magazine?

ALEX COWAN
alexandercowan.com
bit.ly/daynthelife @cowanSF

2015 COWAN+
THE ART OF CUSTOMER DISCOVERY

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THE USE OF PROBLEM SCENARIOS

The Twin Anti-Poles of Design Failure

P !
S NA

Doing precisely what Assuming you know whats

the user asks best and ignoring the user
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EXAMPLE- ENABLE QUIZ & HELEN THE HR MANAGER

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PERSONAS- THINKS?
Thinks The cognitive part. Often: tension between how theyd ideally like things to be and how they are now.
[Persona] thinks [things should be different in a certain way]. This is important because [why?].

Sees

Feels

Does

2015 COWAN+
PERSONAS- THINKS?
Thinks The cognitive part. Often: tension between how theyd ideally like things to be and how they are now.
[Persona] thinks [things should be different in a certain way]. This is important because [why?].
Helen thinks the hiring process should be so much better- more systematic, fewer bad hires.

Sees

Feels

Does

Draft Thinks for one of your personas

2015 COWAN+
PERSONAS- SEES?
Thinks The cognitive part. Often: tension between how theyd ideally like things to be and how they are now.
[Persona] thinks [things should be different in a certain way]. This is important because [why?].

Sees The interactions that shape their Thinking- media, peers, education, training, casual observation.
[In certain situation], [person] sees [key observation of importance]. [Repeat, etc.]
Helen is at the tail end of every bad hire and sees the damage it does to the employee and company, alike.

Feels

Does

Draft Sees for one of your personas

2015 COWAN+
PERSONAS- FEELS?
Thinks The cognitive part. Often: tension between how theyd ideally like things to be and how they are now.
[Persona] thinks [things should be different in a certain way]. This is important because [why?].

Sees The interactions that shape their Thinking- media, peers, education, training, casual observation.
[In certain situation], [person] sees [key observation of importance]. [Repeat, etc.]

Feels The emotional driver. What emotions around the relevant activity? What trigger emotions? Results?
When [some event], persona feels [emotion]. Its [cause] that make them feel this way.
Helen feels like crap whenever they have to let someone go. She hates it. The employee hates it. The manager
hates it. Its incredibly destructive and de-motivating for everyone involved.
Does

Draft Feels for one of your personas

2015 COWAN+
PERSONAS- DOES?
Thinks The cognitive part. Often: tension between how theyd ideally like things to be and how they are now.
[Persona] thinks [things should be different in a certain way]. This is important because [why?].

Sees The interactions that shape their Thinking- media, peers, education, training, casual observation.
[In certain situation], [person] sees [key observation of importance]. [Repeat, etc.]

Feels The emotional driver. What emotions around the relevant activity? What trigger emotions? Results?
When [some event], persona feels [emotion]. Its [cause] that make them feel this way.
Draft Does for one of your personas
Does The actuals. What triggers? How often? For how long? How much money?
[Persona] [does activity] [x] times per [period]. Persona spends [$z] on [area] per [period].
Helen is responsible for recruiting 6-12 new positions per year, screening 25-50 candidates for each position.

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PERSONAS & PROBLEM SCENARIOS

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PERSONAS & PROBLEM SCENARIOS

PROBLEM SCENARIO
X

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PERSONAS & PROBLEM SCENARIOS

PROBLEM SCENARIO
What job(s) are you doing for the X
customer?
What existing need or behavior
are you fulfilling?

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PERSONAS & PROBLEM SCENARIOS

PROBLEM SCENARIO
X
ALTERNATIVE(S)
?

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PERSONAS & PROBLEM SCENARIOS

PROBLEM SCENARIO
X
ALTERNATIVE(S)
If they currently use
spreadsheets, watch them use it
?
and get a copy of it.
If they currently put notes on the family
fridge, ask about it, photograph it.

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PROBLEM SCENARIOS (JOBS TO BE DONE)
Hiring technical talent.
(Too Broad, Abstract)

Screening technical talent.

X (Probably About Right)

The HR manager wants to send notes on candidates to the

functional manager.
(Too Detailed, A Feature vs. a Product/Venture)

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PERSONAS & PROBLEM SCENARIOS

PROBLEM SCENARIO
X
ALTERNATIVE(S)
?

2015 COWAN+
PERSONAS & PROBLEM SCENARIOS

X PROBLEM SCENARIO Brainstorm Problem

Scenario+Alternative Pairs.
Problem Scenario: Helen needs to screen a lot of
engineering candidates for open positions, sending
only qualified candidates to the hiring manager.

? ALTERNATIVE(S) Many of the skill requirements are outside her

background.

Alternative: She calls references to get a general

sense of their performance on the job.

2015 COWAN+
TESTING YOUR PERSONA HYPOTHESIS
Question Form
Tell me about [yourself in the role of the persona]?
Tell me about [your area of interest]?
Tell me your thoughts about [area]?
What do you see in [area]?
How do you feel about [area]?
What do you do in [area]?
Examples Questions (Enable Quiz)
- Tell me about being an HR manager?
- What do you most, least like about the job?
- What are the hardest, easiest parts of the job?
- Ive heard [x]- does that apply to you?
- Do you do screen new candidates? If not, who?
- Can you tell me about the last time? What was the trigger?
- Who else was involved? What was it like?
- How should it ideally be done?
- How is it actually done? Why?
Where do you learn whats new? What others do?
Who do you think is doing it right?
How did you make your last decision?
Tell me about the last time?
What motivates you? What parts of it are most rewarding? Why?
What would it be like in your perfect world?
How many new openings/quarter?
How many interviews/position? Draft discovery questions
2015 COWAN+
TESTING YOUR PROBLEM HYPOTHESIS
Question Form Examples Questions (Enable Quiz)
What are the top [5] hardest things about [area of - What are the top 5 most difficult things about making good tech hires?
interest]? Why?

How do you currently [operate in area of interest- if you - How do you currently screen for technical skill sets?
dont have that yet]?ORHeres what I got on [x]- is that - Who does what?
right? - How does that work?

Whats [difficult, annoying] about [area of interest]? - Whatsdifficult about screening technical candidates?
How do you validate they have the right skill set?
- How are the actual outcomes? Examples?

What are the top 5 things you want to do better this year - What are the top 5 things you want to do better in technical recruiting and
in [general area of interest]? hiring?

Draft discovery questions

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ASSIGNMENT 1
1. Do/Individual: Draft Project Personas (20-40 min.)
2. Problem Scenarios, and Alternatives (1020 min).
3. Do/Individual: Draft Customer/User Discovery Questions (20-40 min.)

Reminder: Start setting up customer interviews

2015 COWAN+