Three great best practice reminders from the UX Lab's Empathy Jam
To empathize with users you have to get outside, ask questions, and listen
Last Saturday’s Empathy Jam, run by the UX Lab, was fun, fast paced, and challenging in all the best ways.
As the name suggests, the event centered on empathizing with specific user groups by strengthening qualitative and quantitative user research. Design challenges were offered for efficiently aligning users towards accomplishing specific tasks and goals, and teaching and practicing soft skills.
The event kicked off with a stellar UX Research workshop from Brian Greene, a member of Etsy's User Research team (find the link to his presentation deck below).
His key takeaway: “The product road map is already in the minds of your users, you just have to get them to tell it.” This alone would have made the whole event worthwhile, but here’s three great skills this event reinforced:
Research Best Practices
Brian’s advice wasn’t empty words, getting outside and interviewing people face to face was mandatory! More than any hackathon or UX Jam that I’ve attended so far, this one placed the focus on getting face to face with users to understanding their needs.
Fast Iteration
Every hackathon forces participants to move fast, but the extra emphasis on face to face interviews—including a required second round of interviews to validate design—meant that teams had to decide, design and validate fast. It’s a great way to really exercise those creative muscles.
Respecting the Dot
With such complex challenges and just one day, it’s impossible to design every potential solution or product feature. You have to kill your darlings—the ideas and features you love but simply don’t have room for—and one of the nicest ways to do this is by using plain old colored dots to vote.
Democracy at it’s finest.
It’s important to get out of one’s comfort zone, and meet face to face with users and stakeholders. October 28th’s Empathy Jam was a wonderful reminder of this.
Resources
Meetup Page for the UX Lab
Brian Greene’s presentation deck on User Research