What comes first: Product or Research?
Our September Women in UX meetup was a sort of debate, which asked the question 'What comes first: Product or Research?' We were joined by Ash Ivory the Head of Product at Askable arguing the Product case; and Stephanie Lamont, Design Director at Xero on the side of Research.
Ash gave us her answer: IT DEPENDS!
She asserted that it is more important to use the right tool at each point in the process, which depends on:
- The type of company
- Budget and funding
- Product maturity
- Deadlines
- Size of the feature or product
- Complexity of the problem
- Skills at hand
Ash said the aim is to research and design throughout the development process, rather than always doing it at the beginning. She recommends changing from the double diamond to a square where parallel processes connect together, informing the product design.
You are designing a process and determining when research is relevant, who does it and when it gets done. It does not have to happen one after the other, teams need to be adaptable and be willing to tune the research process for the better. Think about it as setting the dial for research in each stage.
When we asked Steph Lamont what comes first, she answered "the idea goes first!" Research into the idea.
She explained that research can provoke new ideas and answer core questions. It's what you do with that research that creates products. Primary research can be a key driver, she pointed out, but other research is important as well, including:
- Competitor analysis
- Desktop research - data and reports, white papers and thought leadership articles
- Analytics reviews - e.g. Google
- Primary - qual and quant
- Your experience
Research focus always needs to be customer-centric, and answer the question - what is the core purpose and what does it enable us to do?
Steph gave us two examples of companies who started with a clear question and research purpose:
- Adore Beauty. While working at a makeup counter, the founder Kate Morris saw that women felt intimidated by the counters. She asked the core question 'what could make it easier for a woman to buy makeup?'
- Canva. Professionals spend a lot of time perfecting designs and button placement using complex graphics software. Canva asked what do casual users need to create simple graphics?
So in Steph's opinion, research comes first. And the order of work is: Research > Innovation > Product.
In the end, the advice from both Ash and Steph was invaluable. And no matter which approach you take, it needs to suit the situation.
* * *
A huge thanks Steph, Ash and Annabelle for a great session. We look forward to seeing you at the next Women in UX meetup.
Write up by Mags Hanley.