Wouldn't it be interesting to test the team's ideas about improving a product before implementing it?
The good news is that there is a concept that allows you to significantly reduce all the risks involved in the UX product development process, with a lot of focus on learning and iteration, from testing cycles with users.
What is Lean UX?
Lean UX is a concept in design that proposes a new way of working to make processes more efficient and agile. Its vision is differentiated because it does not see product development as a deliverables process. But as a hypothesis validation process focused on user experience.
In this sense, the goal of Lean UX is to get feedback from users as quickly as possible, then decisions can be made, and the product can be improved more rapidly and accurately.
This concept emerged from the teachings of two other ideas — Lean Startup and Agile Philosophy described by Jeff Gothelf in his book: Lean UX.
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What is the basis of Lean UX thinking?
Lean startup is a concept created by Eric Ries to improve how startups do business. It introduced a different way of thinking based on eliminating waste — Lean Manufacturing — so that the Startup product could add maximum value to consumers.
In addition, Ries proposes an efficient approach to UX product development. Instead of the entrepreneur putting together a business plan with several forecasts and numbers, the Lean Startup offers a canvas called the business model.
In practice, Lean Startup promotes rapid learning based on responses and feedback from customers and users. As it is a constant and quick learning process in product development, Lean startup clearly and directly influenced the performance of UX design in the flow.
Agile Philosophy
The agile philosophy emerged, at first, to improve software development. But, currently, it is a philosophy widely adapted to the different types of markets. It's a way of thinking that prioritizes speed and promotes less bureaucratic processes. Thus, several methods are based on this philosophy, including Lean UX.
The benefits of an Agile Philosophy can be summarized in:
- Better transparency in product development;
- Less wasted time and more assertiveness.
So, these different lines of thinking added to the new startup's business model, which gave rise to the Lean UX concept described by Gothelf.
What are the foundations of Lean UX?
Lean UX aims to reduce waste and create more added value to the product for users. In addition, the focus on iteration and continuous improvement through user feedback are very present in the concept of Lean UX.
Thus, to support these ideas, we have some basic principles of Lean UX to extract maximum efficiency from this concept.
Principles for team organization in Lean UX
Multifunctional Teams: it is essential to create a team with professionals with different expertise like UX, Business, Marketing, Developers, etc., and have a high degree of collaboration.
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In addition to being cross-functional, teams must be small, dedicated to only one project at a time, and allocated in the same room or place to facilitate communication. The team must be self-sufficient, empowered, and autonomous enough to make the relevant decisions for the project. By focusing on problem-solving, the team can work towards solving a stated problem rather than implementing new solutions.
Lean UX: Principles for culture
From Doubt to Certainty: in Lean UX, we should not be driven by hunches or personal tastes. We must understand that every premise and hypothesis must be tested before it becomes true.
Progress is Results, not Deliverables: Progress should be measured in measurable results, such as increased user satisfaction. Progress isn't about developing more attributes for a product that doesn't work.
Shared knowledge: everyone on the team must have the same understanding of the product, the user, and any other crucial element of the project.
No Rockstars, Gurus, or Ninjas: similar to the previous principle, the Lean UX team should not place the responsibility for complete knowledge on a few people on the team. Knowledge must always be shared.
Permission to Fail: The team mindset has to focus on experimentation and validation. In this way, the focus is not on success but learning.
Lean UX: Principles for processes
Small Quantities: create and develop only what is necessary for the product to evolve and create value (MVP). The focus is on learning and risk reduction.
Continuous Discovery: In Lean UX, feedback from customers and users is important. That's why it's essential to have a discovery mindset and always talk to consumers to find out what they do and why they do it.
Getting Out Of The Building: Get out of the office! Go out and test ideas and learn from them instead of sitting in a chair.
Externalize the work: get the ideas out of your head and show them to the public.
Develop to analyze: developing a first version of the idea is better than arguing about whether it will work or not.
Don't think about deliverables: focus on creating and validating hypotheses. Don't think about creating deliverables that don't add value to the user.
Three big ideas drive the Lean UX process: Think, Do and Check.
