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One of the benefits of questions that this article did not seem to cover is that it helps one avoid solutionising. "How can we help our users feel less frustrat
by kqr 4y ago
One of the benefits of questions that this article did not seem to cover is that it helps one avoid solutionising. "How can we help our users feel less frustrated with our service?" inherently gives you more alternative courses of action than "we gotta optimise page load time of the checkout function".
Sometimes the question leads to the first solution that came to mind, but the technique is at its most valuable when it does not. Maybe the checkout page load time isn't as bad as the dark patterns and getting rid of them improves user flow more at a lower cost than rewriting a critical component.
- marban 4y agoIt's the classic Amazon-popularised method of working backwards from the user benefit. Write the press release first, evaluate feasibility, build.
- srikz 4y agoInteresting. I had only heard this in the context of Apple before and not Amazon. There is a clip from a Steve Jobs video describing how you need to work backwards from the end user experience and then figure out the technology
- hutzlibu 4y ago"the classic Amazon-popularised method of working backwards from the user benefit." They do not implement that for everything, though. My last order done with a mobile browser, I could not checkout my order, without also choosing amazon prime. I had to activate "desktop mode" that it let me proceed. And I am pretty sure that is intentional to nag more users into prime.
- circlefavshape 4y agoIME avoiding solutionising very often leads to a load of abstract waffle containing nothing implementable. I agree that you need to solve the right problem, but "let's not solutionise" isn't a reliable way to make sure that happens
- the_other 4y agoAn agile coach I worked with recently lead us through an excellent process relating to this. - as a group, explore the problem space (ask more and more questions, diverge your thinking, embrace the waffle) - as a group, pick something to focus on (converge) - individually sketch out a solution or two (diverge again) - individually, asses each others' sketches, identifying what you like and dislike - synthesise a solution from all the sketches (we did it by voting on the detail points in the previous step; converge) - storyboard, as a group, with people taking it in turns to drive - build - test on users (diverge) - review (converge) The coach told us this was mainly derived from Jake Knapp's "Sprint" book.
- karmakaze 4y agoEven the question leads to solutioning, it could be posed as "Why do our users feel frustrated with our service?"