VENTURE DESIGN SPRINTS

KICKING OFF A
USABILITY SPRINT
Alex Cowan
2015 COWAN+

THE VENTURE DESIGN PROCESS

S HO

IF
AT

WH

CUSTOMER
DISCOVERY &
EXPERIMENTS

PRODUCT &
PROMOTION

VALUE
PROPOSITIONS &
ASSUMPTIONS

WH

PERSONAS

WHO?

AT

SC

PIVOT?

AL

E?

USER STORIES
& PROTOTYPES

PROBLEM
SCENARIOS &
ALTERNATIVES

2015 COWAN+

THE DESIGN SPRINT

INPUT

Time Boxed

OUTPUT

2015 COWAN+

THE DESIGN SPRINT

WHAT DO
WE DO NEXT
WEEK?

HERES
WHAT

PERSONAS
& PROBLEMS?

NO
NEED

NEED

MOTIVATIONS?

NO
NEED

NEED

PROBLEM
SCENARIO
SPRINT

USABILITY?

NO
NEED

NEED

MOTIVATION
SPRINT

ARCHITECTURE?

NO
NEED

BUILD STUFF!

NEED

USABILITY
SPRINT

ARCHITECTURE
SPRINT

2015 COWAN+

THE USABILITY SPRINT

Usability
Sprint

VALIDATED INTERFACE So you dont deliver a

solution no one can
ELEMENTS VS. USER
use.
STORIES
REFINED USER
So you practice driving
STORIES & MOCKUPS to user stories and
test yourself on your
understanding and
readiness.
2015 COWAN+

CONCEPTS

User Interface Development

0

Basics of User Cognition

Importance of Consistency and Behavior Patterns
Usability Research Design
Conducting Usability Testing
Creating Mockups & Interactive Mockups

2015 COWAN+

WORKING YOUR USABILITY HYPOTHESIS

CUSTOMER CREATION HYPOTHESIS

PERSONA HYPOTHESIS
VALUE HYPOTHESIS

PROBLEM HYPOTHESIS

USABILITY HYPOTHESIS
2015 COWAN+

DONALD NORMANS 7 STEPS

JUST ANOTHER
YUCKY TUB?
Signifier: The dial suggest an
up/down affordance
Affordance: The tub dial in fact
offers an up & down movement
Constraint: The dial only goes up and
down (not side to side, etc.)
Feedback: When water is running,
you can tell whether the drain is
stopping the water.
Mapping: The dial controls the
opening of the drain- a well
understood conceptual model.
source: adapted from The Design of Everyday Things

2015 COWAN+

DONALD NORMANS 7 STEPS

Goal
Plan

Compare

Specify

Interpret

Perform

Perceive
World

source: adapted from The Design of Everyday Things

2015 COWAN+

DONALD NORMANS 7 STEPS

Goal
Plan

Reflective

Compare

Specify

Behavioral

Interpret

Perform

Visceral

Perceive

World
source: adapted from The Design of Everyday Things

2015 COWAN+

WHAT ARE WE TESTING?

DONT RUIN YOUR
RESULTS BY TRYING
TO TEST BOTH AT THE
SAME TIME

Motivation

Proposition Testing
(ala Lean Startup, MVPs)

Action : )
Action Line
Inaction : (

Ability (Usability)
Usability Testing

source: adapted from BJ Foggs Behavioral Model

2015 COWAN+

USABILITY TEST SUITES: A PROGRESSION

Exploratory

Assessment

It looks like this

approach will
fundamentally work.

Validation

The implementation
is sound and ready
for tuning.

Ready for
prime time.
2015 COWAN+

A USABILITY TEST DESIGN FOR ANYONE

Objectives & Methods
Product Version
Subjects
Research Composition
Pre-Session Checklist
Session Design

bit.ly/cdhandbook bit.ly/vdt-usability
2015 COWAN+

KEY INTER-RELATIONSHIPS
USABILITY
TESTING

The user stories should

be the nexus of your
ideation, the other
items supporting them.

USER STORIES

VALUE
PROPOSITIONS
PROTOTYPES &
ASSUMPTIONS

2015 COWAN+

STEP 1: ID WHAT YOU NEED & FIND COMPS

Dont reinvent the wheel.
(startups have enough risk)
Identify the interface elements you
need, then find comparables and
existing patterns.
(ref: bit.ly/protonow)
ui-patterns.com
patternry.com/patterns
web-patterns.net
patterntap.com
mobile-patterns.com
smileycat.com/design_elements
2015 COWAN+

GETTING READY FOR YOUR SESSIONS

2015 COWAN+

DAY 1 ACTIVITIES: USABILITY SPRINT

Intro. Concepts + Warmup

Draft Test Plan
Test Test Plan
Finalize Test Plan

2015 COWAN+

DAY 2-4 ACTIVITIES: USABILITY SPRINT

Working with subjects on test

plan, adjusting as you go.

2015 COWAN+

DAY 5 ACTIVITIES: USABILITY SPRINT

Review Evidence & Conclusions from Testing

Draft Wireframes and Stories/Story Detail for
Revision
Decide Next Steps
2015 COWAN+

YOUR BRIEF
Who & What?
We want to make an assessment of the users relationship to
the available affordances and their appropriateness to [x set of
user stories].

Why?
We need to determine if our current approach is likely to be
usable to [personas] so we decide on possible revisions.

How?
Our deliverables will be: a research design with subject test
results as well as possibly notes and revisions to our current
user stories and test cases.
2015 COWAN+