User research is essential for designing products and services that solve real problems and meet user needs. However, in lean and agile environments, where time and resources are limited, conducting user research can be challenging. How do you research users in lean and agile? Here are some tips and methods to help you.
Before you start any user research, you need to have a clear goal, scope, and timeline for your project. What are the key questions you want to answer? Who are your target users and how will you recruit them? How will you analyze and share your findings? Planning ahead will help you prioritize your research activities, avoid wasting time and money, and align your team and stakeholders on the expected outcomes.
Thorough preparation is vital, but maintain flexibility as research is inherently exploratory. Unanticipated findings may surface outside the initial scope, pointing toward opportunities beyond intended goals. Be receptive to emerging themes from users' lived experiences. Their insights about needs, pain points and daily realities should directly inform subsequent research questions, participant recruiting and analysis.
I will have a lengthy consultation with my customer(s) and try to decide on the best created space, with which elements, based on an organic and detailed discussion.
You can use many user research methods in lean and agile, depending on your research goal, stage of development, and available resources. Interviews are one-on-one conversations with users to understand their needs, motivations, behaviors, and pain points. Surveys are online questionnaires to collect data from a large number of users. Usability testing involves observing how users interact with your product or prototype and identifying feedback. Contextual inquiry involves visiting users in their natural environment to observe how they use your product or related products. Card sorting is when you ask users to sort cards with labels into categories to understand how they organize and find information. Persona creation is creating fictional profiles of your typical users based on research data to empathize with them and guide design decisions.
I wholeheartedly concur with the preceding ideas. Our current epoch is characterized by the realm of digitalization, where users exhibit an insatiable appetite for novel experiences and commodities. My perspective aligns with the notion that any products we offer to users should possess a finite temporal scope or an expiration date for their utility. This synchronization of product lifecycle ensures both us and the users maintain a consistent rhythm: knowing precisely when to conclude one product's journey and commence another's. These reflections encapsulate my viewpoint. With gratitude.
One of the benefits of lean and agile is that you can learn from your users quickly and continuously. Instead of waiting for the perfect product or prototype, you can test your assumptions and hypotheses with real users early and often. You can also adapt and iterate your research methods as you go, based on your findings, feedback, and new questions. For example, you can use online tools to create and share surveys, prototypes, and usability tests in minutes. You can also use lean documentation techniques, such as affinity diagrams, user journey maps, and storyboards, to synthesize and communicate your insights effectively.
User research is not a solitary endeavor; it requires collaboration and involvement from your team and stakeholders. You can involve them in the co-creation of your research plan and questions, as well as in user recruitment, screening, and data analysis. Additionally, having them observe or conduct user sessions allows you to leverage their diverse perspectives, skills, and expertise to improve research quality and impact. Involving your team and stakeholders can increase their buy-in, empathy, and understanding of your users.
User research is an ongoing process that requires validation and measurement to ensure accuracy, reliability, and relevance to your project. Different methods can be used to validate and measure user research, such as triangulating data from multiple sources, comparing findings with existing research and best practices, testing solutions with users and tracking their behavior and satisfaction, collecting and analyzing metrics, and reporting and showcasing results. This will help demonstrate the value of user research, justify design decisions, and identify areas for improvement.