Thinking: It is related to creating premises for a specific problem and its context. From these premises, it is possible to develop hypotheses that will be tested.
Do: is related to developing the product that meets the user's needs. It's crucial to understand the concept of MVP — which we'll cover later.
Check: is related to testing the product and validating — or not — the hypotheses created about it. Despite being the last item on this list, it is the hook for iteration.
These three ideas become a loop in which we go back to the beginning after checking and receiving user feedback. Notice how these ideas are similar to those we find in other concepts such as Lean Startup, Agile Philosophy and Design Thinking. Thus, they all end up relating to and complementing each other.
The elements of the Lean UX process
As we delve deeper into the Lean UX process, we may be left with some basic questions, such as, what is a premise, or how do I create a hypothesis? We will quickly explain each of these elements so that you understand how to apply and create each one of them.
Assumptions
Assumptions are elements that need to be created together with the entire team. This way, it is possible to capture different perceptions, and everyone is aligned with what will be defined.
To set the premises, you can start with simple questions like:
Who are the users?
For what purpose is the product used?
When does the user use it?
What is its best feature?
What risks does it impose?
What problem must be solved?
However, the questions may vary depending on your goals and the project. Assumptions are not set in stone, and as the project offers lessons learned, the premises may also change.
In addition, the questions' answers can generate several assumptions. So if this is the case, prioritize the main hypotheses; otherwise, you won't be able to work with all of them.
Hypotheses
After defining the main assumptions, it is time to create the hypotheses that will be tested at the end of the cycle. The creation of ideas must reflect some belief that can improve or solve the problem proposed by the project.
For example, if we simplify the registration screen, the number of registered users may increase. This may be a hypothesis based on the assumption that the user does not have much time or patience to fill in pervasive registration screens.
The important thing in creating the hypothesis is to understand what it is hoped to achieve with this idea and how we can measure it to assess whether it has proven true.
In the example above, evidence of the validation of the hypothesis would increase the number of entries made after simplifying the interface. So a hypothesis is not just an assumption thrown to the winds. It needs to be able to be evidenced and validated. It is science and not mysticism.
Minimum Viable Product – MVP
Another essential element in the Lean UX process is the famous MVP: Minimum Viable Product. The MVP is the most basic product construction that can test the hypotheses created in the process. Therefore, MVP is not a complete product with several features.
The MVP can evolve with each cycle and hypothesis test if it works and is validated. Or, it can be discarded if there is no validation that the hypotheses were compelling.
Test and validation
Testing is essential in the Lean UX process. Through it, you get answers to your hypotheses, which will lead to their validation or not. It is necessary to recognize that the Lean UX process is a fast process with a short time. Therefore, the test phase must be carried out with agility and precision so that the results obtained to bring the necessary learnings.
This testing and validation phase is complicated because the testing phase in larger UX Design projects tends to be more elaborate and time-consuming.
How to adapt the research process to work with Lean UX
One of the significant challenges of Lean UX is to be able to learn quickly together with users, to be able to validate or not your hypothesis.
The research process is quite complex and crucial for the entire execution of the Lean UX concept. Therefore, it is essential to treat this process with great importance. However, agility is very present in Lean UX as a whole. Thus, the research process needs to be adapted to meet the shorter deadlines of Lean UX.
1. Start small
It may be that the desire to create a robust research process is more significant than your actual need. That's because, in a Lean UX process, you don't need to have an exuberant research program, even because the purpose of Lean is to be what its name proposes: Lean.
In that sense, start small with your research planning and program. And more than technique, you need consistency. In other words, get constant and frequent user feedback. Starting small, you will naturally reach maturity in UX, where you can better refine your results, incorporating qualitative elements to the research.
2. Involve the whole team
One of the principles of Lean UX is assembling a cross-functional team, which is very important for the research process.
Different professionals have different views on the same situation. In this sense, while one person applies the research to users, other team members should observe and write down insights and observations to be discussed and analyzed later.
Still, it would be ideal to count on the participation of stakeholders at the time of application of the research and in the planning and selection of the participating users.
