Sunday

Intro to Skypad’s ideation method

You’ve come to Skypad to develop an idea. How do you know whether it’s any good? Could you convince me to invest millions of dollars into it? Do you have enough context about the problem or the people you’re solving it for? Did you develop the idea based on a hunch? Are you trying to keep up with changes in your industry? Do you have certain business objectives that you need to fulfill? Are you analyzing backward looking data to make decisions about the future?

Regardless of how your idea was born, the best way to develop it successfully is to start by getting a deep understanding of the people that will be impacted by it - the users - and their goals, and then to create experiences that match their goals. This week you’ll take your idea through a three-step process of getting clear about who your users are, ideating how their needs might be best served, and developing a prototype you can test upon your return to the office.

Skypad Airlines - Sample project

Throughout the week, we’ll help you better understand Skypad’s ideation method by referencing the sample project of redesigning the pre-flight experience for Skypad Airlines. This could cover anything from when people use an app or website to check in before they arrive at the airport to when they board the plane. There are a lot of elements to work with: the airlines and their technology, the experience at the airport itself, things like luggage, security, and even the experience before they get to the airport.

Research objectives

In order to understand the user of your project and their goals, you’ll need to collect information. To collect the right information, you need to be clear about what you want to achieve, which is set with research objectives. An example of a research objective for the goal of redesigning the preflight experience for Skypad Airlines might be to understand what people need in order to feel prepared for their flight. Using our example of Skypad Airlines as a guideline, use your notepad to write down three to seven research objectives for your project. As you establish your research objectives, think about the user’s needs in the context of the situation you’re trying to improve. When you are finished, come back to this page.

Research - Getting started

Now that you have clarity on what you want to achieve with research objectives, it is time to better understand your users. We do this with primary references: you will be interviewing 4-8 users or potential users to ask them questions. This is the best way to understand their goals.

Conducting research

This curriculum will guide you through the three steps involved in conducting primary research:

• Plan your interviews
• Conduct interviews
• Analyze findings

Plan your interview

The first step in the planning process is to figure out who you’re going to interview.

Who to interview

Take out your notebook and write answers to the following questions to help you think about the kinds of people you might contact:

• Who will be impacted by your project or idea? Customers? Coworkers? Certain groups of people?
• Do you want novices, casual users, expert users, or routine users?
• What ages, genders, and ethnicities do you want to talk to? What do they do for a living? How much education do they have? Where do they live? How much do they make? Are they married or single?
• Who could help them succeed? Does it make sense to talk to their boss? In the case of our Skypad Airlines example, can we talk to travel agents?

Now using your answers from the above questions, take your notebook and make an exhaustive list of potential user types. Then, circle the 3-10 user types you think will help give you a broad perspective on your research objectives.

Where to find them

From the list of 3-10 types of people you’ve chosen to interview, write some notes about where you might find this user type. If you need to speak with someone with specific interests or qualifications, think first about people you might know who meet that criteria and write down their name. If you don’t know anyone, write down where you might find them. Need to speak with a current customer? Ask your sales department for a list of customers. An employee? Check your company’s directory.

When to reach them

Because you’re working remotely, you are constrained to phone, email, and social media to reach potential interview subjects. For that reason, focus your search within your circle of influence. You will be calling them tomorrow. If you can’t reach them by phone, email them or send them a DM through social media platforms to request a 20 minute call. You might say something like “Hi Jane, I’m working on a project to redesign the check-in experience for airline travelers. I know you fly often for work. Can I call you today and ask a few questions?” You only have one day to conduct interviews so plan for this by having the names of at least 20 subjects to interview in order to reach between 4-8 individuals.

We suggest using www.calendly.com to allow people to schedule calls with you efficiently.

What to ask

Take out your notebook and draft questions that will help you achieve your research objectives. As you’re coming up with your list of questions, think about the following:

• Who are we solving the problem for?
• What are their goals?
• What are they trying to achieve?
• What are their unmet needs?
• What is it exactly that you want to learn?

How to ask

Here are some guidelines to ensure high quality interviews:

1. Ask open ended questions

The best way to learn about people’s goals and motivations is to get them to tell you stories. When your subjects tell you stories about their experiences they will also inevitably answer many of your questions all at once. Stories are really useful because they also give you signals about how your subjects organize and prioritize information. One of the keys to getting people to tell stories is asking open-ended questions, which naturally encourage storytelling. These usually start with words like how, what or why. Example: What do you like about your job? What's important to you at work? When did you last have a great day and what made it great?

For our airline example, instead of using a closed ended question like, "did you plan time to check in for your flight today?", which would get you a yes or no, you might ask, "how did you plan your day to get ready for a flight?" Or instead of, "do you feel uncertain?", you could ask, "what is it like to experience uncertainty?", or "why do you feel uncertain?" And instead of "has checking in ever been hard for you?", you could ask a more open-ended question like, "can you tell me about a time when the check in process was really difficult?" These open-ended questions will get you much, much closer to stories, which is where you are more likely to uncover motivations and goals.

2. Think of the interview as a funnel

A good interview is structured like a funnel. It begins with a really wide general conversation and it becomes more and more specific as you proceed. So here's what that looks like:

• make a personal connection with the subject
• prompt them to tell you stories
• ask follow up questions to dig deeper
• ask questions that help them summarize what's important to them
• Finish on a high note with a question like: “If you had a magic wand and you could change one thing, what would it be?"

Write your interview questions

To help you create your interview questions, we’ve prepared a guide that you can download and fill out. Click on button below and use your notebook to add your own questions, keeping our interview tips in mind. This will be your guide as you interview participants tomorrow.