Podcast: Observation Skills
Segment 1: Using observation to find the unspoken needs and wants of customers
- Simple approach - Use feedback from customers (complaints, emails, etc)
- Go deeper
- Active Observation - get our of the chair/office and go to where the customers are
- Active Reflection - after the observation, go back and dig deeper in the information you gathered
- Use empathic (observational) design
- In-the-world observations (home, office, where the customers are)
- Trend Safari
- Ethnographic Studies
- Study of customers as a social group
- Customer segmentation/persona
- Structure of the customer tribe
- Wishes/desires of the tribe
- Fears/concerns of the tribe
- Observation of the tribe
- Practice helps improve your observations skills
- People watching
- Are they alone?
- Are they an organized individual?
- Are they married?/Do they have kids?
- Are they a shopper or a buyer?
- Friends - in-house observations
- What is their task in music and art?
- What are their priorities (exercise, hobbies,etc)?
- Is there a gap between their professional and personal personas?
- For the above:
- What tribe do they belong to?
- Who else do you know is in the same tribe?
- How big do you think that tribe is?
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Tags: customer segmentation observation skills chair office group customer facebook social group podcast tribe listeners desires innovations safari gap reflection priorities fears segment hobbies exercise mp3
Comments
Another great one, but a couple of "yes, and..." comments.
Observation is really important (and the exercises to improve observation are consistent with some of the ones I have taught), but please don't forget the power and importance of asking questions.
If you observe behavior, you can only infer so much, without beginning to ask why. Asking questions is a complex skill that also takes practice. Ethnography is not simply about observation, it incorporates a great deal of directed inquiry. Understanding what people say, what people do, and what they say about what they do (and why those might not all align) is where a lot of the deeper insight comes from. It's a common misconception that this is simply watching people, but it's definitely not.
You have your own frame of reference about why people do things. If you watch people in a coffee shop and assess their clothing, hair style, socialization, and shopping bags, you have no possibility of getting beyond your own world view to understand their world view. You are likely not your customer and understanding their world view is absolutely essential.
Posted by: Steve Portigal | June 6, 2008 01:11 AM
Great insights!
In this line, I like IDEO's Tom Kelley concept of "VUJA DE', that is, a "dejà vú" other way around: "Vuja de happens when you enter a situation you've been in a thousand times before, but with the sense of being there for the first time.' (the term was originally coined by Bob Sutton).
As it is stated in your post, analysis will greatly help understanding the picture, user needs. But also will leaving out your assumptions and see with fresh new eyes.
And how do you get to do so?
Posted by: pau | June 26, 2008 07:12 PM