How can you determine when a UX problem is solved?

Specify or focus on Defining the "root problem". For Eg: An User of health analytics App said to me, he is not using the Calorie tracking feature. So most designers may say that as the problem which is actually not the root problem! Ask the question "Why?" So when I asked him Why he said he don't like it. A why again made me fall into root problem as he answered, its very difficult to take the tracker and not easily accessible. So When We get into the core of the problem its easy to solve.

Designing a product involves brainstorming, but it often overlooks a crucial UX step: defining the problem. Skipping or inefficiently handling this phase leads to unsatisfactory user experiences. For an assertive definition, use techniques to gather basic data. ?Identify problems from the users perspective: "I am / Trying to / But / Because / And this makes me feel" ?Specify pain points: ?Problem description ?Impact on the users life ?Criteria for a projection ?Difficulty of implementation ??Tailor results to tools and technologies.This links to "Problem Solving," using card sorting matrices to filter and define technologies for individual solutions. This "modified method" connects to the users' real pain, ensuring assertive results. ?

Not only just the Problem but also the critical success factors ( success metrics) need to be defined and aligned with all the stakeholders. Once all the stakeholders are aligned on success metrics and it should be quantifiable. For example - this feature should improve the conversion by 10%. So that we can conclude after the experiment if the improvement is 3%, we know it’s a failure and if it’s more than 10%, it’s a success. So overall, your success metrics should be quantifiable.

UX problems are often best viewed as an ongoing journey rather than a destination. Continuous improvement is key. Unless it's a fundamental flaw, enhancing the user experience involves a constant cycle of gathering user feedback, defining a "problem" or a user goal on each cycle clearly, iterating on designs, and measuring progress against set metrics. Try to quantify or qualify the BR else it will never get prioritized in the long pipeline.

Anthropological techniques provide unique insights into users' behaviors, needs, and cultural contexts, leading to more effective problem definition. Anthropology unpacks a holistic, deeper understanding of human behavior, culture, and societies, which go beyond surface-level observations to uncover underlying motivations, values, and social dynamics that shape user experiences. For example, ethnographic research provides rich qualitative data about users' daily lives, habits, and challenges, identifying pain points and unmet needs that might otherwise go unnoticed. Also, cultural probes gather insights into users' cultural contexts, aspirations, and desires, uncovering deep-seated values and aspirations that shape user experiences.

Organize your research into three main categories: stakeholder research, desk research, and user research. Stakeholder research is essential for gaining vision, identifying business pain points, and outlining objectives. Desk research provides valuable insights into competition and the market, while user research delves into understanding user needs and expectations. It is crucial to design desk and user research aligned with the insights and vision defined by stakeholders. This approach ensures that businesses can leverage insights from both types of research to fine-tune their vision effectively.

When it comes to any project, the user experience is of paramount importance, and to evolve the user experience appropriately, it is important that there is appropriate user research involved. User experience research is the process that allows us to understand the behavior patterns, preferences, and overall attitudes and needs of the users through various methods. Teams like to prioritize their budgets for the actual solution rather than research. But without proper research, any solutions that you may work upon will be incomplete.

In design, user is always at the centre. Some of methods used to gather insights and validate assumptions: *One-on-One Conversations: Directly engage with users to understand their experiences, needs, pain points, and preferences. *Contextual Inquiry: Observe users in their natural environment while they interact with your product/service. *Quantitative Data Collection: Gather information from a larger user base to identify trends, preferences, and broad user behavior patterns. *Usability Testing: Observe users while they interact with prototypes or the actual product to identify specific usability issues. *Creating Personas: Develop persona of target users based on research findings to guide design decisions and empathize with user needs.

Understand your users and how they use your product before diving into solving UX issues. Use methods like surveys, interviews, and observations to uncover their needs, preferences, actions, motivations, and frustrations. Look into the industry, competitors, and trends to spot opportunities. This research not only backs or challenges your ideas but also gives you practical solutions.

Experience taught me it is often the challenge to convince clients that this phase takes time. Especially when working for new clients and new domains) this may look like a big chunk of time without any design deliverable. Just be brave and demand the necessary time for this. The designer's challenge is to not wait until you know everything 100%. Remember our design process is agile. Start with what you can get in a timeboxed period and include smaller (and possibly more detailed) research activities in following design sprints.

This is the fun bit. - Don't reinvent the wheel unless you have to. Look at how other interfaces solve that problem, and look outside your own industry for inspiration. - Get the team involved. Ask the squad to pick their favourite example of where a competitor meets/exceeds expectations solving the problem. Do lightning demos (everyone takes 1 min to demo their favourite example). - Create quick throw-away MOBILE FIRST prototypes. Don't do desktop. Please. (Unless it's a desktop-only app/website). Cobble together screenshots, use design system components, make it interactive. Don’t spend weeks, be lean. - Create a range of potential solutions, from quick/easy MVP to Rolls Royce deluxe, based on what the requirements and team capacity is.

