Key Questions to Answer
END-TO-END
- What is the E2E(end-to-end) flow and experience? From pre-onboarding, landing, to finish?
- What is the current process, tools, and use cases?
- What is the life-cycle and life time value of a user?
- How do users go about to discover what they are looking for?
- How do users go through search and navigation menus? Which do they use more and how can they be improved?
SIMPLIFY
- What are users familiar with?
- Principles
- Identify and question current assumptions.
- Boil down to the most basic elements.
- Reasoning up from these fundamental truths.
- Clarify the problem by attaching names to requirements. Create a data dictionary.
- Question every requirement, even those from authority figures.
- Break complex issues into smaller, manageable components.
- Do A/B comparisons until...then add to the main flow.
- At which point create option B or another flow? When there is another way or the process is no longer simple.
- Get to the bare minimum, then be forced to add back 10%+ of what was taken out to bridge data and gaps.
- Simplify and optimize (i.e. automate) only after questioning and deleting steps.
- Avoid improving processes that shouldn't exist.
- Simpler UX
- Simple architecture: high to low.
- Classify a process flow into stages.
- Consistency leads to simplicity and clarity. How can we maintain consistency?
- What existing components and paradigms can we use and create to reuse?
- Reduce number of hand-off steps and silos.
- What process, features, data, or tools do we need to remove, add, relocate, and improve?
- Does the newly pivoting component, innovative design, or feature that’d depart from what’s existing justify its effort?
- How can we reduce context switching and allow users to get what is needed from one location?
- Make the content feel highly personalized.
- What can be standardized and automated?
- Simpler UI
- Start at a high level, with intuitive navigation to find hidden details.
- Group subjects empathically.
- Reduce steps, remove redundancies.
- One login or place to manage.
- Drive global consistency and adhere to WCAG accessibility standards.
- Clear context: outline, descriptive concise title, reference its history and sources.
- Address questions before they arise via tooltips, product walkthroughs, recommendations, banners or modal pop-ups.
- Map the architecture, flows, and locations: i.e. bread crumbs.
- No more than two to three taps or clicks to reach the destination.
- Display stages via stepper or subway.
- Smart defaults.
- Minimize swipes and scrolling. Provide a single glance display.
- If UI gets complicated, question the business rule.
- AI, automate, and autofill.
VALUE DRIVEN
- Data that is insightful with capabilities (high level to details, fast, reliable, secure, etc.) that deliver value to customers.
- Is the product or data what customers are really using, wanting, or needing? Perform user research and data analysis to validate.
- Add, remove, group, move, leverage toward new investment (long-term) tools. Can we use existing tools either what we already own or look to a new one?
- LEMI: Least Effort Maximum Impact.
SCALABLE
- Synch with other dependencies (internal and external), [design] systems, and tools - both what's current and ahead in 6-12 months.
- What is the market trend? How can we use existing designs of current trend setters?
- Policies, standards, and governance to move forward.
ACTIONABLE
- Clear direct actions to take. Show the next best step.
- Prevent error, self-healing.
- Help monitor relevant and personal information at a glance.
- Ways to improve or introduce CRUD: Create, Read, Update, Delete. Plus, audit history and archive features.
MEASURABLE
- Assumptions are validated by users and its key success indicators: KPIs, OKRs.
- Meets what was assigned as definition of done.
- Supports company's mission.
- What data and metrics do we need to have and add to reach our goal?
- What features and data can be grouped?
- Which data should be shown aggregated and individually? At what levels?
- What comparable data or features should be displayed next to what is central and how?
PERSONABLE
- Familiar to the user.
- Customizable to the user and also by specific roles.
- Culturally relevant.
Dive Deep
I believe behind every problem lies an opportunity. Opportunity to do better amidst problems at hand. Some call it, "Diamond in the rough." It takes a mind set and resolve to be fanatically positive. It takes faith to sees through smoke what's on the other side, and go from undertain to certain, dark to light, untangible to tangible. Whenever I design, I go through a series of questions to ensure a thorough and successful research. I call it