The value of questions
“The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution.” — Bertrand Russell.
Storytellers would say that the villain is the critical part that makes it possible to find a hero. For instance, Chimera defines the character of Bellerophon until his bitter end.
In a way, the close relationship between the hero and the villain illustrates the dual relation between questions and answers.
Ux professionals face a similar challenge daily. The information they use to sustain design decisions results from interviews and observing users in the usage context. Now we can see a relation between the delivered proposal by the UX professional and the quality of the information (used to sustain the design decisions).
How can we improve our designs’ quality by enhancing the research eye we have on the users?
Getting inspiration from Bertham Russel, I believe we need to improve the understanding of the user problem/context we wish to solve/understand.
To accomplish this goal, we need to:
- leave biases behind
- don be afraid to ask the why
- The context is king!
Leave biases behind
Biases are the Ux professional worst enemy. Biases tend to ill-inform the professional to use his/her’s preconception of the situation at hand and not observe what is at stake. So what can you do?
First, you need to be aware of this and practice active listening, so you prioritize observation. Observation should be first, followed by analysis and interpretation.
With practice, you will prioritize observation and use your biases as a tool to elicit more information from the user.
As a rule of thumb, the user’s voice comes first!
Don’t be afraid to ask the why
Questioning is a great tool to obtain context.
Nevertheless, you need to use questions with purpose and context during the interview, or else you risk losing the user, and the information obtained is not useful. So what can you do?
Prioritize active listening, as you hear the user always take note of key points you need to review later (Note: never interrupt the users reasoning!). During the interview in the user answers, the questions take note of avoiding the elicitation of unneeded questions. At the end of the user’s reasoning, question the remaining questions as a follow-up.
The context is king!
Understanding the context gives you space to determine the right questions to make. So observe the users, listen to them, so you see and hear about what they do. Based on these two, gain an understanding of the context question the user’s choices to get to the root of it (see if the user makes a conscient choice or devises a way of dealing with problems presented by the medium)
Understanding why users do what they do helps you structure the information you gain from the users, to make more questions, users will appreciate, answer, and give value to you.
Reference
The power of why
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