Based on my experience I strongly believe in sharing initial concepts promptly with cross-functional teams. This proactive engagement not only cultivates a diverse spectrum of perspectives but also serves as a strategic tool for identifying potential gaps, risks, or pitfalls in our solutions. By embracing early and frequent collaboration, we empower our teams to collectively refine and enhance our designs, ultimately contributing to more robust and innovative solutions.

Having observed your target users interact with the product and validating the problem statement that the users' frustration stems not from setting goals but from the difficulty of staying committed, it is crucial to avoid dismissing these users as incompatible with your target scope. Instead, adopt a problem-solving mindset and explore ways to assist them without affecting the existing users who are comfortable with the current user flow. Engage in brainstorming to identify strategies for assisting these users without disrupting the experience of existing users who are comfortable with the initial user flow. For instance, introducing an optional new feature like an accountability partner could prove to be a valuable solution.

Según mi experiencia, definir una buena herramienta para tu prototipo de alta fidelidad es fundamental en el proceso de validación de la solución planteada.

Prototyping phase plays a key role because it makes things super easy to understand, both for your team and any stakeholder, letting everyone experience and get a feel for how users will interact with the flow; plus, it's a cost-friendly way to check if your solutions work before diving into development, and it's the perfect time to learn and tweak things based on what users really need, who should be guiding the whole development process.

Evaluating concepts at an early stage of the UX process is critical to identifying the right design direction. One can utilize low-fidelity wireframes, sticky notes, and other tools for concept validation. After prototyping, it's essential to conduct usability testing and measure its effectiveness. Refining the prototype by incorporating feedback from the first round of usability testing and then conducting a second round can significantly enhance confidence in the solution.

Measure task completion rates: UX design should make it easy for people to get what they want done quickly. When people are struggling to complete tasks or abandoning them altogether, it's a sign that the design is getting in their way.

In evaluating user experience (UX), testing with target groups is critical for excellence. Method selection hinges on the specific query: ?General UX Evaluation: A classic UX test with a prototype is optimal for a broad understanding, like gauging a login process's UX. ?Specific Elements Evaluation: Card sorting is preferred for finer details, like naming menu items. These are mere examples from numerous methods. Blending qualitative and quantitative approaches is vital. Qualitative methods help pinpoint UX issues and their causes. Quantitative methods are great for identifying problems and confirming findings with a larger audience.

How much, and what sort of testing to do always varies. - Always refer to it as usability testing - it's NOT user testing. You're testing the usability/comprehension of the interface, not the users using it. - Focus usability testing on where the most value lies, pick and choose what needs testing most. - Validate simple things with unmoderated testing - tools like Lyssna (formerly known as UsabilityHub) can be really cost-effective and quick. - Do moderated usability testing for more complex things. If you don't have a list of participants to use, tools like userinterviews.com are great for finding and screening participants, as well as the logistics of organising sessions. - Take extensive notes and make video showreels of findings.

In determining test solutions, I find it best to test as granular as possible with very specific determining criteria. The intention being the avoidance of ambiguity from your test results. Instead, frame the criteria for as determining criterium. Pro Tip: Surveys! They are cheap to run, and they give you incredibly valuable results from current or new users.

Let data be your north star. There are opinions, and then there are facts. The former rises out of personal experience, maybe an agenda, or even ulterior motives. The latter, i.e., facts are cold, hard truths. They are the result of focused research exercises, and natural behavior patterns, and therefore, are clear of inherent bias. According to a PwC survey of more than 1,000 senior executives, highly data-driven organizations are three times more likely to report significant improvements in decision-making compared to those who rely less on data. So, here’s what you do instead — Use data to inform decision-making Data-driven decisions are based on objective insights and not opinions, feelings, or even intuitions.

The fact is, in a paradox that can frustrate even the most seasoned designer, there is no "best" solution. All we can do is to spend long enough in the problem so we can earn the confidence of knowing that our chosen "solution" is the least likely to be wrong. And ultimately, it's only when our users also choose that solution that we know we probably understood the problem best.

Always set a numeric KPI as a comparison metrics. For example, at TrulyMadly we had a problem that a lot of users where dropping during the registration process. We saw that less than 60% of users who started the registration process were reaching the last step and >40% were dropping in between. As a dating app we have 12-13 steps for registration where we ask a lot of info from the users. We had a clear Goal: Increasing registration completion percentage. KPI/Target : 85% Without getting into details of how & what, we made some 3-4 iterations over 3 months & overshoot our Target KPI to reach 93% registration completion. Eye on the KPI metric ensured that every idea that we think of is evaluated against the impact on KPI number.

