Author: Kayla Block

Kayla Block has worked in UX design for more than 15 years and most of her career is focused on making complex enterprise applications easy, efficient, and delightful to use. In addition to her design chops, she has deep expertise in Design Thinking, discovery research, user testing, and other forms of research to drive great design. She holds an M.A. in Clinical Psychology and uses her background in learning, perception, and memory in her design work. In her spare time, she changes dog's lives through behavior modification and by volunteering at her local shelter. She lives in Sacramento, CA. She is a UX Design Lead at BMC Software. She is an open networker on LinkedIn.

No! We’re Not All Just the Same

Cultural Road Blocks in Design Thinking Research in Norway by:   |  Posted on

In May and November of 2018, I traveled to Norway to do user research. I don’t have any depth of experience with Norwegian culture. What follows is my outsider’s view and interpretation. I doubt it’s the whole story.

I tried hard to understand my surprising findings by chatting with Scandinavian friends and by researching cultural norms, but there are always limitations in how much an outsider can truly understand.

I still have more questions than answers.

“You should never assume. You know what happens when you assume. It makes an ass of you and me. Because that’s how it’s spelled.”

Ellen DeGeneris said that, but I’ve heard it all of my life. I’m sure you have too.

I’m going to tell you a story about making assumptions in some design thinking sessions in Norway. Continue reading No! We’re Not All Just the Same

Do You Know Your Users?

Persona-Based Design for the Enterprise by:   |  Posted on

You think you’re just like everyone else. You think your thoughts, opinions, values, and habits are just the same as other people. Psychology calls this the false consensus bias1 because we assume much more commonality than reality warrants.

False consensus bias contributes to making bad decisions when we design software.

Alan Cooper noted this type of bias while wondering why otherwise smart, talented people often created such crappy software. He invented the persona-based design methodology to help facilitate insight into a product’s users and remove the designer’s bias. He wrote about the method in his seminal 1998 book, The Inmates are Running the Asylum.2

Have you ever heard anyone on your team say, “what if the customer wanted [some feature]?” Cooper used the term “the elastic user” to reference this shape-shifting, need-changing user who encompasses all edge cases. Good decisions can’t come from elastic users.

Imagine hotel software that is supposed to be suited for a hotel accountant, a front desk agent, and a retail worker in the hotel gift shop. The accountant is heads down in numbers and needs to focus. The front desk agent needs to be able to smoothly switch tasks and be friendly and helpful when guests walk in. And the retail worker may not be in front of a computer at all. Personas can help designers understand the nuances and needs of these different types of workers and create software that fits with their needs. Continue reading Do You Know Your Users?