3. Create a research plan
A research plan involves the research objectives, the methodologies that will be used, and any other elements that give more clarity and focus to your research, such as:
- Budget
- Roles
- Tasks
- Scripts
In addition, a plan can more transparently demonstrate the gains from the process to Stakeholders. Another critical aspect of the research plan is sharing it with the rest of your team. In this sense, transform the project into a shareable One Page that can always be at hand by the team and Stakeholders.
4. Create a search panel
One of the most difficult things about running a survey is scheduling and recruiting participants. The beginning will always be more difficult, but as you get users to participate, ask them at the end of the survey if they would be willing to participate in a new study.
In this way, you build a panel with several contacts of users who have already shown interest in participating in your survey. This practice dramatically streamlines the conduct of research, so it is worth adopting it in your process and Lean UX.
5. Automate the recruitment process
One option to streamline the process of recruiting participants for the survey is to automate it. The idea is to create an automated survey to identify if the respondent fits the profile to participate in your survey. If so, the respondent receives a message asking if they would like to participate in the survey.
If he accepts, the schedule already happens automatically, and now you apply the survey on the scheduled date. Automation is not simple to calibrate, but from the moment it starts to work, it can already bring good results and agility to your process.
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Why use Lean UX?
Lean UX is a concept that emerged to speed up product development and reduce waste throughout this chain. Despite improving processes, Lean UX does not leave aside the commitment to delivering results. In this sense, Lean UX brings some benefits such as:
Efficiency and cost reduction: Your company saves valuable project time by reducing time and speeding up the solution development process. Instead of spending three months developing a product that will not please the user, test your hypothesis and see if the product proposal makes sense. It is better to validate the hypotheses and make quick decisions than to invest a lot of time and money in a solution that will not bring results to the organization.
Reduce time: Regarding the previous benefit, we can point out that Lean UX saves your company time. In addition, the constant testing and iterative proposal allow correcting the project routes, making the product or solution always add value to the user.
User-Centered Design: Lean UX uses User-Centered Design concepts in its processes. It is most evident in developing an MVP based on customer and user feedback. In this way, Lean UX is a new way of working in UX Design, but one that does not deviate from the main concepts of the profession.
It's data-driven: Being data-driven means being data-driven. Everything that involves Lean UX is based on evidence and data from surveys and user feedback. There is a reduction in risk in development and implementation as decisions are not based on personal assumptions or tastes. Also, using the data can help find flaws and inconsistencies when something goes wrong along the way.
Successful case: CarMax
CarMax is an extensive network of stores that sell used cars in the United States. The company would like to improve the user's shopping experience, which contains both online and offline elements. The user can access the CarMax website, search for the car of interest, and schedule a test drive, but the purchase must be made physically at one of the company's stores.
Because CarMax wanted to redesign its buyer's journey to be more user-centric, it started using the Lean UX concept. In this way, the design team created the following hypothesis: if the customer had a better understanding of car financing available, would they have a better shopping experience?
Then, to validate the hypothesis, CarMax surveyed several consumers and designed several versions of a loan application. Each version of the app learned more about the user's shopping experience and could improve the app's design.
Also, the Lean UX team worked closely with the sales consultants at CarMax stores. In this way, they could ensure that all customer information was included in the offline part of the purchase process.
This project resulted in creating a mixed experience — online and offline — that helped customers find the best car options according to their purchase potential.
Furthermore, the project's success did not just make CarMax design a better experience for its customers. But it also changed the company's entire culture and internal processes, including hiring and team building.
Conclusion
Lean UX is a concept with great potential to transform the way companies develop products and solve user needs. Based on its fundamental principles, the Lean UX process prioritizes validating hypotheses created from premises and tested in an iteration process. New learnings about the user experience emerge at each cycle.
Despite this, you must adapt to the Lean UX concept, such as the research process. Therefore, it is a concept that brings many benefits to companies and the UX Design team. Let us know if you want help implementing these concepts into your business or would like our team of experts to do it for you with your product development strategy. We would be happy to help!