Hello, Will you hate me for starting my reply with "it depends?" You haven't narrowed the question to a particular stage of the product cycle, for example. So I'll assume in this group you're talking about detailed design of a web site or piece of software (as opposed to opportunity discovery or concept exploration on the front end, or evaluation on the back end).
If context of use is important: Put the priority on getting out there. Use friends and family, pull strings, whatever it takes to get first-hand exposure to the slice of life you're about to affect with your choices. This is especially true if you're designing for a particular activity or task. You HAVE to watch it being done. If variety of use is important: Sometimes you're trying to address a bewildering or unknown variety of uses. If I only had a few days, I would either get out on the street / into the context and do intercept interviews, preferably with some prop or stimulus to focus the conversation, or gather a couple of groups for a facilitated session. Not a focus group, but group elicitation activities or even role play. There are certainly many other "if"s to consider, but maybe most important: When time is really ridiculously short, then don't fool yourself that you'll be able to get reliable, actionable data and translate it into useful insights and frameworks. Your time is probably better spent building a bridge between the team and the people whose lives they are about to affect. A bridge of empathy and desire to please, built from personal knowledge and experience. Take the 2-3 days or 2-3 hours and get everybody out of the office, out into the world to meet people and talk to them. Or at the very very least, shoot some video and show it to the team. Then facilitate them toward a statement that describes the intention they all buy in to about the difference their work will make for those people. Or just say no: To answer your last question, "Do you just skip the research phase if the client says we don't have time?" I try to have a conversation. "Let's step back for a second. Are you prepared to absorb the cost later of building and shipping the wrong thing? Because that is the risk you are raising by skipping the investment in research now." If that conversation fails to lead anywhere, as a consultant I then have the option of turning down the project. I say no. I won't design something without first understanding the people, activities and contexts I am affecting. If I was on an internal team,... well that's another thread. ;-) - Marc -----Todd Zaki Warfel wrote: So, yesterday I asked what your favorite methods for rapid research were. Nobody responded. Does that mean that no one here is using research to inform your designs? Are you guys all just winging it? Do you just skip the research phase if your client tells you "we don't have time."? I realize this group is geared more towards design or organizing information, but how do you inform your decisions? Have we gotten so complacent that we just go with our gut or based on our past knowledge? Come on people. If you only have a few hours or a few days to produce some research, what method(s) do you use? Cheers! ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
