John Douglass

Bake Data into Design – Lean User Research Methods

This talk will reveal key opportunities to learn the most from your users and apply data throughout your design process, even when your team is moving at lightning speed. If you ever thought your organization or client could understand your users more clearly but didn’t have the time or budget to make it happen, this talk is for you.

Luckily, you don’t need a big budget, weeks or special labs to get user insights quickly and inexpensively. We’ll discuss how you can meet your goals, improve your products and make informed decisions through user research. You’ll walk away with techniques to understand your users and competition, get your products to the best launchable state and evaluate your success.

John Douglass

Google

Head of Social UX Research, Google

John leads the team responsible for evaluating and informing the user experience for Google’s social products – an area with over half a billion monthly active users. For the last two years, he’s also led research for Google+ Hangouts, launching rapidly adopted apps across iOS, Android and Web.

Before moving to San Francisco, he led the global user experience practice of designers and content strategists at APCO Worldwide, a DC communications consultancy. Previously as a UX Designer and Information Architect he built sites and apps for clients such as Coca-Cola, eBay, Ford’s Theatre, and MasterCard.

I’ll introduce participants to the six most effective techniques to learn from users at each stage in your product cycle, from studying concepts, testing prototypes and measuring the sites/apps post launch.

Usability testing (remote & in-person), interviews, surveys and analytics are a few methods I’ll review, particularly in the context of participants’ business challenges and questions about users.