Dear Reader,
If you’d like to be more data-driven, this email is for you.
In Google’s meeting rooms, there are two projectors.
One is for presenting slides, notes, etc.
The other one is for presenting data.
Former Goog execs Eric Schmidt & Jonathan Rosenberg, write about how this dual-screen approach at Google promotes fact-based decisions:
If you can learn to say "Let me show you," it will do wonders for your career.
Every time you show a pretty visual in a meeting, you could also show data on customer behavior.
Design can be a very subjective practice, and any objectivity you can bring to the process will be a bonus in the eyes of business people.
Here are 2 quick ways to do that.
When you're just wandering into the fog of a new project, there isn't a lot of data...especially if the project has never been done before.
Some great sources for "Let me show you" might already exist on your company's Google Drive:
This is all qualitative data, and that's just as important as quantitative data, especially in the early stages where there is no quant. data. But if you have analytics, use them!
You can also generate your data with customer-facing activities like interviews. These create humanizing data to help your stakeholders fall in love with the problem, not the solution.
COURSE: Facilitating Workshops WORKSHOP: Aligning with Strategy COURSE: Defining UX Strategy |
The answer to this one's a bit trickier.
When you're ready to design solutions, it's hard to say "Let me show you" with anything except sketches and designs. How in the world can we find data on the sketches we just did?
Instead of convincing stakeholders with visuals you made, show visuals to customers then share the resulting data with stakeholders.
Here are some ways to do that:
It’s an extra step, but it will de-risk your design decisions.
That's the premise behind product experimentation.
It’s setting things up in a test and letting the customer decide if it’s a good idea or not.
What could be more user-centered than that?
So next time you find yourself saying "I think," consider that second screen in the Google office and all the data you could be showing.
Jeff Humble
Designer & Co-Founder
The Fountain Institute
P.S. We've got a Saturday workshop coming up called How to Design Product Experiments. Grab your FREE ticket here→
The Fountain Institute is an independent online school that teaches advanced UX & product skills.
Why Your Portfolio Isn’t Working (and How to Fix It) By Hannah Baker Dear Reader, Let’s talk about a harsh truth: Your UX portfolio might be the least important thing in your job search. Yep, I said it. You spent hours making sure it showcases your best work. You structured your case studies just right. You ensured your problem statements, research insights, and solutions flowed together. And yet… hiring managers are ghosting you like a bad Hinge date. Well, the problem isn’t your...
Chasing Competitors Instead of User Needs by Jeff Humble Dear Reader, Have you ever had a CEO who was overly obsessed with beating the competition? I know I have. You may not have realized exactly how this can be toxic. So, I'd like to help you out with two case studies. Here is a tale of two companies and how they handled the competition. The first took a company-first approach while the second took a user-first approach. It goes like this... Company-First: The Rise & Fall of Google+ Google+...
Stop Being the ‘Nice’ Designer. Start Running the Room. By Hannah Baker Dear Reader, Product design isn’t just about creating great experiences. It’s about getting sh*t done in a world where no one agrees on anything. You’ve been there. Stakeholder meetings where opinions fly, decisions stall, and somehow, you’re tasked with making it all make sense. What is Facilitative Leadership? Facilitative leadership is about leading without authority. It’s not about being the loudest voice in the room...