#Weeknotes 26 (16 July) — Simple questions with powerful outcomes
I watched some great talks at the UX Bristol 2021 conference today. It’s always great to hear from the wider design community and share best practices and methodologies to feel inspired and ultimately better our work. A talk by Ben Holiday’s on ‘Asking Design Questions’ reminded me of the work that I do with clients on most, if not all, of our projects.
Over the years in my career as a User Experience Designer, I found that the ‘design’ aspect is just half of the job. The other half lies in communication. That includes storytelling, getting team alignment and priorities, and clearly articulating the abstract.
When we tackle problems, it’s really easy to lose ourselves in the solution creation process. Often we get so lost in trying to come up with the ‘best solution’ that we forget why the problem is there in the first place. This leads to us sometimes solving the wrong problems simply because we didn’t understand the problem well.
How often have you signed up for things because you’ve been promised freebies? I know I’ve signed up for many services that have sign up bonuses (as a foodie, I’m a sucker for promos involving free food, samples or even meals) only I rarely stick with them. They’re only good until the promo lasted. Many businesses use this strategy to acquire customers quickly. The problem is, it’s no longer about the actual value your business is providing that’s attracting customers but rather people are only joining for the goodies. They’re not loyal to you. Who can blame them? The solution to the problem of not having new user signups isn’t throwing goodies to temporarily lure them. It is not the way.
So, how do we understand the problem well? It’s shockingly simple. And obvious! To understand the problem, or rather when implementing and designing any product, service or systems, you just need to nail the following simple questions as Ben Holiday suggests:
- Why are we doing this work/solving this problem?
- Who are our users? (AKA Who are we solving the problems for?)
- What outcome will users get from this service? (AKA What’s the value of solving it?
- What outcomes are we looking for? (AKA What’s the impact of solving it)
- What are our key metrics? (AKA How do we know we’ve succeeded?)
If we can answer these questions then we’re heading in the right direction to solving the problem in the right way. Often the challenge isn’t so much answering these questions but rather getting alignment with everyone on the team on the answers to these questions. It’s surprising how often I work with organisations that don’t have this internal agreement on the problems they should be solving. Yes, this makes supporting them to solve the problems that much more challenging. Understanding and alignment are key.
These simple questions work in other areas of life as well. We often get caught up with the ‘business of life’, the increasing complex routines we’ve established as we grow older. It’s easy to switch to autopilot and pass our life by only to realise later (or never) that the things we end up spending our time on aren’t the things that matter to us. I know I tend to invest a lot in making new connections when I know I really should be spending the energy on strengthening the existing great relationships I have. I’m still working on it.
Do yourself a favour. Every once in a while, ask yourself these questions:
- Are you living a life that brings you happiness, fulfilment, and joy?
- Are you satisfied with who you are and have become?
- What things matter to you? Are you spending your time and energy on those?
- What kind of life do you want to lead? How would you like to see yourself in 5 years? 10 years?
- How do you want to be remembered? How different is that from where you are today?
It’s about taking a step back so you can get on the right track. Your answers will change as you gain life experiences which is why it’s crucial to revisit these questions regularly. It’s never too late to start now.
Go!
