Situation

After completing an app in 4 days, C2Group's target persona, construction managers, didn't want to use their mobile app. 

Action

I prescribed a Design Sprint because the velocity of which C2Group liked to work. (Building an app in 4 days time.) I felt that this was the quickest way to show them design is more than just "look and feel." 

User Testing

Every Friday, I headed out in the field to test the prototypes on the target user persona, construction contractors. In this video, you can tell  when the contractor lost patience with the user interface on the first variation. The contrast of his emotional reaction is something that Google Analytics just doesn't provide. 

Multi-Variate Qualitative Testing

Guerrilla User Research

Guerrilla user research is when you go out in the field to test the target demographic in context. This is a form of ethnographic research I've been performing since 2011. 

While out in the field, I use Invision to swap between variations of the user experience. Using different branding the user tester doesn't get fixated on one brand over the other, and we can unlock deeper insights into usability.

Takeaways

• Being user-centered is not possible when you include yourself, a stakeholder, as one of the users. Just because you use it does not qualify you as a user.
• Developers are designers too.
• Developers and all stakeholders for that matter should be involved in strategy upfront. This indoctrinates them, and makes them feel apart of the solution they ultimately build.