Prioritization and project proposal

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Discuss struggles with feature prioritization and vision alignment and how to address them
  • Explore famous product pivots in technology
  • Use a common framework to prioritize features that align with your vision
  • Use your user goals and feature prioritization to construct a project proposal that breaks down your point of view and outlines how you intend to complete your final project

STUDENT PRE-WORK

Before this lesson, you should already be able to:

  • Define the elements of user experience design
  • Develop basic skills in creative problem solving, innovation, and human­-centered design through a fast-­paced design thinking activity
  • Conduct an effective user interview
  • Draft a research plan and write a discussion guide for final project interviews

INSTRUCTOR PREP

Before this lesson, instructors will need to:

  • Gather Post-it notes and black sharpies

Opening (5 mins)

You’ve gone through two full sprints of the UX/design thinking process: Research > Hypothesis > Prototype > Test. Now you have some insights around how to move forward, which major parts are/aren’t working. Today we’re going to talk about what’s next, beyond meeting that primary user goal.

Introduction: Feature Prioritization (5 mins)

Check: Why is it important to prioritize during the design process? What does all of this mean for your projects?

The objective is to help you focus on what adds value to the user’s overall experience and develop your vision.

Remember, it’s much easier to extend existing behaviors than to force people into a completely new way of doing something. Focusing on what the majority of users are trying to do is important. Don’t get distracted by people who say you have to meet every single edge case...because you don’t.

Finding a balance between business needs, user goals, and design ideas is really hard:

...and we’re trying to focus in on the goals our users are trying to accomplish most frequently.

Guided Practice: Feature Prioritization (10 mins)

Think about your in-­class project on a vacation app. Remember, you interviewed each other about this a few classes ago. In pairs, think about these questions:

  • Did your personas have more goals, beyond the primary user goal?
  • What user goals did you decide to address? Do those goals require more functionality?

Write on Post-­its all of the features you think would address these goals and align with the needs of users for this app.

Demo: Feature Prioritization (10 mins)

Let's talk about one method of feature prioritization, creating a 2x2 matrix that compares value and cost. It's the most prevalent form of feature prioritization and related to scatter plot charts and SWOT analyses.

Realistically, matrix axes options may vary: effort vs impact, bang vs buck, UX value vs tech value, meets user goals vs meets biz goals, desirability vs feasibility.

The goal is to identify want things that have high value and low cost.

Guided Practice: Creating a 2x2 Matrix (30 mins)

Split up into groups of 4-5. With your group, you'll take the next 15 minutes and practice creating a 2x2 matrix to prioritize the list of features you've decided on for the vacation app.

Using that list of features you created, combine them all together and remove any duplicates. You might look for a cluster of features that seem like they offer great impact to your users, relative to the amount of effort required. There may be an idea that’s an outlier that is so worth it to your users that it’s worth the effort. Just make sure you can explain your rationale.

Check: After 15 minutes: What did you decide makes the most sense? How did the prioritization method work out for your group? any duplicates.

Independent Practice: Create a 2x2 Matrix for Project 3 (20 minutes)

In your groups, prioritize features for your project groups.

  • Review your personas, user goals, and flows. You probably want to identify ~2 more user goals in addition to the primary happy path we worked on
  • List out all the features that would make these goals possible
  • Prioritize using a 2x2 matrix and use the prioritization results to help you decide which features make the most sense for your user goals and client constraints
  • Make sure you document your work by taking a photo - you'll need this for the next lab

Instructor Note: Instructional staff should circulate around the room and help students as needed.

Conclusion (5 mins)

You will continue working on your project pitch during the next lab.

  • Why is it important to prioritize during the design process?
  • What did you decide makes the most sense for your project 3 groups?

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