Empathy is a very powerful tool that designers use to make effective design decisions. We use many UX methods usually used in the early discovery and exploratory phases to build empathy with the users on a deeper level; these guide further steps in the process. It is also very difficult to explain to the non-UX colleagues, but it is very important to have a human-centered approach. I wondered how to explain this concept to my team.
A simple attempt to have meaningful design conversations led to a change in mind-set and affected the product's decision-making culture.
Spoiler Alert: This article does not cover UX research methods or tools to build empathy. It talks about a few practices around research that I, as a team of one, follow at my organization. These methods build empathy for our users within my team by scaling research, and they impact our decision-making culture.
Let's start with what I mean by product conversation shift…
How are we asking different questions? For example, we can go from, "Let's do ABC. Does that work?" to, "XYZ is the problem. How can we provide a feasible solution quickly?"
How are we making product decisions? For example, we can go from, "Client said Option 1 looks nice. Let's do it." to, "The users found it difficult to interpret and might not engage with it. Let's test our medium effort scenario and find out."
How are we engaging objectively with our clients? For example, we can go from, "We have a feature for that. The user might need more training to use it." to, "According to our research, the user's primary frustrations are…. The user will be delighted to have …"
How are we evaluating and preparing for risks upfront? For example, we can go from, "How can we predict now! Let's see how users adapt to it later." to, "This is not aligned with our research and we can say with confidence that it will be a high risk."
Stay tuned if you are interested in having more confidence in your product decisions, talking objectively with your clients about their processes, evaluating risks upfront and preparing for success.
But, before we jump in, I'd like to tell you that UX research is a fairly new practice at Optym. We do have a dedicated designer assigned to each product team which means design is an integral part of the product. And soon research will be too.
Now: Let me tell you how I introduced empathy and much more to my team.
Reality check: A team of one must rely heavily on his/her non-UX colleagues to help them get work done.
With that in mind, I involved my team members in the UX research process. We decided to use the immersion technique to discover the needs of our users. We started with a questionnaire stating our team's priorities, and asked how much awareness of the user and the problem already exists? It was a great exercise to make everyone feel heard and to check our biases at the door.
I created many templates with examples for note-taking and data gathering which we used later for insight and scenario analysis. I introduced UX tools to my team and trained them on how to ask the right (unbiased) questions. Those are some of the additional steps that are required when involving your team in research.
Finally, the team conducted a total of 16 eight-hour shadowing sessions that took place in eight different locations over four days. This user interaction was essential in generating empathy towards users on my team.
A moment of respect for my product manager for scheduling these sessions and participating in them!
Ideally, you would get a project brief with a clear direction and a strategy to frame your research plan, but that does not always happen. Conducting a focus group helps you know the vision for the experience and the product.
This exercise can also be used to create alignment with your clients about user behavior and user needs. (In our case, our customers are not the users.) I utilized this platform to show user pictures and ask about their insights on user processes. Taking about user challenges and opportunities in these sessions helps clients empathize with the users and shows that you deeply care about their people.
We all know empathy mapping with users is a great technique to capture their emotions and behaviors. These define the motivators in our product design.
But, why not do another exercise with your team, asking what they think about what our users say, think, feel and do? Putting emotions on paper is important, and when done with the team, it is most effective right after watching user videos or role-playing exercises.
Quick tip on empathy maps — Instead of using words for emotions, use pictures. Using pictures lets the users interpret emotions subjectively. It also gives you an opportunity to ask more questions about their feelings.
I understand that involving your product team is not always possible. As a result, I would highly encourage role-playing activities in your team. Make them your primary and secondary users. To keep it simple, have the dialog scripts ready, show them contextual user videos, define their persona and enact a scenario. Research says a mere 10-minute in user's shoes can help them empathize with the users. This approach is as close as it gets.
1. Re-defining team involvement — I wanted the team to know the UX process and thought its involvement would reduce the friction in the steps I take. Well, it did, but it was not a great use of everyone's time. We spent a lot of time in affinity mapping and getting insights. And because of the time crunch, we did not spend enough time prioritizing and evaluating business impact. Next time, I would involve the team in a structured dot voting exercise for prioritization, after finishing the affinity mapping and scenario analysis myself.
2. Making data gathering easier for the team — Note-taking is a skill and requires effort. I had an eight-pages-long document with questions, diagrams, and exercises for the researcher for every user. Next time, I will make it simpler by confining it to photos and videos to get unbiased and undiluted data.
3. Making it easier for the users — If you have been to an interview, you will agree that interviews are not the most comfortable way to share information. Most people feel anxious and doubt themselves while answering questions.
Allow a moment for participants to dwell in the topic at hand. Be transparent in your note-taking and have participants help you!
I will try to make the process as interactive as possible. I may use design probes to start organic conversations.
1. True human-centered approach — Not only the designer but the entire team is thinking about the user while implementing solutions.
2. Prioritization is easier — Not just for the product manager, but for the team as well. Everyone is aligned with these priorities and can compare the business value and the user value very easily.
3. Fewer and more engaging review sessions — Since the decisions were not based on assumptions and the team understood the why behind the designs, we were able to follow a quick review process that involved clients and users.
4. Development team understands the design decisions — Conversations are much easier with my dev team. I am actually (pleasantly) surprised by their sudden interest in my work. With proper scenario analysis tools and hypotheses driven design, we are set up for success.
Kudos to my team for going through this rigorous exercise. I believe, we have taken our first step in the right direction, but have a long way to go. The quote below really resonated with me and I hope it does for you too,
"Maybe part of our formal education should be training in empathy. Imagine how different the world would be if, in fact, that were reading, writing, arithmetic, empathy." — Neil deGrasse Tyson
Don't be afraid to use the power of empathy in your products, in your teams, in your company or even at home.