Another Breakthrough Moment in Product Design

Recently, I wrote about a client’s breakthrough product design moment – which happened after she’d collected early customer feedback and was working hard on her Core Loop. Well, today it happened again – on a different project. And once again, I was reminded of how powerful Game Thinking can be, when applied with passion and purpose.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been working with “CeeBee” on a mentoring system for disadvantaged colleage students who need specialized support and stronger social connections to stay in school. This brilliant woman has developed a big, powerful, compelling vision – backed up by years of deep domain experience – but was having a tough time figuring out how to bring that vision to life as an MVP (minimum viable product). Today, as we were working through a set of Core Loop scenarios she’d developed, a new idea came into focus – progressive mini-missions for college students, designed to TRULY help them learn the ropes and navigate their initial school experience successfully. As we considered this core system, many of the ideas we’d been tossing around suddenly came into sharp focus, and fit together. It was an “aha” moment – that moment when everything clicks into place.

Sometimes, when you strip away everything else, simply delivering a complex learning experience as a series of well-organized, bite-size activities is the best way to drive engagement – and NOT an easy thing to design well. That’s why it’s interesting – and powerful.

Both of these breakthrough product moments happened as a result of collecting targeted, highly relevant customer insights through the quick-n-dirty research techniques we employ in the Getting2Alpha programs.

G2A_Podcast-Social-Header_204_Laura-Klein_FBIf you want to learn more about how customer research can drive great product design, check out our podcast interview this week with the knowledgeable and experienced Laura Klein – a ninja badass in the world of Lean UX & customer research. Her insights are golden – and this interview is filled with practical takeaways and solid advice. As Laura likes to say,

Design without research is just guessing.

Listen Here.