10 Apr 2018, by Calum Shepherd
Joining a product team where the team has already navigated the discovery and alpha phases can be challenging.
This is a team that has bonded through tough times and come together to solve problems for their users.
With no immediate fires to put out, what should you focus on during your first 30 days?
Listen
I spent the first two weeks listening as much as possible and connecting with as many people as I could.
It’s amazing what you can learn when you genuinely care about what the other person has to say.
Ask questions and listen. Start with these areas: product, people, process, technology, and finance.
Immerse yourself fully.
Understand
Listening leads to understanding, which helps you make sense of the bigger picture.
It’s an iterative process in the first few weeks. Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, you’ll realise there’s more to learn—and that’s okay.
You’ll want to understand the organisation, its stakeholders, the service proposition, user needs, and much more. It’s a lot to absorb in a short amount of time.
Understanding begins when you start connecting all the pieces into a coherent whole.
Take your time. Don’t rush.
Nudge
Once you’ve started to understand the landscape, it’s time to make small interventions where they can be valuable.
Work with individuals on specific opportunities to steer things in the right direction—nudging gently but purposefully.
Collaborate with the team on broader challenges, like identifying new problems to solve or answering critical questions together.
Nudging is about progress, not perfection.
29 Oct 2017, by Calum Shepherd
Last week, I attended a conference for product enthusiasts in Birmingham. Canvas Conference was packed with incredible stories from people working in the product space. This year, it featured speakers from companies such as Thriva, Microsoft Research, Starling Bank, and Monzo.
However, I wasn’t quite prepared for one of the presentations—and it seems many others felt the same way.
Emotionally, it was a rollercoaster.
Haiyan Zhang, an Innovation Director at Microsoft Research, shared her work on leveraging technology to improve and enrich lives, particularly for individuals whose daily lives are affected by medical conditions.
Haiyan discussed several projects, including a new platform for participants and the critical need to ensure solutions are financially viable in the long term.
Parkinson’s disease affects 10 million people worldwide, causing a loss of motor control.
There is currently no cure.
I know firsthand how devastating this disease can be. It has been close to me since I was a child and has the power to strip away the things you cherish most.
The most striking part of Haiyan’s presentation for me was Project Emma. Its ambition was to help Emma, a woman diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s, regain the ability to write and draw—giving her back a small piece of what the disease had taken away.
Haiyan and her team dedicated countless hours to understanding Emma’s challenges, including the central role that drawing played in her life. They worked tirelessly for months, exploring solutions that could help Emma overcome some of the barriers Parkinson’s had imposed on her.
Remarkable, isn’t it?
This story reminded me of the important role we all play. While many of us design solutions aimed at the majority, we must not forget that people—and their needs—are incredibly diverse and complex.
We have a responsibility to consider those with different abilities and to ensure that the things we create provide meaningful benefits for everyone.
That’s why research, analytics, and the way we build solutions are so crucial. To truly do right by our users—whoever they are—we must put care and effort into understanding and meeting their needs.
C
17 Jul 2017, by Calum Shepherd
It’s time to break the blogging drought with a hands-on post.
For a recent product launch, our team chose to use mind mapping to create the information architecture (IA), rather than following the more conventional site-tree approach.
“Information architecture is the practice of deciding how to arrange the parts of something to be understandable.” — IA Institute
We decided to use software to facilitate the process. Ideally, we would have collaborated in a physical space, but since that wasn’t an option, we went with what we felt was the next best solution.
MindNode 2, a user-friendly application available on the Mac App Store, became our primary tool for visualising our initial ideas. It allowed us to collaborate effectively within the team and share our progress with stakeholders and users.
With MindNode, you can easily add nodes as new information or topics emerge from sources such as user research, search demand, conversations with stakeholders, or insights from subject matter experts.
Diagram Tips
Here are some tips for creating effective IA diagrams with MindNode:
- Line Colours. Use different colours to separate topics or highlight different audiences.
- Line Weightings. Adjust line thickness to indicate the volume or complexity of the information.
- Arrows. Use arrows to show relationships between nodes or highlight critical cross-linking.
- Node Types. Represent the type of content (e.g., video, image, text) with specific node styles.
- Notes. Add explanations to indicate where the information came from, such as user research findings.
You can also create a couple of main nodes to act as a legend, providing a clear reference for others viewing the diagram.
MindNode is flexible enough to accommodate changes. If you need to move or reorganise elements, the nodes will dynamically adjust and resize. It’s intentionally vague enough to avoid being mistaken for a final deliverable, while still being clear and collaborative.
For more on information architecture, check out The Ultimate Guide to Information Architecture on Web Designer Depot.
Give it a try and let me know how you get on!
28 Dec 2015, by Calum Shepherd
I love the definition of data provided by Google:
Data, in philosophy, is “things known or assumed as facts, making the basis of reasoning or calculation”
There’s something inherently beautiful about this definition. It establishes a relationship between assumed facts and their role in reasoning—ultimately enabling us to make educated decisions.
Reasoning, in turn, is defined as:
“The action of thinking about something in a logical, sensible way”
We know that data is fundamental to effective user-centered design. However, using the wrong data can sometimes be worse than having no data at all. Incorrect data can support flawed decisions and remain unnoticed for a long time. When we rely on flawed data to create solutions, we risk falling into a cycle of uneducated change, which is the exact opposite of what we aim to achieve through true iteration.
Change:
“An act or process through which something becomes different”
Whereas:
Iteration:
“The repetition of a process or utterance as a means of obtaining successively closer approximations to achieve a solution”
To truly improve, we need to iterate. And iteration only works when we use the right data at the right time. Our methods should provide data that fuels reasoning and informs decision-making—not lead us astray.
The Importance of Context in Data
Understanding and predicting user behaviour is challenging even in the best of circumstances. This is why it’s crucial to understand the available methods, what they provide, and how to converge data meaningfully.
For example, pulling numbers from Google Analytics is meaningless without context. Context might come from additional sources, such as user interviews, or even understanding whether filters have been applied to the data. Beyond knowing what users are doing, context helps us uncover why they are doing it.
Getting the Basics Right
Striking the right balance in research cadence is also essential. Stages like “research” and “measure” aren’t optional—though they can sometimes be treated as such. The key is adjusting their intensity to make them practical on a regular basis.
Now more than ever, it’s critical to get the basics right:
- Collecting the right data
- At the right time
- With the right people involved
The goal is to present a series of assumed facts that enable us to make better-educated decisions.
Final Thoughts
I have a feeling my notes will have assumed facts there at the top, acting as a reminder to base decisions on sound reasoning and reliable data.
Have a great New Year!