The UX Philosophy

Broadly speaking, there are two types of personas in design: detailed persona and proto persona (also sometimes called “provisional”).⁠⠀
⁠⠀
Both have their uses, depending on what you are trying to do.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
📌 Proto personas are very quick to create, and they have all the information designers need when working on a solution. However, they are low fidelity, and as such, are often overlooked by stakeholders and clients.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
📌 Detailed personas, on the other hand, are very popular with stakeholders and clients because they look sleek and professional. They do, however, take longer to create, and often include irrelevant information just because the template dictates it.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
Doesn’t mean that one is better than the other, it all depends on the situation. For example, you may find it easier and more useful to use a proto persona at the beginning and middle of your project, or if the project scope is very small. But if you are working on a large project, or it’s nearing its end, you may want to consider using detailed personas, as they will be much more impactful during client handover.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
🚀 In the next post I will show you the best proto persona template and a trick to use it effectively!⁠⠀
⁠⠀

MVP Mapping is one of the most effective workshops with stakeholders, especially if there are many ideas and features but you know you can't build them all. Here's a very simple process for doing it:⁠⠀
⁠⠀
1️⃣ Write all your features/ideas on the post-it notes. It’s very important to keep every idea/feature on a different post-it not, as you want to be able to move them around.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
2️⃣ Once every participant has a stack of notes with ideas or features, draw the MVP matrix. Essentially it’s a space divided into 4 quadrants based on value to the customers and ease of implementation. Make sure you have a developer in the room to help you during the next step!⁠⠀
⁠⠀
3️⃣ Ask every participant to place their post-its on the map, depending on how much value they’ll generate and how easy it is to build (this is where developer gets heavily involved to disperse myths and misconceptions). The group can openly discuss the position of notes, and if several people have the same idea, you can stack them on top of each other.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
4️⃣ After everyone is done, you can evaluate each quadrant. The prioritisation becomes much easier, as it’s very clear to see which features are more important and which can wait (or be ignored altogether).⁠⠀
⁠⠀
❓ Have you tried running MVP Mapping workshop?⁠⠀
⁠⠀

As every designer knows, the most important tool in your toolbox when running workshops is your soft skills and experience in facilitating.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
However, it is important to know your actual tools, especially now that most workshops are being conducted remotely.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
While there is no shortage of platforms to suit all tastes and situations, here are 7 that have been singled out by design community as the best out there. From free to premium options, you are sure to find one that suits your team, type of work, technical savviness of participants, and the amount of prep work you need to do.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
Check them out, and let me know what kind of platforms you use for digital workshops in comments!⁠⠀
⁠⠀

For workshops that you run in-person (as opposed to remotely when you use digital tools), you’ll need a good selection of materials. ⁠⠀
⁠⠀
Opt for simple, everyday materials that everyone is familiar with - such as white copy paper, coloured construction paper, sticky tape, marker pens, and Post-it notes.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
It’s also a good idea to have a camera on-hand so you can document the workshop. This is extremely helpful when it comes to reviewing your workshop, and, if you’re running your workshop with clients, photos also make for a great addition to case studies.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
While every designer has their own preferred supplies, here is a list of items that you are likely to find in every designers’ workshop kit.⁠⠀
⁠⠀

If you work in a design industry, at some point you will need to run a workshop (or series of workshops).⁠⠀
⁠⠀
There is no shortage of techniques online, and if it’s something that you haven’t done before, number of options available can be overwhelming. A great place to start is considering why are you running the workshop - what are you trying to achieve?⁠⠀
⁠⠀
Broadly speaking, there are 5 different types of workshops:⁠⠀
⁠⠀
1️⃣ Discovery workshops. Great when the project is just starting, and you want to learn the context, or understand the problem space. Make sure you have a variety of stakeholders present for this type of workshops.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
2️⃣ Empathy workshops. They can be run both for the design team and for stakeholders. Once you know that you need to run an empathy workshop, it’s easy to find relevant template online.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
3️⃣ Design workshops. The are great when you’ve done the bulk of research, and are ready to move into the next phase. These workshops will help you collect many different ideas. Make sure to include a variety of participants, not just designers, and focus on quantity over quality.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
4️⃣ Prioritisation workshops. These are usually run after other workshops, and they help to define what will be built next, or which ideas/direction is more feasible. Fantastic workshop to run if it looks like you’re drowning in the sea of “fluff”.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
5️⃣ Critique workshops. These are great if you want to collect feedback that doesn’t necessarily focus on fonts or colours. It will require a bit more setup and explanation at the beginning, but the feedback you get is invaluable.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
In the future posts I will share more information around how to prepare and run workshops.

When you first start working on a project, you always need to talk to your client. That doesn’t mean just the person who gave you the project, but all stakeholders involved (see my previous posts for who they are and how to identify them).

But do you know what questions you’ll ask them? In my experience, questions will vary depending on the project and the person you’re speaking to, but make sure you always find ou the answers to the following:

📌 What is the problem? Why does this project exist? Project doesn’t exist just because client wants a new website. You’re trying to understand why does the client want a new website? If someone cared enough to dedicate a budget to this project, then there is a real underlying problem. What does the client think it is?

📌 Who are your customers or users? If client has multiple stakeholders, be sure to interview them all and ask them this question. Often different stakeholders have different customers or users.

📌 What business goal should the end product serve? Every product is aligned with some business goal - you need to know what it is. Designers don’t care only about the customer, their job is to marry both the customer and the business. In order to do that, you need to find out where business is heading, and what specific business goal should the product or service serve.

📌 What role does the product play in the overall business strategy? Any product or service does not exist in isolation. It affects and is affected by other products and services, as well as internal initiatives. You need to find out where exactly in the system the product sits, because at some point difficulties will arise at those touch points with other products and initiatives, and you need to anticipate that and design for it from the beginning.

📌 What technology is in place, and what technology-related decisions have already been made? IT/Development team are the most overlooked stakeholder of all, yet they are one of the most important ones.

What questions do you use in your interviews with stakeholders?