How does UX work?
User experience professionals are engaged before, during and after the development process. While agile does not alway incorporate UX well, the UX process is agile. We aim to fail early and incorporate the subsequent learnings to improve products and services.
Double Diamond
The Double Diamond is the best representation of the UX process I have found so far. This newer version of the diagram adds in the circular, cumulative nature of UX work, although there is also research that determines what challenge is addressed which should be located inside the circle at the level of engagement and leadership.
The two primary types of user research occur within all phases of this process.
- Discovery/generative research to inform what to build and how.
- Evaluative research that validates anything from an idea or assumption to a multi-touchpoint experience.
This work by the Design Council is openly licensed via CC BY 4.0 license.
User research process
Each step of the research process determines the next in a lean fashion. For example, the plan determines the test assets, which determines the format of the results.
Plan
The reseach plan is a collaborative effort to prioritize "what we need to know" to enable data-informed decision-making.
Output:
Approved research plan
Create
Make test assets such as a script, notes template, prototype and/or setup of an unmoderated test
Output:
Approved test assets
Test
Distribute unmoderated studies and facilite moderated tests.
Output:
User-provided raw data
Analyze
Identify patterns in the data and report findings including key observations and actionable recommendations.
Output:
Research report in research repository
Share
The most important part of the research is getting all stakeholders for a live presentation and discussion of the results.
Output:
Next steps to incorporate insights
Repeat
"In product and service design, the absence of user research has a technical name: Guessing."
– Jared Spool