Making decisions guided by data is foundational. Utilizing objective insights to select the best solution is essential, and it's crucial to acknowledge that in the diverse realm of UX, a one-size-fits-all approach rarely applies.

Often the picked solution won't be the "best" from a research and design standpoint - but a middle ground approach that satisfies the user needs, as well as stakeholder preferences and internal organizational politics. Your rationale and evidence must still be a concrete part of every design decision, as this will ground the work and protect your credibility independently of situation. So feel free to choose one primary solution and recommend it. Even if you do get retaliated against by management for suggesting the best solution by logical standards instead of one they prescriptively demanded, you are much less likely to lose the respect of your peers if you stick to what's true, and what you genuinely believe to be a better design.

In my experience, I emphasize the importance of meticulous supervision during implementation. Collaborating closely with developers and conducting user testing at each stage ensures a solution aligned beyond specifications and design standards. A common reality in a design development cycle, for example, is assessing its success at the final delivery, but the true key lies in continuous supervision, monitoring, and tracking. These elements are crucial for identifying improvements and optimizations, ensuring a more assertive delivery of a high-quality product or service. Solution tracking is the key to sustained success in UX design. ?

Keep in touch with your product. Establishing a constant feedback loop helps you balance the needs of the users over a long period and help keep retention, it creates a bond of trust with your users that they are being heard and their request are been addressed accordingly.

You can determine when a UX (User Experience) problem is solved through various indicators: User Feedback: Usability Testing: Task Success Rates: I Reduced Errors: User Analytics: Conversion Rates: Task Efficiency: Retention and Return Rates: Support Requests: Competitor Benchmarking: Accessibility Compliance: . A/B Testing: Stakeholder Consensus: Iteration and Continuous Improvement:

This is evidently the best way to analyse if the solution implemented actually worked. Compare data of the user journey prior to the change and after. Further, conducting interviews, feedback gathering and user satisfaction scores specific to the change will help understand how effective it was. Finally, heatmaps and conversion. The goal should be to make everything a 3-step solution. If the overall conversion has improved then it indicates a successful UX design.

There should be KPIs defined in the discovery phase of a project and the developed solution should be tracked and assessed against those KPIs to determine when a UX problem is solved.

Pick your battles, and have fun. - Everyone strives for perfection, but you can't fight every battle and come out winning. Conserve your passion, energy and diplomacy for battles that need winning. - Negotiate the best outcome considering everything - cost, time, user experience, etc. You will end up alienating yourself if you make a fuss about everything, and it will stop being fun. - Make sure you've got all the data lined up to back you up, so that data-driven decisions drive the solution. - Opinions should carry absolutely no weight in a discussion. - A wise person once told me "don't worry - it's only a website". A software interface can be fixed, and the learnings will help you in future. - Relax and enjoy what you're doing!

Set clear objectives! After defining the problem, the goal is to meet the main objective of the solution being created, which encapsulates the user needs and business objectives in clear terms. However the solution is created, it would be validated by the users and business stakeholders against these objectives to ensure success.

?? Solving UX Problems: When Is It 'Done'? ??? User Goals Met: Users can accomplish tasks efficiently. Positive Feedback: User testing reveals satisfaction and ease of use. Reduced Friction: Significant decrease in user complaints/issues. Analytics Support: Data shows improved engagement and conversion rates. Business Objectives Aligned: Solution aligns with business goals. Continuous Improvement: Remember, UX is iterative. Keep refining! ?? A solved UX problem meets user needs effectively, backed by data. #UserExperience #UXDesign #ProblemSolving

Beware In UX, there's an interesting split between what users say and what they do - their opinions and behaviors. It's like when someone says they love healthy food but can't resist a burger. In usability tests, a user might say they find an app easy to use, but their actions - like taking a long time to complete a task - tell a different story. This is why it's crucial for UX designers to not only listen to user feedback but also observe user behavior. By combining what users say with what they actually do, designers get a clearer picture of the user experience and can make more effective improvements. So, always keep an eye on both words and actions to truly understand your users, because that's who advocate for the most. ??

All wonderful answers here and all of them are right since measuring a UX solution's effectiveness is a combination of all the things that have been mentioned by experts and peers here. I just want to add a point about accessibility as this is a feature that usually is missed in traditional solutions and is now a focus in many of the current-age solutions. If the design addresses accessibility issues and makes the product more inclusive for users with diverse needs, it can be considered a successful solution.