Executing UX Research at a Startup. Part One.
Part one of two. Joined a startup as the only UX Researcher and thinking about how to start? Worry not!
So, you have landed your next gig as a UX Researcher at a startup! Congrats!
If you haven’t already, I highly recommend my earlier post on this topic —
Startups are agile, so one is expected to deliver value at the earliest and at the same time work on setting the processes/frameworks for the future.
In this post, I want to get into the trenches and throw some light on how you can actually get going and start executing.
Broadly speaking, a startup can be in either of the stages —
- An idea for a product
- Has a product — either in MVP or a shipped (may or may not be getting traction and/or making money)
Let's take it one at a time, as I show you how to approach Research and what kind of Research will vary between these stages.
In this post, I will deal with the first one…
UX Research: when you have an idea for a product
So there is some sort of a founding team, there is some runway (funding) hopefully, probably a vague idea of a potential product. Now how do you chip in?
- Understand the space, ideally from the founders. Founders usually have a passion and vision which rarely anyone can match.
2. Understand the problem statement or want, what the product wants to solve or create. Great founders will have this outlined fairly well.
3. Deep dive into any or all Research (if any) done as to what led to picking this space, problem to be solved, how did they arrive at a potential market and audience. As a Researcher the more you go deep and towards the root the better your approach as a Researcher will be.
Also, I am always in favour of thinking holistically rather than thinking in isolation. So for example, if you have no idea why this particular audience was targeted, how will you even plan your Research to understand them?
More on this in below point #5.
4. Understand the journey of the founders/company/product so far. This is linked to the above point #3 and is super super important. The journey of founders is critical as everything is about people. The journey of the company is critical to understand what all bets they took, what worked and what didn't work. The journey of the product is where your immediate focus will be and the more you know about its history right since inception the better you would be to make decisions. While understanding all 3, keep asking WHY until you get to the root. As a Researcher, the biggest fallacy is to take anything at face value.
From the above, you should or rather must be able to get —
Who the potential user is?
What are the tasks or what are the Jobs-to-be-done for your user?
What is the USP of the product?
Why will the product win?
What can make the product lose?
What are the hypothesis/assumptions which are the basis of decisions in the areas of Market/Product/Users?
Where does the idea or the product stand?
What is the plan forward and/or is there a product/MVP roadmap?
5. Find out if there was any prior User Research done, if yes —
Who were the users, what type of users?
How were the users recruited?
How was the Research done?
The time period of the Research?
What methodologies were followed?
Was there a process for the Research?
Who were the users, how were they recruited?
What was the outcome?
Are there outcomes which require more Research?
The above is very essential, as a big part and often unsaid role of any Researcher is to not necessarily reinvent the wheel but rather start from any past Research studies, take custody and then build from there. And when you know what worked or what didn’t, you are in a better position to plan for future research studies.
After you have done all the above, assess —
What worked and what didn’t
What all processes exist, what all needs to be removed/edited, what all new processes need to be set?
How often do we need to do Research?
What methods need to be used?
How to recruit users?
6. Create a journey map of your user using the product. A journey map can begin starting from how your product is or will be discovered, how they will evaluate whether to try/buy, what is their onboarding experience, based on their profile/persona what all activities/task they are likely to do on your product, where can they get stuck and so on.
An ideal experience takes care of the whole ‘system’ and not just a ‘part’ of the system in isolation. For the user, the whole experience is what matters and not whether one particular part is working fine.
After doing all the above you should have a good idea on the space you operate in, the problem statement your product is solving for, various opportunities which exist, the journey of the founders, the team, the idea behind your product, who the users are their potential journey using your product.
Now it’s time to get into the trenches!
Finding users
Depending on what sector your product operates in, you can find users literally everywhere around you, except perhaps if your target users are Astronauts.
Some channels to tap —
Social media — Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram
Social group — Friends, families, peers, acquaintances
If you stay in a gated community or are active in social groups you can always ask if people are interested in your study.
Empanelled group of users, a more formal way of recruiting users to ensure ease of access and motivation from the users to co-design your product.
Do competitor analysis and check your competitors Social Media channels and App store reviews. They are a terrific way to figure out what users are saying about the product, what do they like (should go into your MVP), what do they don’t like (it can be opportunities as user may not like how it is done or would prefer an easier way to do it), what are the recurring issues surfacing and so on.
Now after you find your potential user, your goal should be —
- To understand the user’s mental models, how they work, how they think, what motivates them, what are their needs and wants.
- Try to find patterns among users. Always try to study users in groups and not individually.
Since all you have is an idea, the following Research methods can be helpful —
- In-person interviews — works best as you can observe the user as they share pain and delights of their existing products.
- Interview over Skype/Hang-outs — since you may not be able to travel much (remember you are a startup and every money needs to be spent judiciously), one great way is to have a conversation online.
- Ethnography studies — If the user allows, this is a great way to “be with the user” and shadow them as they go about their lives. This is where the user is being himself/herself and one can learn a goldmine of info from this.
- Usability Testing — Even though all you have an idea, you can always do a usability testing of products operating in the same space as yours. This is a great way to find out where the users are getting delighted and where there are opportunities for your product.
As and when feasible involve your whole team in Research as much as possible. Only when we see users getting delighted or struggling do the “empathy bells” start to ring.
Once you have enough data and have analysed and synthesised,
Constantly share Research findings with everyone in the team (regardless of where they are in the hierarchy). This is must and easy when its a start-up and the team is small. Research findings are best consumed when everyone is attuned to it and collectively imbibe empathy. Findings remaining with Researchers are as good as research not done.
However, as the organisation grows, one needs to be careful in sharing, as certain groups of people may have a different kind of requirement as far as Research findings go. Some may need just a summary and a very high-level view. Some may want to go all-in right from the sample size, methodology and so on.
To conclude…
As a researcher, your job is to drive clarity, to increase the confidence level of product teams and help them take better and informed decisions of not only making the current better experience better but also be on the look-out of new opportunities.
Research and Researchers can be very valuable assets to any organisation regardless of how young or old the organisation is. It’s easy to get sucked in everyday life and miss what's happening in the real world.
This is where Researchers play a massive role.
Good luck!
In Part Two, I will talk about when a product exists — either in MVP or a shipped (may or may not be getting traction and/or making money). Stay tuned!
