Ideas and suggestions are cheap. Everyone seems to have a suggestion for what you should do next. Considering these ideas require your time and effort. Of course, the last idea deliverer wants their suggestion on the top of the list. What should you do? Do you allow the squeakiest, most energetic, loudest or highest paid person… Continue reading Tools: Suggestion Funnel
Author: mpullen
Tools: PowerPoint Click-through
I work with complicated applications. Most of the screens have many moving parts. Describing the interactions and the flows to product owners and customers can be challenging. I use Microsoft’s PowerPoint to create a modern-day flip book. Remember back to English class and doodling an animation in the bottom corner of the novel you were… Continue reading Tools: PowerPoint Click-through
Perfect
Thank Goodness for Rain
So glad it is June
Photos are from a couple of days in February 2015. Copyright 2015 Frictionless Design LLC
Tools: How I Use Google Hangouts
I work with clients located all over the world. I use Google Hangouts to create a sense of connection you cannot get from a conference call. Google Hangouts is not a perfect substitute for face-to-face meetings. However, it helps provide the visual cues we need while communicating. At the beginning of every meeting, each person… Continue reading Tools: How I Use Google Hangouts
Tools: How I use Google Drive
I use Google Drive to provide access to documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. It is a quick and free way for me to share easily, yet limit the access to a selected group of people. Google Drive provides the ability to organize and store documents that I want to share and collaborate on. This is how I set… Continue reading Tools: How I use Google Drive
Analysis: Competitive Analysis
As part of the overall competitive analysis, my clients ask me to compare the competitors’ products and services to their own. An organization typically has a list of competitive issues encountered during the sales process. In addition, there may be marketing and product checklists of feature by feature comparisons. Due to companies using design as a differentiator, clients are now seeking a… Continue reading Analysis: Competitive Analysis
Analysis: Domain Model
Domain models are a useful way for technologists to model the business or domain they use. Domain modeling describes all of the objects, actors, and relationships in the system. I have found that it is not common for people to create domain models anymore, and instead use shortcuts to put the model in code or in the… Continue reading Analysis: Domain Model
Analysis: Interactions
Interactions analysis is used to understand the strengths and constraints of your technology to meet the needs of the user to accomplish their work. I have worked for several companies that had old technologies and wanted to modernize. The question we considered; in moving from a native Windows application to a web-based trading application, what would the user gain or… Continue reading Analysis: Interactions
Analysis: Workflow Analysis
The Workflow Analysis is a tool to document and enumerate the workflows around products and services of the company that are touched by end-users. The workflow analysis follows key workflows through the organization’s products and services entering, crossing boundaries, and exiting upon conclusion of the work. The workflows may occur across personas, departments, and organizations.… Continue reading Analysis: Workflow Analysis
Analysis: Day-in-the-life
The day-in-the-life walk-through of a persona provides documentation and context of the users’ work throughout the day. The day-in-the-life walk-through focuses on the user, independent of your company’s particular interest, from the time they wake up in the morning until they go to bed. The walk-through is at high-level, “5000 feet”, and shows the typical… Continue reading Analysis: Day-in-the-life
Analysis: Personas
Personas are developed from data collected about targeted users. The patterns that emerge from your research create the user archetype- the persona. Creating personas serves several purposes. Personas help remove the tendency of the team to make assumptions about the user or see themselves as the user. Personas also provide team members an accurate short cut to reference a group of users. Personas are also… Continue reading Analysis: Personas
Analysis: Customer Experience Analysis
A Customer Experience Analysis is a heuristic or expert analysis of the utility and usability of an application. Using key tasks and the profiles of the targeted users, the analysis walks you through how this user encounters the application. We need a few things to get started with this analysis: Identify the key tasks and primary users for each task Provide… Continue reading Analysis: Customer Experience Analysis
Analysis: The intersection of users and technology
At the intersection of users and technology, we find the interactions of the users. These interactions are highly dependent on the technology- mobile device, desktop application, gaming controller, kiosk – and the and the abilities and limitations of the users. Technology choices are often impacted by existing products. Is there a legacy stack? Are you hoping to adapt what… Continue reading Analysis: The intersection of users and technology
Analysis: The intersection of business and technology
The intersection of business and technology is where we find the domain model. The domain model is the representation of the business through technology. Understanding the domain model creates the underpinnings for a stable set of business rules and engines for powering many applications. I have worked in a variety of domains; timekeeping, scheduling, payroll, compliance, trading,… Continue reading Analysis: The intersection of business and technology
Analysis: The intersection of business and users
Where the business and users intersect, we find the business processes, the “workflows” of your customers. Optimizing workflows yields improvements to their business processes, resulting in efficiency and the benefits that may come along with that such as improved customer service, faster turnarounds, and higher quality work. Independent of the technology, analysis of the workflows of the users… Continue reading Analysis: The intersection of business and users
Analysis: How do we frame the analysis?
As we start doing analysis for a project, let’s frame the approach. Many designers start by pushing for user analysis. I like to step back and take a “holistic” approach, considering the perspective of Users, Business, and Technology. Why? Users, Business, and Technology are the constraints for any solution/ design. The intersections of each are… Continue reading Analysis: How do we frame the analysis?
Analysis: Why all the questions?
Sometimes asking a question is not to get an answer. There are many reasons to ask questions during the analysis and design process. So why do I ask so many questions? To reframe and start from the beginning To challenge assumptions To challenge constraints To get someone to state the answer out loud so everyone… Continue reading Analysis: Why all the questions?
Checklist for Understanding Project Context
This checklist is a summary of the initial business analysis in Understanding Project Context. This is an excellent tool to on-board new team members and consultants like myself. One way I can be useful to clients is by helping them to define a problem and explore the solution space for the right one. The right… Continue reading Checklist for Understanding Project Context
Understanding Project Context: What are the Tools of Engagement?
At the beginning of each project it can be exciting to dive right in and learn about the client. However, there are a few basic logistical items to address with regard to which tools facilitate our work together. I have a system to share with each client. Some clients choose to let me access their systems internally and others don’t… Continue reading Understanding Project Context: What are the Tools of Engagement?
Understanding Project Context: What is your product management process?
Each organization I have worked with over the years has a different process for product management. Many of the front line (or basic) activities may be the same but who employees report to, what they are responsible for, and how they take direction, is different in each organization. What organization does Product Management report to? Product?… Continue reading Understanding Project Context: What is your product management process?
Luminoso Compass and Frictionless Design
Luminoso announces the launch of COMPASS, their next generation enterprise feedback solution! Luminoso Compass enables you to consume, interpret, and act on large-scale feedback in real time – across multiple languages. It captures new themes in conversation, extracts actionable insights, unearths the root causes and illuminates the driving themes and topics. In addition, Luminoso Compass removes spam, irrelevant… Continue reading Luminoso Compass and Frictionless Design
Understanding Project Context: What is the software development process?
Before we start the project in earnest, we need to examine the client’s product development process. In many projects, I work closely with the development/technical teams. Understanding how the development process functions is key to working effectively in the organization and influencing the direction of the implemented solution. What process does development follow? Is the process documented?… Continue reading Understanding Project Context: What is the software development process?
Understanding Project Context: How is the product sold?
In the software engineering world, the technical folks rarely interact with the sales folks. Teams focus on features and delivery dates so the only message engineering may get from sales is to deliver fast and early so they can close more deals. Gaining a better understanding how the product is sold will frame how the organization expects the… Continue reading Understanding Project Context: How is the product sold?